Although it was my second round of golf on this incredible vacation, it was my first chance at playing golf in the great state of California. It happened, however, nowhere near where I was staying in LA but rather a little over an hour south in Palm Springs, California. Actually, the golf course, aptly named Indian Wells Golf Resort, was located in Indian Wells, California. After getting the chance to see the Grand Canyon and LAX while dropping off the two travels that were with me, I headed down to Palm Springs a day early. I wanted to one, make sure I got to the course on time as I had an early tee time the next morning, but two I wanted to scope out the city and see what trouble I could get into the night before I teed it up on yet another Troon Golf managed course.
When I got to Palm Springs it was just after ten in the morning so I headed to the best place for free wifi that I know, Panera Bread. While there I had a cup of Joe and checked a few emails. I must admit although I was on vacation I did work a little bit while on the road. I did, however, manage to nail down plans with my cousin who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona to coming over to Palm Springs for the night to hang out with her favorite cousin.
When I was finished there I decided to go check out the golf course and see what the facility had to offer outside of the obvious. I get to the course, parked in the public parking located on the far side of the clubhouse, and looked around at the incredible scenery that surrounded me. The fact that people get to come to work and see this everyday is enough to make any man jealous, but I was getting to play golf here so I couldn’t be too upset. I headed into the clubhouse, which was more like a mansion in Beverly Hills, and began just taking it all in. I felt like a celebrity as I was asked numerous times if I needed anything and if there was anything anyone could do to help. I didn’t need anything; I just wanted to look around at all the sights of this championship golf course.
After walking around for a bit I decided to head across the street to my hotel. I was staying at the Indian Wells Resort. (There are a lot of things in this small town called Indian Wells. It is hard to keep everything straight. So if you are confused, its OK, I was too for most of my stay.) I checked in, for an incredibly low rate, and headed to my room. If you do not remember from my last few posts I had not slept since my vacation had started. It was time to snooze.
That did not last long as I was so hungry I could barely sleep. I decided it was time to explore the great city of Palm Springs. I headed out to my rental car and just picked the coolest looking pub that I could find. I ended up at a local spot toward the end of the main highway. I had a few drinks, a nice meal, and I even won a shirt in a free raffle that they were doing. It was a great night but it was time for me to hit the sack as I had an early tee time and I was simply exhausted from all my travels up to this point.
The next morning when my alarm went off I headed to the golf course. I hit a few range balls and headed to the first tee. I was by myself and I would later learn that the course was not getting as many rounds in due to the weather. They were even running discounted rates because the temperature was getting over one hundred degrees before noon nearly every single day. I played the first three holes by myself before I ran into what seemed like the slowest threesome on the planet. They asked me to play with them; I obliged, and ended up having a good day’s worth of conversation. One of the guys was a little older, and used a few too many cuss words for my liking on the golf course, but he was tolerable. The other was a nice guy that seems to play golf more than he seemed to work. And the third was the owner of a placed called the Red Mill Burgers restaurants in Seattle, Washington.
This is important to note that he was the owner of this particular restaurant chain as this is one of the featured restaurants on one of the best shows on TV, Man vs. Food. He was telling me all about the guy on the show and how they film it all. He explained in detail how they handle each place they stop as it is part of the director’s role to make sure everyone understands their process before they begin filming. It was interesting listening to him speak about it. He also claimed that each time this show is run on TV they get over a hundred more new clients. He even claimed that they run at 100% capacity seven days a week from open to close without the help of the TV show so any help that is thrown their way they will not complain.
After my round, which ended with a snake birdie putt to shoot one under par for the day, I headed back to the clubhouse to meet the man that made this all possible. He was a super nice guy and showed me around their offices a little bit. It made the round that much more sweet knowing that the staff is just as nice as the carpet fairways and perfect greens I had just played.
Indian Wells Golf Resort was one of the nicest courses that I have ever played in my life. The scenery was to die for and the course forced you to play shots that you would not normally hit on a municipal course. Courses like this always play better to my game anyway as I like to strategize around the golf course, not just grip it and rip it. This was my second Troon Golf experience and just as sweet as the first one. It was time to leave the golf course and head out to have lunch with my favorite cousin from Arizona.
We did not paint the town red as some might think we should but we talked over beers at the Yard House, shared stories over wine tastings at a local winery, and made jokes over a nice steak dinner at the Chop House. It is time that is rare now that we are living in different states but time that does not go unnoticed. It was a blast hanging out with her while on vacation. We even managed to hit some outlet malls the next day before I took off to Dana Point, California for my next round of golf. This concluded my time in Palm Springs and it will not soon be forgotten.
