Golf in Mexico

The 30 km Tourist Corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo is Mexico’s golf capital, and the reason most golfers fly to Mexico at all. The courses play through desert arroyos full of cardón cactus, then turn to the sea for a run of cliff-top holes.

• Quivira: a Jack Nicklaus design on the Pacific cliffs just west of Cabo San Lucas, with some of the most photographed holes in the country. Play is mostly for guests of the resorts and homes inside the development.
• Diamante: north of Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific dunes, with Davis Love III’s Dunes course and El Cardonal, the first course Tiger Woods designed and home of the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship since 2023. It runs largely as a members and residents club, so access is usually through a stay.
• Palmilla: Nicklaus’s first course in Latin America, 27 holes in the hills above the One&Only resort near San José del Cabo.
• Cabo Real, Club Campestre and Puerto Los Cabos: the strongest fully public options, run by one management company, with Puerto Los Cabos mixing Nicklaus and Greg Norman nines above the marina.
• Cabo del Sol: the Ocean Course is now the private Cove Club; the inland Desert Course stays open to visitors.

Fees are the highest in Mexico: plan on about US$250 to $475 for the headline courses in winter, less at Cabo Real or Club Campestre, and much less in summer and on twilight tee times. Both towns are 20 to 45 minutes from Los Cabos airport. Our beaches guide covers the swimming beaches nearby, since many Pacific ones are unsafe for swimming.

Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit to the north wrap around Banderas Bay, with a dozen courses within an hour of the airport.

Punta Mita, at the bay’s northern tip, has two Nicklaus courses, Pacifico and Bahía. Pacifico’s Tail of the Whale is tide-dependent: at high tide you play the alternative hole 3A on land. The club is private, open to members, property owners and guests of the Four Seasons and St. Regis inside the gate, so book a room there if the hole is the goal.

Open to visitors: Vista Vallarta in the foothills behind the city has two courses, by Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. At Vidanta in Nuevo Vallarta, the Greg Norman course hosts the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open. Marina Vallarta is the convenient flat course beside the hotel zone, and El Tigre at Paradise Village is good for higher handicaps. The surf town of Sayulita is about 45 minutes north if non-golfers in your group want a beach day.

The Caribbean courses are flat, humid and green, cut through mangroves, jungle and limestone with cenotes in play.

El Camaleón at Mayakoba, a Greg Norman design just north of Playa del Carmen, hosted the PGA Tour’s first regular event in Mexico for 16 years, then a LIV Golf event. Holes move from jungle to mangrove canal to beach, and the first green sits beside a cenote. Hotel guests at Mayakoba’s resorts get priority tee times.

Near Cancún, Playa Mujeres Golf Club, another Norman course, runs along the coast north of the city. Moon Palace has 27 Nicklaus holes south of the airport, and the Iberostar course in the Hotel Zone is the easiest to reach from a beach hotel. Further south, Iberostar Playa Paraíso and the Riviera Maya Golf Club near Akumal are resort courses that take outside play. On Cozumel, the Cozumel Country Club is the island’s only course.

Green fees run roughly US$150 to $300 in winter. Many all-inclusives sell golf packages or waive green fees for guests, so compare before you book a room.

Mazatlán is the budget golf base on the Pacific. El Cid has 27 holes beside its resort in the Golden Zone, and Estrella del Mar, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. course south of the airport, has holes right along the beach.

In Ixtapa, the Palma Real course, also by Robert Trent Jones Jr., is known for the crocodiles that sun themselves on the lagoon banks; leave any ball that lands near them. The Marina Ixtapa course is the other choice, and Zihuatanejo is 15 minutes away for dinner.

Huatulco in Oaxaca has one course, Las Parotas (the former Tangolunda club), an 18-hole layout above Tangolunda Bay that suits a beach holiday with a round or two.

TPC Danzante Bay, near Loreto on the Sea of Cortez, is a Rees Jones course climbing a desert ridge above the bay and the islands of the national marine park. It sees a fraction of Cabo’s traffic.

Golf in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey is almost all private. At about 2,240 m, Mexico City’s altitude makes the ball fly noticeably farther; Club de Golf Chapultepec hosted the WGC-Mexico Championship from 2017 to 2020. Visitors usually need a member or a hotel arrangement to play, so the cities suit a round you set up in advance rather than a golf trip. Guadalajara is the hometown of Lorena Ochoa, the former world number one.

November to April is the season everywhere: dry, sunny and in the mid-20s °C (70s °F) on the coasts. January to March is peak, with the highest fees and fullest tee sheets in Los Cabos and Vallarta. From June to October it is hot and humid, Los Cabos often tops 35°C (95°F), and hurricane season runs June to November, but summer rates can fall by a quarter to a third. Tee off early in the warm months. See the best time to visit Mexico for the coasts month by month.

• Carts and caddies: resort green fees usually include a shared cart, range balls and water. Caddies are rare outside the city clubs.
• Tipping: tip in cash pesos: about 50 to 100 pesos a bag for the bag-drop staff, and several hundred pesos per group for a forecaddie.
• Booking: book Los Cabos and Vallarta weeks ahead in winter. Hotel concierges and stay-and-play packages often get better rates than the rack price.
• Prices: resort courses quote in US dollars and take cards; local courses charge in pesos. Check the Mexico costs guide for exchange tips.
• Dress: collared shirts and no denim at most clubs; bring sunscreen and plenty of water.