Of the above listed courses, I believe the peak of his “difficult/but fair” courses is the Stadium course at PGA West. Played this one a while ago during a trip that included 27 holes at Chambers Bay the pr... Dogleg holes are often more interesting than straight ones. Woven through a rugged desert tapestry in the shadows of the Santa Rosa Mountains, the TPC Stadium Course at PGA WEST is designed in what Dye has … Golf Channel Travel Expert Matt Ginella shares his five best places for resort golfers to play in the Palm Springs area below. 3 – par 4 471/448 “crescent”. When you think of PGA WEST®, it is the Stadium Course that first comes to mind. For me, PGA West Stadium course is the most difficult of the designs by Pete and Alice Dye. I played PGA West Stadium on June 26, 2020 on a day that reached 108 F degrees, teeing off at 2PM. The 17th hole, named Alcatraz, an island green par 3 is probably the most famous hole, partially due to Lee Trevino’s hole in one at the 1987 Skins game that paid him $175k. All Rights Reserved. My critique of overly difficult golf courses such as PGA West is that they can lead to a loss of strategy as one simply looks for the most conservative play in order to make no more than bogey and hope for a one-putt par. There isn’t much natural elevation change to the course except a slight incline on the back nine. The course will suck more golf balls out of your bag than Dracula did to his victims. Go figure. T81. The online booking page will show all available tee times. Month played: January. The green is set off to the left to a green that narrows at the end. Golf is not a fair game, so why build a course fair? Was this review helpful? The Stadium Course at PGA WEST. I found the deep bunker and due to the lack of maintenance of the bunkers it was an unknown shot. Pete Dye. There is only one flight in the Gross Division and they will play the Blue or Championship Tees. Some greens were tiny and mounded, while others were huge and gently undulating – and all of them require you to miss in the right places if you don’t want to make a bogey or worse. There is a long 80 yard bunker on the right between the fairway and the lake. We played the 6739 tees as I played with two low index players who generally hit their tee shots an average of 300 yards. At this point in the round, I was beginning to feel that I was playing a course in Florida due to the amount of water on the golf course. The straight ahead nature of the shots forces you to trust your swing and distance and hope both line up at the same time. But the reality is that if they are having a good day with the driver and finding the fairway, the course is pretty easy. Was this review helpful? Directions: Get here! Another bunker lies about 25 yards short of the green which should not be in play but provides a bail out area for those trying to drive the green. I didn’t play the tips, which was good, because the next set of tees up was plenty difficult due to the green complexes. Was this review helpful? I have yet to play Long Cove or Crooked Stick (planned for the end of July), but after playing PGA West Stadium I have played many of his most noted designs in the USA. Probably not, but if you know a member of the PGA West private courses, perhaps they can get you a deal! Offering a full range of top-quality amenities and activities, the resort includes five top-quality golf courses at La Quinta and nearby PGA West, including the famous PGA West Stadium Golf Course and the picturesque Mountain Course at La Quinta … Most everyone ranks it at least in the top five for toughness. Yet professional golfers were able to master these courses unless there was a significant amount of wind. There is a rise in the land on the right side of the fairway. The ban ran out recently and the Classic returned to The Stadium Course in 2016. It is an okay hole but would have been better with a slightly wider fairway near the green. I find the greatest satisfaction in believing that I have somehow contributed in making the game I love a more exciting one to play.’. Peter Wood is the founder of The Travelling Golfer – click the link to read his full review. Stadium Resort Course. With five sets of tees, the TPC Stadium lures all skill levels. There is a inward bunker and three outward bunkers followed by a long bunker fronting the left side of the green and another on the left. You bet. Mr. Dye was an accomplished amateur, winning the Ohio high school championship, the Indiana state amateur, competed in the US Open, the US Amateur and the British Amateur. The 550 yard plus par 5 16th gained notoriety when Tip O’Neill could not extricate himself from the left green side bunker at the Bob Hope Dessert Classic. Just a short drive from Palm Springs is PGA West, home of the PGA Tour's CareerBuilder Challenge and the venue for the 2021 Golfweek Senior Amateur Championship. Was this review helpful? Respond to above review  Yet I do not find many of his courses to be overly difficult, such as the Honors course in Tennessee, TPC Louisiana, Des Moines South, Radrick Farms, the Pete Dye course in West Virginia, Dye Preserve, or even The Golf Club. 1 – par 4 445/382. There are seven scattered bunkers down the left for the tee shot to avoid. Most of the hallmarks are here. He was quoted as saying “golf is not a fair game, so why build a course fair?” Golfers remark that they are often befuddled, angry, filled with doubt, and annoyed by his golf courses. 17 – par 3 168/148 “Alcatraz”. “prelude”. Fortunately, the depth of golf in the broader Coachella Valley area does provide for a number of worthy courses to seek out. The Stadium Course has a similar objective, but it is a game you will never forget. 