With no closures in the last 12 months, has desert golf turned a corner?

At the Desert Chapter PGA annual meeting and awards banquet, a few people complained that there was so much traffic in the Coachella Valley these days they had trouble getting to the event at The S in Rancho Mirage on time. There were comments that there were lots of people in town spending lots of money.

That’s exactly the kind of thing many of the PGA members in the room are hoping to hear these days. As a new season in the desert has rumbled back to life in the last few weeks, desert golf courses are hoping that visitors and snowbirds would come to the desert earlier, stay longer and spend more money playing local golf courses. So far, that’s what seems to be happening, at least through anecdotal evidence.

Of course, few if any pros would actually tell you that their golf courses are struggling mightily at any given moment, even if it is the truth. Generally the talk is that, well, things are looking up or things seem pretty steady these days. Maybe the other guys are struggling, but we are doing okay.

But consider some of the evidence:

— Officials at the Indian Wells Golf Resort are reporting packed houses for their Shots in the Night nighttime golf activities on their driving ranges and putting greens. Reservations are being taken for the hour-long sessions of hitting at lighted targets on the driving range or playing computerized games on special putting greens. It’s an example of trying something out of the box that seems to be working.

—  As more and more people come to the desert for the season, Shadow Mountain Golf Club in Palm Desert is seeing some movement in getting more and more community people involved in the non-golf social activities of the club. There has even been more interest in the community memberships for the club, officials report. That club is open about its struggles in the last year and any memberships, community or otherwise, is important.

—  Season-opening parties at various private clubs in the desert from Bighorn to PGA West to several other clubs have been reported to be among the biggest and best-attended parties in years. That means more people are returning a little earlier to the desert, which is good even if it is only for an extra week or two at the start of the season. A week at the start of the season and a week at the end of the season makes for some nice extra revenue for a course.

 

None of this, of course, guarantees that the crowds of people in the desert right now are all going to play golf. But that has always been true. The number of tourism visitors to the desert who play golf is actually pretty small compared to other activities like just walking around or laying by the pool. That’s just like not everyone who buys a home in the desert does so at a private country club. And not everyone who comes to the desert joins a private or semi-private club.

 

But more people in the desert does mean more people golfing, or interested in golfing, or interested in buying memberships. That’s all anyone in the golf industry is asking, that people show an interest in the game and the facilities in the desert.

Golf has a long way to go to return to the glory days of 10 years ago, when tee sheets were full and so were membership rolls at pretty much any club in the desert. Courses are just looking for smaller steps forward, both on the golf course and in non-golf activities. A desert full of people ready to spend money is the best news local golf courses can have these days. No golf course in the desert has closed since the start of the season 12 months ago. Everyone is hoping that is true 12 months from now.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or [email protected] Follow him on Facebook or Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.