Furnace Creek Golf Course measures less than 6,300 yards from the tips (par 70), but being below sea level means the ball doesn’t fly as far.Alex Miceli/Sports IllustratedDEATH VALLEY, Calif. — A trip to Death Valley in the eastern California desert is a trip predicated on viewing nature.Titus Canyon, Badwater Basin, Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and Harmony Borax Works are just part of the hottest, lowest, and driest place on Earth.Yet here, like an oasis in the desert, sits Furnace Creek Golf Course.Tree-lined both around the perimeter of the property and on many of the holes, FCGC resembles many other golf courses. But then you add in the views of the mountains from the Panamint Range to the west and the Black Funeral and Grapevine mountains of the Amargosa Range to the east, and you have beauty that most golf courses can’t offer.Sitting 214 feet below sea level, making it the world’s lowest golf course, FCGC traces its history all the way to 1927 when a three-hole course was created by a date palm caretaker named Murray Miller. In 1931, the course expanded to nine holes and became the first grass golf course in the California desert region.The course of today took shape when William F. Bell designed the second nine in 1968 and then Perry Dye in 1997 redesigned the course and added a full irrigation system.A par 70 at 6,236 yards from the tips, the layout’s four teeing options provide a challenge for any type of player with an interesting design that keeps you guessing at a lower elevation which decreases the distance the ball will fly.While Furnace Creek is worth a visit. So is Devils Golf Course, about 15 miles south of Furnace Creek.The jagged Devils Golf Course isn’t golf at all—or an easy walk.Alex Miceli/Sports IllustratedA course that credits Mother Nature with its design, it’s devoid of trees and the landscape is a combination of crystallized salt that composes the jagged formations in the landscape. It’s actually not a golf course at all; someone once said “only the devil could play on such rough links.”The Death Valley saltpan is one of the largest saltpans in North America, and walking on the Devils Golf Course is very difficult, as posted signs warn. A fall could result in painful cuts or even broken bones.Yet, also according to lore, if you venture out on the course you could find a golf ball every once in a while.
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