Playa Mujeres is one of the newer (and better) Cancun golf courses you can play.
If you’ve been considering a Mexico golf vacation, you’ve probably heard the name Playa Mujeres Golf Club buzzing around. An opulent Greg Norman design that opened in June 2006, it’s one of many new Cancun golf courses that are elevating this area to true “golf destination” status. Here are a few handy tips if you want to make it part of your Mexico golf vacation:
First, Playa Mujeres lies just north of Cancun’s “hotel zone”, but don’t believe anyone who tells you that the course is just 15 minutes away. Not even Cancun’s craziest cab driver can get there that quickly. Give yourself at least 30 minutes.
Second, though it’s longer than, say, El Camaleon (the Norman design here that hosts a PGA Tour event), Playa Mujeres is one of the friendlier Cancun golf courses, making it a good choice for those who have a low tolerance for frustration.
Wide fairways and inviting approaches keep the jungle at bay for the most part. If you stray from the immaculately groomed turf, you may not be able to pull off a green-seeking recovery shot, but you’ll at least stand a decent chance of finding your ball.
The Shark did resort players a favor by situating the greenside peril away from the front of the putting surfaces. His trademark, close-cropped collection areas extend out from the green, but the falloffs are gentle, so, getting up and down is manageable.
Playa Mujeres does have teeth, though it’s not until the back nine that the hazards truly buckle the knees. Water hugs the green on the par-three 11th and par-four 12th holes, for instance, and 15, another one-shotter, features an uncharacteristically steep falloff on the right and a devilishly deep sand trap on the left. After holing out, you drive along the beach before turning inland to the 16th tee.
Though it’s one of the youngest Cancun golf courses, Playa Mujeres is in excellent condition. We were especially impressed by the trueness of the greens.
As far as competition for tee times, we played on a Sunday when only 20 golfers were expected all day long. Fridays and Saturdays see perhaps 80 more players. Eventually, the course will be one of two Norman courses that anchor a luxury resort with several hotels and low-density residences.
That brings us to our third and most valuable tip: make this Cancun golf course part of your Mexico golf vacation while it’s still relatively easy to do so.
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El Camaleon. Stayed at the Fairmont Mayakoba, 45 minutes south of Cancun. Beautiful resort, fantastic food and perfect weather. Played El Camaleon, a Greg Norman signature design course. The conditions were excellent. The fairways were perfect and the greens were pristine. Traps were consistent throughout. The course reads 7024 from the tips with a 71.1/131 slope rating, 6562 from the whites. Like other Norman courses, this one hadwide fairways and huge greens. You could find yourself with 80 foot putts on a number of occasions. Course meanders through thick vegetation and is bordered on a number of holes with hotel suites. Two holes, both par 3’s are right on the ocean providing beautiful views. There are 6 par 4’s over 425. This is good because with the wind you are hitting long approach shots to greens. The 4 par 5’s averaged just over 540 yards. Many players choose to play 9 holes at around 2PM when the weather is nice and the shadows start to fall across the course. The staff, outside of the pro shop, were terrific and helpful. All in all a good week of golf and sun. If you are planning to go, there are 8 courses in the area and two more being built. Maya Riviera is the new in place in Mexico and getting built up fast. Nice part is that there are no high rises to speak of. Most of the resorts are set back from the road with large areas of vegitation so you don’t feel like its Cancun or Alcapulco. There are Mayan ruins to visit in Tulum and the town is terrific to visit at night with many good restarurants and shops. Very clean and secure.
Thanks for the info. We are going down to the Playa del Carmen area in 3 weeks and would love to know of any less expensive golf in the area. With my wife and two sons playing, don’t relish the idea of dropping $800 or so for one round of golf. Any ideas.
Depends where you are staying. For instance, I got a discounted price at El Cameleon because I stayed at the Fairmont Mayakoba hotel. You need to email your hotel and ask if they have any golf arrangements that offer you a discount. Also, ask them to supply you with the current greens fees for all the courses in the surrounding area inclusive of the twilight rates. After 1:30, most courses drop their rates substantially. Golf in places like Playa del Carmen are expensive but actually in line with most high end resort courses. It’s high, but not yet as nuts as Cabo that is off the charts and not worth it. They are building courses like crazy in Playa and none of them looked very crowded when I was down there. I would hope the competition for players would cause them to run some specials or at least have a price war for customers. Doesn’t seem to be the case right now. Have a great trip.