by Mark Chesnut
Last updated: 7:00 AM ET, Sun December 13, 2015
Photo courtesy of Villa del Palmar
Golf fans will soon have a new destination to add to their map: Loreto, a small city on the Baja California peninsula, about halfway between Tijuana and Los Cabos. Villa del Palmar - the region's largest hotel, and winner of the award as Mexico's Leading Beach Resort at the 22nd annual World Travel Awards in October 2015 -will unveil an 18-hole golf course in February called Danzante Bay.
The 7,400-yard course, designed by Rees Jones along the coast of the Sea of Cortez, features ocean-facing holes as well as a clubhouse with ocean views and an 18-hole putting course that's a miniature version of the larger course. The Sierra de la Giganta mountain range lies to the west of the course, and a lake at its center, between holes 10 and 11, provides additional scenic backdrops.
Paspalum turf is the material of choice for the course, which the designers claim is best for the climate in Baja California. "This is going to be a golf course that both avid and casual golfers will want to travel to play, enjoy and experience," said Jones, who is the son of golf course designer Robert Trent Jones and the younger brother of Robert Trent Jones, Jr. "This golf course will have open entrances, pockets and sandy areas to capture the ball and keep it from going to the desert, and green contours that are manageable in the wind. People will want to play it over and over again because the conditions will change with the wind."
Also part of the development is a master-planned community with 150 half-acre residential lots that overlook the course. The Villa Group is investing some $25 million in the golf course and surrounding development in the coming years.
The golf course is the latest and largest addition to the 181-room Villa del Palmar, which also has tennis courts, hiking trails, five swimming pools and a 39,000-square-foot spa. Other activities include PADI-certified SCUBA diving lessons and snorkeling tours, as well as excursions to the nearby Coronado, Danzante and Del Carmen islands aboard an inflatable APEX boat, as well as fishing, paddle boarding, kayaking, whale watching and mountain biking. A free shuttle transports hotel guests to the historic town of Loreto, with a stop at the mission that first started the settlement in 1697.
The resort is most easily reached by air; Alaska Airlines flies nonstop to Loreto from Los Angeles and Westjet flies nonstop from Calgary.
For more information, visit http://www.villadelpalmarloreto.com.
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