Rancho Las Palmas • Rancho Mirage daybed, sipping a fruity drink under the warm desert sun. It’s the all-new Spa Las Palmas (featured on page 44), though, that truly sets Rancho Las Palmas apart. Completely redesigned in 2013, the spa is a perfect way to relax your muscles after a fun morning on the course, or to treat yourself while your golfing spouse hits the links. A new, outdoor plaza for live music, the famous bluEmber restaurant, and upgraded suites further cement Rancho’s status as a top pick for couples making a weekend or week-long stay, while the variety of resort amenities make it a favorite of families as well.
FRANK SINATRA REGION The Classic Club Palm Desert • 760-601-3600 • classicclubgolf.com The Classic Club, one of a rare breed of non-profit golf courses, was built for the express purpose of hosting a PGA TOUR event — at the time, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic — and donates all of its proceeds to local charitable organizations. Given the unique format of the Bob Hope, in which professionals played alongside celebrities for four of the event’s five days, legend Arnold Palmer designed the course to be both a challenge for pros, yet playable for amateurs, a quality that makes it just as fun and challenging for today’s snowbirds as it was for Phil Mickelson, Samuel L. Jackson and the Bob Hope field in 2006. While the Bob Hope — now the Humana Challenge — has moved on, The Classic Club remains one of the desert’s most appealing tracks, with impeccable, PGA TOUR quality and surprisingly low rates. To maintain its charitable status, the Classic donates up to 5,000 rounds a year to charitable groups for as little as $35 a round, and maintains greens fees about 20 percent lower than others in the region, with a peak winter greens fee of $139 that includes a $15 lunch voucher, yardage book, divot tool, ball marker, cart with GPS and unlimited bottled water. It’s just another way the course built for charity continues to give back.
SilverRock Resort La Quinta • 760-777-8884 • silverrock.org Palm Springs has its fair share of courses with great views or dramatic settings. But almost none can match the sheer drama of La Quinta’s SilverRock Resort. “Every day when I drive in, I still marvel at it,” says general manager Randy Duncan. “It’s like a Hollywood set.” Every one of SilverRock’s 18 holes plays directly towards, away from, or alongside the Santa Rosa Mountains, providing a colorful, pulse-quickening backdrop that is unlike almost any other in the region. It’s not just for the camera-friendly setting, though, that the PGA TOUR moved the Bob Hope Classic to SilverRock from 2008-11 cascadegolfer.com
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