Indian Wells Golf Resort - Celebrity Course

Indian Wells Golf Resort is home to  the LG Skins Game in 2007 and 2008, a Callaway Performance Center, a very impressive and upscale 53,000 square foot clubhouse (the IW Club), and two equally impressive 18 hole championship golf courses – the Players and Celebrity Courses. 

Each course has it's own unique personality and characteristics and both are a real pleasure to play. 

• Celebrity Course – at 300 yards shorter from the two back tee boxes and a little longer from the forward tees than the Players Course, Celebrity is considered a tad easier, more scenic, and much tighter than the Players Course – Celebrity requires target or placement golf to score well
• Players Course – this 18 is a more traditional and straightforward tournament and desert golf style course with some demanding holes with challenging green complexes and extensive bunkering

Common to both courses are upscale amenities, excellent conditions, and first class service from the bag boys to the pro shop to the starters, marshals, and cart ladies. 

The Celebrity 18 is clearly one of the best courses that we have played – scenic, perfect conditions, fair but challenging, and every hole is unique and memorable.  Courses like Celebrity is what keeps me playing this expensive and frustrating game.  What a fantastic and memorable experience. 

Indian Wells' Celebrity Course has to be one of the most scenic courses in the United States.  Most holes offer breathtaking views of two different mountain ranges and at times it seems like your golf ball is going to land smack dab on the top of a rugged mountain top.  Every hole is meticulously landscaped with natural desert fauna, towering palm trees, and a wide variety of different colored plants.  And then there are the cascading waterfalls on several holes, crystal clear sparkling ponds, and meandering creeks. Couple all of that with the natural sand areas, lush green contoured fairways, and lots of white sand bunkers and it just doesn't get much better. 

With the majestic mountains, colorful flowers, plush conditions, swaying palm trees, chirping birds, and cascading waterfalls, we felt like we were in Hawaii – the only thing missing was a mai tai, waves breaking nearby, and some hula girls dancing to Don Ho songs.  At times I wanted to plop myself in a lawn chair, grab a drink, soak up rays, and enjoy the view. 

But you'll quickly realize that you can't let all that eye candy distract you – the Celebrity 18 is no walk in the park.  Each hole will throw something at you and during your round you'll need to manage:  narrow twisting and turning roller coaster fairways, risk reward opportunities, mounding and swales, huge treacherous steep and deep bunkers, ponds and creeks, blind shots as well as uphill and downhill shots, and complex well protected greens with plenty of slope, contour, and undulation.  But if you play smart, leverage the mounding and contour, and plan your strategy for each shot with the help of the GPS you can turn in a good score.  Local knowledge or remembering your previous round here will also shave some strokes off your score.  And don't be too macho and bite off more than you can handle – pick one of the five tee boxes that fits your game and on some holes keep the big dog in the bag.   

I don't know if it's good news or bad news, but unique to this par 72 layout is that there is only one par 5 and one par 3 per nine – and all four are real beauties!  The Celebrity Course at Indian Wells has a number of fun, unique, challenging, and interesting holes, for example:  #14 is the signature hole for both courses and it is stunning – a 519 yard par 5 that from an elevated tee box you'll see a lake on the right front of the forward tee box, a variety of colorful flowers plus palms and trees,  7 strategically placed bunkers that choke the fairway and guard the approach, plus a beautiful cascading waterfall on the right side of the green that creates a pond and a twisting and turning stream that crosses the fairway – all of this with the towering and rugged Mt Eisenhower forming the backdrop for the green. 

In fact, the back nine is beautiful with several cascading water falls, crystal clear sparkling ponds, lots of colorful flowers, and stunning mountain vistas.  This nine alone is worth the price of the green fees.

The fairways were in near perfect condition and at times looked like velvet – which coupled with the slope gave you some extra roll you'll need to manage.  The majority of Celebrity's fairways are heavily contoured and lined with mounds, palms, and perfectly manicured natural areas or colorful flowers.  On most holes the fairways are a little tight, but the good news is that the mounding and slope will help the ball roll back toward the middle of the fairway.  Land in the colorful flower beds or in the marked Indian burial grounds you get a free drop -plaques at some of the burial sites will give you some history of the area.

The greens are all shapes and sizes and the majority of them are on the large size.  Most are slightly elevated and well guarded by some treacherous bunkers.  It seemed like a lot of the mounding around the greens will toss the ball toward the green and you should try to leverage that slope on some holes.  You'll find putting to be a challenge thanks to plenty of slope, undulation, ridges, subtle breaks, and tiers – study the greens carefully.   They were in excellent condition and running true and at a very good speed of around a 10 to 11 when we played.

The bunkers are strategically placed, most are steep faced and deep, and all have soft fluffy white sand.  All of the bunkers were in pristine condition.  I know, I took a lot of sand home with me. 

The bad news is that Celebrity gets a lot of play and the pace of play can be a little slow – but you're in a resort town on a resort course and on vacation so take it easy, relax, slow down, and enjoy the scenery.

Bottom line, if you like courses that are aesthetically pleasing, fun, unique, and challenging, then you need to add Indian Wells' Celebrity Course to your bucket list and go way out of your way to play this course. 

If you're looking for a place to stay, within a five wood of  the pro shop, there are four full service hotel properties – the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort Villas & Spa, Indian Wells Resort Hotel, Miramonte Resort & Spa and Renaissance Esmeralda resort & Spa.