In many ways, 2025 was a good year for golf in this California region

PALM DESERT, Calif. — In many ways, 2026 was a very good year for golf in the Coachella Valley. The surge in play since the pandemic continued, golf courses poured money into their infrastructure and tournament play was exciting.

But it was also a bit of a down yar for desert golf, with one tournament going away and another tournament perhaps being threatened by changes to the PGA Tour.

Here’s a look back at the five biggest stories in golf in the Coachella Valley in 2025:

The loss of the PGA Tour Champions event

When the PGA Tour Champions returned to the desert at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage in 2023, it not only brought back the senior tour after three decades away from the desert, but it filled a hole in the desert golf schedule created when the LPGA took its major championship to Houston after 51 years at Mission Hills. While there was some excitement about the Galleri Classic, it wasn’t enough to keep the event in the desert for more than three years. The crowds just didn’t show up for the event and the tournament struggled to fill its two days of pro-am play. There is some talk that the PGA Tour Champions would still like to be in the Coachella Valley, but it won’t be in 2026. The winner in 2025 was Steve Allan, who hadn't won a tournament anywhere since 2002.

Sepp Straka wins the 2025 American Express

Sepp Straka might have been just another name on the PGA Tour to many fans when he put together four strong rounds to win The American Express last January. But it turned out to be the first act in a career year for Straka, the Austrian who played his college golf at the University of Georgia. Straka went on to win a PGA Tour signature event at the Truist Championship, then was part of the victorious European team in the Ryder Cup, posting a 1-2-0 record for the week at Bethpage Black in New York. It was all enough to put Straka as high as seventh in the world rankings during the summer, and he’ll be a familiar figure when he defends the AmEx title in 2026.

Indian Wells pushes talks with LPGA

When the city of Indian Wells approved millions of dollars to redesign and renovate its Players Course at the Indian Wells Golf Resort, there was talk of luring the LPGA back to the desert with the new course and the city’s commitment. Plenty of people were skeptical that the LPGA would return to the desert, but the city continued to pursue the women’s tour. That included a deal to host the developmental Epson Tour Championship at the golf resort. With the Players Course now reopened, city officials say their talks with the LPGA are accelerating. The one stumbling block might be finding a title sponsor, since the city wants only to be the presenting sponsor of a new event.

Renovation-palooza

Desert golf courses have been busy in the last few years since the COVID pandemic, not only with more and more people playing golf but also with renovation projects on their courses. But the summer of 2025 seemed to be the busiest of them all. New irrigation systems were very popular this year, as were renovated greens, particularly if those greens featured MiniVerde grass as a new putting surface. It didn’t seem like there was a bunker that was safe from at least some tweaking in the desert. It all makes for better, shinier golf courses. The work isn’t going away anytime soon, with courses already lined up for more work in 2026 and 2027.

Changes on the PGA Tour?

This is kind of a behind-the-scenes story at the moment that may well be the biggest story of 2026. Could the PGA Tour really be preparing to eliminate as many as 20 tournaments from its scheduled by 2027? And if so, what could that mean to the Coachella Valley and The American Express tournament in La Quinta, celebrating its 67th year in 2026? This isn’t a bigger story at the moment because if kind of sneaked up on the golf world just within the last month. As the PGA Tour begins its West Coast swing in a few weeks, tournaments in Hawaii, Phoenix, San Diego, Pebble Beach, Los Angeles and yes, the Coachella Valley will be looking on eagerly and anxiously to what PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, his staff and influential players like Tiger Woods will be crafting for the future.