{"id":823,"date":"2012-03-07T17:17:23","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T22:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnstrawn.com\/?p=823"},"modified":"2012-03-07T17:17:23","modified_gmt":"2012-03-07T22:17:23","slug":"the-classic-club-a-coachella-valley-gem-you-can-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/golf\/823\/the-classic-club-a-coachella-valley-gem-you-can-play","title":{"rendered":"The Classic Club. A Coachella Valley Gem You Can Play."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golf Road Warriors launched our Palm Springs campaign with a round at the Classic Club<\/a>, an Arnold Palmer-designed course that opened in 2005 and was a co-host of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic from 2006-2008.\u00a0 Why its lush fairways are no longer stalked by the big boys from the PGA Tour, despite the course having been created specifically for the purpose of hosting the Hope, is a cautionary tale about who wields real power in the golf business these days, especially on Tour.<\/p>\n

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How to Spend Millions Building a Golf Course<\/p><\/div>\n

Four guests joined the Warriors, which allowed us to test the new \u201cLive Event Leaderboard\u201d scoring technology developed by Grow the Game Golf<\/a>.\u00a0 GTGG\u2019s website describes it as \u201cthe world\u2019s first cross-platform web and smartphone golf app to put up-to-the-second scoring, a live-event leaderboard and effortless event-management tools all in one place.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0I am sure there are people who know what that means.<\/p>\n

Warriors Jeff Wallach and Jay Stuller were in the first group, joined by veteran Desert Sun<\/em> golf writer Larry Bohannan and a GTGG partner.\u00a0\u00a0 Jeff kept that foursome\u2019s score with the GTGG\u2019s app on his I-phone.\u00a0\u00a0 I was in the second group with Warrior Peter Kessler, who was riding with Classic Club Director of Golf Brady Wilson. \u00a0I was assigned to enter our scores on the GTGG app.<\/p>\n

I rode shotgun with Dr. Barry Lotz, a Coachella valley real estate salesman, author, and sports coach who describes himself as “a vertically integrated conglomerate in a very small space.”\u00a0\u00a0 Born in South Africa but a US resident for many years, Lotz is the director of the Professional Golf Teaching Association of America, and a \u201ccoach,\u201d in his words, \u201cto many touring pros.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallach modestly entered his name on the GTGG scorecard as \u201cEl Jefe,\u201d suggesting that he might be expecting tribute. \u00a0In my case, alas, he was correct, as he would be for the entire week. \u00a0Kessler kept asking me how Wallach was doing, although he never actually called him \u201cWallach.\u201d Kessler possesses an impressively wide and creative range of pejoratives.<\/p>\n

Peter hit the ball well on every hole but putted so poorly on the front nine that we started calling the score for a hole played with a green hit in regulation followed by a three putt a \u201cKessler.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0You can also use it as a verb.\u00a0 \u201cMan, you really Kesslered that hole!\u201d \u00a0Or, \u201cyou need to get off the Kessler train.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Peter had seven three putts on the front before a brilliant lag on the 9th from above the hole finally yielded a tap-in par.\u00a0 Kessler hit the ball like Mo Norman but putted like Don Knotts.<\/p>\n

Brady Wilson said that he doesn\u2019t get to play much, but confessed to spending a fair amount of time on the putting green.\u00a0\u00a0 He was using a Scotty Cameron putter custom-fitted by the master himself for Brady\u2019s stroke. \u00a0Every putt tracked on line with flawless pace. \u00a0Brady was also the perfect guide for a first encounter with the Classic.\u00a0 He\u2019d show us how to play the hole by hitting his drive in exactly the right place.\u00a0 Brady also pointed out where the touring pros found trouble during the Hope, although I was perfectly capable of discovering where you should not hit it without any professional assistance. \u00a0 My new Callaway RAZR Fit<\/a> driver continued to provide the best service of any driver I have ever swung, and any successfully played holes on my card were attributable to good drives. \u00a0 Never loved a club so much.<\/p>\n

We played the Classic on a windless, warm day, but when the PGA Tour played the course the wind typically blew pretty hard, creating a condition the pros don\u2019t like: firm fairways combined with tricky winds which made it tough to control trajectory.\u00a0\u00a0 At a tournament like the Hope, with its history of very low scores, when players suddenly started posting high numbers it was a shock.\u00a0\u00a0 The Classic was the kind of test they were using to facing later in the season, on courses whose reputations as championship venues made them immune from criticism.\u00a0 Oakmont kills everybody, but no one would have the nerve to complain about it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what courses like Pete Dye\u2019s TPC at Sawgrass or the Stadium Course at PGA West were for: places the pros felt free to complain about all they wanted because the weight of history and tradition didn\u2019t seal their lips.\u00a0\u00a0 There was no reverence or respect to counterbalance their grousing at the Classic, so they indulged in uninhibited whining.\u00a0\u00a0 The Classic Club\u2019s reputation fell victim to this dilemma.<\/p>\n

