With world-class golf courses set against dramatic desert landscapes and top-quality tennis courts beneath towering palms, two sports get classy treatment in the Palm Springs region—great if you’re a spectator or if you like to play.
Long considered one of America’s golf capitals, Coachella Valley boasts more golf courses per capita than any place on earth. And we are talking seriously beautiful courses. The Pete Dye-designed Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta earned honors from Golf Digest as one the top 100 public courses in the world. PGA West also features the La Quinta Resort Mountain Course, which is famous for its innovative design and spectacular combination of lush landscaping and eroded, pink-hued stones of the Santa Rosa range that frames the vista to the west. And in Palm Desert, Desert Willow Golf Resort offers two challenging courses, the Firecliff and Mountain View links, and is also home to the Palm Desert Golf Academy.
Tennis holds its own place of honor in the desert, with outstanding public courts throughout the valley. Area resorts offer both premium facilities and lessons with skilled pros, including at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, where you can live out your Wimbledon fantasies on two grass courts. And if you want to play where the pros play, the spectacular Indian Wells Tennis Garden (home to springtime’s BNP Paribas Open, a top-tier event drawing Federer, Murray, Nadal, and other tennis mega-stars) offers nearly 30 open-to-all courts (many of them lit at night).
