PGA WEST Pete Dye Mountain Course

There's not one, but two Pete Dye courses tied to the famed PGA WEST Pete Dye in La Quinta. The Mountain Course truly steals the show though. This is target golf under and sometimes right up against mountains.

The No. 1 handicap hole isn't some long, boring par 5, numbing even as it messes up your scorecard. Dye defies that convention and gives you a 400-yard, par 4 (No. 6) with two forced carries and water to right, the better to gobble up any wayward approach shots that somehow miss rocks.

"This is a course worth working into any Palm Springs area trip," TravelGolf.com West Coast Bureau Chief Chris Baldwin said. "It doesn't receive the acclaim and disdain of its close neighbor and fellow Dye TPC Stadium course, but it's actually a more consistently enjoyable play.

It wows you with its views and then forces you to make shots. Nothing's given in game. Those mountain vistas are earned with your shot-making sweat."