OCTOBER 2009
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Dominican Republic The Caribbean Destination for Championship Golf
CARIBBEAN
Dominican Republic — The Caribbean Destination for Championship Golf Top-of-the-line course designs and luxury accommodations. D . O. C H R I S T I A N R I E G E R
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CAP CANA RESORT
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mazing designs and distracting beauty are the hallmark of Dominican Republic golf courses. Thirty are spread over the country with most in the east and south coasts. Many have received top ratings in world and regional rankings from golf publications. This is the result of the Dominican Republic becoming the destination for links created by top designers. In Golfweek magazine’s ranking of the top 50 courses in the Caribbean and Mexico, it rated the Jack Nicklaus-designed Punta Espada course at Cap Cana number one. The Nick Faldo Legacy course at Roco Ki is number 20. Not bad for a three-year old course and a spanking new one. Golf Magazine compared the La Cana course at the Punta Cana Resort and Club to Pebble Beach and declared it the “number one course in the Caribbean.” Pete Dye’s Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo ranks eighth in the 50 Greatest Courses of the Last 50 Years in the September issue of Golf Magazine. The resort itself ranks number 32 among the Top 75 Best Golf Resorts in North America in the October issue of Golf Digest Magazine. Casa de Campo is located in La Romana, about 10 minutes away from its international airport. (The Dominican Republic has seven international airports, so there is always one near your destination.) This 7,000 acre resort incorporates a tennis facility; a shooting club with 300 positions on 240 acres; polo ponies, English and Western saddle horses, trails and a jumping ring: a marina with shops, movie theaters in English and restaurants: and, of course, its famous golf courses by Pete Dye. The first was Teeth of the Dog, built along the shoreline of the Caribbean Sea in 1969. The terrain was so densely packed with vegetation he originally viewed the property from the water. It took two years to build with 200 laborers using oxen to clear the land and bring in top soil. During its construction, he heard the men refer to the very jagged, lime stone, shore line as “teeth of the dog.” So he adopted that as the course’s name. This 7478 yard, par 72 course has seven holes next to
18th hole at Cap Cana’s Punta Espada golf course.
Caribbean. He said God designed those, he designed the other 11. The most famous is the par 4, 15th hole, named Teeth of the Dog as well, for which the player from the black tee has to make it over an ocean-filled, rocky gap in the shoreline to a sea-side green. The conservative player will hit the ball to the left front of the green. Seemingly less insidious, yet in the end, more intimidating, is the combination of the 13th and 14th. The 13th is the second shortest in the course at an innocent 201 yards, par 3. About 60% of the fairway is rough. Very rough. It is made up of shaved grass, and what could pass for weeds, at about seven inches high. This is easy enough to get past. It is the sloping, raised green that can get you. It is completely encircled by a broad bunker. I was with two players that got their balls into the sand. One managed to play the hole in five strokes. The other had the misfortune of getting out of the trap too strong and the ball rolled over and into the sand on the other side. This continued for four attempts before he moved to the next fairway. www.travelworldnews.com • Travel World News
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CARIBBEAN
La Estancia on the Rio Chavon About a twenty minute car ride away from Casa de Campo is La Estancia Golf Resort with its 7, 382 yard, par 72 course by the imaginative P. B. Dye, who takes advantage, as he is want to do, of the scenic location along the cliffs of the Chavon River. On the river banks below were filmed parts of Rambo, King Kong and most of Apocalypse Now. So you know the place has plenty of tropical beauty. A first cut of rough borders most of the fairways from which the ball generally can be easily played. Beyond that are mostly limestone rocks from which it can be a challenge to find a ball, much less play it. Is this cruel? Nope. After all, a fairway has to have limits. The star here is the fifth hole with a mere 96 yards at a par 3. From the tees there is about a 60 foot drop to the large green. It looks farther than it is because of the drop and the distance of the river hundreds of feet below and the scenery miles beyond. The first trick here is to clear the pot bunker. The other is to play it believing in the yardage, not the optical illusion brought about by the surroundings. The 18th is not humble either. It’s a par 4 at 416 yards. This has a slight dogleg to the left with water most of the way on the same side. It’s a perfect place to lose a ball before getting to the small bunker guarding the front left of the green with several mounds on the right protecting the two tiered green. At $90.00 for winter season play, it is a raving bargain. You Travel World News • www.travelworldnews.com
PUNTA CANA RESORT & CLUB
The 14th is a somewhat long, 497 yards, par 5. It is made for the strong player to come off the tee with a strong drive playing it slightly to the left to avoid a bunker that traverses virtually the entire fairway then circling in back of a pond between it and the green. After getting beaten by the 13th, the temptation here is to hit over the water hazzard and on to the green. Playing it safe to the left is a better bet and can come out easily with par. Course fee is $170.00 for the winter season starting on November 1st — for players staying at Casa de Campo. Dye Fore is set back from the ocean along 100 foot cliffs of the Rio Chavon, the Dominican Republic’s equivalent of the Grand Canyon. This 7, 770 yard, par 72 course has seven holes along the cliffs with two challenging par three holes. Its views are captivating: the Caribbean, the mountains in the distance, the river below. Course fee is $170.00 for this winter. This December, guests will be treated to the resort’s new Elite Rooms and Suites. These are designed by Dominican native, Patricia Reid, with elegant fabrics, mahogany furniture and expanded bathrooms. They will have 42 inch LCD televisions and Blu-Ray disc players. Room rates through December 20th range from $178.00 for a standard room to $345.00 for a suite, and include a fourseater golf cart to get around.
