The updated clubhouse of ClubCorp’s Mission Hills CC in Rancho Mirage, Calif. and the new $70 million clubhouse at Bighorn GC in Palm Desert, Calif. speak to how even clubs in golf-centric areas like the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley region have to “provide more and more off the course,” golf writer Larry Bohannan noted.
While “no one is building golf courses in the Coachella Valley these days,” Larry Bohannan, golf writer for The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, Calif., noted in a recent column, “that doesn’t mean that the people who run golf courses, especially some of the higher-end private golf courses in the desert, aren’t thinking about their members.
“Trying to upgrade amenities at golf courses is one of the hot activities for private clubs these days,” Bohannan continued, and as evidence he cited recent improvements at “two of the better-known golf facilities in the desert”—Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. and Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif.
“At Mission Hills CC, home of the ANA Inspiration LPGA major championship, the members have been greeted with a completely renovated clubhouse,” Bohannon wrote. “From a newly configured bar to new restrooms in the clubhouse to new carpeting and interior columns and historic wall hangings, Mission Hills is trying to update its look for current members while celebrating its 46-year history in the desert as the host of an LPGA major championship and important tennis competitions.”
Garret Kriske, Mission Hills’ General Manager, told Bohannon that “ClubCorp [which owns the club] sees even more opportunity for [Mission Hills] to serve as the hub in the community for many more years to come.
“We are especially proud to enjoy a growing membership base and are excited about the future, as well as introducing many more people to club life at Mission Hills Country Club,” Kriske added.
“While the changes in the Mission Hills clubhouse have been dramatic,” Bohannan wrote, “They are not as dramatic as what is happening at Bighorn.”
Bighorn GC, Bohannan reported, “is building a completely new $70 million clubhouse to replace the original clubhouse built two decades ago. Just this week,” he wrote, “the main beam for the new clubhouse, 110 feet long and weighing 55,000 pounds and requiring a crane that was actually pieced together on site, was put into place.
“The beam will hold up much of the clubhouse, which will feature expanded locker rooms, meeting rooms, a new pro shop, new balconies overlooking the golf course and four residential penthouses on the top floor,” Bohannan reported. “As is true with the Mission Hills renovations, the new Bighorn clubhouse is about serving the current membership, but also going beyond the basic needs of the members to make the clubhouse beyond [their] expectations, something that is a showcase for the club.
Carl Cardinalli, Vice President of Development and Sales Director for Bighorn Properties, told Bohannan that “Without question, we had to continue to strive to be better.
“The message from [R.D.] Hubbard [leader of the investor group that bought the club from WCI Communities in 1996] is he wants all of us to reflect on our responsibilities, where we are and to be better every day,” Cardinalli added.
“What it all means,” Bohannan concluded in his column, “is that golf courses in the desert, if they are to be successful, need to be selling more than just golf these days. Yes, golf courses like the ones at Mission Hills and Bighorn are wonderful layouts that any golfer would love to play. But the golf world is more than just golf courses these days. It’s also about lifestyle.
“Sure, the public golfers may still be worried about which golf course they enjoy the most and what the lowest price for a round is, but private courses like Mission Hills and Bighorn must provide new and better amenities for country club members that aren’t necessarily focused just on golf,” Bohannan wrote. “Golf is still going to be at the center of any country club. But Mission Hills and Bighorn are part of a trend in the desert and around the country of courses having to provide more and more off the golf courses in an increasingly competitive market.”
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