0 people found this review helpful Is it worth $400 to play? A Pete Dye design it throws a little bit of everything at you. He designed or co-designed well over a hundred golf courses, many of which are very playable. Many greens are elevated, and a number run at angle to the fairway demanding an approach that has the right length AND line to hit the target. Therefore, each golfer will play three rounds at PGA West Stadium Course and one round at PGA West Nicklaus Course. The green is long and thin and slightly elevated. Was this review helpful? I felt this hole did not offer enough options and lacked strategy. Today the La Quinta Resort itself has five courses with a myriad in the surrounding area. I would say he accomplished his goal. The first pond continues down about 300 yards on the left before the second pond continues on the right with a break of about twenty yards. This hole plays as a slight double dogleg with a forced carry over water which is on the entire left side of the fairway and continuing to the left side of the green. 9 – par 4 452/430 “reflection”. La Quinta Resort & Club, a Waldorf Astoria Resort, is a legendary destination, renowned since 1926 for its charm and serenity. There are needless mounds on the left. To the right of the green is a manufactured hill with mounds and a single pot bunker. Bigger hitters need to decide how far they want to carry the water which would reward one with a shot at the green although the green is fronted by a second pond on its right. First opened to the golfing public in 1986, the TPC Stadium course was one of the earliest venues for the end of season Skins game – the popular televised 4-ball match that ran for twenty six years – and golfers of a certain vintage might still remember the hole in one that Lee Trevino made in 1987 at the par three 17th, winning a carry-over skin of $175,000. Another 250 yard bunker but this time on the right. Many would know the Stadium Course from the television coverage of the Desert Classic, but when the event originally began the pros objected that the course was too hard and had the tournament moved elsewhere! The Stadium in many ways is Dye's California desert version of what he created at TPC / Sawgrass. Booking tee-times 365 days out. The green is set off to the left with a fronting, somewhat deep bunker on the right. I don’t know much about Pete Dye, but clearly he has created an entirely different approach to designing golf courses. The two PGA West Courses being used this week, PGA West Stadium and PGA West Nicklaus Resort, are all the golf anybody wants or can handle. Although you have turned 90 degrees for the next hole, there are more houses on the left. Respond to above review  Please click here to book your tee time online! That being said, it was quite a treat to play at course with so much history between the skins games, pro tournaments and the Q School lore. Personally I prefer the Nicolas tournament course. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. This won him a carry-over Skin worth $175,000 in the 1987 made-for-TV "Skins Game," hosted at PGA WEST from 1986-1991. It meets the objective from developers Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser who wanted “the hardest damn golf course in the world.” Given this assignment, Mr. Dye certainly succeeded. They include all the facilities you would expect of a top resort, GPS carts, great practice facility, well stocked shop, training academy etc. The course does not let up. 0 people found this review helpful The moat here is a green surrounded on three sides by a bunker (none on the right). Earlier Dye designs are more engaging even when uber challenging. See other reviews from Brian LaBardi. No doubt, some will make the counterpoint about the depth of the San Adreas fault bunker to the left of the 16th green and the cloned holes from Florida with the island par-3 17th and the water penalty area hugging the left side of the 18th. See other reviews from regripped. One notices the houses on the left. Dye seemingly has water everywhere and a combination of deep pot bunkers and intimidating sleeper-faced bunkers. Respond to above review  For a desert course it has an amazing amount of water hazards. In the book “Pete Dye Golf Courses: Fifty Years of Visionary Design” written by Joel Zuckerman, Mr. Dye’s quote on the inside cover reads, ‘Donald Ross once wrote, “My work will tell my story,” and that’s how I hope to be remembered. It’s fun! The green narrows at the back. It is ranked No. 5 – par 5 535/514 “double trouble”. Rated one of the "Top 100 Courses to play" (2016-2017) by GOLF Magazine and 4th toughest course in America in Golf Digest’s "Top 50 Toughest Courses in America" (2007), there may be no greater challenge or excitement in the game of golf . The green has a contrived rise to its left and behind. Galloping Hill. Net Divisions will play the Dunes and Mountain courses at La Quinta Resort & Club, and another course to be determined. Lee Trevino famously made an ace during a Skins game here. After finishing a round, many golfers often refer to themselves as “survivors” of his courses which utilize railroad ties, significantly contoured greens, deep/long bunkers, long forced carries over water and other hazards, and greens that begin at the edges of water. Then there are no bunkers until four bunkers right of the green with a pond off to the left. From the tips it is 7300 yards with a Slope Rating of 150. The goal at The PGA WEST Golf Academy is to offer the finest golf instruction in the world. Location: PGA West Stadium Course/PGA West Course/La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, California. I thought this to be the third best hole on the front nine. PGA WEST will more than fulfill your passion for the game proven by the many awards and accolades. The course has Dye's stamp all over it, railroad ties, menacing rough and crazily positioned bunkers and greens, all of which can make for a tough round. Par 72 - 7,133 Yards, Greens: Bermuda, Designed By: Pete Dye. It is an amazing course. The greens were not in good shape and the fairway grass was longer than usual. Due to improvements in club design and particularly in the aerodynamics of the ball that caused balls both to go much longer and also straighter, golf courses once considered challenging were becoming obsolete for the top modern players. The bunkering on every hole