GOLF After a meal and a good night’s rest it’ll be time for some fun, and for that we’ll head to a golf course. First stop, Classic Club (classicclubgolf.com). What a place: The Palmer-designed golf course hosted the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic for three years, and it’s no wonder. Rolling terrain, wide landing areas, 30 acres of water features, 14 bridges and a beautiful array of pine trees, pine straw ground cover and more (including five sets of tees on each hole) mean this course has something for everyone. Regularly lauded by the likes of GolfWeek, the Zagat Survey, Golf Travel Annual and others, the Audubon-certified track offers a visual feast and a world of amenities in its elegant 63,000 square-foot Tuscan Village-inspired clubhouse, including a top pro shop and the excellent Bellatrix restaurant. It’s a desert must-play as far as we’re concerned, and not just because we like the name. Another classic golf spot, and also host to the Bob Hope tourney (now the CareerBuilder Challenge) is the renowned PGA WEST. Featuring 2,000 acres of golf and lifestyle community grounds, PGA WEST offers 109 holes of golf on six legendary courses, including tracks built by Palmer, Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Tom Weiskopf. Beyond just visiting, there are membership and real estate options here that make it a compelling way to spend more than just a little time in the desert. With so much golf on offer, it’s hard not to call this a kind of paradise. For those who like their games truly old school, the site of the original Bob Hope Classic is The Thunderbird
PGA WEST Stadium Course [top]; Classic Club 9th [above]
Country Club in Rancho Mirage, where Frank himself used to play. It’s one of the oldest in the Coachella Valley and it’s still going strong (thunderbirdcc.org). There’s also what used to be Canyon Country Club, now Indian Canyons Golf (indiancanyonsgolf.com), which opened in 1961 and features a Midcentury Modern clubhouse and a course designed by William Bell. Check it out on Sundays when Champagne with any entree is only $4.95—and that’s served with unlimited mini muffins! Nothing wrong with mini muffins.
FA L L 2 0 1 6
65