Looking through the living room of a villa to the ocean at Tortuga Bay: interiors designed by Oscar de la Renta.
will not find a better deal in the DR than this with a course like this. For people on a cruise, Princess, Costa and Royal Caribbean all dock nearby during the winter season and passengers can book rounds through them that include round trip transportation.
Cliffs and the Blue Surf Below Farther to the east is Roco Ki, which means “honor the land” in the language of the pre-Columbian Taino people. It is on the shores Macao Beach in Higuey, known for its spectacular sugar white beaches alternating with high cliffs. It is here where Nick Faldo designed one of the golfer’s dreams of the Dominican Republic. It covers 180.5 acres and is a 7,152 yard, par 72 course. About his work of golf art, Faldo says, “It sits right alongside the ocean, and . . . building on the shoreline required some smart engineering, and the plans actually changed quite a bit during construction. We discovered that one part of the property was bottomless swampland—you could pour fill into it forever and you would still have pure swamp—so we changed the routing and worked our way toward the headland rather than right down to the beach . . . . “In the end, everything worked out, because the layout is more varied. It feels like a botanical garden, with diverse native flora and mangrove trees and magnificent colors. The course moves through several different environments on the way to the headland, finishing by the breaking waves. Along the way, we built bunkers that look as if they had been blown through by a gale. “The fifteenth is cut through a spidery web of mangrove roots and branches—I took to calling it my Harry Potter hole. Seventeen is our version of Pebble Beach’s seventh. It’s only about a hundred yards long, perched on the end of a rock forCONTINUED ON PAGE
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CASA DE CAMPO
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mation. A tee area on eighteen sits atop a cave carved out by waves. From there you look up the fairway to the hotel (a year away from completion)—it’s all very dramatic. “It was a thrill for us to build. I expect it will be a thrill to play, as well.” For the winter season beginning December 1st, the course fee is $275, which drops down to $200.00 April 1st.
Puntacana Resort and Club The Puntacana Resort and Club opens its new private club course, Corales, this December. Designed by Tom Fazio, it incorporates two features that Frank R. Rainieri, founder and president of the resort had planned for years. He says, “I wanted to have the club house on the beach. It is not traditional, but these are new times. And I wanted the long shot at the 18th which is 265 feet over the water. It’s a tough one,” he says, “but it has seven tees to accommodate players of all talents” The first course to be opened at Puntacana Resort and Club was the P. B. Dye-designed la Cana. At the 12th hole a player is apt to ask himself, “Why am I here?” It has a treacherous, green called the “Water Green” which is 146 yards from the tournament tees. The non tournament tees are on the right side of the water. There is no fairway. The little piece of grass at the entrance of the green on the right side is only a path. On that hole, there are tees, water and a green. No fairway that you would call a fairway. And the green is encircled with a bunker to give it that artful, if not confounding look. Dye would seem to believe the best kind of challenge is a pretty one. Another challenging hole is mostly bunker. Course fees are $125.00 for the winter season starting December 1st. Adjacent to La Cana course is Tortuga Bay, Puntacana’s resort within a resort, a private enclave of 15 beachfront and beach view villas designed by Oscar de la Renta, one of the resort’s owners. The units offer luxury, privacy, security and five star service. This boutique hotel has one, two, three, and four bedroom units in three and four bedroom villas to accommodate couples, friends traveling together, and families of varied sizes. Rooms are airy and spacious with large bathrooms containing separate showers and bathtubs with Jacuzzis. Some of the villas have roof top Jacuzzis and privacy sunbathing for that full bodied tan. These overlook the front yard, the coconut palms and the beach to the sea beyond. Muy romatic. Through December 22, rack rates for Tortuga Bay start at $580.00 for the second floor junior suites to $2680.00 for a four bedroom, ocean-front villa. Breakfast is included, so are airport transfers and personal assistance through customs and immigration.
