Second round of the day with GK Gurus was on another one of my favorite layouts. It was my 3rd round of the year there and 10th overall. It’s always in great shape, it was in the BEST shape I have eve... Continue »

Second round of the day with GK Gurus was on another one of my favorite layouts. It was my 3rd round of the year there and 10th overall. It’s always in great shape, it was in the BEST shape I have ever experienced it. Even the greens which you would expect would running a little slow this time year, nope, medium fast, smooth and firm. So much fun playing those greens with the challenging pins and undulations. Fairways, perfect 10. Rough perfect 10 and at 3 – 5 inches throughout when you miss the fairway you hope your ball is sitting up because that sticky rye grass is going to grab your club. Bunkers, perfect 10. About the only thing not a perfect 10 is the tee boxes but still lush and level. Just not perfection like the rest of the golf course. I was blown away.

The layout is very challenging IMO with many bunkers, demanding tee shots, forced carries over water and the difficult greens. Plus the golf course plays longer than its yards because just about every tee shot is to a fairway sloping up to the green so little roll (especially on lush rye grass). But man is this layout fun. Lots of risk/reward shots. Nice mix of long and short holes. And lots of natural wildlife.

After the round we did not grab a bite to eat on the patio but having done so in the past its a must experience for first time players. Food is exceptional. The view of the 9th and/or 18th hole is excellent and fun to watch golfers play those two challenging holes. Service is fantastic.

Speaking of service. 5 stars. Super friendly and accommodating.

Lastly make sure to give yourself time to warm up. Love the beautiful large grass driving range and practice putting/chipping.

Highly Recommended

This last weekend, I had the opportunity to get out and participate in GK Guru Golf Outing. We played three golf courses ( One on Sunday and two on Monday). Rams Hill, Indian Wells Celebrity and Des... Continue »

This last weekend, I had the opportunity to get out and participate in GK Guru Golf Outing. We played three golf courses ( One on Sunday and two on Monday). Rams Hill, Indian Wells Celebrity and Desert Willow Resorts. I had the best time and enjoyed all of the golf course. It was great to get out from my normal routing of playing the same golf course in my home town.
Our tee time was at 12:00 and played with my GK Guru's buddies (Gary, Ron and Nick). I had a great time, specially with my buddies and see how well they played. I learned a hole lot from them.

Fairway were 10/10. Well kept, very green and wide. They were full of sand bankers and made it very challenging. Specially if you are not a great hitting from fairway sand banker, as I'am not.

Rough 9/10. The rough was well kept and not hard to get out. Even around the greens it was not to hard to make a good chip out into the green.

The greens 10/10. The ball was rolling excellent and fast. What makes very fun is to see all of the sand bankers covering and guarding the greens. That's great to see.

Tee's 9/10. Tees were great but their were a few tees where I was playing from that weren't level.

I loved the lay out of the golf course and views were great. I enjoyed but I was two tire from playing two rounds prior (one on Sunday and Monday). But still, I had fund with my buddies and just been out enjoying the game of golf that we all love. Thank you GK for putting this together. Over all starting from customer service "fantastic services" and golf course I rate Desert Willow Resort 9/10.

LOVED IT!!! Remember get out there and continue hitting the ball as far as you can and get lots of birdies.

Rode the purple tees Monday afternoon 12/9/2019 with the GK Gurus teeing off at 12 noon. Paired with Nickesquire, Pedro7170 and RGM2525. POP was just over 4 hours on a picture perfect chamber of comme... Continue »

Rode the purple tees Monday afternoon 12/9/2019 with the GK Gurus teeing off at 12 noon. Paired with Nickesquire, Pedro7170 and RGM2525. POP was just over 4 hours on a picture perfect chamber of commerce Palm Desert Monday afternoon with light breezes and weather in the low 70's. My second time playing here and I loved the course even more the 2nd time around. A great mix of some short risk reward par 4's and some longer par 4's with some teeth. Some up and down hills and some tighter tee shots that must be accounted for, but not a target layout. The real winner for toughness for this course is the current length of the rough and the numerous fairway and greenside bunkers the players must avoid. We lost my playing partners tee shot on number 4 even though his tee shot looked to be just off the left side of the fairway(that gives you an example of the rough). This is such a fun layout with the darling standout holes 9 and 18 that provide water features/ponds near the greens. Fairways were a 10/10. I thought they were the highlight of the course. Super lush lies, green. Just perfect. The fairway and greenside rough was also a 10/10. Very thick, playable but you needed to really know how to go down and get it if you were in the fairway rough. Tees were a 10/10 level and lush. Perfect condition. I did not even want to walk on the tees or fairways or greens to ruin the presentation. Greens were a 9/10. Quicker than Rams Hill or Indian Wells. Rolling very nicely. Made my fair share of putts today on these greens. Had some tricky pin locations on 2 and 4 if I remember right where if you were on the wrong side of some of these pins you were in triouble. I mentioned to my playing partners that I don't remember the greens having as much undualtion and character as I saw today. Awesome green complexes. Was in greenside bunkers on 12 and 13. Both bunkers were raked with the perfect amount of sand and easy to splash out of. If a player can miss all bunkers here on this layout they have really golfed their ball well! There a tons of them! Very strategic! They have a beautiful range and a rocking patio, clubhouse and restaurant. I have not played the sister MountainView course and I want to try that one next time I am at Desert Willow. This is one of the best conditioned courses that I have played in a while. Totally Recommended!

Rode the Purple tees (6676/72.1/136) in 4H, 15M twilight with GK Gurus Ron, Pedro and Gary, easily beating darkness. Always enjoy playing with those old, familiar faces! The weather was clear, fairly ... Continue »

Rode the Purple tees (6676/72.1/136) in 4H, 15M twilight with GK Gurus Ron, Pedro and Gary, easily beating darkness. Always enjoy playing with those old, familiar faces! The weather was clear, fairly calm and around 65. Playing conditions were excellent across the board. Having played both Rams Hill and Indian Wells Celebrity in the previous 24 hours, both of which were excellent as usual, I can say that this course was the best conditioned of the three. Over seeded tees were lush and level with few divots. Over seeded fairways were lush and very nice to play from. The over seeded rough is VERY lush and thick. Definitely a penalty to miss the fairway here. The waste bunkers were firm and not as well maintained as the greenside traps. The greenside traps had good quality sand and were very nicely maintained. The greens putted medium fast bordering on fast if downhill. Numerous pins were tournament quality, set close to slopes where near misses could result in 15+' coming back. Mostly smooth and they held irons well. Customer Service always excellent here from when you drop your clubs off out front to when you pick them up after the round. Drink cart around multiple times, and I had what may have been the best hot dog I have ever consumed from their snack shop. Piled high with about a dozen different add ons! Nice GPS on carts. Plenty of ice/water stations on the course. The all grass driving range is included and is excellent with a nice practice chipping area. Highly recommended, one of my favorite courses in the Palm Springs area.

2 round of the day, this one at Desert Willow, Firecliff course, GK Guru's Dave H, Johnny GK and Rob for our group. I really enjoy Desert Willow and especially the Firecliff course, made evenmore en... Continue »

2 round of the day, this one at Desert Willow, Firecliff course, GK Guru's Dave H, Johnny GK and Rob for our group. I really enjoy Desert Willow and especially the Firecliff course, made evenmore enjoyable because of the great GK'ers, a great group of guys the last 3 days!!!. The course was in immaculate shape. Tee boxes, fairways, bunkers, rough and especially the greens were absolutely top notch. Greens were running fast, were thought maybe 10-10.5 + on stimp. Some of the pin placements were difficult for sure, but the greens would hold a shot no problem, I prefer to putt on fast greens. I had no complaints whatsoever about the course and the conditions. Customer service again was excellent, even the cart attendant thanked us for coming out! Thanks Johnny GK for setting this, and the earlier round up.

