Desert Meets Mountain Admist 36 Idyllic Holes
at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon
Thirty-six holes of golf amidst the majesty of a high desert (2,600 feet) landscape await you at Tukwet Canyon Golf Club in Beaumont, California. Just more than an hour east of Los Angeles and within a short hop from virtually anywhere in southern California’s Inland Empire, Tukwet Canyon is rimmed by the San Bernardino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto range to the south. Both mountain ranges are under-appreciated but impossible to miss in the cool months when snow blankets their peaks as in a postcard from Colorado.
The combination of immediate desert landscape and nearby mountains frame virtually every hole of the two championship courses you can choose from here. Many weekenders play both on consecutive days, comparing scorecards and stories in the clubhouse after their rounds. Exceedingly modest green fees (topping out at $64 in the cool months, slightly higher in prime season) assist greatly in that endeavor.
Tukwet’s Champions Course is the more difficult of the two, despite its slightly shorter (by 65 yards) distance than its companion Legends Course. At 7,377 yards from the tips (four other tee placements can get you to 5,274), Champions goes up and down after it departs from the clubhouse, then loops back before heading out again for a lengthier back nine. Elevation changes will both delight and challenge you, just as they do the PGA Tour professionals who have used the course as the stage for the Champions Tour National Qualifying Finals, Tour Q-School, and Southern California PGA Professional Championship.
At 7,442 yards, the Legends will test the heft of your drives, but its straight-ahead, no-gimmicks layout takes you on a tidy and mostly manageable loop around the rim of the sprawling property. A natural creek runs through both courses to occasionally complicate matters, but bunkering is light at 112 for the 36 holes.
General Manager and PGA Pro Rick Parillo relates the amusing tale of a previous owner having filled in a number of bunkers on the right side of both courses in an attempt to compensate for a hitch in his swing. When the Morongo Band of Mission Indians purchased the property in 2010 to complement their casino up the highway in Cabazon, tribal leaders brought Parillo in with a mandate (accompanied by a generous budget) to update the courses and amenities. One of his first moves was to track down Tukwet’s first superintendent, Paul Mayes, and lure him back. A bunker revival program is thus in process, along with a number of other enhancements that build on the masterful foundation laid down by course architects Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley.
The closing holes on both courses serve to accentuate the countless positives awaiting discovery at Tukwet Canyon. Eight bunkers affectionately known as the “Church Pews” dot the right side of Champions No. 18. You’ll also have to avoid the water from one of the course’s two lakes as you navigate the 443 yards of this par-4 gem nestled against the stately hilltop clubhouse.
Legends No. 18 is known as “The View,” given its full take on Mt. San Gorgonio, the southland’s highest peak at 11,503 feet. You’ll feel like you’re gaining on the mountain as you negotiate the elevation changes along this hole’s 382 yards, but it’s not long to the clubhouse from here, and if you can stay to the right along the fairway and avoid a long poke beyond the green, your steadiness can reward you with a birdie to redeem whatever difficulties you may have endured on the journey.
Tukwet’s Stay ’n Play packages include deluxe guest rooms and suites at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa that soar up to 24 floors above the stunning desert-and-mountain landscape. All the modern comforts (massage services, aromatherapy, mini-bar, European linens) offer relief from the cares of the day while helping prepare you for the variety of nightlife entertainment options available in the smartly appointed casino complex below. These include lively restaurant, lounge and nightclub attractions along with a bowling venue in case you’d like to pick up on the day’s competitive endeavors.
In addition, six carefully secluded “oasis casitas” await the highly discriminating weekending golfer ready to indulge the senses in a luxurious master suite with whirlpool bath, fireplace and a private outdoor lounging pool and shower.
Beaumont has a centennial celebration on tap for 2012, all the better to hail the presence of a golf course complex that serves as both a travel destination and quick-hop oasis for appreciative inland golfers. Combined with the 24/7 hospitality afforded by its resort accommodations, it’s little wonder that the words “Tukwet Canyon” have become almost synonymous with the very best of well-rounded entertainment options available to golf lovers all over the southland and beyond.
