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Golf courses in Palm Springs, Calif. are in the middle of a conditioning ‘arms race,’ so to speak. In this week’s podcast, host Dave Berner talks to Chris Baldwin, senior writer for TravelGolf.com, about the competition to have the best-conditioned course in the desert.

“It’s interesting: A lot of courses and a lot of destinations focus on the celebrity architect courses,” Baldwin says. “And Palm Springs has a number of those, but it’s sort of shifted. Now they’re promoting conditioning. And you can’t complain when courses are trying to look better, and obviously play a lot better. It’s even more striking when you’re in the dessert.”

Give much thought to turf grass? You should, according to TravelGolf.com’s Kiel Christianson.

“It’s worth asking in the pro shop what kind of turf you have,” he says. “If it’s a new course, and you know what kind you’re comfortable with, [you can plan] accordingly.”

An unusually mild winter has given northern golfers a post season this year. TravelGolf.com blogger Ron Montesano was playing golf in Buffalo, N.Y., until the middle of January.

“We were shocked. It was a great winter, so we figured: ‘Why put the clubs away?’” Montesano says. “We were playing all the way up until this last weekend, that’s when the weather came in, the snow and the cold and the wind. So the triple header said good night.”

Plus, in this week’s ‘TravelGolf.com On Course’ commentary, Kiel Christianson talks about the thing that keeps average golfers coming back to the game: those elusive, yet intoxicating, perfect golf shots.

“You know what I’m talking about: That one good hole, or even that one good shot that was so excellent that it makes you believe that next time out your round will be perfect,” Christianson says. “My favorite such memory was on the 18th hole of the Preserve in Fenton, Mich. It was there that I actually strung together two very nice shots.”

This podcast is supported by Pioneer Golf and Florida Golf Travel.

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