PGA West Stadium Course

Pete Dye built the TPC Stadium Course in 1986 to punish and entertain in equal measure, carving amphitheater mounding, deep pot bunkers and railroad-tie bulkheads out of the Coachella Valley floor. It was so severe that the Tour's pros pushed it off the Bob Hope rotation for years before it returned, and it now anchors the American Express as the tournament's championship test. From the black tees it stretches to 7,300 yards, but the trouble is lateral as much as long—water, sand and shaved fall-offs guard nearly every target.

The round is a slow build toward two of the desert's most famous closers. The par-3 17th, nicknamed Alcatraz, drops to an island green ringed by rock and water with no bailout, and the par-4 18th runs a lake down the entire left side to a bunker-wrapped green. Along the way the course delivers Skins Game and 1991 Ryder Cup history, mountain sightlines in every direction, and the sense that par is an achievement. Resort guests can book it up to a year out and play the same holes the Tour does.

18

The lakeside closer

After the island-green 17th they call Alcatraz, the Stadium finishes on a par 4 with a lake down the entire left side to a bunker-wrapped green beneath the Santa Rosas—Pete Dye's desert coliseum making you earn the walk in.