Playing Review - A Bach Weekend at Diamante Cabo San Lucas Ryder Cup style!

b_smith07 · April 11

Just spent 5 days in Cabo at Diamante and played both courses with 8 guys - doing a Ryder Cup style competition for my Bachelor Party and 34th birthday as well. This place has a few reviews but I feel like its lacking the love of other places Ive played that are similar and get a lot more fanfare.

Trip Details:

Ryder Cup style tournament with two teams of 4. Each round is match play (team rounds each player got 50% of their course handicap and 100% for final day singles). 3 points in play for each match - we did a Nassau style match play (front 9 match play, back nine match play and a total - halves are worth a 0.5 point - kept the back 9 interesting if someone got off to a slow start and boy did that matter). Handicaps were mainly +0.5 to 4's with a 10 and an 18. We call ourselves the "Degens" at the club (bc were all golf degenerates that will play for whatever and dont need an excuse to make a golf trip) - so the "Degens Cup" is born - Team Tequila (me) vs. Team Bourbon

Arrive at SJD Thursday, shuttle to the Casita at Diamante with a grocery stop. Unload, take delivery of private carts for the stay and then head to the Oasis Short Course.

Play 2-man shamble matches (no strokes given here). 12 holes here so the "Nassau" was first 6/last 6/total 12.

Friday

Wake up and go fish for 4 hrs. Chartered two boats for $700 a boat plus tips. Great deal. 1 point for most fish caught, 1 point for most beers drank and 1 point for heaviest fish. This was a dead tie.
Afternoon - Diamante El Cardonal for 2-man Best Ball Match Play
Friends hired a private chef for dinner at the Casita this night - well worth every bit of cash they asked for. One of the best meals on the trip

Saturday

11:00/11:10 tee times off Dunes for another 2-man Best Ball Match Play. We arrived well early and enjoyed the range and slider bar.
After the round we played a big swing bet on the putting course. Paspalum in the late afternoon is SLOW and this was a frustrating, but fun round.
Dinner at Amigos on the Lagoon. Great tacos on the flat top outside, but $$$. with drinks and food for 8 guys the bill was $750 pre-tip.

Sunday

5 of us woke up early and hit the Oasis again for a freindly hammer game and short game warm up
11:50/12:00 tee times off Dunes again. Singles matches today for all the marbles
Finished off the evening with 8 holes around Oasis with my dad and another buddy, then back to the Casita for another chef-cooked grill meal. Another meal that the cash was well spent on.

Diamante Resort and Course Reviews:

Let me start by saying this place is extremely laid back and nice. Construction still going on everywhere but never felt like it impeded on anything. The property is safe (they check ID's and make sure a tenant is in the vehicle or the driver has been called up to the gate by a tenant or resident) and extremely nice.

The courses and clubhouses are top notch. Comfort stations and all you drink beer/tequila etc are worth the price of admission for sure.

El Cardonal is definitely the tougher course but even playing the "II" tees at nearly 7000 yds it didnt seem overly hard. Greens were a little tricky, but fairways were very wide and forgiving (typical - Tiger design). I hit the ball so well here, but could not putt to save my life. The late afternoon tee times meant the greens were getting a little "grainy" and slow. I left many putts 4' short. lol All but one par 5 was very gettable...I actually hit a lot of tee shots with something less than driver.

The Dunes course is the best course Ive played - it can kick your Word not allowed but its also very fair in a lot of regards. To me its a great cross between Pebble Beach/first 5 holes at Spyglass and Chambers Bay. All the 5's are gettable except 15 really (in the wind), par 3's are very good and the variety of holes are bar-none. Plus you hit the comfort stations twice as often as Cardonal lol. It is really a course you can play every day.

The Oasis Course doesnt look like much at first sight, but it is a wonderful par 3 (33 yds to 135 yds) and theres alot of wicked pins and slopes you can use to get creative. $25 for all day play is a great deal. Plus they have Bermuda greens - they run and roll the best out of all the courses on site. You can also play it as a Par 4-Par 3-Par 5 if no one else is out there.

At the end of the trip, Team Bourbon overcame a 4 point deficit after day two to win by 2 on the final day (three sweeps on the 4 matches - two matches came down to the last hole.)

Also - Ryder Cup style trips are the way to go. I bought everyone hats, polos each day and made up a logo and bought a trophy. WAYYYYY more fun and had people bought into all the rounds versus just going out and playing. And the trash talk was even better.

Edited April 12 by b_smith07

mikedejong33 · April 13

I agree with everything you said! It is an awesome place. We go as part of 2 couples, so I don't get to experience the Ryder Cup and boys trip atmosphere that you did. But the golf, the fishing, the food, etc. is all top notch I agree. Our group gets unlimited golf on the Tiger course, so we play that one everyday. We typically spring for a twilight round once a trip on The Dunes, and it is incredible. It will be interesting to see the pros play El Cardonal, as I agree with you it is far more difficult than the Dunes. Good write up, I enjoyed it! We are booked for Feb 2024 and I can't wait to go back.

b_smith07 · April 16

On 4/13/2023 at 10:01 AM, mikedejong33 said:

I agree with everything you said! It is an awesome place. We go as part of 2 couples, so I don't get to experience the Ryder Cup and boys trip atmosphere that you did. But the golf, the fishing, the food, etc. is all top notch I agree. Our group gets unlimited golf on the Tiger course, so we play that one everyday. We typically spring for a twilight round once a trip on The Dunes, and it is incredible. It will be interesting to see the pros play El Cardonal, as I agree with you it is far more difficult than the Dunes. Good write up, I enjoyed it! We are booked for Feb 2024 and I can't wait to go back.

Cardonal is definitely harder than Dunes, but with the generous(ish) fairways out there and large greens, I think the pros will tear it up - the par 5's are very gettable and the longer 4's at their length will still be manageable.