golf and travel L a Q u i n t a R e s o R t & C L u b 26 CALIFORNIA GOLF NEWS • JUNE 2009 not for the faint of heart. Its signature hole is even named Alcatraz – one of the toughest par 3s in all of golf – and there’s the par five 16th that’s aptly named San Andreas Fault. It features a greenside bunker that’s 19 feet deep. Ouch. The two other PGA West courses are the Nicklaus and the Norman, which plays at 7156 yards from the tips. The PGA West Norman golf course is all Norman – a man known for his aggressive style of play. The risk-reward ratio on the Norman course is high, but it is playable for a wide variety of skill levels. One of Jack Nicklaus’s best designs can be found at PGA West with visible landing areas, elevated greens and gnarly bunkers making for an unfor- gettable round of golf. You will be will be hard pressed to find course in better condition than these two. Over at PGA West, things get seri- ous with the Dye-designed PGA West Stadium Course – a true links-type course that separates the men from the boys in a hurry. The Stadium course has received too many acco- lades to mention, but it remains one of the most famous courses in the world – and a must for any golfing visitor to the West Coast. The Stadium course has played host to the Bob Hope Classic, PGA Q School Finals, the Skins game and the Legends of Golf. The course is viewed as the sequel to Dye’s TPC at Sawgrass and its 7300 yards of trouble – from pot bunkers, water, sidehill lies. It’s a thrill a minute and you will be tested. Think of it as the Magic Mountain of golf – The most forgiving of the courses is the Pete Dye-designed Dunes course that is onsite at La Quinta. The Dunes, like the other course, is simply stun- ning and the views alone are worth the price of admission. The Dunes plays at 6747 yards from the tips, but four sets of tees makes it playable for nearly anybody. It’s truly a relaxing course to play. The Mountain Course, on the other hand, is a challenge, but is well worth the balls you will likely loose as poorly hit shots usually find the desert. The aptly named Mountain Course (it really is carved into the side of a mountain), another Dye design, plays at 6756 yards fro the tips with the “forward” tees playing in at 4894 yards. Both courses are immaculate and the con- ditions never vary year round – you rewarded for accuracy and penalized for wayward shots, but the course plays fair. It is one of Golf Magazine’s “Top 100 Courses You Can Play” in the United States. You can write about La Quinta Resort & Club until your fingers bleed. You can oooh and ahhh at photos until your eyes blur. But neither can do justice to the pure beauty of the place … and you won’t find 90 holes of better golf than what you will find neatly tucked away at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Do yourself a favor – go there. It’s a bucket-list type of place. Information LaQuintaResort.com 800.598.3828 The Mountain Course The infamous Alcatraz at the Stadium Course The Greg Norman Course