What is driving more golfers to Palm Springs-area golf courses this season?

A trip to a local golf course this week was certainly eye-opening, at least when seen in the context of how tough things are in golf these days.

The parking lot for the public facility, which features two courses, was absolutely packed, with a few cars roaming the lot looking for someone who might be leaving to free up a spot. The driving range had about 25 people hitting golf balls, and down on the far right end of the range was a guy taking a lesson from a teaching pro. The putting green near the first tee had people working on their strokes, and there were a couple of carts full of golfers waiting for the players on the first tee to hit so they could move into position to start their round.

In other words, the season is in full swing in the Coachella Valley, and golf courses are feeling some of the love from snowbirds and tourists as well as full-time residents.

Already golf courses in the desert are anecdotally reporting much better results at their facilities than in 2017. Part of that is because last winter was kind of dicey at best with the weather. Remember all that rain that wiped out the six-year drought in about four months but also swept through desert washes and golf courses at times?

This year, the weather has been outstanding for golf, with temperatures pushing or passing 80 degrees without too many days of the kind of wind that can blow a golfer off the course.

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But maybe the packed parking lots are about more than just blue skies and sunny days. Consider a report this week from STR, a hotel industry analysis firm. That report showed that for the final five months of 2017, occupancy of hotels in the Coachella Valley rose from the same dates in 2016.

The increase was less than a percentage point for October, November or December, but any increase is a good thing. And those increases came despite 2016 featuring two weeks of the Desert Trip music festival, while  2017 year had no Desert Trip.

Without a music festival to attract people to the desert in those months of 2017, it's fair to assume something else was attracting them to the area. One of those things, in all likelihood, is golf. And why not? Golf has been attracting people to the desert for nearly 70 years, whether times have been good or bad for the sport.

So, more people in the desert and better weather combine for more people on the golf courses. That’s logical. Could it possibly go beyond that? We know golf isn’t necessarily growing across the country, with National Golf Foundation numbers for rounds played and people who play golf being flat in the last two years after a steady decline for a decade. But perhaps the desert, at least this winter, is seeing more of an uptick in the number of people playing the game this season.

The desert’s reputation for golf and great weather, along with the PGA Tour’s recent visit to the area with the CareerBuilder Challenge, may have attracted more people to desert courses than in recent years.

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Whatever the reason -- weather, a reputation for golf or just people wanting to get back on the course -- desert golf courses are hopping right now. Hard numbers won't be available until the end of the season, and in some cases golf courses won't release numbers at all.

But don’t feel too bad if you have to search for a parking space or a place in the practice range, or if the group in front of you is taking a little too much time on the first tee. It all means that golf is doing better this year than last year in the desert, and that’s good for the Coachella Valley as a whole.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.