Los Cabos, one of the most beautiful and exclusive destinations in Mexico, located at the tip on the Baja California peninsula, continues to bask in the limelight as one of the world’s most desirable golf destinations, ranked second behind Hawaii in the top ten golf destinations of the world. The climate with 350 days of annual sunshine and the environment make Los Cabos a golfer’s paradise. Blessed with contrasting scenery, from the desert arroyos to white sand beaches, rocky coastline, and its annual average temperature in the 80’s, Los Cabos’ scenic wonders have attracted some of the world’s best golf designers to the area. The number of championship courses in the Land’s End area increases yearly, with more on the horizon.
So grab your sticks and play where it all started in 1992 with the “Grande 
Dame”– The Palmilla Golf Club, the first Nicklaus-designed course in Latin America, which consistently ranks among the top courses in Mexico. The only 27-hole course in the region, laid out in three distinct elevations, offers golfers panoramic views of the Sea of Cortez from most holes. A unique blend of canyons, mountains and ocean golf, features the Arroyo nine, the Mountain nine and the Ocean nine. Taking players on a journey through 800 vertical feet of the Baja desert, down irregularly shaped ribbons of fairway, interrupted by four lakes, eventually leading players to the Ocean course, which runs along water-carved canyons surrounded by Cardon Cacti toward the sea until it leaves them on the beaches of the Sea of Cortez. Creature comforts are plentiful, including complimentary towels, water and the only air-conditioned carts in Mexico.
Cabo del Sol, recognized as one of the top rated courses in Mexico and the world, offers two designs in corresponding ocean and desert environments. The Ocean Course, ranked in the top 100 courses in the world since opening in 1994, a Jack Nicklaus masterpiece, features 1.5 miles of oceanfront, with seven holes directly on the coastline. The design traverses arroyos and washes and ends up fronting the Sea of Cortez for the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, which Nicklaus calls “the three finest finishing holes in golf”, a tribute that led to its being called “Pebble Beach of Baja”. The 7,075-yard Ocean Course is one of the most challenging in Los Cabos and also one of the most expensive to play (bring lots of balls)! The Desert Course, designed by Weiskopf, opened in 2002. Inland of the Nicklaus course, it is laid out to offer ocean views from every hole. Featuring target-style golf, the terrain offers dramatic vistas, canyon-like arroyos and natural river washes that outline the wide, sloping fairways and expansive greens. Cabo del Sol offers a daily Golf Academy for those looking to improve their strokes. www.cabodelsol.com
The magnificent Cabo Real Golf Club, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. masterpiece, is also rated among the best in the world. 
Reputed to have the toughest front nine in Los Cabos, the front part works its way up toward the mountains to its peak at the 6th green. From there it winds down dramatically to an oceanfront setting with spectacular views especially on holes 14 and 15. If your visit falls between February and April you may be lucky to catch a glimpse of breaching whales as was seen during the 1996 PGA Senior Grand Slam. This challenging track, a favorite among golf professionals, provides Laser Link yardage rangefinders on its carts, a first in Los Cabos. www.caboreal.com
The Cabo San Lucas Country Club, an 18-hole Roy Dye design, is a sometimes-overlooked gem in the area. Consistently 
rated by Golf Digest as one of the best place to play in the area and the least expensive to play along with the Cabo del Sol Desert Course. It’s the only course 
with a view of Land’s End and the famous El Arco—a monumental rock formation sculptured by the sea—the icon of this destination, at the point where the Pacific Ocean merges with the Sea of Cortez. Accented by broad fairways, nine sparkling lakes, small greens and eighty sand traps, this track offers some challenging holes like the 610-yard, par 5, downhill dogleg 7th hole, which until recently was the longest hole in Mexico. Lacking the dramatic features offered by some of the more pricey courses, this course is certainly more player-friendly and enjoyable to play. www.golfincabo.com
Club Campestre San Jose Golf Club, one of the newest courses opening in 2007, is another Jack Nicklaus designed 18-hole course. The centerpiece of a developing luxury community and a Grupo Questro development, the course features panoramic ocean and mountain views, dramatic elevation changes, omnipresent bunkers and undulating greens. One of the first courses in Los Cabos to use Paspalum grass; it is currently opened to the public, but will eventually become private. www.clubcampestresanjose.com
