The Palmer Course at PGA West

This year's Humana Challenge took place at the exclusive Palmer Course, one of six beautiful courses that make up the golf offering at PGA West Resort in La Quinta, California. As a sanctioned PGA Tour course, the Palmer Course epitomises excellence in design and playability, bearing the name of its designer, Arnold Palmer, with pride.

As one of the private courses at PGA West the Palmer course rarely opens its doors to outside tournaments, making an exception for the Humana Challenge. Designed by the great Arnold Palmer, this course is beautifully located against the backdrop of the Santa Rosa Mountains, which offer a weathered contrast to the manicured perfection that awaits players on this smooth-as-silk golf course.

Arnold Palmer was one of the greatest golfers America produced, and his years of experience on the course are evident in the design he created for PGA West. Set in a mountain valley with an abundance of water hazards, the course challenges both the amateur and professional golfer in different ways. The placement of bunkers on many of the holes allows for cautious play by weekend golfers, while professionals wow the crowds with daring fairway shots, bunker shots, and chip-ins on the manicured greens which call for great putting accuracy.

The signature holes at the Palmer course may be the first and eighteenth, which provide breath-taking vistas while challenging golfers of every handicap. The opening hole eases players onto a wide fairway, only to be faced moments later by a green which is well-guarded by challenging bunkers. The closing hole is a long par 5 which is flanked by water for most of its length, challenging the professional golfer to lay up without the ball finding water on its approach to the green.

The Palmer course is seldom open to the public, but visiting golfers can take advantage of the resort courses at PGA West, which offer many hours of first-rate golf to visitors from America and beyond.

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