The local time is 5:30 a.m. on the summer solstice, the sun is about to show over the Panamint Mountains and the temperature is already a sweltering 92 degrees. Welcome to Death Valley.
Forget heating up a morning beverage in my room at the Ranch at Furnace Creek. I was on a dawn-to-dusk golf mission and, considering the thermometer hit 126 the previous afternoon, I wasted no time darting over to Furnace Creek Golf Course to start my out-of-the-box golf adventure that would have me playing at the lowest and highest elevated courses in the state – on the same day.
Furnace Creek Golf Course is 214 feet below sea level and in Death Valley National Park; Sierra Star Golf Course is 8,000 feet above sea level and based in Mammoth Lakes. After seeing that only 200 miles separated the courses and that June 21 was the longest day of the year, a light bulb went off. Let’s play two! So, with my son (did I also mention it was Fathers Day?) and two friends, off we went.
An immediate ominous sign about playing golf in the Mojave Desert were the T-shirts in the pro shop emblazoned with a skeleton hitting a golf ball. Nevertheless, us city slickers stayed the course … even though we instantly discovered that a golf ball doesn’t travel very far in negative elevation.
But there are a multitude of wonders in Death Valley, a land of raw beauty that’s been folded, twisted, uplifted, re-formed and buried by geologic forces over millions of years. It’s also the last place visitors would expect to find a golf course, let alone understand how one could survive in such an ill-suited environment. But with preconceived images of parched fairways and greens, players traversing the 6,236-yard desert layout for the first time will be pleasantly surprised by the lush conditions at Furnace Creek, an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary that was renovated in 1997 by Perry Dye. The front nine has wide landing areas and water features, none of which are mirages, and, after steering the cart up the wooden ramp to the bar/restaurant at the turn, the back nine turns up the heat – literally and physically – with plenty of sand and palm and tamarisk trees lining the fairways. (If you go, take advantage of that shade while you can.)
After sinking my round-ending bogey putt, we scattered to our cars like Wile E. Coyote to hit the road for higher ground. Continuing north on U.S. Route 395 with majestic views of the Eastern Sierra and Mount Whitney, we arrived at the four-season mountain playground of Mammoth Lakes just after 2 p.m., which left plenty of time for a second 18.
With my body still simmering because my car’s air conditioning was on the fritz (I know, right?), the first step out of the vehicle was blissfully welcomed with a breath of fresh air embellished by the resin scent from the towering Jeffrey pines. Welcome to Sierra Star Golf, where the temperature is a mild 82 degrees and all systems are go to complete the marathon task.
The first order of business, though, is a new game plan because of the thousands of feet of elevation change that made it necessary to re-strategize club selection.
“It’s awesome for the ego,” Sierra Star head professional Dave Schacht said about balls soaring farther in the thin air. “If you flight the ball higher it stays in the air longer and just kind of floats. If you’re hitting downhill, downwind, down grain, you really have to pay attention.”
The Cal Olsen-designed layout near the center of town is a tight track in forested conditions, so consideration should be given to the narrow fairways when choosing tees. Bears are another factor to be aware of, but the only ones we confronted that day were in the form of playful, life-size wooden sculptures positioned throughout the course. By the time we reached the home stretch with a few dogleg holes testing our accuracy, we were chomping at the bit to sink the last putt on our day’s 36th hole and belly up to the 19th – er, 37th – hole for celebratory libations and tales.
For my part, let the irrelevant record show that I fired my low round, an 84, at Furnace Creek and my high round, an 86, at Sierra Star. But scorecards aside, it was a day to remember, and our foursome was California dreamin’ all day long. And into the night as well, as heads hitting pillows at Juniper Springs Lodge never felt so good.
