At least when we were soaking up the sun we got a chance to golf. Ixtapa has two courses the Palma Real and the Marin course. The Marina course was built in 1994 by Robert Von Hagge. Golfing in Mexico is always a different experience. Generally flat with lots of palm trees. Not unlike playing Florida courses. The playing conditions can vary greatly. Palma Real is the nicer of the two courses but the green fees alone were $30 more than the Marina course offered for green fees, cart, and club rental (for $115). Palma Real does have one hole right off the beach (a par 4 that I greened once upon a day). If my memory serves, the Palma Real course is a little more open than the Marina course.
The Marina course offers a lot of narrow and dog-legged holes. Water comes into play on quite a few holes as it winds around the marina area. Playing the course offers the chance to see lots of crocs and iguanas. Trying to keep a course lush in such a parched environment as Ixtapa is a challenge and the course was pretty crispy. The greens were horrendously slow. I imagine they don't cut them as often to try to keep them from frying up but they were REALLY slow. I often had a 15 foot putt that I could only manage to get moving 10 feet.
For $115 I would be very disappointed if I did not frame this as a fun diversion and a chance to play golf in the middle of winter while in vacation in Mexico. In the context of a course in Minneapolis charging this price it would never be able to compete. Still, it is always fun to see how badly the golf swing has vaporized over the winter. This year was actually not too bad. I shot a 93. With the greens as bad as they were (I think I had 5 3-putts) my actual play was pretty decent.
Don't bother with balls in the water...
Hole number one's tee.
Hole #6- 343 par 4. On in one.
No clouds, no snow, golfing. What a day.
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