If you'd like to see someone pay to be mugged, just wait by the starter's hut at PGA West's Stadium Course in La Quinta, Calif. Pete Dye's infamous layout opened in 1986 to a chorus of wails from PGA Tour pros, who thought it was too difficult. It has

January 2008

lost little of its bite in the two decades since, even if some of the design features—notably the fairway mounding—seem dated.

The iconic hole is the 17th (pictured), Dye's second-best but toughest island-green par-3. You are unlikely to leave the Stadium Course with a great score, but that is the price of battling Dye at his most unforgiving and ferocious.

PGA West (Stadium Course)
La Quinta, CA
7,266 yards, par 72
(760) 564-7170
$155-$205,$115 twilight (4 hours before sunset)
pgawest.com