Course Architect
Jack Nicklaus
First Teed Off
October 2014
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View looking back from the tees at five. Comfort station #1 at left by path.
Clubhouse sits beachside between two lines of green beyond. |
Rating
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Slope
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Yardage
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Par
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Not yet rated
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Not yet rated
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7139 yards
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72
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The slippery, steep slope.
The championship tee on five clings to the side of the granite cliff. |
Rates of Passage
$115 – $295 (call ahead for specials)
Includes cart, food and beverage at comfort stations and use of driving range.
View from the 19th Hole
Wow. Words, nor photographs, can express the sheer beauty of this course. Tee shots atop a 200-foot cliff, immaculate course conditions, and an abundance of challenges make Quivira a truly special course. Plan to play more than once, as the first time through will merely serve as background for how you actually want to execute your round. You’ll have to leave your ego at home (and a few sleeves of balls on the course), but it will be well worth it.
This
IS the "narrowed" version of our photos.
Our Round
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| Don't let the thatched roof fool you. Quivira's clubhouse features a steakhouse, panoramic views and top-notch appointments. |
Quivira is a newcomer to the hustle of the Cabo golf scene.
Opening in 2014, this Jack Nicklaus masterpiece is already drawing the admiration of many and picking up awards along the way.
The development fell upon hard times back in 2008 when the bottom fell out of the economy, and then less than a month before opening when Hurricane Odile came ashore.
Featuring the most oceanfront of any course in Los Cabos, it is ready to compete. Upon its opening,
Joe Passov was quick to back Nicklaus' claim Quivira is one of the most beautiful courses on the planet.
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Sand topped and sand edged, the practice greens and range
are well-appointed, and feature personalized attention. |
Like Richard Scarry’s Busytown, the course is abuzz with staff as we arrive. Before I’ve set both feet out of the car, someone has come to grab our bags, while another is gathering our information and pointing us in the direction of the pro shop. At the range, we’re greeted by one person serving fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, and water. Meanwhile, another is offering arranging items around us while we warm up—teeing into the sunrise and sea spray. The grass is so moist and dense; it’s like teeing off sponge cake. Shawn was hitting every shot with ease and precision, so Quivira is obviously to thank for that experience as well.
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| Quivira clubhouse |
Of note: Quivira is a typical par-72 course, but the front nine is a 34, leaving the back nine at a 38.
Just as the sun is making its debut, the starter leads us out the front drive of the club and through the length of first hole to reach the first tee. One and eighteen run parallel, but opposed, and if eighteen didn’t play into the waves, I’d wonder why it weren’t the first hole.
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| Teeing off of one. |
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| The sloping green on one. |
The first hole is fairly straight but littered with waste areas and bunkers at left and right.
Follow the slight left to right, and you’ll be fine.
Two is a par-3, with rock outcroppings at left and waste bunkers at right.
A waste bunker littered with cardon cactus distracts at right, as you make a slight uphill climb to the green.
Better to land short than long, right, or left on this one.
Better yet, just land on the green.
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| 2: I know where I need to go, but can I land there? |
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| "Mykonos" peeking the to right on three. |
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| Waste bunker guards the entry to your layup on 3. |
Three is a par-4 with a steep drop on the right side of the fairway.
It is also the first of many risk-reward opportunities on Quivira.
A forced carry of dense desert just shy of 250 yards will land you within layup position, but take the easier route, and you’ll find yourself working left to right around a waste bunker to reach the green in two.
You’ll wonder if you’ve stepped into Mykonos, as tightly knit white houses dot the hillside and underlying area beyond the green.
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| 4: Working back to the clubhouse. |
Four is the last of the first four low elevation holes.
This par-5 curls back along the lower side of three and two, leading you back in line with the clubhouse.
Your tee shot here carries a pond to a generous fairway, with a vast arroyo at right and then left, causing you to carry your shot or land in their midst.
Never mind the pot bunker at the crossroads of these two arroyos.
