Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage is certainly accustomed to taking care of high profile guests, but none get any higher profile than the President of the United States, and that’s what happened recently when Barack Obama was in town.
President Obama’s love of golf is well known—we hear that he’s somewhere around a 16-18 handicap—so it shouldn’t be any surprise that Air Force One is seen occasionally at Palm Springs International. Reports we saw said he played nine holes of golf at Porcupine Creek, Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s place in Rancho Mirage.
The Valley of the Presidents
I wonder if any single valley in the country has had as many presidential visits and homes as our area. President Eisenhower is, of course, one of our most famous aficionados, but he wasn’t the first to discover the area. Herbert Hoover was here in 1936 and FDR was in La Quinta before WWII. And after his years in the White House, Gerald Ford settled in the area.
And that actually brings me to my topic: Publications like Variety have speculated that President Obama was actually checking out property when he was here with the First Lady. I suspect that if the president does decide to buy a home here, one of his main reasons would be similar to what motivates many of our residents: the number of great golf courses in the area. (I’m going to have to see if anyone from the White House has downloaded our golf course resource guide…)
While you might not find yourself in a foursome with a former president, you will certainly be in good company when you golf in the La Quinta, Indian Wells or the greater Palm Springs area. And, whether you’re looking for a retirement home, second home or just a great place to live, this is a the place to be. Of course, living on or near a golf course is nirvana for many of our residents.
The Royal Treatment
Even if you haven’t been the most powerful man in the free world, you’ll find that you’re treated like a king at all the local facilities. When you start to scout real estate here, some of your most difficult decisions will be choosing between communities in places such as the La Quinta Resort, with its three courses (2 public, 1 private at the Citrus), tennis courts, and other fine facilities.
Boasting three courses and some 10 different communities tucked in, around and near the golf courses, there is a lot of variety available. Everything from large custom homes at The Enclave to the La Quinta Resort Spa Villas condos make ideal locations for golfers and anyone looking for an active lifestyle.
There are many other communities I should mention, but I’ll leave them for a future post. For now, let me just point out our free golf resource guide download. Who knows, maybe the president has a copy on his laptop right now, so when you push the download “button” you could be in very good company.
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