The re-emergence of Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta last fall after two years of being closed and unmaintained is certainly good news for golfers in the Coachella Valley and homeowners on the golf course in south La Quinta.But the work by the Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta Maintenance Association to bring the former […]
The re-emergence of Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta last fall after two years of being closed and unmaintained is certainly good news for golfers in the Coachella Valley and homeowners on the golf course in south La Quinta.But the work by the Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta Maintenance Association to bring the former home of the Skins Game back to life remains a rarity in golf.“(The course) went through a few different hands, and the last set of hands really created a gauntlet for us to go through,” said Mark Reider, president of the TLQMA. “But we put our nose to the grindstone and figured out how to do that with the different bankruptcy trustees.”Even as the game of golf has surged during the COVID pandemic and the years after, with rounds played up by as much as 20 percent year over year in the first two years after the pandemic, the number of golf courses in the country has steadily declined.That rate of decline has leveled off, though. In the decade before the pandemic, golf courses across the country were closing at a rate of 10-to-1 over golf course openings. That was a trend that hit the golf-rich Coachella Valley as well, with several course closures in the 2000s and the 2010s. In that same time, only one golf course, the ultra-exclusive Ladera Golf Club in Thermal, has opened in the Coachella Valley.
Opened: 1984On its website, the course mentioned the weather (perhaps including the extremely hot summer of 2024), the collapse of a well on the 16th hole, the need for a revamped irrigation system and continuing losses as the reasons for shutting down the course.
Address: 1001. S. El Cielo Drive, Palm Springs“We brought back the 10 holes of the perimeter of our housing development,” said Greg Trout, president of the Rancho Mirage Country Club HOA. “Our housing development is almost like a square. The outer area had 10 holes on it. The inner area had eight holes. So we decided, I was treasurer at the time, the board decided we ought to just get the golf course going.”Here’s a look at some desert courses that have disappeared in recent years and are still waiting to be developed into something new, and one course that has salvaged some of its golf:Palm Springs Country ClubWhere: Palm SpringsOpened: 1957Architect: Robert BellClosed: Mid-2000sAddress: 2500 Whitewater Club Drive, Palm SpringsThe oldest of the golf courses on this list, this layout was originally called Whitewater Country Club before changing its name. Set in a housing development north of Vista Chino Road and west of Gene Autry Trail, the course was about 6,400 yards with some of the more unique holes in the desert.In the later 1990s and into the 2000s, the course was opened and closed at various times and the condition of the golf course suffered before it was finally shut down. Since then, various developers have proposed housing on the empty land of the course, which runs between homes in the area. A new developer, SunCal, has recently taken over efforts to put something on the empty land, land that will never be a golf course again.Mesquite Country ClubWhere: Palm SpringsOpened: 1984Architect: Bert StampsClosed: 2022A tight course with six reachable par-5s and measuring about 6,400 yards from the back tees, Mesquite Country Club was a popular course in the 1980s and into the 1990s. Through ownership changes and conditioning issues, the course began to lose popularity in the 2000s, when golf participation was lagging across the country. The course would often close in the summer before overseeding and remain closed for months at a time.In 2022, the property located at 2700 E. Mesquite Ave. in Palm Springs was bought by the Prescott Foundation and donated to the Oswit Land Trust, which announced it would create the Prescott Preserve, with walking trails and native desert plants in a nature preserve. Progress on the project has been slowed by city regulatory requirements as well as lawsuits from neighboring homeowners’ associations.The city has granted approval to change the property to a nature preserve, and in late November Oswit Land Trust and the HOA announced they had reached an agreement and that pending lawsuits will soon be dropped. That should clear the way for the nature preserve on the property where there is little left that resembles a golf course.Bel Air Greens
The National Golf Foundation reported 90 18-hole equivalent golf courses closed in 2023 with 24 golf courses opening across the country.The HOA went into an uproar as the course was fenced off and the water turned off. Negotiations took place with the HOA, the new owners and the city, and a deal was eventually struck to have Oasis Ranch sell the course to a new developer, with the new developer renovating the course into an 18-hole executive course with condos and a hotel on part of the property that was the course. But the first interested developer left the project.
Rancho Mirage Country Club
Closed: 2015The land is still not developed and there is a for-sale sign up on the corner of Frank Sinatra Drive and Portola Avenue.Trilogy won’t count as a new course opening, just as a course revived from the dead. But in the last two decades in the desert, some golf courses have disappeared that won’t be golf courses again. The return of golf to Rancho Mirage Country Club won’t count as a new course, particularly since the old 18-hole layout doesn’t exist anymore.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.This is the one story of at least some redemption on this list. A course of just over 6,100 yards from the back tees, Rancho Mirage Country Club had been at times a private course and a semi-private course allowing outside play. But that ended in 2015 when the course was bought by Oasis Ranch LLC, with plans for residential housing and a boutique hotel. The HOA had no control over the course, just the housing development.Trout adds there are some rumblings of other developers who are interested in buying the golf course property from Oasis Ranch, with the city approvals for condos and a hotel still in place along with the requirement that the course be reconfigured into an 18-hole executive course. For now, with just over 70 members of the course that is open only to members and their families, Trout said the membership is content with the 10-hole course.
Opened: 1989Address: 38500 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho MirageA short nine-hole course perfect for walking or pulling a cart, Bel Air Greens went under a few different names, including Fairchild’s Bel Air Greens and Tommy Jacobs’ Bel Air Greens. The layout had five par-4s, none over 300 yards, and four par-3s between 103 and 185 yards. The facility included a pro shop and small restaurant, and at one time under former PGA Tour winner Jacobs included a miniature golf course.
Desert Dunes Golf Club
Closed: 2024Golfers praised the layout of the course north of Interstate 10 along Palm Drive, with holes working their way into the native desert much more than in many so-called desert courses. The course was also full of desert flora as well as desert animals like rabbits and coyotes. It was a challenging and beautiful course.Closed: 2014Where: Desert Hot SpringsArchitect: Len GirkenArchitect: Robert Trent Jones Jr.Opened: 1975Address: 19300 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs
A sporty course of just over 5,500 yards, Santa Rosa was popular with older players who found the course didn’t bludgeon them with unreachable par-4s or par-5s. But in an era when golf participation was dropping across the country, and with some members aging out of the game, Santa Rosa found its membership shrinking to the point that it couldn’t sustain the equity club.
