la quinta

Score a Hole-in-One

The golf course will be first to undergo some changes as a new luxury development takes shape at SilverRock Resort in La Quinta.

Judd Spicer Golf

la quinta
SilverRock Golf Resort in La Quinta will soon start work on a development project that includes two hotels, a 71,000-square-foot conference center, luxury housing, and a resort village.
RENDERINGS COURTESY OF SILVERROCK RESORT

Recognizing the grandeur of what will eventually prove to be a Coachella Valley mecca, the City of La Quinta and SilverRock Development Company, LLC will soon begin the long-planned development project at SilverRock Resort.

Already one of the desert’s most popular golf courses, the $420 million renovation project — overseen by the highly-respected Robert Green Company out of San Diego —- is readying to break turf on the property’s master plan vision that includes two hotels, a 71,000-square-foot conference center, luxury housing, and a resort village. The project begins with an exciting rework of the course’s back nine.

“We’ll be starting development this summer, and the first part is the modifications to the back nine of the golf course in order to accommodate the location of one of the hotels, a 5-star hotel, which is going to be on what is now our 18th hole,” explains Randy Duncan, general manager at SilverRock Resort.

With the course’s latter nine scheduled to close for the project beginning on May 1, 2017, SilverRock’s front side will remain open (with golfers encouraged to play twice for a full 18).

The course redevelopment, working with its original architecture firm, Arnold Palmer Design, is slated to be completed in autumn, with a reopening in November, 2017 after overseeding.

A rendering of the luxury hotel pool area.

A golf course view from the 71,000 square foot conference center.

Once finished, fans of the former Bob Hope Classic host will no doubt revel in a recreated SilverRock golf experience. With the realigned back nine card soon to sport three par 3s, three par 4s, and three par 5s, the celebrated track will, in a sense, become a unique rarity across a national golf milieu which rarely sees dirt broken anymore.

“The first thing we have to do, because we’re losing the 18th hole, is we actually have to add another hole on the golf course, so we’re adding a new par-3 after hole 10,” Duncan details. “It will be a great par-3 with players teeing off at the edge of the Village Lake and hitting over part of the lake.”

Bringing an engaging water feature into play counts high among the rework highlights.

“Our current 13th hole will be converted to a par-5, which will become our 12th hole. We’re going to build a bridge which is going across this water feature to what is essentially an island, and that is going to become the back tee box for the new 12th.”

“And players will cross the water again to get to the other tee boxes,” Duncan continues. “What is now our 15th hole will become the 14th hole, and will also be a par-5. We’ll move that green a little bit east, farther away from the canal. Then, our current 12th will become our 17th hole, still a par-5, and we’ll move that green slightly.”

Remaining a par 72 and keeping its overall distance (nearing 7,600 yards from the tips), SilverRock’s realignment will conclude with a new home hole certain to provide drama befitting the Santa Rosa Mountain surrounds.

“The current 11th hole will become out 18th hole,” says Duncan of the test that plays over the canal. “When I see it on the map, it always reminds me of the 10th hole at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles; kind of a short par-4 that may be reachable for the longer hitters, but with that interesting element of either a chance at eagle or a double bogey – a real risk-reward hole, which will make for an interesting finish.”

SilverRock’s general manager since the course opened in 2004, Duncan doesn’t simply eye changes ahead – he sees improvements.

The conference center’s porte-cochère and lobby bar.

“Looking at the modifications, the golf course has a great potential to be even better,” he says. “We’re utilizing some really cool features of the property that really haven’t been incorporated before.”

And for the entirety of the vision? Duncan’s enthusiasm will soon be echoed across the valley.

“When this project is all said and done, I think it’s going to be an amazing thing for the City of La Quinta and the entire Coachella Valley,” concludes Duncan. “It’s going to be the hub of the valley with this amazing piece of land, with every hotel room having a view of the mountain. They’re treating the Santa Rosas like the ocean. They’re doing it right and it’s going to be a really classy place.”

SilverRock Resort
79-179 Ahmanson Lane
La Quinta, CA 92253
760-777-8884
www.silverrock.org

A rendering of the Spa at the luxury hotel.