Disc Golf Courses Near Palm Desert, CA
Palm Desert has one disc golf course, Hovley Disc Golf: a free nine rated 3.5 by players that loops the outside of the city's soccer park. The only other course in the Coachella Valley is Palm Royale Disc Golf in La Quinta, 18 holes laid over a par-3 ball golf course and tied for the best rating in this table at 4.4, though it takes a booked tee time and a green fee.
Every other course means leaving the valley, over the pass to Beaumont, Yucaipa and Redlands or out on Highway 74 toward Hemet and Perris, so the useful question is which one earns the drive. Cost is one split: seven of the eleven are free, yet three of the four best rated charge a green fee or a gate fee. Length is the other. A round walks anywhere from half a mile on Valle Vista's five-basket practice loop to 2.5 miles over Glen Helen's 18 holes.
Our picks
- Free round without leaving Palm Desert: Hovley Disc Golf. Nine holes at no charge, quiet on a weekday morning, with a club round under the stadium lights on Sunday evenings.
- A resort-style round in the valley: Palm Royale Disc Golf. 18 holes over grass fairways, lakes and real greens in La Quinta, rated 4.4, for a $20 to $25 green fee booked through the pro shop.
- First round or throwing with kids: Nicklaus DiscGolfPark DGC. The only course here rated Easy: every hole a par 3 under 300 feet, 0.6 miles of walking, turf tee pads, restrooms and water.
- Worth the drive over the pass: Yucaipa Regional Park. 19 holes past lakes and shade, rated 4.4, for a county vehicle fee of $10 on weekdays.
- Best-rated free 18: Martha McLean Anza-Narrows DGC. Rated 4.3 across nearly 3,000 player reviews, 18 hilly holes along the Santa Ana River with nothing to pay.
At a glance
| Option | Address | Holes | Difficulty | Player rating | Cost to play | Walking distance | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74735 Hovley Lane, Palm Desert, CA 92260source | 9source | Moderatesource | 3.5source | Freesource | 1.6source | Public parksource | |
| 78259 Indigo Drive, La Quinta, CA 92253source | 18source | Moderatesource | 4.4source | Pay to playsource | 1.5source | Golf coursesource | |
| Oak View Drive & Iris Street, Beaumont, CA 92223source | 10source | Moderatesource | 3.2source | Freesource | 1.4source | Public parksource | |
| Palmer Ave, Beaumont, CA 92223source | 9source | Easysource | 3.5source | Freesource | 0.6source | Public parksource | |
| 25175 Fairview Ave, Hemet, CA 92544source | 5source | Moderatesource | 3.6source | Freesource | 0.5source | ||
| 33900 Oak Glen Road, Yucaipa, CA 92399source | 19source | Moderatesource | 4.4source | Pay to playsource | 1.6source | Private landsource | |
| 955 Parkford Dr, Redlands, CA 92374source | 9source | 3.2source | Freesource | 1.5source | Public parksource | ||
| 13671 Frederick St, Moreno Valley, CA 92553source | 9source | Moderatesource | 4source | Pay to playsource | 1.1source | Golf coursesource | |
| 5759 Jurupa Ave, Riverside, CA 92504source | 18source | Moderatesource | 4.3source | Freesource | 2source | Public parksource | |
| 2555 Glen Helen Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407source | 18source | Moderatesource | 4.2source | Pay to playsource | 2.5source | Public parksource | |
| 264 Spectacular Bid Street, Perris, CA 92571source | 9source | Moderatesource | 3.8source | Freesource | 0.9source | Public parksource |
Hovley or Palm Royale: the two valley courses
The two courses closest to Palm Desert are nothing alike. Hovley is free and open, but several fairways run along the park's walking paths and it becomes unplayable when soccer is on the fields, which makes weekends the worst time to show up. Recent reviews also flag a slick tee pad on hole 1 and back-nine baskets that don't always match the app.
