Southland Focus

A weekly look at golf courses open to the public in Southern California.

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Firecliff at Desert Willow Golf Resort

Address: 38500 Portola Ave., Palm Desert.

Phone: (760) 346-7060.

Green fees: $130-160, including cart and range balls. (Rates drop dramatically during summer months)

Tee times: Up to 30 days in advance, $20 charge per player for times 31 to 90 days in advance.

The facility: Firecliff is one of two 18-hole courses on the property, along with Mountain View. Firecliff is dominated by natural vegetation in waste areas, which helps the course blend into the desert. Sand is a big issue, with 97 traps. Water comes into play on seven holes. The course also has an informative Web site (www.desertwillow.com) that shows each hole in depth.

The good: Landing areas in the fairways are generous, and the greens have enough flat areas to making putting fair. Three of the par threes are in lagoon settings with sand and water meeting to create a beach tempting enough to relax on. The carts comes with electronic maps of the course that show distance to traps and other hazards and are allowed on the course using the 90-degree rule.

The bad: Players must contend with a strong winds that kick up as the day goes along. And there’s a reason rates go down substantially in the summer: it’s hot. For an extra fee players can get a cart with a mister system to also help beat the heat.

The score: There are five sets of tees that stretch the course all the way back to 7,056 yards, so the course can be as easy or hard as a player’s ego allows. The par threes are solid. The greens are wonderful. No metal spikes. A new 37,000-square-foot clubhouse is expected to open in the next couple of weeks.

Overall rating: 3 balls.

* One ball: No-frills golf.

** Two balls: Worth an occasional round.

*** Three balls: Like shooting four strokes under your handicap.

**** Four balls: Where the golf gods play.

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Hole Back Tees Middle Tees Par Front Tees 1 516 489 5 417 2 394 364 4 312 3 168 139 3 107 4 424 387 4 313 5 400 380 4 304 6 310 279 4 233 7 548 520 5 465 8 138 119 3 82 9 437 408 4 323 Out 3,335 3,085 36 2,556 10 421 393 4 323 11 427 396 4 329 12 395 371 4 311 13 523 502 5 425 14 163 141 3 97 15 302 279 4 227 16 405 368 4 297 17 192 170 3 129 18 513 468 5 385 In 3,341 3,088 36 2,523 Total 6,676 6,173 72 5,079

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Rating/Slope: Back--72.0/132, Middle--69.7/125, Front--69.0/120