Portola Country Club

Portola Country Club is a gated community for adults 55 and older in Palm Desert, with an 18-hole course composed entirely of par 3s. Golf is part of the residential grounds rather than a separately advertised public course. The club homepage says ownership of one of its approximately 500 homes includes unlimited golf privileges; the same property has a clubhouse, pools, tennis and pickleball courts.

How the course developed

The community history traces Portola’s first nine-hole course to Cecil Hollingsworth, who also designed its clubhouse. Construction began in 1970. Four early holes lay in a wash, and later flooding forced the greens there to be rebuilt before those holes were eventually lost. After a new owner took over in 1977, a second phase added thirteen golf holes around the home sites. The club now describes an eighteen-hole executive course and says seven lakes remain across the grounds. That history explains why the route is woven through the neighborhood instead of occupying a separate, full-length golf parcel.

Playing the short course

The club’s own labeled photographs show the first-hole tee beside water, a pond at the fifteenth, and the water view at the eighteenth. Palms, lake edges and homes give the course its desert-community setting. The operator does not publish a current named-tee yardage or rating table on these pages, so players should use the club’s golf schedule and ask the office for any course-specific playing details they need.

Access and planning

Portola’s women’s and men’s golf clubs and resident golf schedule provide regular ways to play within the community. The site describes unlimited golf as a homeowner privilege and does not offer a public online tee-time sheet. Visitors should confirm any invitation and entry arrangements with their resident host or the community office before travelling. The office is at 42500 Portola Avenue, Palm Desert, and can be reached at (760) 346-5481.