THERMAL (California) — In the Coachella Valley in the 1980s and 1990s, there was no better way to make money than working in the golf course construction industry.
Everyone involved in golf course building in the desert was busy, from course designers to bulldozer drivers. In the Coachella Valley alone, 33 courses were developed in the 1980s, an average of one every 100 days throughout the decade. As demand for golf fell across the country in the 1990s and early 2000s, the rate of growth halted. The last 18-hole golf course to open in the desert was Clive Clark’s Eagle Falls Golf Club at Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, which opened in 2008.
That’s why the announcement of a prospective new golf course in the Thermal area is so intriguing. While this is a very private club that will not be rushing to fill tee times every day, it is nevertheless a new golf course in a neighborhood that loves the game.
Even if golf is growing as a result of the epidemic — rounds of golf increased by double digits in 2020 despite the virus and are anticipated to increase somewhat this year — some will wonder if a new course in the desert is really needed now. However, with high-profile music producer Irving Azoff as a major investor, this project will be more than just a pitch-and-putt course designed to generate cash for the owners.
Instead, the new private course might join a long history of ultra-exclusive clubs in the desert that have carved out their own niche. The new course would fit well in with the area’s luxury courses, with a proposed membership of only 50 individuals and a daily maximum of only 25 persons playing the course on any one day.
When it comes to accessibility, the desert has numerous golf courses that put even the highest-end private courses in the vicinity to shame. Sunnylands Golf Club in Rancho Mirage is a very private course established by Walter Annenberg and open only by invitation to his pals, who were either professional golfers or presidents and international political personalities. That course, which was a New Year’s Eve tradition for President Ronald Reagan while he was in office, is still one of the desert’s most difficult tee times.
And then there’s Porcupine Creek, Tim Blixseth’s backyard course in Rancho Mirage that was once voted one of the top 20 in the state despite only having two foursomes a day on the property. Since 2011, Larry Ellison, one of the world’s wealthiest men, has bought the course and the adjacent property, allowing his tennis friends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to play there. Ellison, who also owns the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, is converting Porcupine Creek into a luxury spa and hideaway that will provide a “six-star, private guest experience.”
Its own personality
Of course, the suggested Thermal course would have its own personality. Take, for example, the setting. It’s over an hour’s drive from downtown Palm Springs, and it’s well to the south and east of any current course. If you want to be alone, a golf course on a 300-acre farm with mango and citrus trees is a terrific place to start.
Then there’s Gil Hanse, the man who will design the course. When Hanse beat off far greater names like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Greg Norman for the privilege to design the Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro for 2016, he made headlines for casual players. That made a major impression because golf was making its first appearance in the Olympics in over a century.
Hanse has also designed the South Course at Los Angeles Country Club, as well as repairing or restoring several of the country’s most well-known courses, including Oakmont, Pinehurst, The Country Club, and the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, which will host the 2023 US Open. A course designed by Hanse would be a welcome addition to the desert golf scene.
Azoff, who is also a member of La Quinta’s Madison Club, is surrounded in this project by people whose names aren’t well-known but who know how to get things done. The fact that the project was approved at the Riverside County Planning Director’s meeting this week demonstrates this. The developers’ promises of jobs and money for the neighborhood have the same effect. There will be some opposition to the idea, as there is to any project, but the golf course appears to be well on its way to becoming a reality.
From nine-hole mobile home park courses to resort hotel layouts to ultra-exclusive private facilities, golf in the Coachella Valley comes in a variety of packages.
If developed, the projected Thermal course will simply add to that palette.
