A Desert Diamond

Desert Willow is on a record pace for play, performance and pure golf pleasure in Palm Desert

BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

The numbers may have dipped slightly early in 2022 due primarily to some crummy weather. But it’s well-known that golf in the U.S. enjoyed a surge in popularity in 2020 and 2021 -- a result, of course, of the pandemic and the opportunity golf gave people caged up at home during lockdowns to recreate outside safely.

Some of the figures demonstrating the phenomenon were frankly remarkable. Here are some good ones (all according to the National Golf Foundation):

• Despite 42 percent fewer rounds being played in the U.S. during the first few months of 2020, May, by which time golf courses had begun to open again, saw an increase of over six percent.

• More than half a million new golfers tried the game for the first time in 2020.

• Eleven million more rounds were played in October 2020 than had been played in October 2019.

• Some leading retailers recorded a 70 percent increase in business over 2020 and 2021.

• The number of rounds played in 2021 was roughly 18 percent higher than the average in the years 2017-19.

• And just a couple of months ago, eight out of 10 golf businesses surveyed by the NGF said their financial health rated between eight and 10 on a scale of 10.

Desert Willow Golf Club • Palm Desert, Calif.

One of our favorite stats, though, involves a course (well, two) we invariably enjoy when visiting the southwest deserts in the fall and winter. Desert Willow Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif., has always been a busy place with 36 holes designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry. Pre-pandemic, the courses Firecliff and Mountain View, averaged slightly less than 90,000 rounds between them. From July 2021 to July 2022, however, that number surpassed 100,000 — almost an extra 30 rounds a day, every day, or seven additional fourballs. That’s an impressive number when you consider how busy it already was.

Director of Sales and Marketing Brian Simpson says golfers began flocking back to Desert Willow in April 2020 as soon as Riverside County lifted its restrictions. “And it’s just continued growing since then,” he adds, with both courses contributing equally to the record-breaking 2022. “We were at capacity almost every day during our peak season,” Simpson continued, “with a mix of returning golfers and those out here for the first time.” (And it isn’t just golfers that are enjoying what Desert Willow has to offer as the wedding lawn is on schedule to host 50 weddings this year, and the terrace saw more than 600 diners enjoying Thanksgiving dinner just a couple of weeks ago).

You might think courses, and their maintenance departments, would buckle under the weight of such traffic, but reviews of Desert Willow seemingly always mention the quality of the turf and its appearance in general.

Responsible for the playing surfaces is superintendent Chris Bien, who worked on the Tom Weiskopf, Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus (private)-designed courses at PGA West before moving to Desert Willow three years ago and who has somehow managed to produce quality conditions without hiring a single new staff member. Bien also having to deal with California’s worsening drought and serious shortages of water from the Colorado River which supplies many Southern Californian and Coachella Valley golf courses. He oversees a maintenance staff of 39 and relishes the challenge of keeping his turf firm and fast without becoming wall-to-wall brown.

It’s clear he has taken the significant increase in traffic very much in his stride. “Sure, it has been slightly more difficult,” he admitted. “But we were plenty busy before. Our operation hasn’t changed a great deal.”

Bien says mowing the rough during the afternoon has been his toughest task — one he has met by combining the work force of two courses more often on to just one. “That has helped us stay ahead of play and create less disturbance for the players,” he says.

It’s a job that most definitely must be done as Desert Willow is a municipal facility and, in order to keep players coming back, needs to remain playable. Both courses have the prerequisite number of teeing options you’d except of a city-owned course, but neither is terribly easy, especially the Firecliff which stretches to 7,056 yards from the back tees.

The Firecliff, whose name is derived from Leonard Firestone, son of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founder Harvey S. Firestone, and Cliff Henderson, who co-founded the City of Palm Desert, opened in 1997 and has been ranked in the top 25 Californian courses by both Golfweek and GolfPass. Hurdzan and Fry took out 10 percent of the bunkers a few years ago in an effort to make it more player-friendly (without becoming

a pushover) though sand is probably not the golfer’s primary concern with water coming closely into play on half a dozen holes.

Two of the course’s best are the 17th and 18th, both of which feature the wet stuff on the right, though there’s plenty of sand on that side of the 204-yard 17th too. Aiming left would seem to be the best policy, but steer safely away from the trouble and you might find another bunker to the left of the green.

Bailing left might be problematic at the 536-yard 18th too, with bunkers at various intervals all down that side. “It’s a great finish,” Simpson asserts. “The 17th is the most demanding par 3 we have, and the 18th with its second shot over water is truly one of the best in the Valley.”

Water also affects six holes on Mountain View, which opened in 1998 and where the right-to-left dogleg 18th is another birdie-able, but trouble-strewn par 5. There’s water all down the right on the tee shot (with a trio of bunkers on the other side) and left for the second.

Exciting though the 18th surely is, it could be the 6th that people remember most — another risk/reward par 5 where two stout shots will see you putting for eagle but anything defective off the tee will make you see the hole very differently.

Many players have a hard time picking between the two courses at Desert Willow and both will prove hugely popular again this winter when daytime temperatures will likely hover around the 70-degree mark.

We will definitely be hoping to squeeze in some Coachella time this winter and a couple of rounds, at least, at Desert Willow, where Brian Simpson says the entire property is thriving. Be sure to book your tee-times as far in advance as possible to be sure of getting on the course. And, if you’re going to be in the area for an extended period, consider joining either the Platinum Club or Champions Club. Membership of either will likely end up saving you a packet because, once you play at Desert Willow, you’ll probably want to make it a regular thing.

Pre-pandemic, the courses Firecliff and Mountain View, averaged slightly less than 90,000 rounds between them. From July 2021 to July 2022, however, that number surpassed 100,000