Gettin’ Golf Rich in Puerto Rico

The embarrassment of riches that is Puerto Rico golf isn’t embarrassing at all. Enchanting, sure. Enthralling, certainly. Entertaining? Incredibly so.

First, don’t stress digging up that passport. U.S. citizens don’t need one to fly here, and many don’t need to stress on missing a flight connection either, since there are many non-stop options daily to San Juan’s Luis Munoz Airport.

Second, ditch the Spanish-learning app. Puerto Rico is bilingual pretty much wherever you tee it up or lay your head. And those American greenbacks “speak” clearly throughout the island.

Third, make sure you carve out enough time to go deep into the island’s impressive golf reserves, because the payoffs in playability, challenge, hospitality, scenery, value and memorability are vast and lasting.

Puerto Rico courses are diverse in their design, price, and terrain types. They range from rolling mountain foothills and panoramic ocean view settings, to modest value-priced courses and luxurious high-end resort style golf authored by premier architects like Rees Jones, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Tom Kite, and Robert Trent Jones I and II. There’s truly something for everyone.

The bounty begins moments after you step off the plane in San Juan, with combined 10 golf courses and 171 holes in and around the vibrant capital. Other high-quality courses abound in the west and south – there are 18 total – boasting everything from beachfront to lush green mountain surroundings.

Let’s hit an early high note at The St. Regis Bahia Beach in Rio Grande, home to Robert Trent Jones II’s perfect meeting of verdant fairways, dense vegetation and long, languid beach. The two finishing holes alone are worth the price of admission, and the community itself is a sustainability trendsetter — to date the island’s only gold-certified Audubon International Signature Sanctuary.

Right next door is the Grand Reserve Golf Club, another must-play whether you’re staying at the adjacent Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Puerto Rico. Its Championship course features views of sandy beaches and turquoise ocean waves, a stunning backdrop to the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Open, which comes around every spring. The 9-hole International course is perfect for that sunset hour emergency round with mountain vistas, palm trees and water features.

Grand Wyndham Rio Mar Golf & Beach Resort, Palmas Athletic Club/Wyndham Grand Palmas Resort, Rio Bayamon, and Grand Reserve fill out the close-to-San Juan dance card, and all but Rio Bayamon — a value-priced municipal course that is fun and affordable —are resort courses.

The magic continues as you make your way east 40 minutes to El Conquistador Resort, home to a fine Arthur Hills layout that rocks and rolls over barrancas and dramatic hills. Rack up a couple nights at the hotel itself, take a funicular ride down for a cocktail on the water’s edge, and save some time for a nighttime canoe trip into a nearby bioluminescent bay, where microscopic creatures set the water aglow with every paddle stroke.

Now would be a good time to double back to San Juan. Spend a night or two there soaking up the fun and nightlife including a hand or two of blackjack at one of the city’s casinos, a tour of the Bacardi distillery, some judicious bar-hopping (this is where the piña colada was born and great rums abound), and supping on incredible homegrown cuisine. Consider carving out half a day for a hike among waterfalls and wildlife in nearby El Yunque National Forest.

Heading toward the island’s northwest, the first stop en route is TPC Dorado Beach (East and Sugarcane courses), other Trent Jones II winners that mix holes on the ocean’s edge with others the wind inland through dramatic terrain. (To play at Dorado Beach, golfers must be a member or stay at the property’s Ritz-Carlton Reserve, an award-winning luxury resort.)

Complete your visit to the Northwest by exploring popular public courses like El Deportivo near Mayaguez and historic Punta Borinquen Golf Club, where President Dwight D. Eisenhower often played, enjoying sea views from almost every hole. Then there’s Royal Isabela, a luxury boutique resort set high above the Atlantic Ocean and some of the most coveted waves in the western hemisphere — 10 world surfing championships have played out there. Royal Isabela’s holes bordering the coast are truly breathtaking. Get your camera, and your best cliff-clearing swing, ready to fire on the incredible par 3 17^th hole.

Finally, make the turn to the island’s south coast for some Caribbean-facing fun. Costa Caribe is a 27-hole layout with a beach club, casino, and a variety of lodging options in Ponce – Pearl of the South – that runs along the ocean, while El Legado is an easy drive east bordering the coast to Guayama. It was originally designed, built and owned by Puerto Rico golf legend Chi Chi Rodriguez.

For more information: www.discoverpuertorico.com