|
It was an Englishman who laid the foundations of the first golfing community in Mexico back in the 19th Century. Since then it’s trajectory has been fairly slow moving until the late seventies when a certain Robert von Hagge made his first trip south of the border. He now boasts 11 residential golf resort developments to his name and is set to build several more in the coming years. The Golden Bear aka Jack Nicklaus designed his first course in Mexico in 1992. At US$2.5 million a pop the golfing legend doesn’t come cheaply but he has built one of the finest courses in the whole of Latin America at Punta Mita just slightly north of Puerto Vallarta. The standout hole is a par three of 190 yards that plays to a natural black, lava-rock island. Your only entry to the green comes at low tide, tip-toeing across a sandbar, unless you have an amphibious vehicle or boat.  Punta Mita is set to receive another Jack Nicklaus signature course by the end of 2008 while by the Sea of Cortez off the Baja peninsula golfing goliath Gary Player has signed up with the Costa Baja group to build an 18-hole course. It will be the first time that Player has designed a course in Mexico which will add to his impressive 200-plus resume.
Down south Greg Norman has already lent his name to three courses at the US$1.35 billion mega resort of Playa Mujeres while in Carreyes which nestles between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta plans are afoot for a 2,000-acre ultra-high-end resort called El Paraiso. The complex will come with two boutique hotels, a spa, a beach club and an 18-hole course that Tom Weiskopf has been earmarked to design. And the list of golfing luminaries keeps on growing. Mexico without doubt is rapidly becoming one of the best places to play golf outside of the United States and Canada. The country has become the most popular golfing destination for players north of the border with some 750,000 Canadians and Americans visiting the nation’s greens in 2006. So what’s the appeal? Well, the breath-taking coast lines and magnificent weather are just some of the reasons why golfing enthusiasts are flocking over here. Add to that the top-notch facilities and five-star resorts and your golfing holiday becomes a stroll into paradise. More than ever luxury developments are sprouting up all over the nation especially in coastal towns such as Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun and each one comes with a high-end golf course. And it’s not just tourists who are coming to play. With millions of baby boomers on the cusp of retirement many are eying a house right on their favourite fairway. Fractional ownership has become a popular way to buy that dream golfing home and with the rapid appreciation of property development in Mexico it also seems like a sound investment from a business point of view. Solutions Abroad Recommends: Grand Coral Golf Riviera Maya Tel. 52 (998) 883 3020 Punta Mita
Bahía de Banderas,
Nayarit, Mexico C.P. 63734
Tel. 52 (329) 291-6000
Fax. 52 (329) 291-6060 Playa Mujeres
Bonampak S/N,
Punta Sam
Cancun
Quintana Roo
Mexico
Tel. 52 (998) 887 7322 Paradise Village
Paradise Village Resort
Paseo de los Cocoteros # 1 local 16 int 7
Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, 63731
Tel. (949)-837-1798 Costa Baja
CostaBaja Resort & Marina
Kilometre 7.5 Carretera a Pichilingue
La Paz, Baja California Sur,
C.P. 22519 Mexico
Tel. 1-866-899-7567 |
