Rancho Mirage Country Clubs: Which Ones Come With Membership and Which Don't

How many country clubs are in Rancho Mirage? The City of Rancho Mirage's golf page lists six private country clubs: Thunderbird, Tamarisk, Mission Hills, Morningside, The Springs, and Sunrise. It lists five more courses under public and resort golf, including Desert Island and Omni Rancho Las Palmas. The city doesn't print one total, so I won't invent one, and the count matters less than how each club ties its membership to the house.

That's the sort I do before anyone falls for a view. Rancho Mirage has the valley's oldest clubs, and old clubs carry their history in the paperwork: bylaws amended for decades, assessments voted by members, and sometimes an HOA and a club that are two separate corporations. Every fairway looks good in a brochure. The documents don't all read the same. Here's how the clubs group themselves, in their own published words.

What is the oldest country club in Rancho Mirage? Thunderbird. The club's own history says Frank Bogert turned 663 acres into Thunderbird Ranch in 1946, and on January 9, 1951, architect Lawrence Hughes and club president Johnny Dawson hit the ceremonial first balls that opened Thunderbird Ranch and Country Club. The club calls it the first of more than 130 golf courses in the valley today, and its golf page says the original course hosted the Ryder Cup in 1955 and the PGA Tour in 1960, 1961, and 1962. On membership, the club is blunt: membership at Thunderbird is by member invitation only. Buying on a Thunderbird street gets you a house; joining starts with a member who knows you. My Thunderbird Country Club guide covers the homes, and my Thunderbird Heights guide covers the hillside enclave across Highway 111, which comes with no club membership at all.

Tamarisk is the other historic private club, and it publishes even less. Its membership page sends you to the Membership Department. There's no price list and no statement tying membership to a house. The club's golf page names Ben Hogan as Tamarisk's first golf professional, and the club says its clubhouse was renovated in 2021 by Steven Harris and Lucien Rees-Roberts. When a club publishes nothing, I don't guess. I call the membership office before the first showing. My Tamarisk guide covers why the club exists and how the homes around it trade.

Is Mission Hills Country Club private? Yes. Its operator, Invited, says Mission Hills is a private club offering play exclusively to members and their guests, and non-members only get on through select tournaments and sponsored events. It's the biggest golf campus in town: 54 holes on the Dinah Shore Tournament, Arnold Palmer, and Pete Dye courses. The club says the Tournament course has hosted golf's best since 1972. The categories are Premier Golf, Signature Golf, Weekender Golf, Sports Club, and Club Social. Premier and Signature include access to Indian Wells Country Club. Every category says to inquire for the initiation fee and dues, and nothing ties membership to owning a home. Don't confuse it with Mission Hills North, the Gary Player course, which the city lists as public with tee times. My Mission Hills guide has the rest.

Morningside is the clearest example of a club that sells membership separately from the address. The club says its Jack Nicklaus Signature course opened in 1983 on 140 acres of turf. It offers two categories, Full Family Golf and Social/Sports, capped at 225 and 100 members. In its own words, property ownership within the community is not required for membership. Read that the other way too: owning a house there isn't the same as holding a membership, so if the club is the reason you're buying, I confirm availability with the club before the offer. My Morningside guide covers the lock-and-leave side.

Which Rancho Mirage clubs include membership with the home? Two say so on their own sites: The Springs and Sunrise. This is where I spend the most time, because when membership rides with the house, the club's finances are part of your carrying cost whether you golf or not.

The Springs says it's home to 817 single-family residences. All residents receive a Community Membership with their initiation fee, covering dining, social events, racquet sports, and the fitness center. Monthly dues are included in the HOA fee, and golf memberships are optional on top. The club's history says the first homes went up in 1974 and The Springs Club was established on October 7, 1975, around a Desmond Muirhead course. It calls itself one of the original private, member-owned clubs in the valley, and it describes a $16 million course and irrigation renovation. At a member-owned club that just spent real money on its course, I want to see the budget and how that work was paid for. My Springs guide covers the renovation.

