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If you get lucky and are able to score a tee time at the private Querencia Golf Club, you will not be disappointed. This is a Tom Fazio-designed par-72 with 7,070 yards from the tips that has been ranked a five-star experience by everyone who has been lucky enough to play it. This course challenges players of every level with short but tight fairways and greens that demand patience and a feel for the break. Make sure you bring an extra sleeve or two; you just might need them!
Also a must-play while in the area is the championship Cabo Real. This is a Robert Trent Jones II par-72 that plays 6,988 yards from the tips. The opening paragraph about whales playing in the background while you are playing golf was shown to be true on international television when that very thing happened on this course’s three oceanfront holes during the 1996 Senior Slam. The word around town is that the front nine holes are the most difficult in Cabo. And having played them, I would have to agree. The par-three 12th hole is one many players have trouble with as the tee box is on the top of a small mountain mesa, the green is 200 yards from the tips and almost 200 feet down. It takes a good feel for wind and distance to par this one.
While the Cabo del Sol ocean course is rated as one of the best courses in town to play, its desert course is a Tom Weiskoph design that opened for play in 2002 as a par-72 with a distance of 7,053 yards from the tips. The fairways are a little wider, the bunkers seem a bit smaller, and there is an ocean view from every hole you play. It is a bit more playable with a lower slope and rating than the ocean course, but the service is still first class all the way.
Closer to Cabo itself is the Cabo San Lucas Country Club, a par-72 Roy Dye design that opened in 1992. After 2001’s Hurricane Juliet, the course was overhauled with the assistance of the Intrawest Golf Group. Currently 7,220 yards from the tips, it boasts the longest par-five in México, the 610-yard seventh hole. With water hazards on nine of its 18 holes, be prepared to lose a ball or two and remember, all the courses in Cabo are watered with reclaimed waste water; don’t try to wade in and retrieve your ball.
There are other courses to play in Cabo, the nine-hole par-35 Mayan Resorts course is in the middle of San José del Cabo. It is a semiflat terrain and may be played twice as a par-70 18-hole course. The Puerto Los Cabos development has just opened the back nine holes of its public Jack Nicklaus–designed course and the front nine holes of its Greg Norman design for a long par-73 with a distance of 7,461 yards from the tips. When it is finished, the Greg Norman design will be a private course for members and guests while the Nicklaus course will remain open to the public. Still in the planning stage is a new Pete Dye design on the East Cape at the Cabo Riviera Resort as well as two new Nicklaus designs at the Cabo Pacifica Resort, just by the lighthouse on the Pacific side of the Cape.
All of the courses in the Los Cabos area are resort courses and require the use of a golf cart, but this does not mean you cannot use a caddy. Check at the pro shop when you get your tee time, and they will be happy to make arrangements for you. The expense is minimal, and it can make a vast improvement in your score. The caddy can drive and give you club-selection suggestions, let you know of any unseen hazards, and watch your ball flight.
As you can see, there is a reason that Los Cabos is the premier golf destination outside Hawaii for American golfers; there is something for everyone, and we have 11 months of rain-free golfing!
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