PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — During the last 100 years, golf and the Coachella Valley have become practically synonymous. From celebrities to professional golfers to part-time residents to visitors, golf has been and remains a large part of the fabric of desert life.
There are many people instrumental to the history of golf in the Coachella Valley.
This is a top-10 list followed by another 10 names that make up the honorable mention.
Thomas O’Donnell
One of the richest oilmen in California, O’Donnell decided to craft his own golf course in Palm Springs. That course was the major golf site in the Coachella Valley for two decades, and it still exists in downtown Palm Springs today as the desert’s oldest course.
Johnny Dawson
A talented and accomplished amateur golfer, Dawson was the developer behind Thunderbird Country Club in 1951. Dawson would go on to develop other desert courses including Marrakesh and Seven Lakes country clubs in the golden age of course development.
Dwight Eisenhower
The popular Eisenhower became the first president to play golf in the desert in 1954, and later lived in a house on the 11th fairway at Eldorado Country Club in Indian Wells.
General Dwight Eisenhower playing golf at St. Andrews in Scotland in 1946. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Eisenhower’s love of the game – he was a member at Augusta National in Georgia – and his friendship with two other golfers – amateur Bob Hope and pro Arnold Palmer – helped to popularize the game in the 1950s.
Bob Hope
A desert resident since the 1940s, Hope carried the message of his love of the game around the world. In 1965, the actor and comedian agreed to put his name on the Palm Springs Golf Classic, turning that event into the Bob Hope Desert Classic, one of the PGA Tour’s most popular events. Hope died in 2003 at the age of 100.
Arnold Palmer
By 1959, when Palmer won the last Thunderbird Invitational, he was already pro golf’s most popular figure. Palmer then won five Bob Hope Desert Classics from 1960 through 1973, cementing his place as an icon in the sport and in one of his adopted homes. Palmer would later design numerous courses in the Coachella Valley, including a course that hosted the Hope tournament for years at PGA West in La Quinta.
Dinah Shore
Shore knew little about golf in 1972, when she became the host of an LPGA tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. She quickly embraced the game and the players on the LPGA, becoming a great advocate for the women’s game in general. She lived near the ninth green of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills, and a statue of Shore stands next to the 18th hole on the course.
Ernie Dunlevie
One of the original developers of Bermuda Dunes Country Club and one of the founding fathers of the Palm Springs Golf Classic in 1960, Dunlevie remained a force in the desert’s PGA Tour event until his death in 2013. He helped guide the tournament to success in charitable donations to Eisenhower Medical Center and other desert charities, and he was a friend and a mentor to a young Arnold Palmer.
Ernie Vossler, Joe Walser
As a partnership, these two golf pros from Oklahoma reshaped golf in the desert in the 1980s, first bringing two renowned golf courses to the La Quinta Resort and later developing PGA West. They brought in the high-profile designers, strong residential housing and the understanding that televising their golf courses through professional events was great marketing for the desert and their developments.
Bill Bone
A developer of residential housing, Bone decided to start putting his homes around golf courses in 1972, starting at Sunrise Country Club in Rancho Mirage. His concept opened up the idea of second homes and winter living around golf courses in the desert.
David Foster
A forgotten figure, Foster was the head of Colgate/Palmolive and decided to use women’s golf as a way to market his products. The result was the Colgate Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage in 1972, a tournament that reshaped the LPGA and became a landmark tournament in the Coachella Valley.
Honorable mention
Amy Alcott: Her decision to jump into the lake after winning the 1988 Nabisco Dinah Shore gave the desert and the KPA a trademark moment. She repeated it in 1991, joined by tournament host Dinah Shore.
Bill Clinton: The sitting president who played with two other presidents in the 1995 Bob Hope tournament, Clinton would later return to the event in 2012 and host the event for five years, though sometimes hosting from afar. Clinton’s presence was part of a revival of the event.
Pete Dye: Dye’s innovative golf courses designs, including the famed Stadium Course at PGA West, irritated players but delighted viewers on the Bob Hope Desert Classic and the Skins Game. Golfers flocked to the desert to be brought to their knees by Dye’s courses.
Gerald Ford: After leaving the White House in 1977, the former president moved to the desert and became a fixture in the desert golf scene, playing in the Bob Hope tournament with Hope as well as the defending champion in the first round each year.
John Foster: For more than two decades, Foster helped to guide the Bob Hope Classic through course changes and the evolving landscape of the PGA Tour. As president of West Coast Turf, Foster and his company also literally helped shape numerous desert golf courses.
Milt Hicks: A son of an early Palm Springs influential family, Hicks was part of the development of several golf courses in the 1950s including Thunderbird and Indian Wells country club. He was the chairman of the 1955 Ryder Cup and the first president of the Palm Springs Golf Classic (PGA Tour event).
Jack Nicklaus: Winner of the 1963 Palm Springs Invitational, Nicklaus would go on to become a noted golf course architect, and his courses are some of the most important in the desert.
Ted Robinson: In the desert golf boom of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Robinson was the most prolific designer of golf courses that gave the desert the feel of friendly and playable golf for club members. Robinson designed or renovated 22 desert courses, or about one out of every four desert courses at the time.
Frank Sinatra: One of the most popular entertainers in the world, Sinatra was a long-time desert resident and was unabashed in his love of the game. He hosted a PGA Tour event in the desert in 1963 and later was host of the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational.
Annika Sorenstam: One of three players to win the LPGA major in the desert three times, Sorenstam was at the height of her prowess in the early 2000s. She also won two Samsung World Championships at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, giving her five official LPGA titles in the desert, second only to Arnold Palmer in official wins in the Coachella Valley.