Golf in Mexico

TEE IT UP

With spectacular landscapes across the country – from rugged coastline to mountain vistas, wide open plains and dense jungle – it is little wonder Mexico has become one of the most popular destinations in the world to play golf. There are more than 160 courses in the country, designed by the top names in the business, all finding distinctive ways to utilise Mexico’s rich natural treasures. The premier courses present a challenge as tough as anywhere on the international circuit, but high-end resorts welcome golfers of all abilities to sample their unique appeal.

FOUR SEASONS PUNTA MITA

There’s no mistaking the stand-out attraction of Four Seasons – Punta Mita Golf complex. It is home to the only course in the world to have a green that covers the whole of a natural island in the middle of the ocean. At hole 3B of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pacifico Course, dubbed the “Tail of the Whale”, your tee shot is aimed over the ocean towards a craggy outcrop on which sits the green. It is a spectacular highlight on a course of superlative beauty.

Both the Pacifico Course and its sister Bahia Course sit on the Punta Mita peninsula, beneath the Sierra Madre Mountains and with views over either the Pacific Ocean or Banderas Bay.

RIVIERA MAYA BAHIA PRINCIPE

There are 27 holes at the Riviera Maya Golf Club in Bahia Principe, near Cancun, each of them set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Mayan jungle. Only a short distance from the ancient Mayan ruins, the 18-hole championship course and its ninehole executive neighbour, sit in perfect harmony with the tropical forest and a deep limestone quarry. Robert Trent Jones II skilfully integrated natural lakes and cenotes into his course design, in particular beware the gaping, spectacular crater to the left of the sixth green. You will never see that ball again.

DIAMANTE CABO SAN LUCAS

There are few better uses of 1.5 miles (2.4km) of Pacific beachfront than the golf resort Diamante Cabo San Lucas.

The site of the aptly named Dunes Course was likened by its designer, Davis Love III, to the famed St Andrews links. But while the course’s undulating dunes bear some resemblance to the Home of Golf, the beautiful weather and white sand are distinctly Mexican. Ranked Mexico’s #1 course by Golf Digest magazine, the Dunes Course boasts spectacular views over the ocean throughout.

Tiger Woods designed the neighbouring El Cardonal course, modelling it after the finest courses of Southern California.

“Regardless of your handicap, there are going to be different ways to play every hole,” Woods said of the course that weaves across dunes, through indigenous mature vegetation and around the area’s natural creeks.

MAYAKOBA RESORT

The PGA Tour only stops once in Mexico and it comes to rest at the Greg Norman-designed El Cameléon course in Quintana Roo on the Yucatán Peninsula.

Serviced by two of the finest highend resort hotels in the country, the course is also among the Mexico’s most spectacular, taking golfers from jungle to ocean in a seamless journey. Borrowing its name from one of the species of reptiles that sometimes stroll on to the course, El Cameléon is also noted for its inventive integration of the area’s distinctive vegetation and natural cenotes. You might notice one of these water pools in the middle of the first fairway, though hopefully not when your ball plops into it.

QUIVIRA GOLF CLUB

One of Jack Nicklaus’s modern masterpieces, the Quivira Golf Club in Cabo San Lucas is among the most dramatic courses in the country.

Perched on the narrow cliff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean, poor drives here plunge off the sheer edges into the deep blue below. The course’s topography is exceptionally varied as it winds its way from high cliffs down to the sandy dunes.

Golfers can take refuge and sustenance at the Oasis restaurant near to the course’s mid-point, then reward themselves for completing the challenge at a highly rated steakhouse in the thatched clubhouse.