Furnace Creek Ranch

Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch Resort is in the middle of Death Valley National Park, California, 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and 275 miles northeast of LA. The resort has two hotels - a- four diamond, 66 room Furnace Creek Inn, and a more moderately priced Furnace Creek Ranch. The course opened in 1927 with a three hole layout designed by one of the ranch hands of the farming community, Murray Miller, and expanded to 9 holes in 1931. Billy Bell added an additional 9 holes in 1968, and Perry Dye did some redesign work in 1997. It's considered the lowest course in the world at 214 feet below sea level. Not what you'd expect in the middle of Death Valley and a couple hundred feet below sea level, but lush green fairways, tamarisk and mesquite tree lined with water in play on six holes. It's short at 6,236-yards from the blue tees, and is fairly tight with tree-lined palms and tamarisks, and some parallel fairways. The greens are small and featureless, overall lightly bunkered. You're not here for the golf, and the course isn't championship caliber, it's more the overall experience of playing in the middle of Death Valley. The experience you'll remember, the course, probably not.