Sunrise is the most transparent club in town on cost. The club says buying a home at Sunrise makes you an equity member automatically, with no additional initiation fee. The community is 746 condominiums on 184 acres around Ted Robinson's par-64 executive course. Its 2026 assessment sheet lists HOA dues by floor plan from $717.36 to $847.23 a month. Every new home sale also pays club social dues of $133.02 and equity dues of $246.79 a month. That puts the published monthly total between $1,097.17 and $1,227.04 before you play a single round. Golf is separate. The 2026 annual equity homeowner membership runs $3,700 to $4,000 single and $5,700 to $6,450 couple, and every equity owner gets 11 rounds a year at the guest fee, $75 for 18 holes.

Sunrise's history is also the best argument I know for reading two sets of documents. In 1981 developer Bill Bone gave the homeowners a short window to buy the club, and they closed. With no time to merge, Sunrise still runs as two corporations, the HOA and the country club, with separate bylaws and boards under one general manager. Buy there and you join both. My Sunrise guide tells the full story.

Are there Rancho Mirage golf communities without mandatory dues? Yes, and the city's own sort is the place to start. It lists Desert Island as a semi-private facility with public tee times. The club says it was established in 1971 around a Desmond Muirhead course and a 25-acre lake, the course is open to non-members for tee times, and membership is limited to a select one hundred by application. You can join or ignore it, and my Desert Island guide covers the towers and golf houses.

Rancho Las Palmas works the same way from the resort side. The club's membership page offers a Signature Annual Golf Membership with zero initiation fees and low annual dues, which it doesn't publish, plus seasonal memberships from one month at a time. Residents get a Proprietary Membership, which the club describes as a set of discounts at the club and resort. One thing to confirm in person: the club's page describes an 18-hole Ted Robinson course plus a 6-hole express course, while the city's page and Omni's call it 27 holes. My Rancho Las Palmas guide covers the condo HOA side.

The city also lists three courses with no club attached: Sensei Porcupine Creek, which it says is now open to resort guests and select public play; the Mission Hills North Gary Player course; and the Westin Rancho Mirage Pete Dye resort course, which the city says has year-round public access. If you play a couple of rounds a month in season, price these against a membership before you assume you need one.

What do I read before an offer in a Rancho Mirage club? The law hands us a lot of it. Civil Code section 4525 requires the seller to provide the governing documents, a written statement of current regular and special assessments, any approved assessment changes that aren't due yet, a statement of any rental prohibition, and, if you ask, the approved board minutes from the past 12 months. Civil Code section 5550 requires an association board, once its major components are worth at least half its annual budget, to have them visually inspected for a reserve study at least once every three years and to review that study every year. I read the reserve study and the minutes side by side. A board talking about a roof or a pipe replacement it hasn't funded tells me more than any brochure.

When the club is its own corporation, it's a separate ask: the club's bylaws, its current dues and assessment schedule, any approved capital assessment, and the transfer rules for when you sell.

Which club fits which buyer? If you want history and a private room and you have a sponsor, Thunderbird and Tamarisk are the conversation. If golf is the point and you want options across 54 holes plus Indian Wells, Mission Hills. If you want a family membership without needing a particular house, Morningside. If you want the club to come with the address and you like knowing the full cost upfront, Sunrise and The Springs. If you want the course without the commitment, Desert Island, Rancho Las Palmas, and the public courses. My Living in Rancho Mirage guide covers the town around all of them, and my Rancho Mirage vs Indian Wells post is the next read if you're torn between the two.

Membership terms checked Oct 23, 2026 on ranchomirageca.gov, thunderbirdcc.org, tamariskcc.com, invitedclubs.com (Mission Hills), clubatmorningside.com, thespringsrm.com, sunrisecountryclub.com, di71.com, rlpcc.com, omnihotels.com, missionhillsnorth.com, and leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Clubs change categories and prices without much notice, so the club's written schedule on the day you apply is the final word.

Norman Williams, Compass. DRE 02051057.