
Punta Espada Golf Course
by Bradley S. Klein - Senior Writer - Golf Week
The defining color of golf throughout the Caribbean and Mexico no longer is just green. Increasingly, it’s blue, as in the stunning azure of the oceans, seas and lagoons that lap the region’s finest courses.
That’s particularly evident at our No. 1 course, Cap Cana-Punta Espada in the Dominican Republic, where the confluence of land and water produces great golf. The second hole of this new Jack Nicklaus design, a 611-yard par 5, starts atop a limestone cliff and tumbles down to a tidal lagoon, with the green set on a peninsula and the Caribbean lurking behind. All told, eight holes play right on the water’s edge, and when the wind howls, as it did during the Champions Tour’s Cap Cana Championship in early April, you know you’re in a special place.
Water and wind have been powerful factors since the region’s first great course, the Mid Ocean Club in Tucker’s Town, Bermuda, debuted in 1921 as a showcase for the bold talents of Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor. It holds up well, as its No. 2 rating attests. So, too, does our No. 3 layout, Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog, a Pete Dye-designed course in La Romana, Dominican Republic. When the course opened in 1969, the country’s southeast coast was virtually unreachable to the tourist trade. Now the area is booming, and Casa de Campo also has three other highly rated Dye courses on site: Dye Fore (No. 7), La Romana Country Club (No. 19) and the Links Course (No. 37).
Golf has flourished in the region for several reasons. The first is an abundance of coastal land with suitable contours. The second is the cultivation of a reliable turfgrass, Seashore paspalum, that’s hearty enough to thrive in an area where fresh water is scarce and water with high salt content is abundant. It helps, too, that governments have signed on, making golf-driven tourism a major engine of overall economic development.
“Blue fairways” now drive upscale real estate and resort development in previously isolated areas such as the southern end of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, overlooking the Sea of Cortez. The breakthrough project there was our No. 4 layout, Cabo del Sol’s Ocean Course in Cabo San Lucas, designed by Nicklaus in 1994. That was followed in 2000 by our No. 5-rated course, the Tom Fazio-designed Querencia in San José del Cabo.
Not surprisingly, modern courses (built since 1960) dominate the list. Only four classic-era (pre-1960) layouts are in our top 50. Among modern architects, Nicklaus leads with eight courses, followed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. (7), Robert Trent Jones Jr. (6), Dye, Fazio and Robert von Hagge (4 each) and Tom Weiskopf (3).
Golfweek’s Best Courses of the
Caribbean & Mexico
| 1. Cap Cana – Punta Espada |
Cap Cana, D.R. |
| 2. Mid Ocean Club * |
Tucker’s Town, Bermuda |
| 3. Casa de Campo – Teeth of the Dog |
La Romana, D.R. |
| 4. Cabo del Sol – Ocean |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
| 5. Querencia * |
San José del Cabo, Mexico |
| 6. Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita |
Punta Mita, Mexico |
| 7. Casa de Campo – Dye Fore |
La Romana, D.R. |
| 8. Royal Westmoreland * |
St. James, Barbados |
| 9. Mayakoba – El Camaleón |
Riviera Maya, Mexico |
| 10. Vista Vallarta Golf Club – Nicklaus |
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico |
| 11. Sandy Lane – Green Monkey |
St. James, Barbados |
| 12. El Dorado Golf and Beach Club * |
San José del Cabo, Mexico |
| 13. Vista Vallarta GC – Weiskopf |
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico |
| 14. The Abaco Club on Winding Bay * |
Abaco, Bahamas |
| 15. Ritz-Carlton G&SR – White Witch |
St. James, Jamaica |
| 16. Cabo del Sol – Desert |
San José del Cabo, Mexico |
| 17. Puerto Los Cabos – Nicklaus * |
San José del Cabo, Mexico |
| 18. Sandy Lane – The Country Club |
St. James, Barbados |
| 19. Casa de Campo – La Romana CC * |
La Romana, D.R. |
| 20. Roco Ki – Faldo Legacy |
Macao, D.R. |
| 21. Moon Palace GC – Nicklaus |
Cancún, Mexico |
| 22. Port Royal GC |
Southampton, Bermuda |
| 23. Reserva Conchal GC |
Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| 24. Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica |
Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| 25. Palmas del Mar CC – Palm |
Humacao, Puerto Rico |
| 26. Rose Hall Resort & Spa – Cinnamon Hill |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| 27. Palmilla GC – Mountain & Arroyo Nines |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
| 28. Palmas del Mar CC – Flamboyán |
Humacao, Puerto Rico |
| 29. Our Lucaya Beach & GR – Reef |
Freeport, Bahamas |
| 30. Tryall |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| 31. Ocean Club GC |
Paradise Island, Bahamas |
| 32. Playacar Spa & Golf Club |
Playa del Carmen, Mexico |
| 33. Cabo Real Golf Course |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
| 34. Dorado Beach – West |
Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico |
| 35. Tierra del Sol |
Oranjestad, Aruba |
| 36. Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort – Ocean |
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico |
| 37. Casa de Campo – Links |
La Romana, D.R. |
| 38. Dorado Beach – East |
Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico |
| 39. Tucker’s Point GC |
Harrington Sound, Bermuda |
| 40. Punta Cana Resort & Club – La Cana |
Punta Cana, D.R. |
| 41. Riddell’s Bay G&CC * |
Warwick, Bermuda |
| 42. Half Moon Resort |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| 43. Four Seasons Resort Nevis |
Nevis, West Indies |
| 44. Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort – River |
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico |
| 45. Cabo San Lucas CC |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
| 46. The Fairmont Pierre Marques |
Acapulco, Mexico |
| 47. Paradise Village Resort – El Tigre CC |
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico |
| 48. Hyatt Hacienda del Mar – Pineapple |
Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico |
| 49. El Conquistador Resort – Arthur Hills |
Fajardo, Puerto Rico |
| 50. Hyatt Regency Cerromar BR&C – North |
Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico |