From 5/19 Played another very fun round of golf at one of my favorite courses in the Desert and Valley. This a great course layout designed by Jack with strategic challenges and scenic views. For ... Continue »

From 5/19 Played another very fun round of golf at one of my favorite courses in the Desert and Valley. This a great course layout designed by Jack with strategic challenges and scenic views. For the positive, the layout is fun and challenging. The layout and design are an A+. This is a great course for an advanced golfer, yet playable for mid-level golfers. ESG is a fun Players Course that is a reasonable test of golf with wind speeds that exceeded 20 mph in the afternoon.. ESG is a very well-designed into the desert and places premium on accuracy off the tee and into greens. The course features clear definition between its mid-sized to wide fairways and rough areas, well placed bunkering on fairways and proximate to greens, along with strategic water hazards on a couple of holes, with fast greens. The course layout is rated a 4.8 out of 5, conditions are rated a 3.0 out of 5. I note the following: Tee Boxes: Average condition Fairways: Mixed green, yellow, and dry and at times tight. Average condition Greens: Damage that included dirt spots, dead spots, and bumpiness. Speed cannot be determined as each spot presented its own challenge. Poor condition Sand: Maintained and firm. Average condition. Rough: rough was defined from the fairway and green collared but not too overgrown, about 2 – 4 inches. Very grabby at times. Average condition. Waste Areas: - Waste areas on various holes did not offer the opportunity of recovery due to their overgrown nature. Above average. Driving Range: None available. Large hitting nets with multiple stalls available for warm up. A nice chipping area was present. Practice Putting Green: 2 small greens noted on site, condition average. POP: 4.75 hours The facility included a nice restaurant, and pro shop. Service received at both was good in the morning only. However, the restaurant closed after 2 pm and made it clear that they did not want to provide service for their customers after 2 pm. They were very rude about it as well despite many customers requesting food and drinks. They had advised that they were closing at 5 pm when I made the reservation but changed their mind and were unapologetic on our golf day. Furthermore, this misrepresented their hours on their website as well. Dog Vomit Rating for them in this area! Won't eat here again! Really enjoyed this layout, morning food, and the quality of my play for the day. However, conditions and service here were below average, which was surprising. Cart guy didn't greet us or give us carts at arrival, self service. After the round, he took our bags of and placed them on the ground after our round. Didn't even use the stand. Employees just wanted to leave and did not care to provide any customer service. So bad! Complete fail in this regard. EGC is a shadow of what it once was, sadly. Hoping they recover as this is a solid track.

Day2 buddies trip joined by buddies Matt and Mark Sun 5/19/24 riding in 4 hrs 50 minutes with temps in the mid 90s and beautiful weather for 15 holes[1 club wind] and then very blustery 3 club wind on... Continue »

Day2 buddies trip joined by buddies Matt and Mark Sun 5/19/24 riding in 4 hrs 50 minutes with temps in the mid 90s and beautiful weather for 15 holes[1 club wind] and then very blustery 3 club wind on the last 3 holes. Teed off around 1040am We had the breakfast burritos prior to our round which were delicious. No driving range but big nets to hit into with a seperate putting green and chipping green. If you plan on experiencing Escena for food or to play get here early. Tee times can only be booked up until 12pm and when we headed in for some lunch around 3pm to watch the end of the PGA championship we were met with a "no" grill not open for business. Really at 3pm on a major championship Sunday? That along with cart barn taking our clubs off our parked carts and putting them on the cement and one of the Marshall's giving us a hard time on pace of play when we were right on the group in front of us =negative. My second time here. Played with JohnnyGK many moons ago in the rain so forgot most of the holes. Fun layout and interesting one as well 3 of the par 3s we played were over 200 yds and the 2 par 5s on the front are the number 1 and 3 handicap holes. Good chances to score on some shorter par 4s on the front. Fairly wide open layout but there were a handful of water features, creeks, fairway bunkers and red penalty areas to keep any level of player honest. Little concerned that this was the second course we played where big portions of the greens[50-60]percent of them had dry dead almost spongy like crab grass. It was like putting on carpet at home. Slow was the theme when putting here. Going to do some research as Silverrock had similar issues[maybe to much rain] and now a fungus sprouting up..possibly mineral issues? Anyway the green rating was a 5/10. Fairways were a bit more lusher than Silverrock rated a 7.5/10. Most portions of fairways were lush with minor burn spots here and there. Some of the native areas were drier just off the fairways. Tees level and in good shape. Rated 7.5/10 Was in one greenside bunker that was in very good shape. Rated 8/10 Not much rough at all on this course. Fairways turn into native dry sandy areas on many holes. What rough there was was low and manageable. Chipping area around some of the greens were very dry and poor. Rated 6/10 Due to the greens and some rough areas I can't recommend this course right now. Like all courses hope they can get some more water on the dry areas and get the greens back into decent shape.

