Costa Rica golf

[ajchang]

I'm going to Costa Rica next week and was wondering if there are must-play courses there. Any good deals too?

[Matt J]

There aren't but a few courses in the whole country. The one outside of Tamarindo, Playa Grande I think, is pretty good. A Mike Young design if I remember correctly. Hacienda Panilla, maybe?

 

Edited to add:

 

Just looked on Google Maps and several of those courses weren't around when I lived down there (it has been awhile ago, so certainly possible that they've added courses).

 

As I recall Cariari was about the only game in town for a long time and it's private but local concierges can get you on for the right price.

 

I played Valle del Sol once and don't remember being super impressed. It's in a huge gated housing complex and it was a ghost town when I was down there.

 

Hacienda Pinilla is the only other round I played. It was built by the Pinilla family of Atlanta by GCA Mike Young. Tamarindo / Playa Grande area was always one of my favorite areas of the country. It was the first "gringo surf town" in CR having been featured in Endless Summer the film. Some say that makes it too touristy now. Depends on your taste. For a little barely developed country I guess it's too touristy, but coming from Florida or California I don't think most would say that's the case. HP is not the greatest piece of land. It's a little inland in an area that would look like a big Guanacaste tree (think huge live oaks) savannah if it weren't seeded with grass. I remember it seeming a little "contrived linksy" with fairway mounds and not nearly firm enough to play any kind of ground shots.

 

La Iguana was just being built when I moved back stateside. The Los Suenos marina and Marriott is nice and I'd imagine the course is pretty but Jaco is certainly pretty seedy being the closest beach to San Jose.

 

I have no knowledge of any of the others that pop up on Google Maps. I'd be pretty weary if you can't find quite a few reviews.

[Schley]

I played Calle Del Sol several years ago and it was not in very good shape to say the least. But this is not a big golfing country at all so didn't expect much.

[slimreaper30]

I'm going there next week. Any more suggestions/info would be great, but yeah i know its limited

[payerasjl]

theres a four seasons papagayo in liberia that has a nice track, i think palmer design.