Floodwaters cutting across 17th fairway of the Legend Course at Tahquitz Creek Golf Resort (photo by Larry Bohannan/The Desert Sun).
A record Valentine Day’s rainfall of 3.69 inches in Palm Springs left a trail of debris and eroded landscapes, as washes and channels designed to handle the Coachella Valley’s infrequent downpours were overrun.
Brandon Alexander surveyed the river of water running through the 17th and 18th fairways of the Legend Course at Tahquitz Creek Golf Resort in Palm Springs, Calif. on Valentine’s Day and tried to remain optimistic, The Desert Sun of Palm Springs reported.
“We’ll try to open tomorrow,” said Alexander, General Manager of the 36-hole, city-owned Tahquitz Creek resort. “We’ll maybe try to re-route some holes or something.”
Whenever heavy rains hit the desert, The Desert Sun reported, golf courses throughout the Coachella Valley fight flooding in washes that run through the layouts. But February 14th’s record rainfall of 3.69 inches in Palm Springs shut down several area courses, leaving a trail of debris and eroded landscapes.
Tahquitz Creek is one of the courses that routinely experiences flooding from rare heavy rains in the desert, The Desert Sun reported. The entire 18th fairway of the Legend Course is in a wash that also cuts across the 17th fairway. Water normally exits the course through channels under Golf Club Drive to the east of the course, but on February 15ththe river of water Friday was running over the road, closing it and causing some erosion damage.
On the Resort Course, the wash cuts across the 12th hole near El Cielo Drive, which was also closed by mud and debris, and then runs through the golf course with holes on both sides of the banks, before emptying across the first and 10th fairways of the Legends course and onto the 18th fairway.
Both courses at Tahquitz Creek were closed on the 14thand 15th, though the practice range and putting greens on the course were open, The Desert Sun reported.
Other desert courses closed by the flooding included Cimarron Golf Club in Cathedral City, Calif., where heavy erosion was visible along some holes near areas designed to channel floodwaters through the course, The Desert Sun reported.
Courses in the western part of the valley that suffered heavy flooding included Desert Princess Golf Resort in Cathedral City, Mesquite Country Club in Palm Springs and Cathedral Canyon Golf Club in Cathedral City, The Desert Sun reported.
Further east, courses like Monterey Country Club and Rancho Las Palmas Country Club, which use wash areas for part of their fairways, saw water and debris rolling through their courses, The Desert Sun reported.
At Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where holes are on both sides of the wash, the course was closed by the torrent of water, The Desert Sun reported.
At Indian Wells (Calif.) Golf Resort, where golfers must travel down into the wash between the 16th and 17th holes, the course simply started golfers on the 17th hole, with golfers playing the 18th and then riding across a bridge to the first hole, The Desert Sun reported. After the 16th hole, golfers were shuttled back to the clubhouse. The facility’s driving range was also closed.
Courses in the eastern part of the valley, where less rain fell on Valentine’s Day, saw more localized flooding from the storm, especially in areas along the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains, The Desert Sun reported.
“We got just under an inch and a half of rain, and we had no damage,” said Randy Duncan, General Manager of SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, Calif.. “We had one bunker face that needs some repair work. But we are open, though we are cart path-only.”
Duncan told The Desert Sun that he drove around the SilverRock course in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day and was pleased with how well the course held up against the water. The steady nature of the rain through the day allowed flood-control designs for the course to work properly, Duncan noted, which wouldn’t have been the case if the rain had all fallen in an hour or two.
But even where only an inch or so of rain fell, The Desert Sun reported, low-lying areas of course in the east end of the desert like PGA West and the Golf Club at La Quinta saw localized flooding.
To see video of course flooding and damage as reported by Palm Springs’ News Channel 3, go to: https://www.kesq.com/news/valley-golf-courses-damaged-by-storm/1026259445
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