Punta Cana, Dominican Republic:
Discovering A Caribbean Golf Paradise.
Having only enjoyed golf on the North American continent, an offer to accompany my friend on a trip to Punta Cana got me excited to add a few rounds of Caribbean golf to the week’s adventures. With nearly a dozen golf options within the vacation paradise along the eastern coast of the island, it wasn’t hard to arrange for a few mornings on the tropical fairways of the Dominican Republic. A big thank you has to be shared to adventure excursion company trip2puntacana.com for the awesome ground transportation from the resort to the courses.
The Catalonia Bavaro Beach Golf and Casino Resort was our home for the week. It is the first resort complex north of the Punta Cana Airport on the pristine white sand Bavaro Beach shoreline. The resort has two golf options, the Catalonia Caribe Golf Club and the Cabeza de Toro Golf Club. Hurricane Fiona hit this edge of the country in the early fall and caused some damage to both courses. Unfortunately Cabeza de Toro was not open during our visit, but with it being directly adjacent to the resort, it was easy to see the Alberto Sola design as we toured around the property. The nine hole layout plays to a yardage of 2600 yards and features water in play on nearly every hole. Hopefully my next trip back will afford me the chance to sample Cabeza de Toro.
The Catalonia Caribe Golf Club is the resort’s championship 18 hole course. Alberto Sola and Jack Corrie combined to route a challenging test of golf over a varied canvas of lush tropical landscape. The course plays to a par of 72 and a little over 6200 yards. Nearly half the holes lay below the spacious clubhouse on the flat land along the entrance drive. Mid-way through each of the nines, the course climbs up to the higher plateau lands. This higher land is more windswept and home to a massive lake framing three of the most memorable holes on the course, including the par 3 sixth hole which juts out into the water. Both of these courses offer an inland tropical golf adventure navigating lots of ponds and tall palms.
The Lakes Barcelo Golf Club is connected to the sprawling Barcelo Bavaro Grand Resort. The course was opened in 1991 and was remodeled by P. B. Dye in 2010. His championship design opens with holes traversing through a thick tropical forest before returning to the massive lake in the shadow of the clubhouse, where the finishing holes on both nines skirt the shoreline. The final 13 holes all play along or across water, but that isn’t the only challenge to the round. Many greens feature sharp ridges and plateaus, putting a premium on your approach game. Breaking 100 course review here
Punta Espada Golf Club is a remarkable Jack Nicklaus Signature Design and one of the many amenities found within the luxurious Cap Cana Resort community. The course opened in 2006 and continues to be mentioned as one of the finest courses in Latin America and the Caribbean. The facility was a PGA Champions site for years, testing the legends of the game. The routing embraces the gifts Mother Nature provided incorporating magnificent coral bluffs, windswept plateaus and stunning oceanfront coves all distracting you with the beauty of the course and its surroundings, while demanding every part of your game to be able to challenge par.
Puntacana Resort is home to two golf experiences, one is a PGA Tour stop and the other a unique 27 hole facility offering three different designs for each of the nine hole routings. La Cana Golf Club is a P. B. Dye design that features three different nine hole courses. The Arrecife nine features an island green, tricky doglegs and a pair of gorgeous oceanside holes. TheTortuga Bay nine combines a beautiful blend of inland holes filled with waste bunkers and ponds along with a devilish par 3 jutting out into the ocean and an exciting drivable par 4. The Hacienda nine may not be everyone’s first choice being it is set inland and has no ocean holes like the other courses. However, this routing is filled with some of the best holes at the facility. There is significant elevation change, a few daunting challenges and lots of risk/reward decisions. This nine has few homesites making the round feel like a stroll through a tropical pastoral setting.
Corales Golf Club is the Puntacana Resort’s PGA Tour stop. This grand Tom Fazio design has hosted the Web.com Tour and PGA Tour since 2016. The round starts perched atop a rise a mere steps from the careening Caribbean surf. The layout meanders up and down a variety of rises and valleys embracing natural flow of the landscape. The course has two holes with alternate greens and plenty of subtle challenges throughout. The ocean holes are what makes this round hard to forget. Both nines finish along the coral cliffs of coastline offering the added distraction of crashing waves to the nerve wracking shot demands you face.
I have wanted to get to the Caribbean for many years and sample some of the golf courses that make it a coveted destination for golfers. I can’t think of many better places than the Dominican Republic for my first tropical golf adventure. The Punta Cana region boasts numerous options, but having the opportunity to visit and experience the fine collection I was able to schedule was a privilege. Whenever you can play three fun and challenging resort courses along with two spectacular PGA sites, it is a special week of golf. It is abundantly clear in my mind that this will not be my last trip to the Dominican Republic for golf and the wonderful hospitality.
