Golf

By RICK STEDMAN

As an iconic, internationally recognized golf destination, Los Cabos keeps its golf game fresh and challenging. Now offering 18 incredible tracks, if you play every hole at every course while you’re in town, you’ll get to see and enjoy some of the planet’s most spectacular scenery.

Famous for its 27 holes, many of which feature spectacular views of the Sea of Cortés, Palmilla Golf Club was the first major course built in Los Cabos, opening in 1992. The Jack Nicklaus-designed course was his first signature venture into Latin America. It’s divided into the Arroyo Nine, the Mountain Nine and the Ocean Nine, and it is often referred to as the Grand Dame of Los Cabos Golf. The impressive track gently takes players through 800 vertical feet of the Baja California Sur terrain.

One of the original courses in the area, the beloved Cabo San Lucas Country Club retains its Old Mexico feel, and that’s part of its endless appeal. Designed by Roy Dye and opened in 1994, it is one of the most challenging and scenic golf courses on the entire peninsula. The course was significantly remodeled in 2018 by Mexican designer Agustin Piza, so the par-72, Dye-designed, 18-hole course now measures 6,852 yards and boasts several new holes. The club’s back nine was shortened and its corridors were widened to expand what has always been the layout’s showpiece: its spectacular views of El Arco at Land’s End.

With these two courses, Los Cabos made an impressive entry into the international golf scene.

In 2014 the 18-hole championship Quivira Golf Club, a Signature Jack Nicklaus design, became the star attraction at Pueblo Bonito Resort. Several of the picturesque holes on this par-72, 7,085yard course are carved right into the Pacific Ocean shoreline, offering unparalled ocean views. In its first five years, Quivira Golf Club established itself as a major presence. It was dubbed the “Best New International Golf Course” by Golf Magazine when it first opened and “The Development of the Year” by Golf Inc. More recently, it was included in Golf Digest’s “World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” list.

Questro Golf manages a trio of excellent golf course in Los Cabos, including Cabo Real Golf Club, Club Campestre San José Golf, and Puerto Los Cabos Golf Club. Each course was designed by the biggest names in golf architecture, including Signature Designs from Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones II and Greg Norman.

Cabo Real Golf Club features a multithemed, target-style course reimagined by Robert Trent Jones from a pre-existing layout. The showpiece of a 2,800-acre resort and residential community with 3.2 miles of beachfront, the track measures 6,848 yards at the tips.

Likewise, Club Campestre San José anchors a 550-acre master-planned community. Measuring 6,966 yards from the championship tees, the 18-hole course was designed by Jack Nicklaus amid the gently rolling foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna mountains and features spectacular views from every single hole.

Despite its sloping desert terrain and views of the Sea of Cortés, the course’s defining characteristic is its undulating, multitiered greens, which are widely considered among the most liberally contoured putting surfaces in Los Cabos.

Puerto Los Cabos Golf Club has thrilled golfers for over a decade. It features a unique 27-hole composite design finished in 2018 when Nicklaus returned to build his long-awaited second nine. The rare design — the nine-hole Mission Course by Greg Norman and now 18-hole Marina Course by Nicklaus — has proven to be a winning combination. Bunkers and dramatic elevation changes mark the recent additions made by the latter, and eventually, Norman will be back to buld his second nine to finish the oeuvre with two separate 18-hole courses.

Known for his “least-disturbance” design approach, the 18-hole Rancho San Lucas Golf Club features a low-profile layout that left the site’s existing contours intact and offers sweeping ocean views from every hole. The result is a 7,210-yard, par-72 course that spans three separate ecosystems: across windswept dunes, up through a cactus forest and back toward the sea on the back nine designed by legendary golfer and course designer Greg Norman.