Jack Nicklaus Courses Cap Cana is the only resort complex in the world that will 24 • OCTOBER 2009
Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic. Reception area, rooms, villas and Teeth of the Dog golf course in the background next to the Caribbean.
have three Jack Nicklaus courses. The first is Punta Espada, managed by Troon Golf, and it is already listed among the worlds finest, with Golf Week ranking it as the best golf course in the Caribbean and Mexico. Eight holes play along the Caribbean sea in this 7,000 yard plus, par 72, championship course. Golfers have expansive views of the Caribbean from anyplace on the course which hosted the inaugural PGA Tour’s Champions Tour in April 2008. The second tee has an elevated tee box with another broad vista of the course and the ocean. This par 5 breaks along an inlet to a green on a peninsula. The 17th is a wonder of nature. The coral next to the tee box is vented and salt spray shots up from these holes. Real scenic. Bring your camera. Course fee is $375.00 for the winter season starting on November 1st. Opening next year is Las Iguanas, the second Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course at Cap Cana. It will feature unique bunkering and green complexes. The 5 star luxury hotel, Sanctuary Cap Cana, has 176 suites, spa area, table service restaurants, bars, shopping center, beach club, 750 meters of private beaches is the place to stay. For those who have a yacht and don’t need a room, there is a marina with several hundred slips. Through December 22nd room rates range from $203.00 for junior suites to $1463.00 for two bedroom suites with a small island.
Casa de Campo, www.casadecampo.com, www.capcana.com; Punta Cana Resort & Club, www.puntacana.coml; La Estancia Golf Resort, www.legr.com; Sancuary Cap Cana, www.sanctuarycapcana.com www.travelworldnews.com • Travel World News
CARIBBEAN LIFESTYLE HOLIDAYS VACATION CLUB APPOINTS MANNY SLOMOVITS EXECUTIVE CHEF Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club, located in Puerto Plata on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, has announced the appointment of Manny Slomovits as Executive Chef. A New York native and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Slomovits has over 18 years of international culinary experience in the U.S. and abroad, including MANNY SLOMOVITS five-star restaurants and resorts in New York, Florida and the Bahamas. He has served as head chef and luxury private villa chef for private estates and on private yachts sailing in the Caribbean, Canada, the Mediterranean, Africa, Turkey and Egypt and was a gold medal winner for Taste of the Bahamas 2007. The Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club Resort encompasses four distinct products: The Tropical, The Crown Suites, The Crown Villas and The Residence Suites. All guests have access to five swimming pools, nightly entertainment, spa, beach, tennis and other activities. Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club VIP Members have access to a “members only” restaurant, bar, swimming pool, exclusive beach area, as well as golf carts, limousine transfers and helicopter tours. Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club, 809-970-7777, www.lifestyleholidaysvc.com
PUNTACANA RESORT & CLUB WINS CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER 2009 WORLD SAVERS AWARD FOR EDUCATION PROGRAMS Condé Nast Traveler has named PUNTACANA Resort & Club as a winner of the magazine’s third annual World Savers Awards, honoring travel companies from around the world for their leadership in social responsibility. PUNTACANA Resort & Club, located in the Dominican Republic, is the recipient of the 2009 award in the Education Programs category for its contributions to education in the community, including the development of local public and private schools to accommodate the resorts’ employees and their children.The PUNTACANA International School, built in 2000 to provide quality, bilingual education to students of the growing, vibrant Punta Cana community, has more than 400 students enrolled. Founded in 2004, the Ann and Ted Kheel Polytechnic School is the only public high school within 50 miles of the Punta Cana International Airport; it provides a high-quality secondary education, with an emphasis on technical skills, to 300 students annually from nearby towns. The school is dedicated to Theodore W. Kheel, co-founder of Grupo PUNTACANA, and his late wife, Mrs. Ann S. Kheel, who served on numerous educational commissions and was instrumental in the civil rights movement in the United States. PUNTACANA Resort & Club, www.puntacana.com Travel World News • www.travelworldnews.com
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The Republic of
COLORS For those occasions when there's a better show outside, you can always pause the movie inside. Discover shades of blue only Mother Nature could create while you seek pleasure through the wonder of the undiscovered, the adventure of the unfamiliar, the freshness of the unspoiled and the stimulation of the exotic. Come to the Dominican Republic and find your true colors.
Visit us at GoDominicanRepublic.com