And The Escena Envelope Goes To…

This press release states that "after months of speculation," some oddly-named new Jack Nicklaus design ("Escena Palm Springs") will soon be opening. Anyway, you'll be shocked to learn that the course will be "welcoming to golfers of all skill levels while challenging to lower handicapped players, the course includes subtle greens enhanced by strategically placed bunkers and framed by low-lying plants. The release also contains this preposterous suggestion from Ken Alperstein of Pinnacle Design Company:

The desert courses of the 1930s to the early 1960s all had something very important in common. They were designed to blend into the natural terrain so that the course, its trees and plants as well as the clubhouse and other facilities all looked like they had been there forever. It was the perfect balance of nature- and man-made landscapes.

Yep, El Dorado and Indian Wells and Bermuda Dunes really look like God's handiwork. All those eucalyptus imported from Australia and the fountain-adorned lakes sure resemble what the desert looked like before it turned into Orange County east.