Graced with sapphire ocean waters and emerald green fairways, Puerto Los Cabos Golf Club, the most recent addition to the Los Cabos golf scene, is part of another massive Grupo Questro development. Overlooking three miles of beachfront on the Sea of Cortez, the master-plan calls for a combined 36-hole complex. The first eighteen holes opened in 2008, with the front nine designed by Norman and the back nine by Nicklaus. The Norman nine, called the Mission Course is a unique desert course on the ocean. The Nicklaus nine, called the Marina Course, features dramatic terrain variety including mountain holes, holes that play through sand dunes, and some touching the sea. When complete in a few years, the plan calls for a private 18-hole Norman course and public 18-hole Nicklaus course. www.puertoloscabos.com
Private Clubs
Querencia, the first private golf facility in Los Cabos, is one of the elite premiere courses in all of Mexico. Topping the 2010 Golfweek’s Best Courses of the Caribbean and Mexico, this Fazio design opening in 2000, winds through the challenging hills and arroyo high above the Sea of Cortez and it contours a reflection of the surrounding ridges and ravines. The upper elevations offer 180 degree views of the entire Los Cabos area. The 900-acre facility includes the luxury amenities of massive clubhouse with spa, restaurant, tennis courts and swimming pools. Another course planned for the near future will include the design team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. www.loscabosquerencia.com
Eldorado Golf & Beach Club, which opened in 1999, quickly earned a 4.5 star rating on Golf Digest’s “Places to Play” listing. This Nicklaus design offers some of the most scenic golfing in the entire area, as the course links the drama of the coast to the desert through the transitional 18 holes. Its uniquely shaped fairways winds through rugged terrain, carries over desert canyons, and target-style golf to small greens on the beach, make this course quite challenging and for the brave at heart! Becoming private in 2006, it now offers a host of amenities to the rich & famous. www.eldoradogolfandbeachclub.com/golf
Works in Progress
Los Cabos has some exciting new courses that are being designed or constructed. In locations from the Pacific side over to 
the Corridor, the quest for the ultimate golf course continues. Among these are the two courses at Diamante, the first on the Pacific side, about four miles up the road from Cabo San Lucas. Diamante’s Dunes Course is a Davis Love III design which is a dunes-style course on the coastline. To contrast the dunes feel, Phil Michelson’s design will feature a lush oasis desert track that will play inland. http://diamantelife.com
A major residential/resort development at Cabo Pacifica is underway that will incorporate Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach and Cabo Pacifica resorts. It will feature a Nicklaus layout that includes a design of sand dunes in the desert area and ocean course along the beachfront.
The development of Quivira Los Cabos, another residential/resort community adjacent to Cabo San Lucas will include two Jack Nicklaus-designed courses highlighting more oceanfront holes than any other development on the Baja Peninsula. Quivira will also be home to the Ritz-Carlton.
Located north of San Jose del Cabo airport, will be the home of two five-star resort hotels with an 18-hole Pete Dye golf course.
A Taste of Paradise Beyond Golf
Los Cabos, an environment with contradictory beauty of stark desert and sparkling blue seas, a series of contrasts so 
scenically breathtaking that out on the golf course you can stop and look up over the playing area and, for a moment, it really doesn’t matter that you are way, way over par. That’s because this gorgeous piece of heaven on earth, where the ocean flows into the horizon and sunset traces the glowing sands at the water’s edge, offers much more than fabulous golf.
Surrender to the bliss of the balmy beaches, while whale watching, immerse yourself in spa treatments, or get a massage on the beach. Reel in trophy game fish in the sportfishing capital of the world. Explore the rugged beauty of the land off the beaten path–by horse, mountain biking, hiking, off-roading. Cruise the sea on the Buccaneer Queen, swim with the fishes in Cabo Pulmo Marine Park or swim with the dolphins at the Cabo Dolphin Center. Take in a real live bull fight. Shop to your heart’s content along the sidewalks of Cabo or at the upscale Puerto Paraiso. Relish the five-star gourmet dining of Los Cabos alongside the ocean and under the stars at many of their fine restaurants. Immerse yourself in the nightlife on sunset pleasure cruises…stop in for an evening of smooth drinks, live jazz and Mexican bands offered at many hotels…or for those who want a taste of “crazy” Cabo drop in at the fun bars that have helped put Cabo San Lucas on the map, including El Squid Roe and The Giggling Marlin.
Where to Stay
Accommodation choices are endless when it comes to your stay in Los Cabos. If you’re lucky to be a time-share owner, a time-share exchange for a 1, 2, 3 bedroom condo is the best deal and share with friends. However, golf packages are available at several resorts that partner with courses mentioned above: Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort; Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort; Melia Cabo Real Beach & Golf Resort; Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Golf & Spa Resort; One & Only Palmilla. www.visitloscabos.travel
About Pam Borges
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