For fifty years the LPGA's first major of the season belonged to a Muirhead fairway in Rancho Mirage. Dinah Shore and Colgate-Palmolive chairman David Foster launched the Winner's Circle here in 1972. It became a major in 1983. Winners jumped into Poppie's Pond after Amy Alcott made a splash of it in 1988. The championship left for Texas after 2022, and the pond tradition left with it. What remains at 34600 Mission Hills Drive is still 54 private holes, a racquet plant that is larger than most desert clubs' entire amenity lists, and an Invited-network membership that is not automatically attached to the house next door.
Desmond Muirhead's original 1971 course is now the Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Arnold Palmer's eighteen opened in 1979. Pete Dye's Challenge Course opened in 1988, first under Shore's name, then renamed after her death in 1994 when the Tournament Course took the title. Judy Rankin, who won here in 1976 and lived on the property, used to say it was not a course where you wanted to spend Sunday fighting back from a bad start. The PGA Tour Champions later brought the Galleri Classic to the Tournament Course. Everyday member play now fills the calendar that television trucks used to occupy each spring.
Published membership categories include Premier Golf, Signature Golf, and Weekender Golf. Premier is described as unrestricted play on Tournament, Dye, and Palmer. Signature focuses on Dye and Palmer. Weekender narrows in-season access. Dollar initiation and dues are not posted publicly. Call Membership at 760-324-9400 and get a current quote in writing.
Mission Hills publishes 15 hard, 10 grass, and 4 Har-Tru clay tennis courts, plus 20 dedicated pickleball courts. That is the desert's serious racquet inventory, not a pair of courts beside the parking lot. The club has hosted the Carvana PPA Masters and carries USTA featured-facility recognition. Croquet, fitness, and spa sit on the same campus. Dining is led by Executive Chef Mark Samson, with rooms that include The 55th Grill, Champions Bar and Craft Kitchen, and Center Court Cafe. Member life extends into wine groups, hiking, bridge, book clubs, and an active Rainbow community. The club markets itself as a lifestyle membership as much as a golf membership because the racquet and dining calendars can carry a household that barely plays 18.
Buyers shop residences inside and around the Mission Hills gates, where golf-course views and club proximity drive pricing more than a single builder collection. Confirm whether a specific address carries any membership privilege, waitlist position, or transfer right before you write. Club membership and real estate close on separate tracks. Highway 111 shopping is close. Palm Springs International Airport is a short drive. When you tour, keep two files: one for category and waitlist, one for HOA dues, reserves, and whether the house faces Tournament, Palmer, or Dye. Norman Williams and Jacqulyn Stanton of The Stanton Williams Group at Compass work with buyers and sellers around Mission Hills Country Club. Reach Norman at 760.464.2190 or Jacqulyn at 760.702.2557.