Palm Royale is the full-dress version. You book a tee time, pay $20 to $25, wear a collared shirt and no denim, and leave the dog at home. In return you get 18 holes over grass, lakes and bunkers and a 4.4 rating, almost a full star above Hovley's 3.5.
Green fees and gate fees over the pass
Of the courses over the pass, three charge, and the fee works differently at each. Cottonwood in Moreno Valley is a green fee from about $6 at the golf center counter, for nine long holes from 288 to 771 feet with two par 4s. Yucaipa Regional Park and Glen Helen Regional Park charge by the car at the county gate: Yucaipa lists $10 Monday to Friday, $15 on weekends and $20 on holidays, and players quote Glen Helen at $10 and $15.
The free courses vary a lot in upkeep. Paragon Park in Perris, installed in 2023, has stamped concrete pads, new signs and two tee lengths. Fallen Heroes Park in Beaumont has no real tee pads and a routing that is hard to follow without the map open, and it shares the table's lowest rating, 3.2, with Ford Park in Redlands.
Round length, water and restrooms
Glen Helen walks 2.5 miles and has no water on the course, and Anza-Narrows walks 2 miles with drinking water but no restroom. Ford Park has restrooms and no drinking water. At the short end are Nicklaus Park's 0.6 miles, well under an hour with restrooms and water in the park, and Valle Vista's 0.5, about twenty minutes of walking.
Wind is the other thing to plan around. Nicklaus Park's young trees have not grown in, Fallen Heroes sits on a nearly treeless hillside, and Cottonwood is flat and often windy. Regulars praise Yucaipa for its shade, though it also has real hills and rattlesnakes in spring and summer.
The options in detail
Hovley Disc Golf
The only disc golf course in Palm Desert itself: a free nine that loops around the outside of the city's Hovley Soccer Park. Regulars say it is quiet and easy to walk on a weekday morning, but several of the fairways run along the park's walking paths and it becomes unplayable when there is soccer on the fields, so weekends are the worst time to turn up. A local club runs a Sunday evening round here under the stadium lights. Two warnings from recent reviews: the tee pad on hole 1 is slick, and the back-nine basket positions do not always match what the app shows.
Palm Royale Disc Golf
Eighteen holes laid over a par-3 ball golf course in La Quinta, the closest course to Palm Desert after Hovley and the best rated anywhere near the valley. You book a tee time through the pro shop and pay a green fee, currently listed at $20 to $25, and the club enforces a dress code: collared shirts, no denim. Grass fairways, lakes, bunkers and real greens make it feel like resort golf rather than a park round, and a local club runs a monthly tournament here. Dogs are not allowed, which rules it out if you usually bring one.
Fallen Heroes Park
A free ten-hole course on an unused hillside corner of a Beaumont city park, up over the pass and roughly an hour from Palm Desert. The land gives it genuine elevation change and almost no trees, so the wind is a permanent feature and so are the downhill looks. The catch is upkeep: players this year report no real tee pads, just patches of grass and dirt, and say the routing is hard to follow without the course map open on your phone. Worth a stop if you are already in the pass, less so as a destination of its own.
Nicklaus DiscGolfPark DGC
The easiest course in this table, and the one to pick for a first round or for kids: a short, flat, free nine at Nicklaus Park in Beaumont's Fairway Canyon. It is a properly installed course rather than a set of baskets in a field, with artificial turf tee pads, tee signs and a printed map, plus restrooms and drinking water in the park. Every hole is a par 3 under 300 feet, so a round takes well under an hour. The trees along the fairways were planted recently and have not grown in, which leaves it wide open and often very windy.
Valle Vista Fire Station
Five short baskets laid out around the fire station in a small park in Valle Vista, east of Hemet and the first disc golf you reach if you drive out of the valley on Highway 74. The PDGA classes it as a practice course rather than a full one, and it plays that way: under a thousand feet of total distance and about twenty minutes of walking. Most holes have a marked concrete tee area, but players say it takes a visit to work out which basket goes with which tee. Free, and best treated as a stretch of the legs on the way somewhere else.
