{"id":1715,"date":"2013-11-03T13:12:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-03T20:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2013-11-04T08:55:24","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T15:55:24","slug":"at-puerto-ricos-royal-isabela-world-class-golf-rooms-dining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/personalities\/1715\/at-puerto-ricos-royal-isabela-world-class-golf-rooms-dining","title":{"rendered":"At Puerto Rico’s Royal Isabela, World-Class Golf, Rooms, Dining"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCF4280\"<\/a>Any golfer\u2019s bucket list would include diverse, landmark golf courses scattered all around the golf world and, therefore, the planet. The peg would get put into the ground in New Zealand, at the Cape Kidnapper\u2019s Golf Club, which, like Pete Dye\u2019s Straits Course at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, lies on land looming high above a scenic body of water, be it the Southern Ocean or Lake Michigan. You\u2019d lace up your Softspikes at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland to challenge the seaside pot bunkers and change continents to get to TPC Sawgrass, where your watery challenge is the island green, par-three, 17th hole. You\u2019d fly cross country to the Monterey Peninsula to play Spyglass and maybe hook a drive into Pebble Beach\u2019s Stillwater Cove and then bob down the coast to Torrey Pines on the Pacific near San Diego. If you could get into the very private Pine Valley Golf Club, you\u2019d challenge the pine barrens and scrub of New Jersey, and then maybe trade those waste bunkers for some beach sand in Miami at Doral Resort and Spa\u2019s Blue Monster course.<\/p>\n

Or, you could fly to Puerto Rico\u2019s Royal Isabela Golf Links, and get the sensation all of those courses bring\u2026in one round. Make no mistake, Royal Isabela is not course of \u201creplica holes\u201d such as the type you\u2019d find created in Myrtle Beach. Rather, the holes you\u2019ll find reminiscent of those acclaimed courses were naturally there, created by God, or the surf and winds of time or tectonic plates, if you prefer. Developers and sportsmen Charlie and Stanley Pasarell, with the help of the late Dye-disciple David Pfaff, simply \u201cfound the holes\u201d on a pristine, remote stretch of land which looks no less pristine and remote after they built the golf course.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid told us that if players can remember six holes after playing your golf course, you\u2019ve got a good golf course,\u201d said Pasarell, who designed varying tees for three of the holes which, in effect, creates 21 unique holes. Pfaff also left behind drawings for additional golf courses to follow.<\/p>\n

The Pasarell\u2019s also found inspiration in golf architect Tom Doak\u2019s book \u201cAnatomy of a Golf Course,\u201d and did some serious footwork, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother and I were fortunate to travel to many of those great golf courses,\u201d said Charlie Pasarell, a native Puerto Rican who has returned from California after a career as a world class tennis player and businessman, \u201cbut we didn\u2019t have to move giant amounts of dirt to make our course special. It really was there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for travelers to find, too. Puerto Rico is a United States territory, which means a dollar is a dollar and none of those time-sucking entrance requirements like immigration or customs are needed for American travelers. (Neither is the ability to speak Spanish, by the way.) Good thing, too, since only a third of Americans even own a passport. Puerto Rico offers an international, Latin-flavored experience \u2013 and not just the mojitos \u2013 but without the \u201cpaperwork\u201d hassle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Puerto Rico needs most is hotel rooms. This island only has 5,000 rooms. Hawaii, for instance, has 130,000. Even the Dominican Republic has more rooms than Puerto Rico,\u201d Pasarell explained.\"DSCF4274\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Royal Isabela\u2019s master plan for 2,000 remote, northwest coast acres of oceanfront development is changing Puerto Rico\u2019s landscape\u2026without literally altering the landscape. Highly sensitive to the pristine, natural environment, the first phase, a 245-acre luxury club, its swimming pools, tennis courts, waterfalls, and seaside golf course are virtually hidden among the verdant palms, green hillside, and beachfront cliffs. 20 guest casitas are hidden away; surrounded by fauna with private sundecks, individual soaking pools, indoor\/outdoor rain showers, and princely, perched beds, raised up above the main floor to allow sunrise views from 400 feet above the sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found now that in the industry, the bathrooms are one of the most important features of hotel rooms,\u201d said Pasarell, who studied economics at UCLA.<\/p>\n

A circular, open air \u201cCroquet Bar\u201d offers a 360-degree view which features the rising and setting sun, golf course, and the valley below La Casa, Royal Isabela\u2019s \u201cfarm to table\u201d (thanks to an on-site, organic garden) dining experience. Executive Chef Jose Carles Fabregas, an accomplished golfer plucked by fate from the caddie ranks, studies quarterly in New York under James Beard Award-winner Dave Pasternack, a celebrity chef, and creates suitably special dishes such as chicken and sweet plantain pizza; organic vegetable tempura; Indonesian-style fried rice with Angus churrasco; and, the dish he says he would cook for God: Caribbean lobster with trifongo. \u201cI like to keep it simple and fresh,\u201d says Chef Jose. \u201cThe lobster, olive oil, garlic and pepper are all you need. It\u2019s cooking the lobster in our wood-fired, stone oven, instead of on the grill, that makes the meat so flavorful and succulent.\u201d Five local fishermen supply each day\u2019s catch.<\/p>\n

\"Executive<\/a>

Executive Chef Jose Carles Fabregas says he’d cook a Caribbean lobster if God arrived in the heavenly setting at Royal Isabela in Puerto Rico.<\/p><\/div>\n

You won\u2019t find a gift shop and you won\u2019t find a designer coffeehouse or a business center or a bustling lobby. Instead, you\u2019ll find quiet, peace, nature, and visionary brothers Charlie and Stanley Pasarell, who spend most of their time on-property at their luxurious creation mingling with guests to make them feel at home in the stylish setting. \u201cThe architecture’s not Tuscan. It\u2019s not Puerto Rican. It\u2019s not Italian or Caribbean style,\u201d insists Charlie Pasarell. \u201cWe wanted to create our own brand: a little of this and a little of that. It\u2019s Royal Isabela-style.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit www.RoyalIsabela.com<\/a>\u00a0or call (787) 609-5888<\/p>\n

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a> or via www.TravelTattler.com<\/a> His morning show is heard weekday mornings in Lansing on 92.1 FM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Any golfer\u2019s bucket list would include diverse, landmark golf courses scattered all around the golf world and, therefore, the planet…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3665,9,18,17,7,19164],"tags":[122,944204,305254,1366,1562,944195,757,944196,724136,944197,494,944198,420,944199,2850,944200,141,944201,748852,944202,944192,944203],"class_list":["post-1715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library","category-golf","category-lifestyle","category-courses-and-travel","category-personalities","category-offcourse","tag-torrey-pines","tag-dave-pasternack","tag-pebble-beach-2","tag-pine-valley","tag-puerto-rico","tag-royal-isabela","tag-blue-monster","tag-charlie-pasarell","tag-doral-resort","tag-stanley-pasarell","tag-tom-doak","tag-david-pfaff","tag-cape-kidnappers","tag-anatomy-of-a-golf-course","tag-whistling-straits","tag-bathrooms","tag-royal-portrush","tag-croquet-bar","tag-spyglass","tag-la-casa","tag-stillwater-cove","tag-chef-jose-carles-fabregas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2013\/11\/DSCF4274.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1721,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions\/1721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}