{"id":3624,"date":"2011-05-17T18:53:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T01:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/robertfagan.com\/?p=3624"},"modified":"2011-11-21T09:14:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T16:14:21","slug":"course-review-punta-mita-club-de-golf-pacifico-course-nayarit-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/course-reviews\/3624\/course-review-punta-mita-club-de-golf-pacifico-course-nayarit-mexico","title":{"rendered":"Course Review: Punta Mita Club de Golf – Pacifico Course, Nayarit, Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The sublime setting of the 18th green on Punta Mita’s Pacifico Course.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pacifico Course of the Punta Mita Club de Golf that opened in 1999 defines high-end Jack Nicklaus “resort golf” or any resort golf for that matter \u00a0This is the first of the two layouts that Nicklaus and Jim Lipe built for the club. \u00a0Accessible only to members and guests of the adjacent St. Regis and Four Seasons Hotels, this is an eminently playable, attractively scenic layout. \u00a0It boasts a tropical motif complete with palm trees, native brush, flowers, and deep bold bunkering to accentuate the expansively wide and well-manicured fairways and inviting greensites.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The par-three 17th.<\/p><\/div>\n

Provided you play the proper tees for your skill level, this is easily the more benign layout of the two. \u00a0At the Pacifico layout Nicklaus was given a blank canvas and he did not disappoint. \u00a0While there are many attractive holes the alternate par-three third hole and the eighteenth hole are the most memorable. The third named “The Tale of the Whale,” which can only be traversed during low tide or by an amphibian golf cart features perhaps golf’s only truly natural ocean island green which can play up to 194 yards. \u00a0In fact, Jack Nicklaus has been quoted as calling it the most favorite hole he ever designed. It is a fairly sized target surrounded by sand and rock and, of course, water. \u00a0Even if you aren’t scheduled to play the hole, take an old ball to hit toward the green as this is one of the most unusual and exciting holes you will ever experience. \u00a0While the seventeenth hole again visits the ocean’s edge, the finishing hole is a 445-yarder that hugs the ocean its entire right side and also behind the green. \u00a0The fairway is generous as are all of the tee shot areas, but it is a great way to end your round.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>An eye-level view of the incomparable walk to hole 3B at the Pacifico Course.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Pacifico Course is definitely one to take your camera as you will be snapping away as the layout defines the term “eye candy” in golf. \u00a0In fact, when the Canadian Tour finale was held there, practice round play was particularly slow. \u00a0Why? \u00a0You guessed it; the pros were busy taking pictures.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Overall the course is a fairly routine test of golf, perfect for casual or average skilled players. \u00a0The greens are relatively mild and smooth so that the expert may be able to score a raft of birdies.\u00a0That’s not to say that the Pacifico Course is easy; it’s more like “mild.” \u00a0You should lose very few balls and the greens, for the most part, are inviting to approach shots. \u00a0Conde Nast Traveller readers twice voted it the “Best Course in the Americas, Caribbean and the UK”<\/p>\n

Fagan Course Rating: \u00a0A-. <\/strong>I upgraded my grade on the Pacificio Course to a rare A- on the strength that it so closely fits all the desirable characteristics of the \u201cperfect resort course.\u201d\u00a0 There are many more challenging golf courses, but the Pacifico Course at Punta Mita defines the essence of what high-end resort golf is all about – fun, well-maintained, gamey, picturesque, and very memorable.\u00a0 This is fun golf!<\/p>\n

Below is the approach to the par-five 13th.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sublime setting of the 18th green on Punta Mita’s Pacifico Course. The Pacifico Course of the Punta Mita Club… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":3625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2247],"tags":[158,207,6905,3074,1659],"class_list":["post-3624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-course-reviews","tag-jack-nicklaus","tag-punta-mita","tag-pacifico","tag-resort","tag-jim-lipe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2011\/05\/P4270607.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3624"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3671,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624\/revisions\/3671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}