Comments
FeedIn Swing with Palm Springs
Travel
A golf haven, this desert outpost also has its share of upscale lodgings in which to putter around
LUMPY’S IS HUMMING with activity. Golfers are shopping for putters, irons, hats, shoes and all manner of natty attire. Every now and again, a loud THWUMP emanates from the back of the store. That’s where men with Big Berthas are driving golf balls against a faux fairway in a golf simulator. Up front, my friend is tapping balls into holes on the Astroturf putting green.
I’m not a golfer. You could count on one hand (and not use the thumb) the times I’ve played 18. And I’m definitely not a shopper. But my friend says he needs a collared shirt to play on the PGA West’s TPC Stadium Golf Course. That’s fine——but why has he spent 20 minutes trying on hats? And why is he gleefully test-swinging three putters? In my abundant spare time, I read through a Lumpy’s brochure. It has a fold-out map of Palm Springs. It holds 102 colored dots, each representing a public, semiprivate or private golf course.
I can’t diss the popular game W.C. Fields called “a good walk, spoiled.” Once my retail-crazed buddy makes his purchases and hits the course, he reports back a good time. The challenging Stadium Course is used as the final qualifier for the PGA Tour. It’s undulating and rolling, fronted by an unusually high number of sand and water hazards. It also has a par-3 17th hole that employs an island green (surrounded by water). I’m told several locals cruise the course in golf cars (not a typo). Golf cars are carts fronted by Mercedes and BMW grilles. Yes, there are golf car dealerships in town.
THIS FORAY INCLUDES two very different high-end properties: the Parker Palm Springs, with its naughtiness captured on a cable-TV reality show; and The Residence Club at PGA West, which comes with access to five La Quinta golf courses, including a pair at La Quinta Resort.
If you spend any time at La Quinta Resort, dine at the indoor/outdoor Adobe Grill. Servers whip up guacamole tableside. Same for the Margaritas, served in glasses so large you could use them to bathe a small child. (Walking from the restaurant toward La Quinta Resort’s spa, I’m amused to notice signs that indicate a Croppin’ Away Scrapbook Retreat is on property.)
The PGA West Residence Club is still under construction. There will be 32 homes——each with an identical 3,400 square feet, including three bedrooms (dual master suites and a guest casita). There’s a Jacuzzi out back, as well as a propane barbecue and an Astroturf putting green.
Inside couldn’t be cozier. My initial concern upon showing up at an unfinished construction site melts away indoors. The kitchen has granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. The dining room table could host a 10-person poker game. And the comfy (sleeper) couches in the living room form a semicircle around a wall-mounted, flat-screen DLP TV. If this was my home-away-from-home, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time at home.
IT’S A 25-MINUTE DRIVE from La Quinta to downtown Palm Springs via Highway 111 (along the way we pass a second Lumpy’s, in Cathedral City, and no, I will not stop). The ride is short, but this particular destination occupies a quite different place on the ambience spectrum.
Before its purchase by the Jack Parker Corporation, the property was owned by Gene Autry and Merv Griffin. The first clue something is different here are the salmon-colored pants worn by the valet crew. Inside a white lobby hangs a piece of art that simply reads “DRUGS.”
There is a collection of one-bedroom villas designated by names instead of numbers. I stay in Jayda; my friend bunks in Ian. The room interiors, designed by Jonathan Adler, are a mélange of colors, shapes and knickknacks. There is a chair in the living room that hangs from a ceiling chain. Quaintly, at night, without request, a room-service staffer——they ride bikes around the property——delivers milk and brownies.
“We like to zig when everybody else is zagging,” says Parker spokesperson Micah Bing. The buoyant, ever-cheerful Bing heads a program called Camp Bespoke, a five-star service that caters activities to a guest’s every whim. My trip is too short to take full advantage of Bing’s magic. Her suggestions ranged from hot-air ballooning to horseback riding. Her recommendations in the property’s Palm Spring Yacht Club spa (one rubdown is called “Voodoo We Do”) and for dinner at Mister Parker’s (right out of the ’70s, including classic soundtrack) are spot on.
A tour leads us through the property’s landscaped gardens and past par-for-Parker sports offerings: croquet and petanque (a French version of bocce). We wind up at the Lemonade Stand——which serves adult beverages, despite the innocent-sounding name. Here, Bing amply sums up the hotel’s playful ambience. “What happens in Vegas,” she says, “starts at the Parker.”
If You Go
Rooms at the Parker (4200 East Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, 760-770-5000; theparkerpalmsprings.com) range from $255 to $995 a night . . . Fractional ownership opportunities are available at The Residence Club at PGA West (54-500 West Residence Club Drive, Palm Springs, 760-771-2070; residenceclubpgawest.com). The base purchase price is $279,000.
Do you like what you read? Subscribe to San Diego Magazine »
Reader Comments: