Official Website: laquintaresort.com
Course Architect: Pete Dye
First Teed Off: 1981
Rating: 72.9
Slope: 135
Yardage: 6732
Par: 72
Rates of Passage: $69 – 225
View from the 19th Hole
This course is best viewed from above. Channing Benjamin, a local photographer, and his drone have captured some amazing images of this Pete Dye Masterpiece set against the Santa Rosa Mountains. Like the neighboring Dye work at the PGA West Stadium course, many tees are elevated with bunkers aplenty on your approach. Unlike PGA West Stadium, this course is much more of a relaxed, resort course – challenging, but playable, for all types
Our Round
Every hole has the same advice: hit right to an elevated green. If you can heed that warning, you'll be in pretty good shape. Should you, or your ball, choose a different path you'll still have some great scenery to enjoy, as you're encompassed by the Santa Rosa Mountains throughout the round. Make sure you set your internal compass to Indio before teeing off, as all the greens break that direction. Should you want a more relaxing round, I'd suggest you tee off later in the day. We were one of the first tee times, and even though we were 20 minutes ahead of the pace-of-play, the rangers were still on us, and everyone else, to keep moving. It's a little frustrating when you're shelling out north of $200 per person, and you're literally running back to the cart from the green. So pay the twilight fee, and have the luxury to play in more than three-and-a-half hours because I'm sure it slows down as the day goes on. While it might read otherwise, the rangers didn't put a damper on what was still a great day on the Mountain Course.
The course starts quickly, with the second hole being a par-3. Three's green gets you right at the base of the mountain, and you'll hug it as four has a blind dogleg left around the rocks hugged by a bunker at the front left side.
The par-3 fifth hole is slightly downhill, but any wind will dictate your club choice. I'm pretty sure only one of our foursome (me, *cough*, me) actually made our tee shot. While the mountain and water appear to make the fairway of six zig-zag, it's actually a straight shot from tee to green. Just put your blinders on.
While the par-5 seventh is short on paper at 492 yards, it plays longer due to the water and bunkers at right, forcing you to wind out left toward the driving range.
Ten and eleven feel so different from the rest of the course, as they give the impression of shotgunning through rows of homes. It finally starts to open back up on 12, as you make your way back above the rooflines.
Fourteen through seventeen were the most picturesque part of the round. All sit at the base of the mountain, and while there are houses nearby, you don't feel like they are there. Fourteen will play uphill to a green that sits slightly behind an outcropping of the mountain.
Fifteen shuttles back, as a par-5 that rewards a tee shot with a good roll. It turns to the right at the very end, with, of course, a bunker lining the right side of the green.
Sixteen is the signature hole of the course. A par-3 best viewed from the tips, it demands a precise tee shot. There is no safety outside of the green, as it's guarded by severe bunkers set in a bed of rocks.
Seventeen is the last of the mountainside holes. Bunkers line the left side before you reach the large green.
Eighteen is a hole with a personality different from that of the rest of the course. The tee boxes are tucked between and beneath deciduous trees, and houses sit atop the hill along the left side. You'll dogleg left to finish up on this par-5 with a large green.
Overall, the Mountain Course was fun to play, well-maintained, and fantastic to look at throughout our round. The La Quinta community is certainly a retirement goal for many golfers, and we can understand why.
Scoreboard
2016-17, Top 100 Courses You Can Play (no. 94), GOLF Magazine
2017, Best Resort Courses (no. 135), Golfweek
Professional Play
1989, The Senior Skins Game
1985, World Cup of Golf
1982, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 95, PGA Club Professional Championship
California State Open
Prestige at PGA WEST Intercollegiate Invitational
Future Champions Golf
Scorecard