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Up we go. The speck in the top middle of the photo
is the cliff hanger comfort station. |
Saddle up for a half-mile trip up the granite cliff to reach the oft pictured nailbiters at five and six.
Before pulling up to your tee shot on five, you can stop at the first comfort station.
What you might anticipate as an on course restroom break is in fact much more.
The culinary team is waiting to serve you a Bloody Mary or slider.
Like a favor table at a wedding, you can make your own trail mix to go.
Better yet, sit and rest for a few at one of the several tables in this perch overlooking the cliff side.
The view is beyond million-dollar.
The idea of the comfort station doesn’t come easily.
After all, golf etiquette speaks to keep moving so as to not hold up those behind.
Given we are one of the first to tee off, a mid-round break could set the rest of the day off course. However, we came to realize, after our third (yes, third) comfort station, a four-hour round isn’t the goal at this resort course.
Like a strong cocktail, you need to take it in sips to enjoy.
It’s a forced relaxation—one that would take some getting used to.
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| Big advantage from the reds on 5. |
The next two holes are not for the faint of heart, and a little pregame couldn’t hurt.
If heights aren’t your cup of tea, then you won’t appreciate teeing off the edge of a cliff, and making every fairway shot while slanted toward the sea.
If you don’t feel the need for a roller coaster lap belt at some point throughout the next three holes, then I need to know your strategy.
The views are remarkable—breathtaking, if you will (pun certainly intended).
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| I Spy: Shawn working his way down to the green on 5. |
Now you’ve turned the corner, and you are faced with yet another risk/reward opportunity.
Make your way lightly down the damp and sand covered stone steps to the tee box for the tips.
From here, a green patch grasping to the size of the cliff present an opportunity to hit over the crash of waves some 300 feet below to land on a sliver of fairway peeking out beyond the cliff wall you face.
The safe route is not much easier, but has less opportunity to land your ball in the ocean.
To play it safe, you’ll need a blind shot up and onto the fairway.
Mind you the fairway is riddled with sand hugging both sides, slopes to the left (a la the cliff’s edge), and the cliff continues to tower over your right side.
It’s one big distractible after another.
You just need to land a safe shot in the fairway before you take a severe dogleg left and straight down the cliff.
Making my way through the desert grass-filled bunkers lining the down slope, I felt as if I might just fall over and go rolling down the hill.
It’s steep.
Once again, your intentions and reality must be in sync, as you’ll find yourself in the drink if you don’t play the down slope or varying wind conditions correctly on your approach.
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| My best pictographic attempt at explaining five. |
Six continues to hug the side of the cliff.
Choose to hit somewhat blindly again over a lingering cliff mound to land the narrow fairway.
You’ll start to feel as though this land wasn’t at all fit for a course, and yet is the perfect place for a course.
The narrow fairways are just so commanding, and feel undersized at times.
Either that, or I’m just not a tour professional…or both.
A long bunker along the left of the fairway and green and sloping green sidewall to the right guards this visual delight.
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| Tee shot at six. |
Make your final turn around the mountain and past the old lighthouse to land at seven. It’s here you can breathe again.
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El Faro Viejo (The Old Lighthouse) is the oldest structure in
Cabo San Lucas and a beacon to calmer tee shots. |
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| Shaggy links delight on 8. |
While set just as high off the ground as the last two, seven gives way to dunes sloping into the water.
The fairway is much more generous, and you’re not standing on the slide of a cliff.
The crash of the waves is somehow more distant as well.
I equate it to the feeling of slipping into your “play clothes” after you get home from work.
The roominess is welcoming.
Eight is another expansive, but undulating fairway. The grasses and dune surrounds are reminiscent of those at Whistling Straits (Mexico: It’s just like Wisconsin!). It gently rolls up and to the left, where the green sits above a sloped platform.
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| A stark contrast from the granite cliffs of 5 and 6, eight is a sea of green flanked by dunes. |
Coming into this green, you’ll also get a glimpse of the next, and most impressive, comfort station on the course.
We decided to stop at the advisement of the starter, and mostly because we felt we were far enough ahead of the next group.
