Coral Mountain Is California’s Newest Golf And Surf Club In The Desert

David McLay Kidd Set to Design Coral Mountain’s 18-Hole Championship Golf Course

The flagship offering of Coral Mountain is set to be the 18-hole championship golf course. Scottish architect David McLay Kidd has been tapped to design the 18-hole layout, which would be his first layout in Southern California. The project will also be Kidd’s first desert-style course, pairing one of golf’s great up and coming designers with a brand new natural canvas.

Kidd’s design career took off after being hired by Mike Keiser in 1994 to design the first course at Bandon Dunes, a golf resort located on a remote stretch of coastline in Eastern Oregon. Since then, he has gone on to build highly rated courses all around the world, including the Sands Course at Gamble Sands in Washington State, The Castle Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, and Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin. In addition, Kidd has several new courses that have debuted over the last few years, including the Scarecrow Course at Gamble Sands and the soon-to-be-opened Bone Valley at Streamsong Resort in Florida.

Kidd’s First Desert-Style Course

In an interview in 2024, Kidd shared what characteristics make a great golf site. Said Kidd, “The first thing that jumps to mind is sand. If the site doesn’t have sand, it becomes more difficult to build regardless of any other issue…Sand is like the perfect ingredient for golf, the elixir of life for a golf course architect. If you can have sand and then also a compelling landscape around it, that would be the double whammy, the perfect scenario.”

At Coral Mountain, Kidd will have both in plenty. The golf course is set to flow through the desert’s natural topography with panoramic views of Coral Mountain. “My passion for golf is about creating special experiences in compelling landscapes. I’ve spent a lifetime doing just that at Bandon Dunes in Oregon and the Castle Course in St. Andrews, Scotland, where I was born and raised. At Coral Mountain Desert Club, I have the opportunity to create my first original work in Southern California,” said Kidd of the site. “On my very first visit I reveled in the light cast across the valley, shadows in the mountains and the colors in the rocks. I knew I had found another compelling landscape to do my best work, and where my team and I could craft a course unlike anything nearby. A course that enthralls with intrigue, adventure, whimsy and playfulness, while exciting and perplexing golfers over and over again. We can’t wait to start creating something fresh and new, yet so steeped in the roots of the Scottish game I grew up around.”

Light and shadows alone do not make a great course. However, a sandy site and a good backdrop can go a long ways.

Two of Kidd’s most popular courses, Bandon Dunes and Mammoth Dunes, tend to combine firm and fast turf conditions with playability for all skill levels. While a private club, Coral Mountain isn’t being positioned solely for highly skilled players. Kidd intends to use the natural terrain while emphasizing strategic playability and creativity. Coral Mountain should then provide an engaging experience for players who approach the game at different skill levels, with strategic options and creative shot-making previously done so well at his other previous designs.

A Scottish Influence in the California Desert

Kidd’s roots are in Scotland, where he grew up on windswept coastal links-scapes. Coral Mountain, meanwhile, sits in the middle of the Southern California desert. That contrast may be what makes this project so compelling.

Many of the design elements associated with traditional links golf, such as strategic options, natural contours, and an emphasis on the landscape to influence routing, have been incorporated by Kidd in his previous designs. Bandon Dunes and Mammoth Dunes both utilize firm and fast conditions that are paired with well thought out land movement and contouring.

At Coral Mountain, Kidd intends to translate those same ideas into the desert environment. While we likely won’t see revetted bunker faces at Coral Mountain, the overall idea remains the same: let the unique landscape and contouring of La Quinta, CA dictate the hole designs and strategic golf design concepts. That should make Coral Mountain a particularly intriguing place in the deep portfolio of courses that already exist in the greater Palm Springs area.

Golf Amenities

Coral Mountain plans include the 18-hole championship golf course. In addition, Coral Mountain will provide a driving range and two elevated comfort stations with mountain views. The course is currently designed as a 6,939-yard Par 71 layout, although that could change before the project is completed.

Surfing in the Desert

While an 18-hole golf course is certainly not out of place at a private club, a surf lagoon definitely is. Members at Coral Beach Desert Club will no longer have to travel to the California coast for their surfing fix. Through a partnership with Thermal Beach Club, Coral Mountain will feature a wave basin with 48 chambers, which is set to be the largest pneumatic man-made wave basin in the United States.

Located just a few minutes down the road from the main Coral Mountain property, Thermal Beach Club will be an annex club amenity with members having access to both the golf course and the surf lagoon. With a customizable wave system that caters to surfers of all skill levels, the surf lagoon provides another activity for members and their families in a larger recreational ecosystem.

Fitness and Wellness

In addition to golf and surfing, Coral Mountain has plans to bring additional amenities to the property. Those include racquet sports, fitness, recovery, outdoor recreation, and dining.

Four padel courts, eight pickleball courts, and three tennis courts will provide members with ample opportunity for racquet sports. Massage treatment rooms, steam, sauna, cold plunge, and hot tubs will provide advanced fitness and recovery facilities. A recreational lake, pools, and expansive trail network round out a robust fitness and wellness offering.

Palm Springs and La Quinta have long been synonymous with golf. A David McLay Kidd-designed 18-hole championship course paired with a surf lagoon will certainly make Coral Mountain stand out among its competitors. Trading golf clubs after a round of golf for a surfboard might be normal in coastal California, but not in the desert. That’s what makes Coral Mountain a decidedly different place in La Quinta.