Carved into the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains, a thousand feet above the valley floor — the desert's most quietly exclusive address.
Bighorn Golf Club is best for Palm Desert buyers who want dramatic mountain views, two championship golf courses, deep amenities, and luxury homes with strong resale liquidity. Membership is optional but property-owner limited, so buyers should verify current club availability, HOA rules, and total ownership costs before writing an offer.
Three miles south of El Paseo, Highway 74 begins its climb into the Santa Rosa Mountains, and the desert floor falls away behind you. At a thousand feet of elevation, the road levels onto a private plateau and the gates of Bighorn open onto something the rest of the Coachella Valley simply cannot replicate — a community built into the mountain itself, where the architecture seems to grow from the rock and every fairway frames a different cut of the same view.
Bighorn opened in 1991 with Arthur Hills's Mountains Course, a target-style layout that turned the existing topography into the design brief. Seven years later Tom Fazio's Canyons Course followed, wider and more forgiving but no less dramatic. Between them, the club hosted the Skins Game, the Battle at Bighorn, Senior PGA Match Play, and the LPGA Samsung World Championship — a tournament résumé that turned a real-estate development into a destination.
Today, the community is capped at 570 homes and 650 club members. Membership is available only to property owners and is not required. That distinction matters: a buyer can purchase a home at Bighorn without joining the club at all, or hold the more modest social and fitness membership while a neighbor pays for full golf privileges. The optionality is part of why Bighorn attracts residents whose primary sport is not necessarily golf.
The homes are designed to disappear into the mountain. From the seventh tee of the Canyons course you can see twenty residences and the eye finds none of them.
6,874 yards from the championship tees, rated 73.6 with a 143 slope — the kind of numbers that mean the course will not give a single shot away. Hills used the natural desert terrain as the architecture itself; bunkers were carved where the rock allowed and fairways follow the ridgelines. On certain holes the green sits below the tee box by sixty feet, and the shot is more architecture than golf.
This was the course that first put Bighorn on the international map. The Battle at Bighorn — Tiger Woods, Sergio García, and the rest — was broadcast from these greens.
7,043 yards, 74.8 rating, 141 slope. Wider corridors than Hills's Mountains, more dramatic water features, and a sequencing that Fazio fans recognize instantly — a course that wants you to play it bravely. The 16th, a downhill par four with the valley beyond the green, is the photograph that ends up on every Bighorn brochure for a reason.
Members typically prefer one course or the other with quiet conviction. The clubhouse argument over which is better has been running for twenty-five years.
Homes at Bighorn range from 2,338 to over 16,000 square feet and were built between 1991 and 2022, with the most recent custom residences anchoring the upper end of the market. Inventory divides cleanly into three tiers: Bighorn Villas (2,600–3,900 sq ft, attached pricing roughly $1.45M+), Custom Homes on the Mountain and Canyon ridges ($2.5M–$15M), and the small cluster of new-construction estates that periodically clear $20M+. Approximately 35 homes change hands per year, and 83% of sales close furnished — a Bighorn-specific signal of how the market actually transacts.
Clients who want elevated lots, valley-floor panoramas, and homes built into the Santa Rosa foothills.
Buyers who value two championship courses but also want spa, dining, fitness, racquet sports, hiking, and social programming.
Residents who want the Bighorn address and amenities without being required to hold a full golf membership.
Seasonal owners who want a more turnkey desert home in a community where furnished sales are common.
Owners whose homes need discreet positioning, controlled tours, and a buyer pool that understands Bighorn's premium.
| Category | Initiation | Annual Dues | Eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golf · Single | $250,000 | $39,000 | Property owners only |
| Golf · Dual | $350,000 | $39,000 | Property owners only |
| Social & Fitness | $100,000 | $24,000 | Property owners only |
| HOA (community) | — | $13,800 | All homeowners |
Figures reflect publicly reported 2024–2026 rates and are subject to revision by the club. Membership category availability and waitlist status change frequently; we maintain a current view through direct club relationships and will confirm at the time of any offer.
Bighorn club membership is limited and available only to property owners. Confirm the current category availability, transfer process, and waitlist status before removing contingencies.
Initiation fees, annual dues, HOA dues, assessments, and minimums can change. Use the figures here as dated guidance and verify the current schedule directly with the club and HOA.
Short-term rental rules are controlled by both Palm Desert and the HOA. Buyers considering rental income should review current city and community restrictions before writing an offer.
Many Bighorn homes trade furnished, but artwork, personal property, club memberships, golf carts, and service contracts need explicit written treatment in the purchase agreement.
Yes — and unusually so. Club membership at Bighorn is entirely separate from home ownership and is not required. The Social and Fitness category ($100K initiation, $24K annually) gives you the 80,000 sq ft clubhouse, the 13,500 sq ft spa, restaurants, pools, tennis, pickleball, hiking, and the dog park — without paying for golf you'll never use. Many residents hold no membership at all and simply use the HOA-covered amenities.
Three different propositions for the same buyer pool. Vintage is invitation-only and trades on social exclusivity; The Reserve is the quietest of the three with the lowest unit count (250 homes) and a naturalist sensibility. Bighorn sits between them on price and is the most amenity-rich of the three — the only one with two championship courses, a 13,500 sq ft spa, and a tournament-grade pedigree. Bighorn also has the most active resale market.
Bighorn is capped at 650 club members across all categories. Availability rotates as members resign or downsize and is highly category- and season-dependent. We track waitlist status through our direct club contacts and can typically tell you within 24 hours whether the category you want is open at the moment you ask.
Short-term vacation rentals at Bighorn are regulated by both the City of Palm Desert and the community's HOA. Palm Desert's STR ordinance changes periodically; the HOA's overlay is more restrictive than the city's. If rental income is part of your investment thesis, request the current STR policy from us before writing an offer — we keep the most recent HOA documents on file.
Palm Desert's effective rate runs approximately 1.15–1.25% of assessed value for most Bighorn parcels, with Mello-Roos and assessment districts varying by sub-area. California's Proposition 13 caps annual reassessment at 2% until transfer, which makes long-held Bighorn homes substantially under-assessed relative to market value. We model the post-transfer tax picture for every buyer before close.
Showing the first three active MLS/IDX listings currently returned for Bighorn Golf Club. Inventory changes quickly, and private or member-to-member opportunities may not appear publicly.
Listing data and photos are supplied through the MLS/IDX feed and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer should verify availability, HOA, membership, fees, and property details before making an offer.
Palm Desert local with a clinical eye for due diligence and a calm approach to high-stakes negotiation. Specializes in Bighorn and the South Palm Desert luxury corridor.
Coachella Valley native with deep relationships across every major country club in the region. Specializes in private-club membership navigation and off-market sourcing.
A private tour of available residences — and a candid conversation about membership categories, market dynamics, and what the next twelve months look like at Bighorn.
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