INDIO, Calif. — The tearing down of a 60-year-old building signals at least some of the changes that are coming to The Lights at Indio Golf Course, the city-owned lighted golf course just north of Interstate 10.
That building, the old clubhouse at The Lights, came down earlier this month as the first step among significant changes around the 18-hole par-3 golf course. The changes will be mostly for the undeveloped land around the course, but a few tweaks will also be in store for the course itself.
“All we are losing is the parking lot that we use now,” said Jeff Walser, the general manager and director of golf at The Lights for management company Landmark Golf of Indian Wells. “That’s been sold to a developer called the Can Do project. They are the ones that are doing The Greens at Indio.”
As part of a retail development of just over six acres of empty land near the course, the new buildings will include two drive-thru restaurants, including a Chick-fil-A, a Dutch Bros. coffee and another sit-down restaurant. None of that will impact The Lights property itself, though the reconfiguring of the parking lot during the building of the new restaurants will force The Lights to build a new parking lot and use temporary parking in the coming season.
The Lights facility will see some changes, including a new 2,500-square-foot building for its pro shop, bar and restaurant and the small United States Postal Service office that serves residents of north Indio. The golf course will remain open this summer during the renovations.
“July 1 is when they pushed the building over,” Walser said. “They are figuring 10 or 12 months before (the new facility) is completed. We were hoping to start up a month ahead of time to get ready for season, January or February, but that’s going to be hard at this point. So we are probably going to miss next season, which is too bad, but it is what it is.”
The new clubhouse will actually be two buildings set on the site of the old building. The Lights clubhouse will feature an expanded restaurant and a new bar, with glass walls to allow golfers to look out on the golf course after a round while getting food.
Desert landscaping and water features will also be part of the new clubhouse, still situated near the first and 10th tees of the course. While no drastic changes to the golf course are planned, Walser said minor changes to two holes might be added to the overall plan.
“We are looking to maybe have to move the ninth green, because it is a little close to the building, and as you can tell we’ve got windows top to bottom, 16-feet high,” he said.
Small changes to course
That could mean shortening the ninth hole from about 165 yards, with water to the left of the hole, to about 135 or 140 yards. Another change might be moving the tee of the 18th hole. That hole, just 120 yards, borders the new parking lot and plays back to the new clubhouse. Moving the tees closer to the 17th green would make the tee shot on the 18th hole play over a small lake and would also get the hole away from the parking lot. It might also shorten the hole by 20 to 30 yards.
Other changes not associated with the surrounding development are also on the table, Walser said. That would include an addition to the lighted driving range, which still sees plenty of action even in the hot summer, since the lights on the course and range give golfers a chance to play after work or when temperatures cool down.
“One of the things we are talking about doing here is on the back of the range putting down concrete and mats so you can hit off the mats,” Walser said. “It will give the grass time to recover in the winter time when it gets beat up. And we could keep the driving range open when we are overseeding the golf course so we could get that extra 30 days of revenue.”
Nothing can be renovated at The Lights without approval of the city, which owns the course. Walser said when Landmark came in as management company for the city in 2014, the course was losing money. Plans for the future of the course varied from putting houses on the land and eliminating the golf course to perhaps stretching out some holes to par-4s to create an executive course. Now, though, the course at least breaks even and even makes a profit for the city, he said.
One big change for The Lights has been Landmark taking over maintenance of the facility. Walser said since that move in September, the course has seen improved conditions with a new superintendent on site. The addition of an expanded restaurant and new bar also signals a commitment to the facility from the city, Walser added.
“They are realizing they have something here, so they are putting in a new nice clubhouse and restaurant,” Walser said.