Home to 120 golf courses, a bustling calendar of peak-season activity and what is arguably the nation’s most idyllic winter weather, the Coachella Valley (oft known as “Palm Springs”) is far more than a mere SoCal escape of wedge and respite.
Rather, it’s a destination worthy of international repute – with said sabbatical tucked into a convenient, comely pocket of easy-access commutes and 360-degree mountain framing.
For a prime pairing of tee times and post-round, the Valley’s open-armed milieu makes for one of the country’s most attractive golf getaways.
Swinging Sands
Between its massive course count across a mere 40-mile span of desert, the Coachella Valley sports all manner of options, ranging from game short courses to a unique collection of some of the country’s top “Super Munis,” along with a cache of the union’s finest private clubs.
For players seeking a sweet sampling of public-access, championship-level swings, a host of excellent opportunities abound.
For golfers who might be traveling with some rusty winter wrenches, get your trip started with the generous landing areas across the 36-holes of Billy Casper-designed play at Mountain Vista Sun City in Palm Desert. Set amid the well-groomed confines of the titular 55+ community, both the grounds’ San Gorgonio and Santa Rosa Courses offer ample fairway space for vacationing golfers who haven’t tied on the spikes for a few months.
City-owned Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert counts among the top muni properties in all of SoCal (if not the entire American West) with its awesome pairing of aesthetic and test. Reputed for immaculate grooming and desert-lined flora, both the Dr. Michael Hurdzan/Dana Fry-designed Mountain View and Firecliff Courses prove excellent plays. For what the former presents in beauty, the latter offers in bunker-drawn brawn.
Nearby Marriott’s Shadow Ridge GC is the first-ever domestic design from six-time major winner Nick Faldo, and keeps scores at-bay with its Australian Sandbelt-style bunkering and large, swaling greens. Generous from boxes, the true second-shot course mixes a card of risk-reward par 4s with a collection of studied par-3s and getable par 5s.
A former stop of the desert’s annual PGA Tour course rotation from 2008-11, SilverRock Resort in La Quinta (which, yup, owns the course) offers ample distance for those who are game to try and take a bite of the tips’ 7,300-yard card. For mortals (or, the sane) the routing presents ample adjacency to the hugging Santa Rosa Mountain surrounds, mixing ongoing photo ops with the task of not slapping your Srixon into rock slabs.
Fellow “Super Muni” Indian Wells Golf Resort recently enjoyed a reno of its well-reputed Players Course, with original architect John Fought coming back to author a hefty rework of a course that he’d always wanted to tweak. The resulting play offers enhanced continuity (if not a lil’ less bite), but keeps intact the play’s penchant for stellar and strategic bunkering. In concert, Indian Wells’ sister Celebrity Course proves a super compliment, with the design from Clive Clark a game array of flower-laden routing and some super-fun par 4s.
Known as “The Western Home of Golf in America,” PGA WEST sports five diverse public-access plays when counting the sprawling grounds’ partnership with neighboring/historic La Quinta Resort & Club. The Pete Dye Stadium and Jack Nicklaus Tournament Courses are well-known to those who watch the PGA Tour’s annual American Express (captured this January past by Scottie Scheffler), and both prove tests stern and demanding; per the former, the Stadium – in contrast with Scheffler’s dominance – makes for one of the West Coast’s most fitful amateur tests, with an ongoing array of uneven lies and fateful green surrounds. Off site: Dye’s Mountain Course at La Quinta Resort cards a stellar latter nine run up/though/around the Santa Rosas, ensuring guests a genuine desert-centric experience.
Post-Round A’plenty
Across recent years, the Coachella Valley’s event and activity scheduled has burgeoned into a near-weekly array of engagement options befitting a major market. From sporting events to concerts to a natural canvass of outdoor exploration, finding post-round fun isn’t an issue.
For golf groups who enjoy some off-green gamble, fear not: The desert spread includes nine different casino options, including a trio of Agua Caliente Casino locales (Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Cathedral City), all of which include a 360 Sports bar (with settings that all but mimic a Vegas-style sportsbook, sans the betting windows). Fantasy Springs Resort Casino (home to the very solid Eagle Falls GC) in Indio makes for a safe bet, as does local gaming favorite, Spotlight 29.
For desert guests seeking some Palm Springs’ culture, the annual Modernism Week (February 12-22, 2026) provides attendees with all manner of tours and interactions with the area’s popular and unique mid-century modern art and architecture; and, for those seeking a pleasant outdoor mesh of brush and browse, the always-engaging La Quinta Art Celebration (February 26 – March 1, 2026) brings in artists from around the country to display across a variety of mediums.
Unofficially known as the game’s “Fifth Grand Slam,” the BNP Paribas Open (March 1-15, 2026) at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden brought in over a half-million fans from across the globe in ‘25, increasing the tournament’s global visibility with record-setting attendance. Among the most alluring sporting venues in the world (really), the Garden’s singular mix of sport, sip and dine receives full compliment with a setting so gorgeous as to make the matches sometimes feel a secondary attraction.
Debuted in late 2022, Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert has proven a Valley game-changer by virtue of its state-of-art environs for music, events and sport, along with the success of the building’s chief tenant, the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League (an annual, non-division opponent of the Texas Stars). Along with the puck schedule’s regular season running through April, upcoming shows & events of note include: Cardi B (February 11) and the PBR: Pendleton Whisky Tour (March 20 and 21).
Known universally as “Coachella,” the annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival returns to the Valley’s festival hub of Indio across the April 10-12 and April 17-19 weekends with headliners including Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, the Stokes, David Byrne, Karol G and Young Thug. On the weekend subsequent (April 24-26), the country styling of the Stagecoach festival feature the likes of Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Riley Green, Journey, Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn, Diplo and Ludacris.
And, for folks seeking a desert golf getaway sans crowds, festivals or tours – fear not; the Valley’s bounty of allure extends to all manner of outdoor exploration and adventure. For hikers and/or desert dwellers, a few of the area’s top recommendations include: Tahquitz Canyon Trail; Indio Hills Badlands; Bump and Grind; Art Smith Trail; and the Whitewater Preserve. Those who enjoy traversing pathways via cycles or low-speed electric vehicles will be well-sated with the 40-mile spread of the recently-completed CV Link, a transport corridor and recreation path spanning the near-entirety of the Valley.
Visitors seeking deeper exploration of desert life beyond the Valley floor need at least a day up in yonder high desert, where a fun and funky vibe of Old West saloons and artisans meets its famed epicenter at Joshua Tree, which sports a canvass of more than 800,000 acres of unique, spare, wild and at times otherworldly terrain.