By MARTIN KAUFMANN
Managing Editor/The Golf LifeRIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – It’s 5:30 on a cloudless afternoon, and here on the hillside terrace of Richie’s Cafe, it feels almost as though we’re floating in a hot-air balloon, though one that, fortunately, is well-stocked with Coronas and the locally produced Bacardi that punches up this island’s signature drink, the mojito. Far below, you’ll find Puerto Rico at its tourist-board best: resort hotels, beaches and a seemingly endless labyrinth of fairways.
Directly ahead to our north is the seaside Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort, its Ocean and River courses meandering across the valley floor. Just to the west sits Trump International Residences & Golf Club (formerly Coco Beach Golf & Country Club), which hosted the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open in March. In the distance, down the coastline to the east, we glimpse El Conquistador Resort, perched high above the Atlantic.
And while it’s not visible from Richie’s, just a few miles to our south is El Yunque, the rainforest that is one of Puerto Rico’s most popular tourist destinations. Dramatic vistas like this seem as common as the distinctive chirping of the island’s coqui frogs, who are frequently heard, if rarely seen.
The literal translation for this island nation’s name is “rich port,” a designation underscored by the tableau visible from Richie’s. Puerto Rico’s many assets include: more than 300 miles of coastline framing a rugged, mountainous terrain; a generally temperate year-round climate; a bustling capital city anchored by the Old San Juan historic district, lined with brand-name shops and busy restaurants; and a welcoming environment for its nearly 5 million annual tourists, save perhaps on the island’s notorious roadways.
“Puerto Rican people are very friendly,” our guide Hector told us on a tour of Old San Juan, “until we get behind the wheel.”
Given Puerto Rico’s size – it’s slightly smaller than Connecticut – it has an unusually diverse landscape. Visitors can experience everything from peaceful beaches on the Atlantic coast to the mountain ranges that bisect the island’s center to a more arid setting on the Caribbean side of the island.
Few places showcase those assets better than El Conquistador, which teeters spectacularly on the island’s northeast cliffs, the better to offer guests endless ocean views. Like the hotel, the resort’s golf course, an Arthur Hills design, is heavy on drama, owing largely to an improbable 16 elevated tees, most notably the 15th tee, which hovers 212 feet above the fairway. You’ll feel that slope in your feet when putting, though Seth Henrich, the director of golf, also tipped me off early on that the grain runs toward a red-and-white radio antenna that towers over the course.
Tourists, an economic lynchpin, spend about $2 billion annually to experience idyllic settings like that of El Conquistador or the one visible from Richie’s.
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But Puerto Rico’s virtues are tempered somewhat by a dysfunctional government – Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, the island’s highest-ranking elected official, who has been under federal indictment since March on charges he violated campaign-finance laws and committed tax fraud, was voted out of office Nov. 4 – and the semiautonomous netherworld in which it exists. National pride is a common theme on the island, but as an unincorporated territory that’s lacking in natural resources, Puerto Rico subsists largely on billions of dollars in annual aid from the United States. The unemployment rate is pushing 12 percent, nearly double the national average, and the dilapidated shanties and shops that line the roads from San Juan to the resorts along Puerto Rico’s northern coast don’t exactly show the island in its best light.
“Puerto Ricans are very proud,” said an American golf pro working on the island, “but they’ve got blinders on to the problems here.”
Golf is a big part of the tourist component in Puerto Rico, but the game remains foreign to most natives. Estimates suggest there are only 5,000 to 10,000 avid golfers among the island’s nearly 4 million residents. So expatriates such as Henrich, an affable Iowan who grew up playing junior golf against 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, tend to fill the void.
“There are opportunities if you’re willing to take them,” Henrich told me as we played the front nine at El Conquistador. “You don’t get to go to any Major League Baseball or hockey games. But if you’re willing to make that sacrifice, you can advance quickly. But I’m used to that. I’m from the middle of nowhere in Iowa. This is the middle of nowhere, but the weather is better.”
Early on a sunny morning a couple of days later, I had Rio Mar’s Ocean Course to myself, save for the iguanas that are ubiquitous on the island. Galleries of a dozen or more would watch curiously, but when approached, they’d hightail it to safety, their whirling legs flapping wildly as they ran.
