Mexico
A feature from the IAGTO Directory
2019
Mexico
Mexico Mexico has the perfect answer Whatever type of golf vacation your clients are looking for, Mexico has the perfect answer! The country has great golf in abundance, but just as importantly, Mexico delivers for every type of golf traveller, whatever is most important to them aside from golf.
Riviera Maya Golf Club - 15th hole
The climate helps, as does the topography – with golf courses alongside beaches, mountains, deser ts, clif f-tops, jungle, woodland and lakes – but that is only a part of it. Tranquillity or bustling nightlife, boutique or all-inclusive, spa or adventure, ancient or contemporary culture, hotels or villas, best value or exclusive, Mexico has all the options imaginable.
The scale is enormous, a virtual tapestry of diverse golf destinations spanning 2,500km west to east from Los Cabos to Cozumel Island and 2,700km north to south from Bajamar Resort in Ensenada to Las Parotas Golf in the Oaxaca State resort of Huatulco on the Pacific coast. We recommend taking a fresh look at Mexico in terms what the opportunities are for different types of golf traveller.
Mexico's Golf Destinations
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Mexico
Iberostar Cancún Golf Club
Buddy trips Friends travelling together usually play a different golf course every day, either staying for three to five days or an entire week. They are looking for easy international access, accommodation in major resorts with nearby restaurants and entertainment, with an emphasis on good value as very often friends have different income levels. The good news is that there are many destinations suitable for Buddy Golf in Mexico! Here are the five main contenders: Golf course
Distance from centre of hotel zone
Average driving time
The Iberostar Cancun
3 km
4 mins
Cancun Golf Club at Pok Ta Pok
8 km
10 mins
Riviera Cancun Golf Club
9 km
12 mins
Golf Puer to Cancun
17 km
24 mins
The Moon Spa & Golf Club
24 km
26 mins
El Tinto Golf Club
24 km
26 mins
Playa Mujeres Golf Club
28 km
38 mins
Cancun The nightlife is famous in Cancun with the liveliest scene located at the northern end of the 11km Boulevard Kukulcan in the beach-fronted hotel zone. Half-way down the strip is the Iberostar Cancun with its 18-hole golf course on the lagoon side of the road. There are six more golf courses within a 40-minute drive.
Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas, also simply known as Cabo, is on the very tip of the Baja California peninsula where the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific Ocean meet. Cabo is the livelier of the two towns on the Los Cabos golf corridor, the other being San Jose del Cabo, a half-hour’s drive north-east. Heading west from the town centre, the stunning Jack Nicklaus Distance from Average Signature design at Quivira Golf Club is Golf Course Cabo San Lucas driving time 15 minutes’ drive away and the Diamante Cabo San Lucas Countr y Club 7 km 13 mins Cabo San Lucas only five minutes Cabo del Sol (Deser t Course) 12 km 17 mins further – but to play either of these golf 21 km 22 mins clubs you will need to stay there. There are, Cabo Real Golf Club Palmilla Golf Resor t 27 km 26 mins however, a further six golf courses with 36 km 32 mins visitor access within easy striking distance. Club Campestre San Jose Golf Course Puer to Los Cabos Golf Club
Cabo San Lucas Country Club
37 km
39 mins
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Mexico
Vista Vallarta Golf Club
Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta has a vast array of hotel options for Buddy Golf, all with great access to the nearby golf courses. Even within the town of Puerto Vallarta itself, squeezed between the Sierra Madre foothills and the beach, you can choose to stay on the quiet side of town where licenses and music end at 11pm or around the main boardwalk area where you can find bars and clubs open until the early hours. A 20-minute drive around the sweeping Bay of Banderas leads to Marina Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta, situated either side of the Ameca River, with hotels aplenty on the beach front to suit every budget, many offering all-inclusive deals, with shopping centres, restaurants and entertainment galore. The golf is pretty good, too! There are seven golf courses to choose from within easy reach of Marina Vallarta.
Marina Vallarta Golf Course 62
Golf course Marina Vallar ta Golf Club
Distance from Marina Vallarta
Average driving time
1 km
5 mins
Vidanta Golf – Norman
10 km
15 mins
Vidanta Golf – Nayar
10 km
15 mins
El Tigre Golf Club
10 km
15 mins
Vista Vallar ta Nicklaus
11 km
22 mins
Vista Vallar ta Weiskopf
11 km
22 mins
Flamingos Golf Club
16km
25 mins
Mexico
Marina Course at El Cid Golf & Country Club
Mazatlán and Acapulco Two other lively golf destinations on the Pacific coast are Mazatlán and Acapulco. Mazatlán is the lesser known of the two, but the stronger golf destination with Estrella Del Mar Golf and Beach Resort, El Cid Golf & Country Club and Marina Mazatlán Golf Course all easily accessible and open to visitors. Both El Cid and Marina Mazatlán are located by the beach, a few minutes from the centre of town, while Estrella del Mar is a half-hour drive to the south in a beautiful beachfront location. Mazatlán is famous for staging the largest carnival in Mexico each February and has a lively year-round bar and restaurant scene.
Turtle Dunes Country Club
Estrella Del Mar Golf and Beach Resort
Acapulco is famous the world over and nightlife abounds in the proximity of Acapulco Bay. Panoramic views of the 10km beach can be enjoyed from the 9-hole Acapulco Golf Club built into the hillside half way along the bay. A 20-minute drive south is required to reach the other three 18-hole golf courses, up over the cliffs and down to another glorious stretch of uninterrupted sand called Punta Diamante and home to many beach resorts. The first golf course encountered is Turtle Dunes Country Club, part of the Hotel Princess Mundo Imperial. Another 3km on is Vidanta Acapulco where the Grand Mayan and Mayan Palace are sister hotels. A further 10 minutes down the coast is Tres Vidas Golf Club but accessibility here is limited.