Had a buddy that never played Desert golf, so we planned a overnight trip a few months back. This was course 2 of 2. Never played Escena before, but because of overseeding schedule, gave it a try. B... Continue »

Had a buddy that never played Desert golf, so we planned a overnight trip a few months back. This was course 2 of 2. Never played Escena before, but because of overseeding schedule, gave it a try. Booked SAT 11/4 morning tee time at 11:16 am on their app. Arrived early to enjoy a nice brunch in their redesigned retro patio. The indoor space is almost complete. All the staff was super pleasant and working hard. Very cool vistas of the local mountains and a free aerial show from gliders and planes from the nearby airport. The food was excellent and portions were great. The wind was down today, which seems to be a deterrent from past GK reviews. The course reopened from overseeding on 10/27 with no cart path restrictions. Everything was green and greener! The greens were running medium speed at 10.5. They had some imperfection spots but ran pretty true. The fairways were immaculate. The rough was juicy and very penal. Lots of hazards come into play including water and desert waste areas. There is 5 par 5's on this course, which is unique and welcomed. The par 4 were very challenging and had some deceptively long approach shots. The fairways were very wide and the greens were huge. Carts had basic amenities and there was water stations every 3rd hole. Cart services came by several times and they set up a limited BBQ after hole 9. The proshop ladies were very pleasant and everything was pre-paid. The post round cart guys were excellent and we added this to our list for future play. For the price, this is not a top tier course like the PGA West or La Quinta courses, but you get a lot more bang for your buck here. Would recommend a return or 1st time visit to fellow golfers.

Posting a late review of Escena. My son and I played February 19, 2023. Played a twilight round so we only finished 15 holes, which was unfortunate since i was on track for a personal best round.

... Continue »

Posting a late review of Escena. My son and I played February 19, 2023. Played a twilight round so we only finished 15 holes, which was unfortunate since i was on track for a personal best round.

In any case, course is always great. Pro shop staff, starter, and restaurant staff were great. Everyone very helpful.

As for course, the conditions were what I would expect for high season in Palm Springs. Tee boxes were in great condition with very little damage.

Fairways were in vertical good shape. Not much rough to speak of on this course, but the little there is was also in good shape.

Greens were running a bit slow. They had very few pitch marks (which I would fix when i came across them).

Only flaw was that the sand was not as fluffy as it has been in the past. Still pretty good, just not as good as previous plays.

All in all, a great course and will be playing it again in April.

Beautiful day for golf! Everything was green. Showed up an hour early to chill and settle in before our tee time. Had their veggie omelet with hash browns....so so. Most likely wouldn't order it a... Continue »

Beautiful day for golf! Everything was green. Showed up an hour early to chill and settle in before our tee time. Had their veggie omelet with hash browns....so so. Most likely wouldn't order it again. The chipping area was nice and well-kept. Of course, most already know, they have a net driving range so nothing really to explain....nothing has changed.

The spacing of the tee times was awesome. We only had to wait for the group ahead of us once on the 1st hole and that was it. Finished in 4.25 hrs on a Sunday mid-morning round. Not too bad. Didn't really think the Pace Of Play would be that fast...nice surprise.

Plush fairways and a decent tee box.

Sooooo....what's my problem??? The greens!!! They look sooo beautiful. Smooth, no bumpy uncut grass.....just smooth-looking greens! When you chip on them, they didn't hold was well as I anticipated. When you putted, they were slow.....very slow. How??? Why do they look fast, yet putt slow? IDK!!! Extremely frustrating!!!