The Classic Club was a fair test for the Road Warriors, although we played at just over 6,700 yards as opposed to the 7,500 the pros confronted.\u00a0\u00a0 The setting was spectacular: panoramic views of the mountains from most tees, unobstructed by buildings, the near horizon backlit by clear skies as temperatures bumped up into the 80s\u2014a perfect day for winter golf in the desert.\u00a0\u00a0 Brady shared some background on the course, which was built by Landscapes Unlimited, the premier course builder in the US, with an essentially unlimited budget.\u00a0 \u00a0There are reports that the course alone cost around fifty million dollars, and that was before the clubhouse was built.\u00a0 No stand-alone course costing that much could possible operate profitably.<\/p>\n

The basic cost to build a golf course doesn\u2019t vary much, because you need 18 holes with greens and tees and hazards, with an irrigation system to keep 70 acres or so green, no matter what.\u00a0 \u00a0The two big variables affecting cost are how much earth you move and how fancy you get with landscaping and other amenities.\u00a0\u00a0 At the Classic Club, according to architect Vicki Martz from Palmer Design, they moved three million cubic yards, which is a big number, and then constructed some elaborate water features before planting thousands of trees, in keeping with the trend started by Steve Wynn with Shadow Creek in Las Vegas to make desert courses look and feel as if they were imported wholesale from North Carolina.\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to its elaborate landscaping, the course was fitted with underground cables and other high-tech communications gear to make televising the event easier.\u00a0\u00a0 This infrastructure investment is now in every sense of the word a sunken cost that cannot be recovered.<\/p>\n

The design also provided plenty of room for galleries to circulate, which is part of why the Classic has such an open, accommodating feel. \u00a0The huge clubhouse, too, was built to accommodate the tournament, so it\u2019s much larger than a daily fee course built as a would ever need or could justify.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

When Hope Was Alive at the Classic Club<\/p><\/div>\n

The funds to build the Classic Club were provided by the H.N. & Frances C. Berger Foundation.\u00a0\u00a0 The completed course was formally gifted to the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in January 2005. \u00a0\u00a0Since the Hope, too, was dedicated to charity work in the Coachella Valley, providing it with a world-class venue seemed a good fit for the Berger Foundation.\u00a0\u00a0 Then the wind kicked up, desiccating the players\u2019 egos, and the course lost its luster. \u00a0Golf.com referred to the course as \u201cthe hated, ultra-windy Classic Club,\u201d and noted that after Phil Mickelson shot \u201ca wind-blown final-round 78 there in 2007,\u201d he stopped coming. \u00a0The final round scoring average of 74.763 in 2007 was the highest in tournament history. \u00a0Not one player had a bogey-free round.<\/p>\n

When Mickelson stopped playing the Hope, the Hope\u2014now called the Humana, and hosted by President Bill Clinton\u2014stopped playing at the Classic Club. \u00a0In 2008, the tournament re-gifted the Classic Club back to the Berger Foundation, so the players could resume their painless, low-scoring annual paid holiday in the desert.<\/p>\n

The Classic Club still honors its charitable purposes, with 7,000 of the annual 37,000 rounds played there contributed to local non-profits for fundraising events.\u00a0 The course was in wonderful condition, the staff was welcoming, and the lakes yielded seven ProV1s, earning my coveted BallHawker Five Star rating.\u00a0 \u00a0I thought the course, the setting, the ambience and the conditioning were all first rate, and recommend the Classic Club as an exceptional daily fee experience.<\/p>\n

Rating the Classic Club<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pro Shop and Staff \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A<\/p>\n

Range \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A<\/p>\n

Conditioning \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A<\/p>\n

Course Layout \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A<\/p>\n

Ball Hawking \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Five Stars–clear water, gently sloping lake edges, ideal retrieving conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golf Road Warriors launched our Palm Springs campaign with a round at the Classic Club, an Arnold Palmer-designed course… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[288270,4365,299119,32,9,39217,152652,152655,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grw-palm-springs","category-the-classic-club","category-greater-palm-springs-cva","category-golf-course-architecture","category-golf","category-golf-road-warriors","category-callaway-golf","category-gtg-golf","category-courses-and-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/03\/ClassicClub1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}