There are eight pools around the planet using Wavegarden tech. Within the next two years, DSRT Surf will become the first to use it in California. Located in the heart of Coachella Valley, construction crews reportedly broke ground last week on the long-awaited project inside the Desert Willow Golf Resort. The site totals nearly 18 acres of vacant land adjacent to the golf resort’s clubhouse. The 5.5-acre surf lagoon will be part of a much larger development, essentially a full-scale resort with bars, restaurants, a four-story 92-room hotel, 83 residential units, parking, spa, event spaces, a pump track for skating, pickleball courts, and more. The pool is estimated to open in the early summer of 2026.
“Today marks an exciting moment for the Southern California surfing community and for the city of Palm Desert,” John Luff, the managing member of Beach Street Development and Operations, which runs DSRT Surf, said in a release. “DSRT Surf is introducing the largest Wavegarden Cove in the United States. The five-and-a-half-acre surf lagoon will offer world-class waves for both experienced veterans and first-time surfers. Today’s groundbreaking ceremony culminates years of development and starts the next chapter in bringing this unique and iconic vision to life, expanding the Southern California surfing landscape.”
With a roughly $200 million price tag, it’s a massive effort that has taken a long time to get to this point. DSRT Surf was initially supposed to open in 2021, but the pandemic upended the planning process. Plans were first announced in 2019, and the Palm Desert City Council didn’t approve the project until early 2022. Beach Street is also backing a similarly complex $350 million development with a Wavegarden Cove in Virginia Beach. That pool is estimated to open in the summer of 2025.
The greater Palm Springs area already has one wave pool, the Palm Springs Surf Club, which uses different technology to pump its water. DSRT Surf can hold up to 70 surfers simultaneously and has 52 modules to produce waves of varying height, speed and shape. Wavegarden Cove tech already churns out rides for the public in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, Alaïa Bay in Switzerland, Garopaba in Brazil, and Jeongwang-dong, South Korea.
Professional surfers Josh Kerr and CJ Hobgood were some of the early investors in DSRT Surf (Read more about CJ's buy-in process here). It’s still too early to know what sessions in the desert will cost the average surfer. Operators could charge rates similar to other Wavegarden Coves. For example, private sessions at URBNSURF Sydney vary from $20 and $151 AUD per person depending on the level. The Wave in Bristol can range from £40-60 per person.
Water is a precious commodity in this parched part of the state. The slew of golf courses in the area are highly regulated for their water use. DSRT Surf will use around 24 million gallons of water annually, the equivalent of 1.3 holes on an 18-hole golf course in the Coachella Valley, according to the project’s website.
Developers said they’re committed to conserving more water each year than the lagoon requires. They plan on removing and replacing 20 acres of turf from the surrounding Desert Willow Golf Resort with drought-tolerant landscaping, and one-third of the pool’s total annual water will irrigate the course.
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