TPC Danzante Bay
When I was growing up, my experience with the Baja California peninsula, Mexico’s westernmost state, was with the Baja 1000, a grueling world-famous off-road automobile race that tests the limits of machine and man and defines the terms “roughing it” and “endurance.”
As a young adult and as a Van Halen fan, my interest in the region was piqued by the opening of the Cabo Wabo bar in Cabo San Lucas. That made the city on the southernmost tip of the peninsula seem like a cool place to visit, as long as beaches, pretty girls, parties and tequila were involved.
Nowadays, and with the finer things of life on my mind, I think of Baja California as Mexico’s ultimate beach, boating, fishing and – for our purposes – golf getaway. The peninsula has two dozen great golf courses either already built or on the drawing board, with most in and around the Cabo San Lucas and Los Cabos region, but perhaps the best in Mexico 320 miles up the eastern coast on the Sea of Cortez.
Let’s take a look at one of the top courses, and vacation spots, in Los Cabos and then the aforementioned track up the coast in one of the world’s great places to stay and play.
Quivira Golf Club
Seaside holes define over-the-top experience at Quivira Golf Club in Los Cabos
Dunes, cactus forests, seaside cliffs and the gleaming Pacific Ocean set the table for an over-the-top experience at Quivira Los Cabos but it’s the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course that elevates the resort and residential community to must-see status.
Nicklaus’ inspired, if somewhat disjointed, routing here takes the golfer from the flatlands near the community’s beach, the up into the cliffs and over into massive dunes before a return to relative calm.
Quivira Golf Club is accessible to guests of the four Pueblo Bonito Oceanfront Resorts and Spas in Los Cabos, and to owners of properties in the community’s Copala, Montecristo Estates Luxury Villas and Novaispania Residences.
Each of the Pueblo Bonito Resorts welcomes guests with luxury accommodations, fine dining and a host of on-site amenities. The Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Resort & Spa, which is set on the Quivira property, is right on the beach with complimentary shuttle service to and from Quivira Golf Club.
Quivira Golf Club, which was named the Best New International Course by Golf Magazine, features more oceanfront holes than any other development in Cabo and some of the most exciting golf in North America.
“I’ve never seen any place that has three holes hanging out over the ocean like this golf course does,” Nicklaus said. “This is a diverse golf course with inland settings; it’s got desert, it’s got ocean, it’s got rocks. It has a little bit of everything.”
The front nine is par-34 with one par-5 and three one-shot holes, while the back-nine is a par-38, offering three par-5s and just one par-3.
Some of the course’s most dramatic holes are those set in the rocky coves a hundred feet above the pounding surf and routed across the site’s immense hills of sand.
The golf experience at Quivira requires a cart ride of about 10 minutes between the fourth and fifth holes out of the valley up a snaking path and over a ledge. Once on top, the views of the valley below and the vast Pacific are magnificent.
The fifth hole has captured the attention of golfers around the world. It’s a downhill, 310-yard par-5 that offers the ultimate risk-reward option of going for the green in one mighty blow. The tee is on a wind-swept point and the putting surface is on another spit of land some 50 feet below and hard on the ocean.
The 180-yard sixth is also flanked on the left by the Pacific but after the challenge of the fifth hole, this shot seems like a piece of cake. As does the 148-yard 13th, which heads back to the south and requires a carry over a deep, rocky Oceanside cove.
In between the sixth and the 13th are six great holes that play across and over huge dunes. This stretch includes the reachable in two 554-yard 10th and No. 12, a 635-yarder that ends right next to the beach where battle scenes from the movie Troy were filmed.
A trip to Quivira is one for the senses and is a must for any golfer looking for the finest of everything.
Quivira Golf Club
Remote TPC Danzante Bay and Villa del Palmar get your juices flowing
If you’re looking for a slice of heaven, a peerless resort that harkens back to the Mexico we all loved in the past and a golf course that will likely be the best you’ll play in many a moon, the Villa del Palmar Resort & Spa and TPC Danzante Bay should be on your immediate bucket list.