Rode the Purple tees (6676/72.1/136) in 3H, 20M mid day on a GN Hot Deal. Paired with Peter, fun guy to play with. The weather was clear, fairly calm and around 115. Playing conditions were a real m... Continue »

Rode the Purple tees (6676/72.1/136) in 3H, 20M mid day on a GN Hot Deal. Paired with Peter, fun guy to play with. The weather was clear, fairly calm and around 115. Playing conditions were a real mixed bag. I suspect milder than usual May/June temps followed by a scorching July has not been optimal for the Bermuda to come back fully everywhere? The coverage is sketchy. Bermuda tees were disappointing. Areas were lush, other areas were hardpan. Level with few divots. Same for the Bermuda fairways. 85% lush, with 15% areas where the winter rye has burned off and the Bermuda has not taken over. The Bermuda rough was a higher version of the fairways with many hardpan areas. Good POP rough, not overly penal. The waste bunkers were firm and not as well maintained as the greenside traps. The greenside traps had good quality sand and were very nicely maintained. The Bermuda greens putted medium slow bordering on slow. More like putting on the collar or through the fringe. Bumpy and mostly firm, but they held irons well. Customer Service always excellent here from when you drop your clubs off out front to when you pick them up after the round. No drink cart today. Nice GPS on carts. Plenty of ice/water stations on the course. The all grass driving range is included and is excellent with a nice practice chipping area. Normally highly recommended, one of my favorite courses in the Palm Springs area. However, the current conditions are very substandard for this course and only warrant a substantially discounted green fee.

Played here 5/20 and the course was fantastic. 1st time playing here and the practice facility is very nice. Grass tee's at driving range, chipping green and putting green are well done. The course is... Continue »

Played here 5/20 and the course was fantastic. 1st time playing here and the practice facility is very nice. Grass tee's at driving range, chipping green and putting green are well done. The course isn't super challenging but greens certainly are, need to pick your spot. All in all, I would definitely come back and play again. On a side note, the bar/restaurant was closed Sat after our round @ 430pm.

Played DW Firecliff for the first time in the GK outing with Leef2020, Rudyclub and Brady and had a great time. Great weather out there with a little wind. The short of it is I thoroughly enjoyed th... Continue »

Played DW Firecliff for the first time in the GK outing with Leef2020, Rudyclub and Brady and had a great time. Great weather out there with a little wind. The short of it is I thoroughly enjoyed this course. It is a challenging track and what makes it challenging are the many bunkers. There are quite a few. I have played Doral in Miami a number of times which is said to have over 100 plus bunkers. This course exceeds that I am sure and I was in quite a few. On the plus side, the bunkers were in great shape. The fairways were incredible. Lush and great lies out there. It’s been a while since I have played fairways this nice. The rough wasn’t too troublesome for me but you still had to hit it clean to get out of it. The greens were also great and rolled true but were very hard. Never found my divot marks on the green. They weren’t holding either unless you caught it real clean. Very tricky with the undulations on many of the greens. I found them hard to read and therefore had a few 3 putts. A great time playing here and loved this place. Can’t comment on customer service as I had no interaction with course staff. The restaurant closed rather early also. Regardless, I hope to get back out here sometime soon. Definitely recommend.

Out second off with the event group with a POP just over 4 hours. Praise from everyone for the fairway and rough conditions, which were excellent all around. Greens were very good for being transition... Continue »

Out second off with the event group with a POP just over 4 hours. Praise from everyone for the fairway and rough conditions, which were excellent all around. Greens were very good for being transitional between rye and bermuda so reactions from shots could be varied depending on the patch you hit. Rolled well at medium pace overall but could be a bit scary on the downhill/downgrain putts. Bunkers had me baffled but coverage was great with heavy sand. Tee boxes all looked very good to my eye. Overall the course is in fantastic condition for the time of year and we managed a picture perfect weather day on top of it.