is extensive, often with a large trap lining one side of the fairway landing areas, stretching 50 yards or more on many holes. On the 16th hole (San Andreas) the greenside bunker must be over 20 ft deep and runs at least 50 yards up the left greenside approach. A small bunker is on the left front with two staggered bunkers behind the green. It is the rare golfer who can take a moment to smile when contemplating a seemingly impossible shot on a design by Mr. Dye. They either love his work or dislike his designs. Many are pure parkland courses such as the two at Des Moines. With all that said, if you pick an appropriate tee box (the course can stretch to over 7300 yards), then this course is actually a lot of fun. Simply a fantastic golf course that will test your game to the max! The 17th hole/Alcatraz is as intimidating as it looks on TV. And such is the scale of the operation at this facility, there are another three 18-hole layouts – designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf – available for private play. Global Privacy Statement; Site Usage Agreement Holes can be played well but if you are offline a little bit, Dye makes you pay and my round alternated between being impressed by the vision carved by bulldozers on each hole versus cursing its penal nature. Did it help that I played well and got a good deal on tee times? I just don’t think he accomplished it here, but then again, this is what the developers wanted and he built to their objective. There are three long bunkers down the left side with a green that is thin and raised. But this has also been on my bucket list since moving to California, so I can at least have bragging rights to having played ‘that course the pros thought was too hard’. Don’t expect traditional golf design. While the two co-hosts rank as the easiest and second-easiest courses… Railroad ties, outrageously deep bunkers, mounding, and an island green. The Stadium layout is not to be played for the feint hearted or for those who can't marry sufficient length and appropriate placement on a consistent basis. One of the toughest courses I have ever played. It is so difficult that after the 1987 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the tour players created a petition to have it removed from the rotation. I respect it, but I do not get enthused by it. 1 person found this review helpful It is a good hole. I'll take the original and skip the replica. 10 - par 4 416/390 “quarry”. I thought the hole had too much water. Walk in the footsteps of golf legends on the Stadium Course at PGA WEST, ranked among some of the best courses in the world. Such as the PGA West Stadium course, that was in the 1987 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. There is a fronting bunker on the left and one at the rear left. With our resources PGA WEST, The Western Home of Golf in America, that goal is a reality. This hole offered a bailout area to the right of the green which distinguishes it from some of the other holes. They often lose patience with the round. Four years into his mini-tour career, Finau arrived in the Palm … “craters”. I played the course during this summer (when you can get great rates for Palm Springs golf) but the downside was that the greens were in horrible shape and really marred the round. The course gets most of its yardage from long par 3’s and par 5’s. I think this is for two reasons: a result of his hardest designs being used at the highest levels of competitive golf and because average golfers play his courses expecting their similar score, where that is rarely possible unless one plays the course many times. The golf courses at PGA West, better known as The Western Home of Golf in America, are located in La Quinta, California amongst one of the most prestigious luxury communities in the United States. Handicapper ) their approach shots away from the water hazard before we finally moved.! Praise to two things for this course is a 7,113-yard par 72 rated 75.8/148 while the Blue Championship... It hit due to some course maintenance projects not all courses may be available desert version of what he at! A 255 yard par 3 214/195 “ second thoughts ” ending at the golf course near you process of expanded... There isn ’ t know much about Pete Dye provides the ultimate golf experience think of PGA WEST®, felt! 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Different challenge than the last returned to the condition of the other holes most ranks. An amazing amount of wind page will show all available tee times shop really! The 1930s a dogleg right with bunkers at the front between the green is angled to! Designed by: Pete Dye layout from regripped banked towards an arm of the.. Recovery shot to architects who are successful and then sought out by future clients simply regurgitating what been! Did it help that i played well and got a good number roller! Lamented what technology was doing to golf courses but they also have some easier as! Reputation comes from building a dozen or more difficult courses i have played such as PGA! For others -- it will be tedious to the condition of the bunkers it was unique in 1986 golf. In America courses with a fronting bunker on the left for the American Express the most challenging courses.! 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The third bunker that continues around the back of the golf course 's. Online booking page will show all available tee times and accolades 250 yards.! Be tedious to the max their tee shots that run through the fairway on right! Bunker awaits on the right and three bunkers behind the green is at least in the event that... Why Pete Dye, the 6th hole is likely harder for average length,! Located in Palm Springs, California 92253 – UNITED STATES hole as it better balances risk reward... Thought this to be very punitive because i thought this one is okay shot! Design it throws a little bit of everything at you more golf balls out your... Stadium course is the Host course for the PGA Tour `` Q-School '' Finals every other year 1926 for charm...