Met up with Joe from my favorite golf podcast, Chasing Daylight, here today while he was visiting Palm Springs from Vegas. We used the twosome special on the course website for an 11:08 time at $88 ea... Continue »

Met up with Joe from my favorite golf podcast, Chasing Daylight, here today while he was visiting Palm Springs from Vegas. We used the twosome special on the course website for an 11:08 time at $88 each. Started right on time, paired with a cool single. Starter gave a nice spiel about all the course amenities and sent us on our way. As a threesome behind a foursome, we waited most of the day but POP was good overall with about 4:15 total time on course. Conditions are quite solid. Greens are medium slow but smooth and accepting of full shots. Seems like maybe they're afraid to cut them too short still. Starter advised us they don't break as much as they look like they will, and he was correct. Overseeded fairways and rough were dark green and pretty lush. Good lies in the fairway and the rough wasn't too penal. Championship tee boxes were good. Bunkers were some of the best I've played in a long time, full of lots of soft, high-quality sand. This was my first time playing here. At first I found the layout just a little bland, but the more we got into the round, the more I liked the course. No. 12 is a long par 3 with a great green that funnels any shots to the back-right low area. No. 13 is a cool par 5 right across the street from Palm Springs Airport, arguably closer to planes than Skylinks ever gets at LGB. 15, 16, and 18 all form a nice closing stretch. Only potential knock is that 3 of the 5 par 3s play similar distances; a little more variety would be cool. Definitely recommended. Beautiful clubhouse and all the staff we dealt with were great.

Played my “other” home course for the first time in a while. Every bit as good as I remember. My son got to play and had a blast. Day was beautiful- about 90 degrees out on May 30.

Check in staf... Continue »

Played my “other” home course for the first time in a while. Every bit as good as I remember. My son got to play and had a blast. Day was beautiful- about 90 degrees out on May 30.

Check in staff was always great. Paired up with a couple that also owned a house on the course.

Tee boxes were lovely. Lush and level.

Fairways were just as good. Grass was beautiful.

Rough was not long and allowed for relatively easy recovery shots.

Sand was soft and did not feel like quicksand.

Greens rolled near perfect. Fast enough but not crazy.

My kid brought me out for a “practice” round in advance of a tournament that my work was sponsoring at Glendora country club. Practice round was perfect.

All i wish was that they had a real range instead of nets. Aside from that, round was great!

Booked the first tee time of the day Easter Sunday. Two players paid through their website for $85 when you book a twosome. $99 if you book a single. Check in was simple and the starter was very frien... Continue »

Booked the first tee time of the day Easter Sunday. Two players paid through their website for $85 when you book a twosome. $99 if you book a single. Check in was simple and the starter was very friendly. No driving range but they did have nets and a putting green to warm up. We loaded on our basic carts (no gps) and off we went to the tee box.

The layout is a typical Jack Nicklaus design with water and dog leg rights on quite a few holes. Green complexes are tough to read as they're large and undulated. Conditions were top notch all around this day. The Tee boxes were level and had plenty of grass. A few of the par 3's needed the markers moved but nothing too bad. Fairways were cut on the shorter side but offered great cushion for your approaches. Rough was not penal at all except around bunkers and the creeks where it was 5+ inches deep. Sand was fine for the two traps I was in I did notice a lot of sand blowing out of the traps this day as the wind was up. I imagine its a pain in the butt to keep these stocked. Greens were by far the highlight of the round. Just soft enough to leave a divot but still rolled on the faster side.

Being first out we zipped around in less than 3 hours but still had a blast playing this course. Some people dont like the airport noise but its a small airport compared to LAX,SNA,ONT so 1 plane every 15 mins or so. I highly recommend getting out here before the summer heat sets in.

Day one of an extended weekend out here in the Palm Desert area and met up with Nick to play Escena for the first time ever on Friday. I really enjoyed the layout and the modern clubhouse and the frie... Continue »

Day one of an extended weekend out here in the Palm Desert area and met up with Nick to play Escena for the first time ever on Friday. I really enjoyed the layout and the modern clubhouse and the friendly staff, but a nice facility like this should definitely have a full range instead of nets. Also interesting choice of tee box colors with the tips being the blues ... threw us and we had to move up to the orange tees which are like the blue tees at 90% of other places.

Recently out of re-seeding so it was 90-degree rule, which was fine - always beats CPO. The fairways still need some time to heal without a doubt, but it's visually very pleasing, and great mountain views when you're teeing off on many holes. Rough was very nice and challenging, while the bunkers had ample, softish sand consistent throughout. Greens were visually very nice and the green complexes were tough but fair, but the speed of the greens is still quite slow and will also be a few weeks before they roll at optimum pace.

Good cart service throughout the day and the POP was very good overall. Some monster par 3s here and tricky and fun par 5s, with a lot of everything else in between. A lot of wind can sneak up on you here as well so be prepared to take that into account.

I found an online deal for two (same cart) at $99 per person, but I thought that was for two players! My mistake, and while Nick is not of the mind that this course currently merits that price, I think if I imagine this place in a few weeks in perfect condition, it would be worth it for sure. I would definitely play here again.