Desert Golf - A walk on the wild side, with the beauty and protection of desert lands! Play golf at desert courses in Arizona, Palm Desert, and Las Vegas. Consider these desert golf courses for your next vacation. Painted Desert golf Las Vegas, The Westin Mission Hills Resort in Palm Desert, or The Boulders in Scottsdale Arizona for perfect examples of desert golf courses.
Traditional golf courses are always available at home. Perhaps you should try something different for your next golf trip. How about tighter fairways, a totally different environment treated in a totally different way. No set game in the desert, surprises at every turn, but whoever said golf was not exciting? Before 1983 and eco-sensitive considerations, most desert courses were grass and more grass, designed just like the ones in Ohio, Michigan and at the beach, but around 1983 when Jack Nicklaus teemed up with Lyle Anderson to do Desert Highlands (the home of the first Skins Game) north of Scottsdale. They conceived what would become the first "desert golf course.
Everyone talks about those desert golf courses - what do they mean? A desert golf course is one that is in keeping with the environment. Defined by the eco-sensitive natural plants and animals in the area. The maximum area that can be covered in grass is 90 Acres divided up between fairway and green. The transition areas are sand or dirt that separates the grass fairways from the desert. The desert is not considered a hazard and you can ground your club. There is forced carry - meaning the areas of vegetation that a shot must carry from fairway to tee. There are arroyos or "dry wash" areas that often cut through the fairways. You will see critter warnings watch out for rattlesnakes, coyotes, and chollas( a very mean desert cactus, that reaches out and grabs you- it is called a "jumping cholla"). There is normally a 90 degree rule in effect, meaning carts must run perpendicular to the cart path. (to preserve the desert)...and the air is thinner and the ball goes farther! Lee Trevino sums it up pretty well (as usual) "it's like a voyage into the unknown".
Everyone talks about those desert golf courses - what do they mean? A desert golf course is one that is in keeping with the environment. Defined by the eco-sensitive natural plants and animals in the area. The maximum area that can be covered in grass is 90 Acres divided up between fairway and green. The transition areas are sand or dirt that separates the grass fairways from the desert. The desert is not considered a hazard and you can ground your club. There is forced carry - meaning the areas of vegetation that a shot must carry from fairway to tee. There are arroyos or "dry wash" areas that often cut through the fairways. You will see critter warnings watch out for rattlesnakes, coyotes, and chollas( a very mean desert cactus, that reaches out and grabs you- it is called a "jumping cholla"). There is normally a 90 degree rule in effect, meaning carts must run perpendicular to the cart path. (to preserve the desert)...and the air is thinner and the ball goes farther! Lee Trevino sums it up pretty well (as usual) "it's like a voyage into the unknown". 
