24-02-2025
How has this low-profile California golf club secured so many Hall of Famers?
How has this low-profile California golf club secured so many Hall of Famers?
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Golf has been in the Coachella Valley for 100 years, starting with a nine-hole course
The Desert Inn golf course, also known as the Mashie Course, was the first golf course in the Coachella Valley, which now boast more than 120 courses
The Marrakesh Country Club pro-am features LPGA players and World Golf Hall of Famers.
The event is organized by former LPGA touring pro and Marrakesh assistant pro Heather Drew.
The pro-am is about more than just LPGA stars, with local teaching pros also participating.
Marrakesh Country Club is a lower-profile club compared to some of the more famous courses in the desert.
Sometimes it is easy for forget what happens behind the gates of private country clubs in the Coachella Valley. Folks who never get inside those gates may see the clubs as cold or snobbish, just people who can afford a private club, playing golf every day and having cocktails at night.
That's not always the case, of course. Most clubs have vibrant communities with intriguing events for their members. Take, for instance, the Marrakesh Country Club pro-am being held Thursday.
While the event is like the pro-ams that many courses hold for members, the Marrakesh event has a distinct LPGA flavor to it as well as a touch of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Most of that is due to former LPGA touring pro and former Marrakesh assistant pro Heather Drew.
The pro-am was already in place under then-head pro Willie Gatherum when Drew was hired at the club in the mid-1990s.
'He had started the pro-am and I was just able to kind of flesh it out,' said Drew, who played on the LPGA from 1983 through 1998. 'Thankfully, with friends of mine, Pat Bradley and Patty Sheehan and Donna Caponi, some pretty big names, we did OK.'
Bradley, Caponi and Sheehan are playing in the pro-am this year, along with another World Golf Hall of Famer, Sandra Palmer.
More: University of San Diego sizzles in taking title at Prestige college golf event in La Quinta
But as Allison Finney, another of the LPGA players in the field as Drew's wife, said, the pro-am is about more than just LPGA stars.
'It's really great that all the Hall of Famers are coming to play and everything, but through all the years of this the backbone has been the local teaching pros,' Finney said. 'And that they are willing to give their days is kind of the sisterhood of the pros who help each other.'
Still, it is the addition of past LPGA stars that makes the Marrakesh event special for the club's membership. In addition to the four World Golf Hall of Famers, the event includes Drew, Finney, Vickie Fergon and Carla Glasgow, a player from the1970s.
'I think that (the membership) appreciates it a lot,' Drew said. 'It's not too often that you can say, hey, I just played with a Hall of Famers. I played with someone in the World Golf Hall of Fame. That's something.'
What also makes the Marrakesh pro-am and the appearance of the Hall of Famers interesting it that Marrakesh isn't particularly the kind of club when Hall of Famers might be expected to pop up. Marrakesh is certainly a lower-profile club compared to some of the more famous and ritzy courses in the desert that might host professional tournaments or be the winter homes of touring pros on the men's and women's tours. But for Drew, who is an honorary member at Marrakesh, the club is just about the right size for the right membership.
'Marrakesh does such a nice job that I think the pros like coming and playing,' Drew said. 'And Marrakesh, it's such a fun golf course. For a long time they were kind of the little secret club. It's just great and I know that the ladies really appreciate it.'
Drew says it really deosn't take that long to put together the field of pros for the event. She generally starts in January, and so many of the pros have enjoyed the Marrakesh pro-am in the past that they get back to her with commitments fairly quickly.
Marrakesh is fortunate to have a former LPGA touring pro like Drew who wants to put together the pro-am and has connections with LPGA superstars. But the truth is that each private club in the desert has some tournament or some special day like the Marrakesh pro-am.
It might be with former or current touring pros or it might just be with local teaching pros or it might just be a day out for the entire membership, but each desert private club has some special day. The Marrakesh day, thanks to Drew, Finney and their work, is among the more special days.
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at Follow him on Facebook or on X at @larry_bohannan.
