Unlikely home: Central America host to golf’s latest boom
EMERALD COAST, NICARAGUA— Golf turns up in the most unlikely places. During his trip to the moon in 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard whacked a couple of golf balls into deep space.
Recently, the game has surfaced on Nicaragua’s Emerald Coast. Central America may not be quite as distant as the moon, but this part of the world is mostly unexplored and is nearly as exotic. The Mukul Resort, which just opened at the beginning of February, is part of a new beach community that curls along a virgin 6.5 kilometre stretch of Pacific Ocean sand on Nicaragua’s west coast. The mountains and tropical coastal forest roll down to the very edge of the ocean and the squawks and chatter of the monkeys and the rainbow-coloured birds ring out through the stillness. Now, though, there is the occasional thwack of the golf ball. The resort includes the Guacalito Golf Club, which was designed by Scottish golf architect David McLay Kidd, known for his award- winning work at Bandon Dunes in Oregon and the Castle Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. The course, which also opened at the be- ginning of February, begins and ends at Manzanillo Beach and in between rises and twists over the forest and the hills. The green at the eighth hole can only be reached by a suspension bridge built by local craftsmen and is attached firmly to mighty guanacaste and tamarind trees. The 18th green, the exclamation point of a stunning par 3, seems to slide right into the beach, so that after the round, you could walk off the course and straight into the Pacific surf. The current green fee is $145 U.S..
The multi-million dollar development is the brainchild of Don Carlos Pellas, one of the most influential men in Central America. The family’s company has interests in financial services, sugar, healthcare, technology, transportation and Flor de Cana rum. The resort includes beach villas and cliffside bohios and when the Pellas family isn’t in residence, guest can book suites in their 20,000 sq. ft. beach home. Montecristo Lifestyles Estate is another oceanfront, real estate community located on the coast of Honduras that’s currently making its debut. Montecristo will also feature a 7,060-yard course that begins along the river plain and climbs into the mountains, with big time views of the ocean and rivers. The front nine is expected to open later this year. Nicaragua isn’t the only spot in Central America where golf is booming. In January 2011, the Black Pearl Golf Club opened on Roatan, a Caribbean island that juts up out of the ocean about 65 kilometres off the coast of Honduras. (Sunwing features flights to Roatan from Toronto.) The island is best known as the former hideout for 17th century pirates and more recently the scuba and snorkeling set who love to explore the stunning Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest barrier reef on the planet. But golfers, too, are making their way to Roatan for the course designed by the father and son team of Pete and Perry Dye. The dad is infamous for his nasty island green at the TPC Sawgrass in Florida and he’s added a similar challenge at Black Pearl. The 11th is a 157 yard par 3 with a slippery green popped in the middle of a lake. The tough tee shot is leavened with a stunning view of the Caribbean. Costa Rica also sports some good golf. The Four Seasons Resort features an Arnold Palmer design which opened in January of 2004. Ranked in the top 100 courses you can play outside of the United States by Golf Digest, the course traces the high ground of the Peninsula Papagayo with views of the ocean on most of the course.
The signature hole is the #6, El Bajo, a 446 yard par 4 where the tee shot plummets 200 ft., down to a valley that leads to a green notched into a cliff above the water.
To paraphrase the late, great Stompin’ Tom Connors, ‘Golf is everywhere man, golf is everywhere.’