This morning, I was back home in Southern California adding a new private club to my growing local list. I played The Springs Club in Rancho Mirage along with a few friends. We had gone in together for a silent auction round here when playing in the tournament at Lake Arrowhead CC a little while back. It ended up being $75 a player, which wasn’t too bad at all.
Today was the day we used up the deal, waiting until after they did their overseed and the desert temperatures came down for the season. It was still in the low 80s out there by the time we left, though. Otherwise, it was a picture perfect day and so nice with very little wind after last week’s craziness in Vegas.
They had a shotgun start this morning at 8:30, but it wasn’t a huge group. We started on the 4th hole with a hole gap ahead of us and behind us, so we pretty much enjoyed our own great pace of just over 3.5 hours.
The Springs Club opened in 1975 (a great year for things to be born) and was designed by Desmond Muirhead. There isn’t too much to highlight about the design itself. It is kind of a prototypical Palm Springs area course that is very pleasant to play, but not overly distinctive. It looks and feels like so many other courses out in the area. The terrain is super flat and tall palm trees line all the fairways.
There are a number of water hazards in play, and those help create the more interesting holes. The back nine is definitely better than the front with more water in play. Both par-3s on the back are very nice looking and the signature hole here is undoubtedly the 16th. It features an island green complex that looks sharp with a creek running all the way around it. It’s a short and still relatively forgiving hole, but it’s easily the most intriguing one on the course.
Of course, the scenery is very nice throughout the course, especially on a day like today. The mountains are in clear view to the west and south, creating some very scenic backdrops. Again, that’s a pretty standard feature of all these desert courses. There is a lot of pretty landscaping around The Springs course and clubhouse, as well, which adds some more visual appeal.
The course is definitely built to be senior-friendly considering its main membership base. The fairways are wide open and it’s pretty forgiving all the way around as long as you stay out of the water hazards and don’t yank one into the houses that line a majority of the holes. That said, the homes really don’t feel that much “in play” other than a few of the holes.
Where I can give The Springs glowing praise is the conditioning. The drought definitely hasn’t been having an effect here as things were absolutely gorgeous throughout. Everything was lush, green and perfectly manicured. The greens were soft, but rolling very smooth at medium speeds. At times, they were deceptively quick. It seemed that anything going past the hole would slide by just a little more than you wanted. Always just beyond “gimme” range!
The Springs is worth checking out if you get a chance to play it. You won’t remember too much about the course itself, especially if you’ve already played a lot in this area, but the conditioning and everything else here are first class. The staff was extremely nice and the clubhouse/facilities were all excellent. We enjoyed a great BBQ buffet for lunch after our round.
Some pictures from The Springs Club (11/21/15):
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