rruland99

This review is less about the course itself (which was in kind of lousy shape - rock hard, patchy fairways, decent greens but no one repairs ball markers) and more about the employees' total disregard for guests' health during a pandemic. When we checked in at the pro shop before our round, we had to ask the guy behind the counter to put on a mask. It's not like he forgot - he had to go get a new mask from a box. When we tried to buy a drink at the turn, both that employee and another employee were chatting in the pro shop with no masks, even after I walked in. I left without buying anything. I've never seen such blatant disrespect for mask wearing. You can keep your macho "I'm not wearing a mask" bravado. I won't be coming back here to play. Ever.

We've now played this course twice and had the same feeling both times. It's a very beautiful course, and it's in excellent condition. The greens are rock hard and brown, but the ball rolls - fast. We have a couple of problems with our experience playing this course: it's too hard, especially for intermediate women, and there are NO services. My wife is a decent 20-handicap player who won't play this course again. She's fine playing 5,200 yards normally, but not on this course with all its moguls and water. Forward tees somewhere between 4800 and 5000 yards would be a big improvement. Also, while we understand the limitations that Covid has placed on the Marriott, they don't offer basic amenities that other area courses in the price range do offer - there is no beverage cart, no water fountains, no water bottles provided, no ability to buy water at the turn, no water in the water fountains, no warning that water will not be available. This is unconscionable. The pro shop is often left unattended, making it difficult to check in, and one never knows if someone will come to the bag drop to pick up our bags upon arrival. So we ended up carrying our bags a very long way from bag drop to cart staging area.

There are so many excellent courses/golf experiences in the Palm Desert area but, unfortunately, Palm Desert Resort and CC is not one of them. The starter/cart person was more interested in chatting with fellow staff than improving the player experience (explaining pin placements, pairing twosomes to avoid slow play) and wore his mask below his nose. Course conditions were bad (no grass) in some places, but okay in others. Greens were very good. We were looking for a place to become members. This is not the place for us.