A Club Membership at BIGHORN Golf Club starts at a $275,000 initiation fee. Golf Membership starts at $375,000. Those are the two figures the club publishes itself, and they are the first thing to understand about buying on the hillside above Palm Desert, because the house and the club are two separate transactions with two separate sets of paper.
Annual dues are a different story. As of September 2026 they are not published, and third-party sites carry figures from various years that do not agree. Do not budget off any of them. Get the current schedule from the club in writing before you remove contingencies.
Where is BIGHORN Golf Club?
The clubhouse is at 255 Palowet Drive, in the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains above Palm Desert. The club puts itself roughly three miles from the shopping and dining of central Palm Desert, which in practice means El Paseo is a short drop down the hill. The clubhouse sits about 1,000 feet above the valley floor, and that elevation is the design premise rather than a footnote.
Two courses, two architects
The Mountains Course opened in 1991 to a design by Arthur Hills. The Canyons Course followed in December 1998, designed by Tom Fazio, and the Los Angeles Times reported it as a par 72 at opening. The club publishes par and yardage hole by hole rather than leading with one headline number, and it advertises play without tee times on both courses, which tells you something about how it thinks about the golf.
Television found the place early. The Skins Game ran here from 1992 through 1995, and the Battle at BIGHORN followed: Tiger Woods against Sergio Garcia in 2000, Woods and Annika Sorenstam against David Duval and Karrie Webb in 2001, and Woods and Jack Nicklaus against Lee Trevino and Garcia in 2002. The LPGA Samsung World Championship ran here from 2004 through 2007.
What does BIGHORN membership cost in 2026?
Two categories, both published by the club:
- Club Membership: $275,000 initiation. Social and non-golf amenities.
- Golf Membership: $375,000 initiation. Unlimited golf on both courses, the practice facilities, the Learning Center, and the non-golf amenities.
Read the structure, not only the price. BIGHORN describes Club Membership as non-equity, non-voting, non-refundable, and non-transferable, and Golf Membership as non-proprietary, non-voting, and non-transferable. Membership is a license subject to applicable residency requirements, not a share of the club you resell later with the house. That is a materially different instrument from an equity club, and it belongs in your carrying-cost math on day one rather than in a surprise conversation during escrow.
Is club membership required when you buy a home at BIGHORN?
The club's public membership page does not say that membership is automatic with a purchase or mandatory for owners. It says membership is subject to applicable residency requirements and describes it as a separate license. Anyone who tells you flatly that membership comes with the deed, or that it does not, should be able to show you the current club documents. Ask for them with the HOA package.
What are the homes like at BIGHORN?
Custom houses run from roughly 4,000 square feet to well over 20,000, according to Palm Springs Life's October 2025 survey of the community. Freestanding villas run roughly 2,300 to 4,400. The club's property portal sorts inventory into New Specs, Resales, Villas, and Homesites and filters by Canyons or Mountains, which is how people inside the gates think about the geography. Named enclaves include Mountain Crest and Hillside Heights, the latter a group of eight properties.
The architecture is not accidental. Kristi Hanson helped establish BIGHORN's architectural guidelines and has designed more than sixty houses here. Guy Dreier is the other name that recurs, including the interiors of the clubhouse penthouses. What that produces on the ground is contemporary desert work: long glass turned at the view, curved forms, stone that answers the boulder field instead of ignoring it, and plans that treat a slope as the organizing idea rather than a problem to flatten. The resale stock is moving the same direction: in March 2026 Palm Springs Life reported a BIGHORN house on Metate Place coming through a yearlong gut renovation and taking a Design Excellence Award from the American Society of Interior Designers. Houses from the 1990s and 2000s are being taken to studs here, not traded as found.
The clubhouse a thousand feet up
The 80,000-square-foot clubhouse opened in January 2018, designed by Swaback Partners, with four penthouses of roughly 5,200 to 6,800 square feet and interiors by Guy Dreier. The club counts nine dining venues, a Spa and Wellness Center with a cryotherapy chamber and a 25-yard lap pool, tennis, four pickleball courts, and bocce. The Vault, inside the clubhouse, is a room for rare automobiles.
What is the Palm Desert market doing right now?
Altos Research's Palm Desert report dated September 3, 2026 puts the citywide median list price at $689,900, or $339 per square foot, with 265 active listings, a median 91 days on market, and 31 percent of listings having taken a price cut. The Market Action Index reads 35, which Altos labels a slight seller's advantage. The top quartile carries a median of $1,300,000 at about 2,850 square feet.
BIGHORN does not live in those numbers. On the morning of September 3, 2026, Redfin's Bighorn Country Club page showed five identifiable BIGHORN-address listings from $2,395,000 to $7,950,000. Read that as a snapshot, not an inventory count, since the aggregators mix neighboring areas into that page. The gap is the useful part. A citywide median tells you very little about a hillside custom house.
Who is BIGHORN actually for?
Buyers who want two championship courses and a serious wellness operation, and who are comfortable with a non-equity, non-transferable license at a six-figure initiation. People who want elevation and a long view corridor more than a flat fairway lot. If you want an equity club you can sell out of, or a mid-century Alexander with a mountain wall behind the pool, this is the wrong gate.
Frequently asked questions about BIGHORN Golf Club
How much is a BIGHORN Golf Club membership?
The club publishes a $275,000 initiation fee for Club Membership and $375,000 for Golf Membership. Annual dues are not published as of September 2026, so request the current dues schedule directly from the club.
Do you have to join the club to buy a home at BIGHORN?
The club's public page does not state that membership is mandatory or automatic with ownership. It says membership is subject to applicable residency requirements and is a separate license. Confirm the current requirement in writing before you make an offer.
Who designed the golf courses at BIGHORN?
Arthur Hills designed The Mountains Course, which opened in 1991. Tom Fazio designed The Canyons Course, which opened in December 1998.
For how BIGHORN reads against the valley's other private clubs, see our guides to Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells and PGA West in La Quinta. Norman Williams and Jacqulyn Stanton of The Stanton Williams Group at Compass can put a written carrying cost on a specific BIGHORN house, membership included, before you write. Reach Norman at 760.464.2190 or Jacqulyn at 760.702.2557.
Written by Norman Williams and Jacqulyn Stanton of The Stanton Williams Group at Compass. Norman Williams, DRE #02051057. Jacqulyn Stanton, DRE #01369783. Club figures from bighorngolf.com and members.bighorngolf.com, accessed September 3, 2026. Course and event history from the Los Angeles Times and Palm Springs Life. Market figures from the Altos Research Palm Desert report dated September 3, 2026. Fees change; nothing here is a valuation of any property.
