The Tour’s Tropical Temptations
When most golfers fantasize about their ideal winter getaway, the picture painted usually involves lush foliage, tall palm trees, gentle breezes, alluring beaches and a massive blue body of water. PGA Tour players are no different.
From October to March, the Tour stops at seven tropical destinations, in six different countries or territories, five of which are accessible to the traveling golfer. If you’re looking to walk in famous footsteps on the golf course, then afterward stick your toes into warm, sugary sands, here are five tournament-tested resort courses that will let you indulge.
Port Royal Golf Course | Southampton, Bermuda
PGA Tour event: Butterfield Bermuda Championship
This government-owned, 1970 Robert Trent Jones Sr. creation dazzles with camera-worthy opportunities, notably the beautiful, but brutal, par-3 16th. At 235 yards from the isolated back tee, the cliff-top, breeze-fueled hole demands a 180-yard carry over the Atlantic Ocean. The target is a long, skinny green guarded by bunkers and by a rough-covered slope to the right, making for daunting recoveries. “That could easily be the toughest hole you’ll ever play in your life,” said Ernie Els in 2010. So hard did the 16th play on the first day of the four-man 2013 PGA Grand Slam of Golf that only Justin Rose could match par. Adam Scott, Jason Dufner and Padraig Harrington made such a mess of the hole that their efforts were edited out of the final (tape-delayed) television broadcast.
Port Royal has played host to the PGA Tour since 2019 and also was the venue for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf from 2009-2014. A few clunkers dot the heavily rolling, 6,828-yard, par-71 layout, including the opening par 4, a 90-degree dogleg right that features an elevated tee shot to a blind landing area. Hit it too far and the ball will splash in an unseen lake. Nonetheless, holes such as the 213-yard, par-3 8th that heads straight to the sea and the 412-yard 15th, which glides past the ruins of a navy battery fort, with the ocean on the left, more than compensate.
The Last Word: “When the wind blows around here, this golf course is a real test. Fifteen and 16 are probably my favorite holes out there — two stunning golf holes. It is a beautiful, spectacular course.” — Graeme McDowell, 2010 U.S. Open winner
El Camaleon Golf Course at Mayakoba | Playa del Carmen, Mexico
PGA Tour event: World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba
On a golf course dotted with one delightful quirk after another, perhaps it’s no surprise that Mexico’s first PGA Tour event of the 21st century was won by a PGA Tour Champions player named Funk. Then 50 years old, Fred Funk captured the 2007 Mayakoba Classic in a playoff with Jose Coceres. Funk snagged the trophy despite starting with a final-round drive that rolled to the lip of the “Devil’s Mouth,” the opening to a gaping cenote, an underground, freshwater cave that monopolizes the landing area.
In 2004, Greg Norman crafted this 7,039-yard, par-71 layout, which serves as the centerpiece of a superb resort and residential community, located 45 minutes south of the Cancun Airport on the Riviera Maya. Toss in limestone-lined canals that bisect the paspalum fairways, jungle-like mangroves that frame some holes, natural rock caverns and two beachside par 3s and this is one of the PGA Tour’s most distinctive venues.
The Last Word: “The course is great. Even though it’s a resort course, it still challenges many of parts of your game. If you’re off, you’re going to be punished and if you play well, you’re going to be rewarded. The weather is amazing, the food’s great, the people are great. It’s just a combination of everything.” — Viktor Hovland, two-time Mayakoba Classic winner (2020, 2021)
Kapalua Resort (Plantation Course) | Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
PGA Tour event: Sentry Tournament of Champions
Win a tournament on the PGA Tour and one huge perk vests immediately: You’re going to Kapalua. This spectacular resort course plays host to the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the 24th time in 2022. Past winners include Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and in 2021, Harris English. Each winner has solved one of golf’s great puzzles: the Plantation Course at Kapalua.
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw routed the sprawling layout atop a hilly old pineapple plantation in 1991 and it’s unique in several ways, starting with the par of 73. There’s only one par 3 on the par-37 back nine, the 164-yard 11th, which features a Pacific Ocean backdrop. Second, no other course on the PGA Tour places such great emphasis on the ground game. The broad, firm slopes force players to read the contours and to hit a shot that accounts for the expected bounce and roll, much like the classic links of Scotland and Ireland. The final puzzle to solve is the wind. Flighting the ball with the proper trajectory is often critical in order to succeed at Kapalua.
Most exhilarating is the par-5 18th hole, which, even at 668 yards, is typically reachable in two by much of the field, as it plunges downhill and to the left, with the ocean beyond. Greedy players who tug any shot will likely find a jungle-filled canyon to the left. Play too safe, short and right, however and an awkward approach awaits with a severe right-to-left slope. It’s perfect risk-reward.
The Last Word: “Looking out to the ocean, you see whales out there. Growing up in south Georgia, I never saw that nor did I ever think I’d see that in my life. To play a golf course like that is incredible. I love it. It’s just a very special place. It’s hard to put into words. It’s one of my favorite golf tournaments. I’d love to start every single year teeing off here.” — Harris English, Sentry Tournament of Champions winner (2021)
Grand Reserve Golf Club (Championship Course) | Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
PGA Tour event: Puerto Rico Open
The current version of the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open dates to 2008, with winners that include Tony Finau in 2016, Viktor Hovland in 2020 and Branden Grace in 2021. While the host course is on its third name since that time, the tournament layout hasn’t changed. At one time a Trump-branded course, then later known by its original name, Coco Beach, Grand Reserve serves up a brawny Tom Kite design of 7,551 yards that plays to par 72.
Located on the island’s north shore, 20 minutes east of San Juan, Grand Reserve doesn’t deliver many individually memorable holes, but as a strong, handsome test of golf, it succeeds without question. Tropical breezes, swaying palms, a plethora of lakes and bunkers, eye-catching seaside vistas and the legendary El Yunque rainforest 5 miles to the south lend appropriate character. With the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve positioned next door, there’s no roughing it in this Puerto Rican paradise.
The Last Word: “I enjoy the golf course. It’s tropical, like Florida, where I live. I like the greens. I like the layout.” — Michael Bradley, two-time Puerto Rico Open winner (2009, 2011)
Puntacana Resort and Club (Corales Golf Course at) | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
PGA Tour event: Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship
In March 2018, the PGA Tour staged its first-ever event in the Dominican Republic. By choosing Puntacana Resort and Club’s Corales Course to host, the Tour certainly aced the eye-candy test. In 2010, Tom Fazio draped Corales on a clifftop setting along the Caribbean Sea. Its appeal was instantaneous. Buffeted by coastal breezes, the roomy, 7,650-yard, par-72 layout is liberally sprinkled with ponds, coconut palms, scrub-dotted sand expanses and a bevy of stylish Fazio bunkers.
Unforgettable is the closing trio, collectively known as “El Codo del Diablo” — “the Devil’s Elbow”. The muscular 461-yard, par-4 16th zooms straight to the sea, while the 210-yard, par-3 17th edges the brilliant blue hazard. Still, the showstopper is the 501-yard, par-4 18th that boomerangs to the right, around a chasm of cliff, beach and surf.
The Last Word: “Those last three holes are so hard — long, tough, into the wind. I hit 4-iron, 4-iron, 4-iron into those three greens. The 18th, especially the second shot to that right pin, with the wind blowing —I don’t think people realize how hard that hole is.” — Joel Dahmen, Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship winner (2021)