Course Review - La Quinta Country Club & Fancourt

This week the US PGA Tour returns to the mainland for the five-event West Coast Swing that will be followed by the first of the year’s big events, the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship at the Ritz-Carlton in Arizona. Half an hour south of Palm Springs, the 53rd Humana Challenge – renamed after decades as the Bob Hope Classic – takes place on three courses in La Quinta in the California desert. A pro-am format is played the first three days on all courses – the Palmer Private Course and the Nicklaus Private Course (both at the PGA West six-course resort development) and La Quinta Country Club – with the top 70 professionals playing the final round at the Palmer Course. All three layouts are in the shadow of the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains and since opening in 1959 La Quinta country club’s beautiful emerald green fairways and shimmering lakes have earned it the nickname of the “Jewel of the Desert”.

The Palmer Course was designed in 1986 and its artfully sculpted parkland layout incorporates 5 lakes and a stretch of the Colorado River Canal. Former world number 1 David Duval shot a historic final round 59 here in a come-from-behind win in 1999. The picturesque but challenging Nicklaus Course is the toughest of the three, and has co-hosted the event since 2009.

On the European Tour Gary Player’s masterpiece at Fancourt in the Southern Cape welcomes the winners-only Volvo Golf Champions event to South Africa’s number 1 ranked course. Opened for play in 2000, The Links is a triumph of design and determination that saw an extraordinarily challenging and memorable golf course created from a disused airfield. The undulating and windswept dune-scape was designed to encourage traditional running links shots to be played, and the greens are predominantly Bent grass. Standouts in this unique 6650m par 73 golfing experience are the 2nd hole, a par 3 that boasts a bunker in the middle of its expansive green, and the 14th, a par 4 that is reachable for the longer hitters if the tee is forward.

The signature hole is the 370m dogleg 15th that is played around and over a dam to a green protected by water on three sides. The Links is the top rated golf course in Africa and compares favourably with the best in the world. It is easy to see why Gary Player thinks that this course is the crowning achievement of his career as a designer.

Golfweather Editorial