Scratch that.
The bacon smelled amazing.
While dawdling on the course still didn’t sit well with us, nor did skipping out on our second breakfast.
Baby steps.
Ornate doors lead to an open-air room with thatched room overlooking the eighth fairway and ocean beyond.
This comfort station, dubbed “the Oasis”, holds acclaim to the culinary genius of the resort.
As with the last comfort station, there are several dining tables set up, and at least four people were hard at work behind the kitchen bar.
As soon as we sat, a server brought us a plate of quesadillas topped with avocado and a side of bacon.
Our hydration needs didn’t call for a cocktail, although they appear to have just about everything you might want or need.
I suggest the mango water, which is pretty much heaven in a glass.
Sticky fingers beware: an amply stocked snack bar sits at the back, lest you need a granola bar, piece of fruit, or another custom trail mix for the road.
It’s all here for you, and it’s all included in your greens fee.
When you’re at Quivira, they want you to feel at home.
It’s working.
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| The Oasis after 8. |
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| 9: Arroyo to the left and desertscape to the right. |
Nine is a 220-yard par-3, with tees melting into the valley.
You slope down only to work back up to the green, marked with plenty of sand-filled distractions. It looks fairly straightforward, but anything is possible. My tees were sitting back further than originally indicated in the yardage book, so go up two clubs if you're playing from the forward tees.
We are greeted by a bevy of workers at the tenth tee. I haven't made mention of it, but there are so many staff hard at work on this course. It's as if someone is just waiting to roll a green or trim another fairway. If you aren't comfortable with an audience, something I am not, this may bother you. (I had to get over myself...and you can too!) However, all maintenance staff we came in contact with were extremely gracious. They were quick to pull to the side, make sure you could take your shot, and even one groundskeeper on six gave Shawn an armful (read: at least 20) of found golf balls. That on the heels of us losing one in the grasses of that hole. Nevertheless, all were extremely professional and as committed to ensuring your round was an enjoyable one just like the club staff.
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| In the chute at ten looking back. |
The group on ten was hard at work planting yellow flowers all around the tee boxes. I can't imagine how beautiful it will look once they all fill in. Furthermore, ten shares its right border with rolling hills of cordon. While they look pretty grey in the middle of July, spring and fall are undoubtedly a showstopper. The tee boxes lead you to a dogleg right. Suddenly, you feel as though you're a kid again riding in a bobsled (Relatable, no?). The fairway curls at the side, and the cliff at the left towers at least 50 feet above this downtrodden fairway (Apologies for the approximation, as we left our measuring tape back at the resort).
Dip around the edge of the dune to start curling your way back up for eleven. (Note: You can see Diamante in the distance.) Eleven's tees gradually step up, leaving you with little insight on what's ahead. Therefore, you consult your handy yardage book. Buyer beware: nothing is as it appears on this yardage guide. Instinctively, you would presume the shortest flight from tee to green is via the right side of the fairway. What you can't tell is the right side of the fairway is easily 20-30 feet below that of the left side. The rough area running through the middle is in fact a densely landscaped cliff edge. A baby cliff compared to everything else on this course, but a somewhat 30 foot cliff nevertheless. The journey to this lower tier comes complete with the struggle that is the layup back over this hill side onto the still-climbing fairway after wishing you could just start over on this one. Coming from the right, you'll also be faced with clearing the greenside bunker. It's much more obtrusive than it appears. Eleven is best served on replay, as there's no way to understand the dips, dives and treasure trove of elevation changes on this one.
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| All fairway to the left of the tee box is that of the eighth hole. |
At 635 yards, the par-5 twelfth hole is a mirror image of the dip to the sea we experienced on five. Your tee shot forces you to carry 200-300 yards to the hilltop parallel to the green. Dunes and unplayable rough line the fairway edges, requiring you to dogleg right another 200 yards toward to beach before jogging back left in your layup to the pin.