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Mexico
El Camaleon Mayakoba Golf Club
Trophy golf Mexico is a true bucket list destination with a wealth of tournament courses, exclusive country clubs and designs by many of the world’s most renowned golf course architects, sure to whet the appetite of any avid golf traveller. Many top tier courses place some restrictions on access, most commonly requiring guests to stay on-site at the resort hotel. Mexico also delivers all of the trappings that go with Trophy Golf, from freshly-rolled cigars, the finest tequilas and some of the best dining experiences in the world, to yacht charters and deep sea or freshwater fishing - plus an endless choice of eye-popping ocean-view villas with private pools. In addition to the more exclusive golf clubs are courses with jaw-droppingly spectacular holes, easy to access by visitors. Perhaps a truer reflection of the destination is that every golf visitor can reward themselves with numerous trophy experiences during any golf vacation to Mexico. Mexico is blessed with designs from some of the most renowned golf course architects and golfers in the world, including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III, Nick Price, Nick Faldo, PB Dye, Robert von Hagge and Robert Trent Jones Jr. El Camaleon Mayakoba Golf Club (Riviera Maya) Making golf history in 2007 it became the host site of the Mayakoba Golf Classic, the first PGA TOUR event to be contested outside the US and Canada. A Greg Norman masterpiece, the course plays out along several miles of crystalclear freshwater canals surrounded by mangrove wetlands and limestone caves. There are no hoops to jump through to play El Camaleon – it is open to visitors seven days a week. Punta Mita Pacifico & Bahia (Riviera Nayarit) Two 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature designs are accessible only to guests staying at the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, the St Regis Punta Mita Resort or rental villas within the Punta Mita complex. The Pacifico course is home to the famed “Tail of the Whale”, a 194-yard par-3, the world’s only natural island green. To experience this iconic hole fully you need to time your round to play when the tides are out and the "buggy path" is revealed so that you can drive to the green.
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Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita
Mexico
St Regis Punta Mita
Couples golf
Mexico presents so many options for couples and groups of couples, one of the fastest growing sectors in the golf tourism industry. Adult-only hotels, such as Secrets Playa Mujeres Golf & Spa Resort in Cancun and Secrets Puerto Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort, are common in all major resorts, and in every golf destination there are numerous boutique hotels that are perfectly suited to Couples Golf, such as Casa Velas in Puerto Vallarta and Punta Mita’s Four Seasons and St Regis resorts in Riviera Nayarit. Private villa rentals add another dimension and with car hire being easy to manage, couples can benefit from more freedom. The opportunities for couples golf in Mexico are truly endless, where tranquil settings, special places, historic city centres, cosy restaurants, sumptuous spas, great shopping and mouth-watering gastronomy abound.
Group golf The established tourism infrastructure and decades of experience makes Mexico an ideal destination for larger groups of golfers or mixed golfer and non-golfer groups. Groups of women golfers are a fast-expanding sector of the market and there are some tremendous destinations that cater perfectly to this demographic, including the resort destinations of Los Cabos, Riviera Maya, Cozumel, Ixtapa, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit and Loreto. Smaller social groups who travel together can be attracted by the opportunity to rent a large villa where they can stay together but with the privacy afforded by en-suite bathrooms. In all coastal golf destinations the villa rental opportunities abound. The vast experience of golf directors makes Mexico’s coastal resort destinations ideal for amateur golf events which are very popular particularly from the US and Canadian markets. Unlike many other forms of smaller group travel, tournament golf often requires only one or two golf courses and therefore opens itself up to all coastal resort destinations including Huatulco, Acapulco, Ixtapa, Manzanillo, Mazatlán, La Paz, Loreto, Bajamar and Puerto Puñesco, as well as all of the Cancun-Riviera Maya, Vallarta-Nayarit and Los Cabos.
Oceano Course, Bajamar Oceanfront Golf & Resort
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Mexico
Chichen Itza
Golf & culture One of Mexico’s greatest attractions is its Pre-Columbian, colonial and contemporary culture. Any visit to Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit around Halloween must be accompanied by a visit to the Boho-chic seaside town of Sayulita for the Dia de Muertos festival on 1-2 November. In the Riviera Maya there is an annual jazz festival every December in Playa del Carmen, and Mazatlån stages the third-largest carnival in the world each February. Mayan site at Tulum
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The iconic Mayan temple at Chichen Itza is two hours and 30 minutes by road from Cancun, while the ancient Castillo fort of the Mayan port city of Tulum is only a 30-minute drive south of the Riviera Maya Golf Club.
Mexico Guanajuato
The inland destinations of Guanajuato, Morelia, Puebla, Queretaro and San Miguel de Allende are all heritage cities of outstanding beauty, with golf options nearby. The Tres Marias Golf Club in Morelia is a terrific 27-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature design and the Ventanas de San Miguel Allende Golf Club offers vacation rentals, a perfect location from which to explore the city. There are some excellent golf experiences to be enjoyed around the major gateway city of Guadalajara, famous for its tequila and mariachi, all with easy green-fee access to visitors on weekdays. And this is all without mentioning family golf, golf & nature, great-value golf, oceanside golf and golf cruises. When it comes to golf vacations of every different kind, Mexico really does have the perfect answer! Tres Marias Golf Club
by Peter Walton
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Cover Photo: Al Mouj Golf at Al Mouj Muscat • www.almoujgolf.com
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