Now there are 18. 
The opening of two more championship-level golf courses by February 2020 brings the number of world-class loops in Los Cabos to a whopping 18, a total that includes multiple course designs from legendary champions like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman.
Outside of Scotland, the game’s ancestral home, destination golfers would be hard pressed to find a municipality anywhere on the planet that even comes close to Los Cabos in terms of both quantity and quality of playing options.
Amazingly enough, even more courses are in the works. But that’s all in the future. Right now, the focus is on the present, and on the newest additions to the local links landscape.
The East Cape of the Los Cabos municipality had been the last unexplored frontier in terms of golf, but that changed last month with the opening of Costa Palmas Golf Club, which accompanies a new Four Seasons luxury resort and marina as part of an upscale 1000-acre community development at La Ribera.
Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the man who also crafted the Los Cabos area’s acclaimed Cabo Real course, Costa Palmas exhibits all the signs of an instant classic. Not only does the 7,221-yard layout offer both breathtaking scenery and challenges for players of all skill levels, the signature luxury amenities of Los Cabos golf are also much in evidence, from a six-hole to short course to a 30,000 square foot putting practice area with lights for night play, and of course an onsite restaurant for 19th hole style refreshments.
Jones himself calls Costa Palmas “a golf symphony composed of three movements and two transitions”; referring to the integration of desert dunes, elevation shifts and backdrops featuring the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range, and then attention-grabbing Sea of Cortez views as the course finishes near the yacht basin and marina.
Costa Palmas is open to community residents and Four Seasons resort guests exclusively, a policy similar to that at Rancho San Lucas, where Greg “the Great White Shark” Norman is putting the finishing touches on his own masterpiece.
If the East Cape is the final frontier, the Pacific Coast north of Cabo San Lucas is Broadway. This picturesque stretch of coast is home to Quivira, a residential and resort community that boasts a Jack Nicklaus designed course ranked among the 100 best in the world; Diamante, a residential and resort community that offers Davis Love III’s acclaimed Dunes Course–also ranked among the world’s 100 best–as well as two courses designed by Tiger Woods; and now Rancho San Lucas, a resort and residential community with a soon-to-be highly ranked course from Norman.
This isn’t Norman’s first trip to Los Cabos, by the way, as he earlier collaborated with Jack Nicklaus on the Puerto Los Cabos course outside San Jose del Cabo. But it’s hard to compare anything with his Rancho San Lucas course, which evens features a 17th hole island green that will remind some of TPC Sawgrass (although TPC doesn’t have a cactus planted in its bunker, and the views at RSL are in another league altogether).
Norman says his main goals for the course were fun and playability, but the links style layout–which plays 7210-yards from the tips–will certainly present challenges to even the best players, particularly when offshore breezes are gusting along the stretch of five ocean facing holes. Comfort food stations are the signature luxury amenity, but golfers will also appreciate the state-of-the-art golf shop and onsite restaurant.
As previously mentioned, tee times at Rancho San Lucas will only be available to guests at Grand Solmar’s Rancho San Lucas resort, as well as residents in the upscale community. The course officially opens in February 2020.
For more information about events, activities and villa rentals in Los Cabos, call us TOLL FREE at 1-888-655-4548, visit www.LosCabosVillas.com or email us at Info@LosCabosVillas.com.
Photo credit: Rancho San Lucas
Upcoming Events Calendar
December
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – Dec. 5, 12, 19, 26
Sabor a Cabo Rural Tasting – Dec. 8
Feast Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe – Dec. 12
Official Start of Whale Watching Season – Dec. 15
Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) – Dec. 24
Navidad (Christmas) – Dec. 25
Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve) – Dec. 31
New Year’s Eve Stars of the Night Party at Casa Dorada – Dec. 31
New Year’s Eve Party at ME Cabo/Blue Marlin Ibiza with DJ Roger Sanchez – Dec. 31
New Year’s Eve Mango Rouge Party at Mango Deck – Dec. 31
January
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Los Cabos Pro-Am Golf Tournament at Cabo del Sol – Jan. 12 – 16
Tropic of Cancer Concert Series in Todos Santos – Jan. 15 – 19
La Ventana Classic – Jan 16 – 20
February
Todos Santos Writers Workshop – Feb. 1 – 8
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27
Todos Santos Artists’ Open Studios Tour – Feb. 7 – 9
San Jose del Cabo Jazz Weekend – Feb. 14 – 15
Rock Fest in Cabo San Lucas – Feb. 15
20th Annual Baja Hog Rally – Feb. 20 – 24
Carnaval in La Paz – Feb. 20 – 25
March
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – Mar. 5, 12, 19, 26
Baja Shakespeare Festival – Mar. 6 – 8, 11 – 14
East Cape Arts Festival – Mar. 15
Todos Santos Film Festival – Dates Not Yet Announced
El Triunfo Arts & Crafts Festival – Dates Not Yet Announced
Sabores de Baja in Miraflores – Dates Not Yet Announced
April
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – Apr. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Semana Santa – Apr. 5 – 11
NORRA Mexican 1000 – Apr. 17 – 24
Gala de Danza at Viceroy Los Cabos – Dates Not Yet Announced
May
485th Foundation Festival in La Paz – May 3 – 5
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – May 7, 14, 21, 28
El Dia de la Madre – May 10
Gastrovino Food & Wine Festival – Dates Not Yet Announced
White Party at ME Cabo/Blue Marlin Ibiza – Date Not Yet Announced
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