Tee Time, Anyone?
By Janice Kleinschmidt
At this year’s event, fans at SilverRock Resort took advantage of bleachers to view the action on the greens.
Before there were more than 120 golf courses in the Coachella Valley, before Tiger Woods became one of the three most recognized sports figures in the world, before Michelle Wie was even born, people came here to golf.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower made his first hole in one in Palm Springs (on Feb. 6, 1968, on the 13th hole of Seven Lakes Country Club). After his presidency, he and his wife, Mamie, wintered in their home next to the 11th fairway of Eldorado Country Club in Indian Wells.
Eisenhower also golfed at Indian Palms Country Club in Indio, which was built in the 1930s by Floyd Odlum, owner of Hollywood’s RKO Pictures — primarily so his wife, history-making aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran, did not have to drive from their desert home all the way to Palm Springs when she wanted to putt (at O’Donnell Golf Club, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this month).
Other presidents — George (H.W.) Bush and Gerald Ford — played in the same foursome at the 1995 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, during which each managed to hit their balls into spectators (one of whom required stitches).
Yes, we have our golf history — and our share of Goodyear Blimp flyovers during television coverage of annual tournaments named for and hosted by Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Dinah Shore. Presidents, celebrities of all stripes, and PGA and LPGA golfers have graced our greens from one end of the valley to the other.
Arnold Palmer, “The King” of the game, won the Palm Springs Golf Classic (later the Bob Hope Classic) in 1960 (with a 22-under-par score) and has designed local courses: Indian Ridge Country Club, Mountain View Country Club, Tradition Golf Club, SilverRock Resort, and Classic Club. He so loves the desert that he opened an eponymous restaurant in La Quinta (the city that owns SilverRock Resort).
Other big names in golf who have designed local courses include Clive Clark, Fred Couples, Tom Doak, Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Rees Jones, Robert Trent Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Gary Player, and (last alphabetically but with the most local courses to his credit) Ted Robinson. From the other gender, we have a course (at Indian Palms Country Club) co-designed by Helen Dettweiler (the first woman golfer to turn pro) and Jacqueline Cochran (the first woman to break the sound barrier).
So find your piece of history, your piece of celebrity, or just your peace of mind on the breathtakingly beautiful greens of the Palm Springs Desert Resorts.
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