Golf Republic

by James McCarten
February 1st, 2010

Roco Ki Golf Club (Photo Courtesy of the Roco Ki Golf Club)

The Dominican Republic is defending its crown as the Caribbean’s golf heart, thanks to the 30-plus gorgeous courses on the island

There’s no shortage of white sand and azure-blue water in the Caribbean to ease the sting of a Canadian winter. But if the colour spectrum you’re craving also includes the kelly greens of some of the world’s most challenging and dynamic golf courses, one island nation is without equal.

The Dominican Republic boasts more than 30 layouts, a number that seems to be constantly on the rise, and that includes some of the finest coastal golf real estate this side of Pebble Beach.

La Romana Golf

There’s the classic seaside bite of Teeth of the Dog (US$160), a Pete Dye triumph that first opened in 1971, was remodelled in 2006 and is long billed as not only the Caribbean’s greatest course, but one of the finest golf experiences in the world, thanks to its spectacular oceanside vistas and fearsome Dye-style bunkers.

It’s the centrepiece course at the sprawling and well-appointed Casa de Campo resort, a 7,000-acre complex on the island’s southeast coast just on the outskirts of La Romana, where, last month, a US$20-million facelift was unveiled.

The resort, now home to Dye and his wife Alice, has added 80 new high-tech rooms and suites, all with flat-screen TVs and iPod hookups, along with a redesigned main lobby, new restaurant, lounge, fitness centre, library, boutique, and pool area.

Not far away, the Teeth’s sister course, Dye Fore (US$160), dances along the cliff edge some 300 feet above the spectacular Chavon River Valley, which served as the backdrop for those spectacular river scenes in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

Punta Cana Golf

On the northeastern edge of the island in Punta Cana lies the tough-as-nails Roco Ki Golf Club (US$200), an unforgiving Nick Faldo design with two oceanside closers.

First, there's the clifftop par-3 17th hole, which demands a precise tee shot to a tiny outcrop of volcanic rock. Then, there's the fearsome 508-yard, par-5 18th, where fierce trade winds and the pounding surf conspire to make par a remarkable score.

The crown jewel of the D.R.’s northeastern coast, however, is the enormous Cap Cana resort complex (US$290)—the impressive leader in amenity and course expansion in the country, creditors be damned.

The first-ever Jack Nicklaus-inspired hotel, the Golden Bear Lodge & Spa,opened its doors in November, perched on a bluff overlooking the new Las Iguanas layout, a parkland-style Nicklaus design that also debuted last year. The resort’s centrepiece layout, the Punta Espada Golf Club (US$375 November through May) is a verdant, breathtaking par-72 course that’s home to the Champions Tour’s Cap Cana Championship in March.

Easily the best of the three layouts, the playable Punta Espada features the generous fairways and subtle greens for which Nicklaus designs are known.

But the ever-present trade winds and water hazards—eight of Punta Espada’s 18 holes skirt the ocean—ensure the course, a brutal 7,400 yards from the back tees, is no slouch.