![\"cabo_15b\"](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/01\/cabo_15b.jpg\")
Cabo Real, photo by John and Jeannine Henebry.<\/p><\/div>\n
Mexico presents a menu full of tough choices for travelers.\u00a0 Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, or Cancun?\u00a0 Tecate or Corona?\u00a0 Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones II, or Greg Norman?\u00a0 For golfers, our southern neighbor proffers a rare collection of oceanside desert courses designed by the best architects in the game.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wide green fairways cross dusty arroyos, sweep past stately cacti, and often play down to the edge of the ocean\u2014or across crashing surf.\u00a0 Following is a spicy combination plate of Mexico\u2019s best golf venues.\u00a0 Muy bueno!<\/p>\n
You Don\u2019t Know Jack<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>John Wayne loved to stay at the Palmilla Hotel, in San Jose del Cabo, when visiting southern Baja to fish.\u00a0 Today golfers playing the long, difficult Palmilla Golf Club\u2019s 27 holes may find themselves fishing for golf balls along a Jack Nicklaus layout with daunting carries and views of the Sea of Cortez.\u00a0 Palmilla\u2019s 127 lavish suites have earned the highest hotel rating in Latin America.\u00a0 Oneandonlyresorts.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dos Cabos<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Cabo del Sol\u2019s Nicklaus-designed Ocean Course presents a natural, linksy track despite desert, mountains, and cacti, in Cabo San Lucas.\u00a0 Golf Digest ranks this rugged beauty among the 100 best courses worldwide.\u00a0 Tom Weiskopf\u2019s Desert Course, an inland layout featuring desert foliage, elevation changes, dramatic bunkering, and wide fairways is a perfect complement to the Ocean Course.\u00a0 Cabodelsol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get Real<\/strong><\/p>\n Robert Trent Jones II\u2019s muscular Cabo Real Golf Club has hosted two Senior Slams.\u00a0 The first six holes climb through Sonoran topography at the foot of rugged mountains.\u00a0 Free-form bunkers and small, elevated greens combine with fairways rolling across ridge tops to provide an expansive feel at this San Jose del Cabo gem.\u00a0 The back nine is kinder and gentler, with wide fairways playing back down to the sea at the 14th<\/sup> hole.\u00a0 Caboreal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 19th<\/sup> Hole<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Forty-five minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, Punta Mita pairs a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course with a luxe Four Seasons Resort.\u00a0 The golf course features an extra optional hole\u2014The Tail of the Whale\u2014 consisting of a small, rocky island with a green that can only be accessed at low tide\u2014and not in golf shoes.\u00a0 Fourseasons.com\/puntamita<\/a>.<\/p>\n High-Low<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>At Vista Vallarta Golf Club, outside of PV, Nicklaus took the high road with his layout routed over grassy hillsides through palm forests and giant ficas, across arroyos, and providing views over the colonial city and Banderas Bay.\u00a0 Tom Weiskopf took the low road with a venue playing through dense jungles beside deep ravines and swift creeks.\u00a0 Highlights include the drivable par-four eighteenth.\u00a0 The facility hosted the 2002 World Golf Championships.\u00a0 Vistavallartagolf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Preserving Good Shots<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Halfway between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, El Tamarindo Resort is home to an oceanside golf course designed by David Fleming and nestled in a 2,000 acre nature preserve.\u00a0 The course emerges from thick jungle to play along the water with views of the rocky coastline framed by Mojote and Cuba palms.\u00a0 This Yellowstone Club World property has two miles of private beach and oceanside spa huts to un wind after golf has wound you up.\u00a0 Eltamarindoresort.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Princess and the Tee<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>The Acapulco Princess offers play on two golf courses fit for royalty twenty minutes from Acapulco\u2019s hopping downtown.\u00a0 Ted Robinson\u2019s Princess Course boasts narrow fairways lined with coconut palms, and 12 water holes.\u00a0 Approaches to the 18th<\/sup> green may appear to float high above the pyramid of the fine hotel.\u00a0 The adjacent Marques Course was renovated by Robert Trent Jones II to host the 1982 World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0 Fairmont.com\/Acapulco<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Blending In<\/strong><\/p>\n Greg Norman\u2019s new El Camaleon Golf Course at the stunning Mayakoba Resort recently hosted the first official PGA Tour event ever held in Mexico.\u00a0 Located outside Cancun, the course wends through three distinct topographies: tropical jungle, dense mangroves, and oceanfront dunes.\u00a0 Limestone canals separate many of the holes.\u00a0 The holes may separate golfers from golf balls.\u00a0\u00a0 Fairmont.com\/mayakoba<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shell Game<\/strong><\/p>\n One of only a handful of golf courses in Mazatlan, Robert Trent Jones II\u2019s Estrella Del Mar offers an elegant, palm-fringed parkland course associated with a quiet resort.\u00a0 There\u2019s even a turtle preserve on property, to inspire guests to slow down. Estrelladelmar.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"