There’s an isolation and serenity here that combines with jaw-dropping coastal vistas and the friendly locals that makes the town of Loreto and its immediate region one of the continent’s most desirable destinations to unwind and enjoy.
The course is the centerpiece of the uber-fine resort set in an expansive cove about 20 miles south of Loreto and four hours north of La Paz, capital of Baja California Sur.
TPC Danzante Bay is a 7,237-yard Rees Jones track that plays first through the floor of several canyons surrounded by native terrain and rocky cliffs and then toward the coast and up the side of a mountain. It reaches its highest point at the tee boxes of the par-3 17th hole – the signature hole here – with its putting surface far below the teeing ground and overhanging the clear blue Sea of Cortez.
With its multiple sets of tees and wide, generally forgiving fairways, TPC Danzante Bay is the best kind of resort golf course, one that can be challenging for highly skilled golfers and fun for the novice or high-handicap player.
“The course has open entrances, pockets, and sandy areas to capture a wayward shot and keep it from going in the desert,” Jones said. “We’ve also kept the green contours mild so that the putting surfaces are manageable in the wind.”
The round at TPC Danzante Bay begins with two holes to get you in the swing of things – the 357-yard par-4 first and the 546-yard uphill par-5 second, the latter of which is bordered on the right by a deep arroyo and a 200-foot cliff.
Those holes prepare the golfer for perhaps the stoutest test on the course – the 207-yard par-3 third, whose putting surface juts out onto a point that’s backed by a bluff and fronted by a deep, steep canyon – if the hole is set to the right here, going for that location is a knee-knocking, all-or-nothing proposition.
The front side ends with the devilish 475-yard par-4 eighth, with a deep arroyo all along the left, and the 180-yard par-3 ninth, which drops 60 feet from tee to green but plays harder than it looks because of the swirling wind that whips through the canyon.
You’ll be tempted to go for it in two if you hit a good tee shot on the 580-yard par-5 12th, which runs alongside the hotel to a green that’s right on the beach. The green for the 191-yard par-3 13th is also right on the water, but don’t be distracted (good luck).
The most difficult three-hole stretch at TPC Danzante Bay is Nos. 14, 15 and 16, all par-4s. The 14th weighs in at 451 yards and has one of the most undulating putting surfaces on the course.
No. 15 is just 349 yards on the scorecard, but it moves straight up the dune and usually plays into the wind. Likewise, for the 16th, which is even shorter (at 345 yards) but even more uphill, and ends at an elevated green that’s terraced and shallower than its predecessor.
The resort’s description of the famed 17th tells everything you need to know about one of the coolest holes you’ll ever play:
“The transition from the 16th green to the 17th tee gives little indication of what lies ahead. After cresting a ridge, golfers are presented with a dazzling view of the Sea of Cortez 250 feet below the tee. This spectacular 178-yard par-3 plays sharply downhill to a peninsula green yoked by a horseshoe-shaped bunker. The putting surface clings to a rock outcrop and sits high above the glittering sea and distant islands.”
Multiply that narrative by 10 and you’ll barely understand the thrill of seeing the hole in person.
The round at TPC Danzante Bay ends with the epic, downhill 520-yard par-4 with the resort and the bay in the distance. It’s a gorgeous and fitting finish to a wonderful round of golf.
Billed as Mexico’s first “Million-Star Resort,” Villa del Palmar at the Islands of Loreto, flanked by the rugged Sierra de La Giganta Mountains and the Sea of Cortez, offers every modern amenity and exceptional service.
The resort offers guest access to unparalleled sporting opportunities, including world-class fishing, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking, and whale watching. The region is also known for its wildlife, including more than 900 species of fish off the coast in an area that has been declared a World Heritage Site.
There’s also seven pools, three fantastic restaurants, the Sabilia Spa, a fitness center and a hill-top disco.
You can’t go wrong with a trip to either of these opulent, something-for-everyone resorts.
TPC Danzante Bay