Devils Golf Course — Attraction in Beatty

Devil’s Golf Course was one of my favorite stops during our Dec 2021 visit to Death Valley.

Visiting during winter is the "high season" for Death Valley due to the much milder temperatures, and we spent a few hours earlier checking out the Badwater Basin, which had a lot of people walking up and down the trail.

In comparison, close to sunset, the Devil's Golf Course was pretty deserted! We headed here after driving the Artist's Drive nearby.

It was easy to find (imagine driving on a single winding road, and then coming up is a simple brown sign pointing you the way to DEVILS GOLF COURSE; this was the case for all of the sights in the park) and we turned to a gravel-ish road and drove carefully down to a small parking area where we were surrounded with salt formations.

Since it was late in the day for daylight it was only us and two other vehicles ahead of us - as the sun grew dim the surroundings almost looked eerily, otherworldly blue against the sea of formations. The salt formations here were more impressive than the ones at Badwater Basin, larger and craggier, and whiter too without people walking around them. The nearby signs had additional photos of what the delicate salt formations can look like without disturbance from...

If you thought the Badwater Salt Flats were interesting, the Golf Course is waaaaaayyy more trippy! The spur road that takes you to the golf course is grated dirt with potholes so you have to drive slow, ok for passenger cars and vans. The parking lot is small. Just like at Badwater salt flats you are allowed to walk out as far as you would like. Good luck with that! The sign says the salt formations here are fragile, but there’s nothing fragile about this area, LOL! Wow! The salt crust and rock fissures are up to a couple feet tall and if you even fall over from a standing position you would get hurt. The rocks are jagged, and crinkled (imagine being a sugar ant on a Thomas’s English Muffin.) There are also rock balls tiny to beach ball sized giving the impression of golf balls on a course. Most people only venture a few hundred yards from the parking lot. By far the most amazing thing I saw at DVNP.

See our full review of DVNP at Trip Advisor...

Devils Golf Course is a short drive from the Furnace Creek Area down Badwater Road and onto a rocky access road that leads to the middle of the salt flat. You can access Devils Golf Course in a car, but an SUV or off-road vehicle is preferable. The road stops at a small parking lot with enough room for about a dozen vehicles. There are no trails that take you further into the Golf Course, though none are needed. The views from this point are amazing. The Panamint Mountains tower over you and provide a fantastic backdrop to the eerie "golf course." There are no restrooms or water at this location. Dogs are allowed on leash, but not they are not...