The 9 Most Beautiful Golf Holes in Mexico

This story is adapted from a piece originally published by our friends at Kingdom.

Mexico is already an easy place to justify a golf trip. These nine holes make it even easier. They stretch from the Caribbean to the Sea of Cortez, winding through jungle, desert, dunes, and some of the most dramatic coastline you could possibly put a flagstick beside.

Puerto Vallarta
Nicklaus Course, Hole 9 — 182 yards, par 3

Vista Vallarta gives golfers two very different ways to spend 18 holes: a Jack Nicklaus design set high in the hills and a Tom Weiskopf course carved through jungle, ravines, and creeks below. We’re starting with the former. The Nicklaus Course’s signature ninth is a relatively short par 3, but “relatively” is doing some work here. The green rises dramatically from left to right, making club selection and placement more important than the yardage suggests. And then there’s the scenery. The course occupies some of the property’s highest ground, delivering sweeping views toward Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay. Not a bad place to make the turn.

Loreto
Hole 17 — 167 yards, par 3

Remarkably, Danzante Bay’s signature hole wasn’t part of the original routing. Then someone discovered this particular patch of cliffside and, sensibly, plans changed. The dramatic drop-shot par 3 sits 250 feet above the Sea of Cortez, its 6,250-square-foot green perched atop the cliffs and wrapped by a horseshoe-shaped bunker. Designer Rees Jones took inspiration from the orientation of Augusta National’s famous 12th, but Danzante Bay adds one considerable complication: elevation. “You have to convince yourself that you need one less club,” Jones explains. “The hole gets into your head.” The view probably doesn’t help your concentration, either.

Cabo San Lucas
Hole 17 — 175 yards, par 3

Cabo San Lucas is 5,530 miles from the Old Course, but Davis Love III was getting serious St Andrews vibes when he first walked the site where his Dunes Course now sits. You can thank the enormous natural sand dunes blanketing this stretch of the Diamante resort. Its postcard hole, the par-3 17th, starts from tees rising above those dunes and plays to a generously sized green with the Pacific Ocean casually filling the background. There’s even a resemblance to the Old Course’s famous 11th. Scotland, just with considerably better margaritas.

Costalegre
Hole 12 — 157 yards, par 3

The ninth hole at Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo’s once-private course would be the showstopper almost anywhere else: a severe drop-shot par 3 with a green clinging to the edge of a cliff above the ocean. Somehow, it isn’t even the prettiest par 3 here. That title goes to the less extreme 12th, where the green is framed by palms and a sliver of untouched beach beyond. Years ago, the course’s owner found a rare tamarind tree along that same beach, ultimately giving the resort its name. A lovely bit of trivia to share while your playing partner is looking for his ball.

Riviera Nayarit
Hole 17 — 387 yards, par 4

The penultimate hole on Punta Mita’s Bahia Course—a Jack Nicklaus Signature design—is a dogleg left with the ocean running down the entire left side. Which means you have a decision to make. Take an aggressive line along the water and earn yourself a shorter, safer approach, or head right and leave yourself considerably more work on the second shot. It’s the kind of risk-reward architecture that makes a hole memorable even without the scenery. Having the Pacific sitting beside you certainly doesn’t hurt.

Los Cabos
Hole 13 — 635 yards, par 5

Quivira’s cliffside holes on the front nine understandably get most of the attention, but the 13th deserves some of it back. This 635-yard, serpentine par 5 plunges downhill with panoramic Pacific views from tee to green and offers not one but two opportunities to make a questionable decision in pursuit of glory. More conservative players will want to shape their tee shots left to right and their second shots right to left. Either way, there isn’t much opportunity to switch your brain off. For 635 yards, Quivira has your full attention.

Los Cabos
Hole 16 — 151 yards, par 3

Plenty of great golf holes play alongside the beach. El Dorado’s signature 16th simply asks you to hit over it. The final par 3 on this private Jack Nicklaus–designed course features a green perched atop a sand-colored rock outcropping that looks almost like a naturally occurring sandcastle. Ocean breezes from the left frequently force players to aim their tee shots away from the putting surface and trust the wind to bring them home. When the tide is in, those same breezes can send sea spray across the green. Tough conditions. We’d manage.

Riviera Nayarit
Hole 3 — 356 yards, par 4

When two-and-a-half holes on your golf course sit directly on a white-sand beach, you’d assume they’d be the stars. At Nauka, arguably the most interesting hole is tucked elsewhere. The short, uphill par-4 third tempts players to get aggressive off the tee, but a poorly placed drive makes the approach to its elevated, boldly contoured green considerably less fun. Then there’s the backdrop: a thick wall of rainforest rising behind the putting surface. Beach golf gets the postcards. This is the hole we’d want another crack at.

Riviera Maya
Hole 14 — 584 yards, par 5

The first real “wow” moment on Robert Trent Jones II’s PGA Riviera Maya course comes at the sixth, where a large cenote guards the green. Then you reach the 14th. The 584-yard par 5 winds through towering limestone rock walls that flank the fairway and eventually form a natural amphitheater around the green. It’s long, dramatic, and unlike almost anything else on this list—which, considering the competition, is saying something.