Southern California resort properties are collecting the accolades lately, and Golf World Magazine's Top 50 Resort Courses in the Nation for 2010 offers no exception.
Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast placed 36, Marriott's Shadow Ridge Resort in Palm Desert placed 41, and Indian Wells Golf Resort (pictured right) placed 47 in the annual Reader's Choice Ranking, amidst a field that included such high-quality facilities as Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (2), Pebble Beach Golf Links (28), and seven top resorts in Hawaii. Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina came in at the No. 1 spot.
Golf World also conducted similar Top 50 polls for public facilities and private courses.
In the public sector, Trump National GC in Rancho Palos Verdes topped (or "trumped," pun intended) Southland listings at number 15, while Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert (which just underwent a renovation on its Mountain Course; read more in the January issue of FORE Magazine) placed 25th.
No private courses in Southern California made the private club ranking, although three Northern California courses — Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach (10), San Francisco Golf Club (30) and The Olympic Club in Daly City (40) — made the list. Surprisingly, everyone's bucket-list club, Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, took second place to Oak Hill Country Club in New York. Oak Hill, which has hosted The Ryder Cup, PGA, Senior PGA, U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, and the U.S. Senior Open Championships, will host the 2013 PGA Championship as well.
More than 46,000 individual facility ratings and 600,000 criteria evaluations were collected, with results based on aspects including quality and condition of the course, reputation, hotel accommodations, food, off-course activities and overall value. Readers voted via an online poll through Golf World's website.
There's no better time of year to check out those Coachella Valley golf resorts than now, and Pelican Hill (which also placed in Golf Digest's similar ranking) is always spectacular.