Joe Walser helped change the desert

How many people can you say have really, truly shaped the Coachella Valley? Not just had an impact or been a presence, but truly shaped the desert?
Joe Walser was one of the people who shaped the desert!

Along with his partner Ernie Vossler, Walser turned the 1980s into a time of explosive golf course development in the desert. As the main movers and shakers of Landmark Land, Walser and Vossler put together deals that developed courses at La Quinta Resort and Mission Hills Country Club as well as the courses at Westin Mission Hills Resort and, perhaps most importantly, PGA WEST.

Walser died last Thursday in Dallas, four days short of his 80th birthday, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Imagine what the desert was like in the 1970s, particularly in the east end of the valley. It had very little development and a very small population base, with most people still living in the west and central parts of the valley.

That started to change when Vossler and Walser, already legends in Oklahoma because of their amateur and professional play and their development of courses like Oak Tree, turned their attention to the Coachella Valley.

Along with Gerald Barton, Walser and Vossler put a specific plan of action into motion. The Dunes and Mountain courses at La Quinta Resort allowed for home development to spring up around the layouts. At PGA WEST, they showed that digging the courses down into the desert and raising the home lots to look down on the course could raise the value of the home.

They built clubhouses with a specific look (pro shop to the left, restaurant and bar to the right as the golfer walks in). And being touring professionals at one time themselves, they stocked with pro shops with people who could play the game at a high level.

People driving out to the first course at PGA WEST in 1985 down Jefferson Street might well have thought they had missed the place, it was so far off the beaten path. And they could easily have thought that Walser and Vossler were crazy for building anything so far out into the desert. People thought the same thing when Johnny Dawson built Thunderbird Country Club in 1951 in a barren area that is now the heart of Rancho Mirage.

A key to Landmark’s success was the club pro mind set of Walser and Vossler, the idea of treating members and the public well, of strong but easy-going customer service, of value for the customer. And the idea that marketing their courses through television was important. That’s why so many PGA Tour and PGA of America events were played at Landmark courses. In fact, because of the connections of Vossler and Walser, there was a plan at one point for then-Commissioner Deane Beman to move PGA Tour headquarters from Florida to PGA WEST.

Things went well for Vossler and Walser and Landmark Land until the mid-1990s, when they lost the courses as part of the widespread savings and loan scandal that had nothing to do with them. There was a settlement later in their favor in a lawsuit against the government, but the courses and developments had new owners. Restarting their efforts resulted in Landmark Golf Club (now Terra Lago in Indio) but the success never reached the same levels as the 1980s for a variety of reasons.
But the success that Walser and Vossler had can never be forgotten and likely will never be repeated. And that’s why people like Walser will be missed in the desert.
Author: Larry Bohannan, The Desert Sun

The Funeral services will be held on May 22nd, 1:00pm at Palm Desert Community Presbyterian Church, Palm Desert, CA under the direction of Fitzhenry-Wiefels Funeral Home, Indio, CA with Interment at Coachella Valley Cemetery, Coachella, CA. Immediately following the interment a reception will be held at the Hideaway Golf Club, La Quinta, CA. William "Buzz" Gill will Officiate the services.