Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills CC (Pics) Rancho Mirage, CA

[Peter Ferlicca]

The Dinah Shore course is home to the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which is the LPGAs first major of the year.  The course was designed by Desmond Muirhead in 1970.  It is a pretty good course IMO, rolling fairways, big sloping greens, tee shots need to shaped, fun par 4's.  It is hemmed in by condos on both sides throughout the entire golf course, but that is just how most desert country clubs are.  The greens are always quick here, two years ago in the Kraft Nabisco there were windy dry conditions, and the greens were supposedly rolling at a 14.  I would like to hear other opinions on this course if you have played it. 


Hole 1 Par 4 (377 yards)



Hole 2 Par 5 (503 yards)




Hole 3 Par 4 (454 yards)



Hole 4 Par 4 (410 yards)



Hole 5 Par 3 (173 yards)


Hole 6 par 4 (381 yards)



Hole 7 Par 4 (378 yards)



Hole 8 Par 3 (180 yars)


Hole 9 Par 5 (527 yards)




Hole 10 Par 4 (380 yards)




Hole 11 Par 5 (536 yards)





Hole 12 Par 4 (399 yards)





Hole 13 Par 4 (424 yards)





Hole 14 Par 3 (148 yards)



Hole 15 Par 4 ( 382 yards)





Hole 16 Par 4( 418 yards)



Hole 17 Par 3 (192 yards)


Hole 18 Par 5 (618 yards)

[PThomas]

so much green and so much grass!

[Rory Connaughton]

Thanks for posting.  It looks to be a very pleasant place to spend some time.

[Nick Asbrock]

Looks pretty boring

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

Mission Hills and Desert Island were both built in the late sixties and early seventies, forty years ago.

The contactor for both courses was Keith Dewar for whom my dad was a project manager.

These are the courses where Nicklaus and Muirhead got to know each other. They were not collaberating at the time, but wihtin a couple of years they worked together on courses in Texas, Michigan and of course Ohio (Muirfield) an South Carolina (Harbour Town)

Tommy Naccaratto knew Keith Dewar very well and it would be great if he would kick in here.

[Wayne Freeman]

The thing that's neat about this course is that it is a very traditional layout and thus very unlike almost all other desert courses.  I think it's akin to Desert Forest in Arizona.  At times it's hard to believe you're in the middle of the Palm Springs area..  There are certainly enough good holes to offset the annoyance of the condos.

[Matt_Cohn]

This is a wonderful golf course - obviously not a typical desert course. Other than a couple of water holes, it kind of feels like a Midwestern course in the middle of Palm Springs. It's a very traditional kind of layout in general. The greens are interesting, there are lots of different shots to hit, and there's even some uphill and downhill as well.

Nick - no, it's not boring!

Paul - yes, but that's the style of the course as referenced above. It's not a modern arid desert layout - they have that across the street with their Pete Dye course!

[Jed Peters]

Are your yardage numbers from the Championship (the LPGA) tees?

I know that it's a LOT longer than listed?

[Peter Ferlicca]

Are your yardage numbers from the Championship (the LPGA) tees?

I know that it's a LOT longer than listed?

The yardages I have posted are the Kraft Nabisco tees, it is about 6,600 yards I think.  It is still a hard golf course, with all the sloping fairways, I thought I hit a bunch of good drives and they all ended up in the rough making it very hard to hit the green.  From the tips it is something like 7,200 yards, played it from there once and thought it was ridiculously hard, a lot of 3 irons out of the rough.  The fairways are pretty tight, but all the LPGA players hit it dead straight every time.  It isn't like watching the young guys bomb and gouge it around the golf course.

[Jerry Kluger]

#5 appears to have the first vertical water hazard I have ever seen.

[Matt_Cohn]

The only kinda weird hole is #9 where my memory is that you sort of have to hit a snap hook off the tee of a par-5, or a 4-iron.