Yucaipa Regional Park
Nineteen holes through a county park of lakes and grass on the far side of the pass, tied with Palm Royale as the best rated course within reach of the desert and by far the busiest, with a weekly and a monthly league running through September. The cost is a vehicle fee paid at the gate before you enter, listed by the county at $10 Monday to Friday, $15 weekends and $20 holidays, so plan around park hours. Regulars praise the shade, the holes beside the water and the range of lines, and mention two things to expect: real hills, and rattlesnakes in spring and summer.
Ford Park DGC
Nine baskets in a 27-acre Redlands city park with a duck pond, normally played as an 18-hole round using two tee positions per basket. Water carries and mature trees give it more shape than most of the open desert-side courses, and the routing was drawn to keep throws away from the busiest parts of the park, though on a weekend you are still sharing the grass with families, tennis players and a dog park. Free to play, with restrooms but no drinking water. Finding the start takes a moment: hole 1 tees off from behind the volleyball court.
Cottonwood Disc Golf Course
Nine holes played over a municipal executive ball golf course in Moreno Valley, with a green fee listed from about $6 paid at the golf center counter. The holes run long for a nine, from 288 up to 771 feet, and include two par 4s and two carries over water, so it rewards distance more than any of the free park courses out this way. Two house rules matter: every putting green is out of bounds, and when the disc golf markers are not set you tee from the red ball golf tees. Wind is common, and the course is flat and easy to walk.
Martha McLean Anza-Narrows DGC
The most played free course in this table by a wide margin: eighteen holes along the Santa Ana River in Riverside, laid out by touring pro Eric McCabe in 2018 and carrying nearly 3,000 community reviews. It is hilly, mid-length, and deliberately rough around the edges, with a mix of grass, concrete and dirt tees rather than a uniform set of pads. The park is open sunrise to sunset. There is drinking water but no restroom on site, and it is the longest of the free drives here, out past Riverside on the far side of the Inland Empire.
Glen Helen Regional Park DGC
The longest course here and the longest drive, at the foot of the Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino: 18 holes over almost 6,900 feet of grassy, rolling county parkland with concrete pads and clear signage. Throwing is free, but the county charges admission per vehicle at the gate, quoted recently by players at $10 on weekdays and $15 at weekends. Reviews this summer are consistently good, calling it playable at any level and open enough that you are unlikely to lose a disc. Bring water, because there is none on the course, and check park hours before a late start.
Paragon Park Disc Golf Course
The newest course in this table, installed in 2023 in one of the largest city parks in Perris, and the one that feels most looked after: stamped concrete pads, new tee signs, new baskets, two pin positions and both short and long tees, so one visit can play easy or hard. It is free, with restrooms, water and plenty of parking, and it sits on the Highway 74 side of the valley rather than up the I-10. The park is genuinely busy, with a skate park, playground and outdoor fitness court, and the designer's own note asks players to watch for joggers and pedestrians crossing the fairways.
How we researched this
Palm Desert has one course and the whole Coachella Valley has two, so we took in every permanent course the public can play within roughly 80 driving miles. Rancho Del Sol DiscGolfPark in Moreno Valley is marked permanently closed on UDisc even though the PDGA directory still lists it. Desert Winds in Twentynine Palms is one of the nearest courses on a map, but it sits inside a Marine Corps base with limited access. The Redlands school and campus courses are restricted grounds, and a Perris camp course is private land with no rating yet.
Holes, difficulty, player rating, fee type, round length and setting all come from UDisc, the disc golf community's own course census, and each address from a city, county or PDGA page. Because the ratings share one method, a 1.2-star gap like Yucaipa against Ford Park says more than a few tenths. Ford Park's difficulty is still pending on UDisc and Valle Vista has no setting tag, so both cells are empty. Gate prices shift (Glen Helen's UDisc page notes that the county website and the gate disagree), and Palm Royale needs a tee time, so call before you drive.