The Ocean Course – despite its name, the par-3 16th is the only true oceanside hole, but a terrific hole at that – is an early Tom and George Fazio collaboration that has long been an island staple. But it has been supplanted as the resort’s top attraction by Greg Norman’s River Course, a test made more difficult by prevalent wetlands and the Mayemes River that snakes through the layout starting on No. 6.
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Though golf has been slow to catch on among natives, the parking lot and practice range were packed when I arrived at Palmas del Mar, south of El Conquistador in Humacao, on a steamy May morning. The members were playing a tournament on the Palm Course, a Gary Player design that dates to 1974, allowing me the unexpected luxury of enjoying Rees Jones’ entertaining Flamboyan layout in private. Unexpected, that is, because of the enormity of Palmas del Mar. Size is a theme here; even the Flamboyan’s bunkers are oversized.
“Once you come inside those (main) gates, you leave the rest of the world behind,” said Jeff Willenberg, a native Texan who is the property’s general manager.
He’s not exaggerating. Palmas del Mar, which has been a popular retreat for Americans and the many pharmaceutical employees working nearby, is less a master-planned community than a self-contained city. It spans 3,000 acres, has 4,000 housing units, a private school, 18 restaurants, an equestrian club, and a new 162-slip yacht club that can accommodate ships as long as 200 feet. There’s more to come: On Flamboyan’s second tee, I stopped to watch grading being done nearby on Los Lagos, a new 107-home community under development. And ground recently was broken on a $400 million, 142-room Mandarin Oriental hotel on a spectacular oceanside bluff. Even a hospital and shopping mall are planned.
Similarly big plans also are in the works west of San Juan at Dorado Beach Resort & Club. Eight new condo buildings with 240 total units are being built, a theme park-water park has opened, and the Caribbean Property Group, which bought the resort in December 2007, plans to open two decidedly upscale hotels, replacing two properties that closed earlier this decade.
Dorado Beach has a unique pedigree. Laurance Rockefeller began developing the resort in the 1950s, with design help from Robert Trent Jones Sr. Chi Chi Rodriguez used to be head professional at the resort, which has hosted eight Champions Tour events.
And Robert Trent Jones Jr., fresh off his work at Bahia Beach, a exclusive private golf community east of San Juan, landed the plum assignment to remodel his father’s Dorado Beach layouts in 2009. It’s a prime seaside property offering players plenty of variety, despite the fact Jones Sr. designed all 72 of the club’s holes. The East Course calls for an aerial game, as exemplified by its best hole, the Z-shaped par-5 fourth, with its Ross-like elevated green situated just yards from the beach. On the West Course, in contrast, players will have more opportunities to run approaches onto the greens.
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The improvements under way at Dorado Beach and elsewhere will only enhance Puerto Rico’s appeal to golfers, though the game is not central to the island’s identity. The U.S. military learned that more than a century ago, following its 1898 invasion during the Spanish-American War.
While touring Old San Juan, we stopped at El Morro, the enormous fort, four centuries in the making, that guards San Juan Bay. One of the members of our party noted, insightfully as it turned out, that the large green expanse near El Morro looked like a golf course waiting to be laid out.
“The first thing the U.S. military did when they came here,” said our guide, Hector, “was build a nine-hole golf course.”
The military later thought better of that and restored the giant lawn, a stunning open space that serves as a counterpoint to the narrow streets of Old San Juan, the popular tourist haven just down the hill. There, tourists and locals wash down bowls of mofongo – mashed, fried plantains that are an acquired taste, to be sure – with sweet mojitos.
“During the day, Old San Juan is all history,” Hector told us. “At night, it’s all party.”
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Martin Kaufmann is the managing editor of The Golf Life. To reach him e-mail
mkaufmann@golfweek.com.
Where to stay and play1. Bahia Beach Resort & Golf ClubLoiza
866-529-3996;
www.bahiabeachpuertorico.com
2. Dorado Beach Resort & ClubsDorado
787-796-1234;
www.doradobeachclubs.com3. El Conquistador ResortFajardo
866-317-8932;
www.elconresort.com4. Palmas del MarHumacao
800-725-6276;
www.palmasdelmar.com5. Trump International Golf ClubRio Grande
787-657-2000;
www.trumpgolfclubpuertorico.com
6. Wyndham Rio MarRio Grande
877-636-0636;
www.wyndhamriomar.com
Posted: 11/18/2008
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