StrackaLine provides hole-by-hole maps of the layout that will host one early round plus the final round of the PGA Tour event in La Quinta.
PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course, which opened in 1986 in La Quinta, California, is one of three courses used for this week’s The American Express on the PGA Tour.
Paired with amateurs in a pro-am format, the pros will play one round each Thursday-Saturday on the Dye Stadium Course (7,113 yards, par 72), La Quinta Country Club (7,060 yards, par 72) and PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course (7,159 yards, par 72). Sunday’s final round will be on the Dye Stadium Course.
The Stadium Course ranks No. 11 in California on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts, with the Nicklaus Tournament Course ranked No. 25 on that list.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below.
There are a handful of places in the U.S. where golfers congregate in such numbers that we are the majority. At Pinehurst in North Carolina and Pebble Beach in California, announcing yourself as a proud golfer isn’t just accepted, it’s expected.
It’s the same in Palm Springs, California, and its neighboring communities, located a mere 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Here, golf is it. Tennis is popular, too, but the fairways, as far as many residents are concerned, are the essence of desert life.
Back in the day when we let our fingers do the walking and the Yellow Pages was an essential part of life, the local Palm Springs phone book dispersed golf tips on how to grip the club, keep your eye on the ball and follow through on the swing among the volume’s various classified ads. Now that’s a city consumed with golf, one that fills tee sheets with its geriatricgolf-loving residents and visitors at more than 100 courses.
With its idyllic weather consistingof 350 days a year of sunshine, Palm Springs has been a tourist haven and Hollywood getaway since the 1920s. It is a desert oasis cradled between tall, picturesque mountains – the San Jacinto Mountains to the west, the Little San Bernardino Mountains to the east and the Santa Rosa Mountains to the south.
“The Desert” is what locals call Palm Springs, itself shorthand for the 30-mile string of seven communities – including Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta and Indio – that more or less ooze into each other and make up the Coachella Valley.
La Quinta Resort (Courtesy of La Quinta Resort)
Everything about Palm Springs, the best known and farthest west of the Desert communities, is dreamy, from the red bougainvillea draping the Spanish-style buildings to the renovated mid-century modern buildings giving it its charm. Running a close second to the smorgasbord of forgiving fairways in Palm Springs is its culinary treats. It can stand on its own two feet as a bona fide foodie destination. (Unfortunately, my trip was during the pandemic and restaurants were only doing takeout, so circumstances were less than ideal for reviewing the food.)
The palm trees that line streets named after Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Gene Autry and Dinah Shore really do sway in the breeze, and lounging poolside here is a sport, if not an art. Palm Canyon Drive, the main thoroughfare of Palm Springs, is packed with alfresco restaurants with views of the bustling sidewalks and the latest boutique shops.
Yes, in this bastion of Bentleys and bling, worldly pleasures rule. It begs a question of where to enjoy this paradise: to stay close enough to walk to the first tee, or in the heart of Palm Springs at any one of a handful of the decadent spa resorts? The answer is: Choices abound. Palm Springs tends to cater to those seeking a tax shelter, not a night’s shelter. Nonetheless, affordable lodgings are fairly abundant, especially in summer when the mercury rises into triple digits.
La Quinta Resort (Courtesy of La Quinta Resort)
Since the dual purpose of my visit was to watch the PGA Tour pros at The American Express in January, I set up shop in La Quinta, at the other end of the valley about a 45-minute drive to Palm Springs. La Quinta Resort is considered the granddaddy of them all. This posh hideaway introduced the first golf course to the Coachella Valley in 1926 and remains a gem. The 45-acre enclave, with 41 pools on property, 23 tennis courts, both hard and clay surfaces and a top-notch teaching staff, harks back to the golden era of Hollywood when film stars lined up at the door. Guests still gather in the lounge, with its deep sofas, high-vaulted beamed ceiling and wood-burning fireplace that gives off the fragrance of mesquite. In a day of high-rise mania, low-rise La Quinta with its quaint Spanish-Colonial style casitas rates at the very least five stars for service, five hearts for romance.
Byeong Hun An fired a bogey-free 7-under 65 at PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course in the first round of the American Express on Thursday.
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Ben An missed five of seven cuts in the fall portion of the season, battled a nagging neck injury earlier this week, and lost so many balls during one of his pre-tournament practice rounds that he needed to borrow golf balls from fellow South Korean native Seong-Yul Noh to play the final few holes.
So, of course, he went out and fired a bogey-free 7-under 65 at PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course in the first round of the American Express.
An, who started on the back nine, rolled in three birdies in a row beginning at the par-5 11th hole. He made his longest putt of the day, an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-3 12th, and said the rest of his birdies were from no more than 3 feet.
An spent his off-season at home taking care of his 11-month son, Sandy, and working on swing changes he started to make in late November with his new instructor, Sean Foley, who used to teach Tiger Woods and Justin Rose.
“Obviously it’s paying off, I’m hitting it a lot better and I’m hitting some good shots and still making some progress out there,” An said. “So yeah, we’re happy where we’re going right now and hopefully it gets better.”
An trails Brandon Hagy, who bogeyed his first hole before rattling off nine birdies en route to shooting 8-under 64 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course. Hagy was an alternate for the tournament and didn’t get into the field until Jon Rahm withdrew on Monday.
The big-name players in the field this week mostly struggled. Brooks Koepka shot even-par 72, Rickie Fowler, who hasn’t recorded a top-10 on Tour since last year’s American Express, birdied the final hole for 73 and tournament host Phil Mickelson struggled to 74 and headed straight for the range.
Phil Mickelson plays his second shot on the 11th hole during the first round of The American Express at PGA West TPC Nicklaus Tournament Course. Photo by Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
All three of those players, along with An and Hagy, head to the tougher Stadium Course on Friday, where Si Woo Kim shot the lowest score in the first round, a 66. When An played his practice round there earlier this week, he dunked six balls in the water.
“I do that more often than you would think,” he said. “I had to borrow like two, three balls for the last three holes. It was my caddie’s fault. He only brought like five balls out there.”
An, 29, has been a steady yet unspectacular performer since turning pro in 2011. He hasn’t won since the 2015 BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour and still considers notching his maiden PGA Tour title his top goal this season.
“Probably same for the last five years, win the tournament and try and play in the Tour Championship, that’s my goal,” he said.
When asked to explain what’s held him back from tasting victory, An said, “It just shows how tough it is to win out here, so, I’m not too worried about it and if I hit it like today and putt like today then I’m sure I can get a win this year.”
