Golf Away Your Dominican Republic Holiday

The Dominican Republic is one of the Caribbean’s most enticing and most visited golf destinations, with justified recognition for its premier golf offerings. The island is not only a major attraction for recreational golf, it is also the Caribbean’s center for serious golf—it’s here that the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship takes place each March.

Designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 2010, Corales is an exclusive and dramatic 18-hole course with six Caribbean Oceanside holes. Designed along the natural cliffs, bays, ocean coves and the inland lakes and coralina quarries, Corales Golf Course rates among the world’s finest golf experiences. The exhilarating challenge culminates playing the Devil’s Elbow, Corales’s last three holes. The Devil’s Elbow features the striking eighteenth hole with a dramatic forced carry over the cliff-lined Bay of Corales, an inspired capstone to a memorable and breathtaking golf experience. To play golf in style, the Resort currently has a variety of seven enticing golf vacation packages.

Punta Cana—which includes Cap Cana, at the island’s eastern edge—is no doubt the island’s jewel. This is a 30,000-acre resort area with no fewer than three Jack Nicklaus signature courses. The resort area of Punta Cana has a number of great resort options, including Puntacana Resort & Club, the previously mentioned Corales Golf Club and La Cana Golf Club.

Many consider the Punta Espada Golf Course one of the very best courses in the Caribbean. With beautiful fairways that follow the coastline and a course design that blends into the natural setting, Punta Espada is a Nicklaus masterpiece offering all the challenges you could wish for, placed within an idyllic setting.

Eden Roc is a luxury hotel, a secluded property within the exclusive beachfront community of Cap Cana. With access to the Punta Espada Golf Course, Eden Roc offers luxurious accommodations including “Luxury Pool Junior Suites” as well as family suites and beachfront suites, together with all the amenities you would expect from a luxury hotel.

Another popular upscale resort is Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana, surrounded by tropical gardens and overlooking the Arena Gorda Beach on the Atlantic coast. The resort is a short distance from the Catalonia Caribe Golf Club with its 18-hole course designed by Alberto Sola and Jack Corrie. The course features a large lake—impacting holes 5, 6 and 15—five lagoons and numerous shaded trees. The sixth hole will challenge any golfer, with its island green flanked by bunkers and edged by rocks—particularly when the wind blows in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Designed for golfers of all skill levels, Catalonia Caribe offers a lovely natural parkland setting. The course also features a nice variation of dogleg holes and an interesting mix of uphill and downhill holes.

This article first appeared in the PGA TOUR June-November 2019 issue, which can be read here.

See also: Golf in the Dominican Republic