{"id":193,"date":"2010-12-06T17:37:49","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T22:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomharack.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2010-12-10T08:30:56","modified_gmt":"2010-12-10T13:30:56","slug":"dominican-republic-remains-solid-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/golf\/193\/dominican-republic-remains-solid-value","title":{"rendered":"Dominican Republic Remains Solid Value"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Anyone who has spent time around P.B. Dye knows of his fondness for storytelling \u2013 teeing it up with President Clinton is among his favorite sources for material \u2013 so Dye\u2019s latest declamation may or may not raise eyebrows.\u00a0 It\u2019s that the Dominican Republic is \u201cthe Pinehurst of the Caribbean,\u201d two golf destinations not generally conflated.<\/p>\n

And yes, it\u2019s true that P.B., son of legendary golf course architect Pete Dye \u2013 avowed sadist to our golfer-masochists \u2013 is not a disinterested observer of the golf scene in the D-R, as regular visitors to the destination refer to it.\u00a0 Dye fils <\/em>is in the process of creating a new 18-hole layout at Punta Cana and, working with his father, has helped build a half-dozen courses on the island, including the seminal Teeth of the Dog, in 1971, the cornerstone of the D-R-s golf trade.<\/p>\n

For all that, the D-R\u2019s momentum as a golf Mecca is undeniable, partly in terms of sheer volume \u2013 at 18,000 square miles, it presently has two-dozen golf courses and is large enough to support several distinct metropolitan centers and topographical systems \u2013 partly in qualitative terms.\u00a0 The latest step in the maturation process has been to attract development capital and the accompanying use of marquis design talent, with Jack Nicklaus designing two courses to join just-opened Punta Espada, and Tom Fazio cracking the D-R market with a sister layout to Dye\u2019s new track at Punta Cana.<\/p>\n

Maturity can be expensive, of course, but the D-R manages to remain a comparatively affordable place for a golf vacation.\u00a0 The exchange rate is generally steady; the driving is done on the right, if sometimes frantically; the populace is as pro-American as you are likely to find these days; and it is less than a two-hour flight from Miami, with non-stop service from Boston, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, and Fort Lauderdale, as well.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the D-R\u2019s southwest and moving counter-clockwise:<\/p>\n

Guavaberry Golf & Country Club<\/strong> opened in 2002 as part of a real estate development and membership facility.\u00a0 The course, which hosted some 17,000 rounds in its inaugural year, was designed by Gary Player, a par 72, 7,141 yards, slope 130 from the back tees.\u00a0 The layout includes a bit of everything, but it adds up to an enjoyable resort-golf experience. Fairways are wide but, given the frequent winds off the Caribbean, the extra space can come in handy.\u00a0 Sight lines and intended landing areas are generally clear, with the five sets of tees \u2013 the shortest is 5,000 yards, slope 115 \u2013 judiciously placed to eliminate or add forced carries, not just raw yardage.<\/p>\n

Guavaberry is situated in Juan Dolio, a kind of suburb of Santo Domingo, the capital.\u00a0 With about a quarter of the D-R\u2019s eight-million-plus citizens, Santo Domingo may represent the very type of environment you are fleeing; otherwise, its multifaceted attractions include the elegant Zona Colonial, where the city was first settled half a millennium ago; cathedrals like Santa Maria de la Encarnaci\u00f3n, which dates to 1514; and myriad chances to sample the best of cocina criolla<\/em>, the Dominican food that highlights the country\u2019s varied ethnic fortunes.<\/p>\n

Farther from Santo Domingo on the Caribbean, or southern, side of the island, near its easternmost tip, is Punta Cana Resort and Club<\/strong>, which, flanked by the eponymous international airport, ratchets up the notion of self-containment a notch.\u00a0\u00a0 Occupying 15,000 acres, the complex offers a variety of recreational activities, including beachfront horseback riding and a marina, as well as 420 guest accommodations and de rigueur<\/em> residential real estate.<\/p>\n

The golf course, a par 72 of 7,152 yards from the back tees and opened in 2001, seems to validate the axiom that course designs take on the character of their creators, as Punta Cana emulates P.B. Dye\u2019s voluble enthusiasm and idiosyncrasies.<\/p>\n

Tee markers are painted coconuts, and the railroad ties made famous by his dad have been replaced by cross-sections of palm trees, treated with seawater to prevent rot.\u00a0 He used colichi<\/em>, an indigenous, sea shell-like material as a base for some fairways, and chose Seashore Paspalum \u2013 a turfgrass that propagates with seawater and requires less pesticides and fertilizers \u2013 for its lushness and ease of maintenance.<\/p>\n

There are massive waste bunkers, including one that figures prominently in the \u201crisk\u201d part of the risk-reward equation at the 7th<\/sup>, a drivable, dogleg-left par 4 of 326 yards from the tips that just for the hell of it also has 21 pot bunkers.\u00a0 There\u2019s the island green 12th<\/sup>, a par 3 of 146 yards, and a Redanish, long par 3, the 14th<\/sup>, 239 yards.\u00a0 And there are the 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> \u2013 a 413-yard par 4 and a 574-yard par 5, respectively — both fronting the sea and stippled with mounds and bunkers to add texture and visual appeal.<\/p>\n

Next: Punta Espada, Casa de Campo, Playa Grande<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has spent time around P.B. Dye knows of his fondness for storytelling \u2013 teeing it up with President… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-courses-and-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2010\/12\/Guavaberry%201.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}