The Mountain Course

Opened in 1980 at the resort itself, the Mountain Course was Pete Dye's first La Quinta design and remains its most scenic. Fairways thread between the desert floor and the abrupt base of the Santa Rosa Mountains, so several holes play with sheer rock as a backdrop and boulders sitting just off the short grass. At a par 72 of 6,666 yards it isn't about length; it's about hitting the right sliver of fairway and the right shelf of green.

The back nine climbs toward the mountains for the round's most dramatic stretch, where elevated tees, pot bunkers and rock outcrops frame nearly every shot. It has hosted the Skins Game and PGA Tour Qualifying, and for decades it has ranked among California's best resort courses. What a visitor remembers is the setting—few desert courses put you this close to the mountain wall—paired with Dye's demand for precise, thoughtful golf.