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| #13 tee box |
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| Hanging on the edge at the #13 tee box. |
Thirteen is another cliff hugger. The par-3's tees wave up, forcing your tee shot over a jagged granite cliffside dipping to the sea spray below. You can't ignore the waves blasting the cliff's edge. Land your tee shot on the ebb and flow of the 25-foot green, and you'll be sitting pretty. If you aren't so fortunate to carry the green, you'll just have to drop on this one.
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| Sloping green on #14. |
As we've done before on this course, we settle in for a little ride to the #14 tees. The path cuts out and takes you up a sand dune to curl around to the par-4 fourteenth hole. The fairway is more forgiving than most for your tee shot. Another sharp dogleg appears, taking you to the right before your layup. The green is no peach. It slopes up, so a putt from the lower tier will require you to put some power behind your putt to make the climb.
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| #15 from the tees |
Continue to curl up the dune to the last par-5– #15. This 564-yard abyss is riddled with carefully placed traps. Similar to 3, 8 and 11, you can play to the left or right of this wide fairway. The left edge sits below that of the right, and it appears to be the more natural play from the sunken tees. The right side is bordered with tall cactus and, so you're visually forced left. The app flyover is helpful to negotiate this one. The hole continues to roll as it curls up before dropping back to the green.
Weave through a cactus forest to approach 16. At first, the tips at sixteen are a rock-edged platform to the right of the cart path. Atop the tee, you look out over the other tees and fairway falling beneath before curling to the right of the hillside at right.
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| Atop the world at the 16th tee. |
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| Stone obstructions |
The other tee boxes sit alongside the final comfort station of the course. This one is not staffed, but it's the perfect last resort for some refreshments to help you finish out your round. This is Baja after all, and hydration is key! The fairway is another half pipe shape, with a miniature Stonehenge set in prime layup position. The green is somewhat guarded by an elevated fairway around the right side.
It's all downhill from here–literally, not figuratively. The view from this point is of the clubhouse and the ocean beyond eighteen.
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| The view from the seventeenth tee. |
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| Arroyo running though the ripples of 17. |
The 478 yard, par-4 seventeenth hole requires a calculated tee shot to carry the cactus and desert foliage below while avoiding the arroyo about 150 yards from the green. The fairway scallops throughout both halves, and the green is guarded at left by deep bunkers. A player in the group before us holed his layup on this hole. Lucky for him, he started on 18, so that was the finishing shot to his round. Don't get any wild ideas, as I don't think that's an oft-repeated experience anywhere at Quivira.
Eighteen. Wait a second; let me catch my breath. What a ride, this course.
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| #18 tees |
Quivira ends much like it began. Fairly flat (in comparison to 300 foot cliff sides) and littered with sand, this fairway is much more accommodating, but it won't let you off easy as the fairway dips to the right before approaching the green at left. The view from the green is nothing short of spectacular. Crushing waves clap along the shore with the briny breeze. We're met by the starter who escorts us back to the clubhouse to conclude the five-star service. Attendants are waiting to ensure every detail is addressed from the coconut-infused towels to arranging your transportation back to the resort. The service and experience at Quivira was nothing short of world class.
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| Storybook ending |
Less than halfway through our round, we kept echoing how much we’d love to come back and play at Quivira. The feeling only grew from that point.
There’s no
CliffsNotes for Quivira.
You have to play to understand.
The in-house app and GPS yardage are game changers (if you have data coverage in Mexico), as there are flyover views of every hole.
If not, the included yardage book is helpful, but dips in elevation on any given hole are just hard to interpret on paper.
Or perhaps you summons a helicopter tour of the course before your round just to get a lay of the land.
No matter what, I’m confident you’ll harbor no regrets after your experience.
Way to go, Mother Nature. You really outdid yourself with this one.
Scoreboard
2016, Top 10: Mexico (#3), LINKS Magazine
2015, Best Courses You Can Play in Mexico (#2), LINKS Magazine
2014, Best New International Course, GOLF Magazine
2014, Development of the Year, Golf Inc.
Expert Commentary
Scorecard
