Acapulco Golf Courses

[songolfbur]

Anyone play golf in acapulco ???

I am going to the Grand Mayan Resort in Acapulco in february. There is a golf course on site (Copra Golf Club) and I was hoping to learn all I can about golf in that region of Meico, moreso the Copra Golf Club...

Thanks in advance for all your insight!

[johndeere10]

I played the Mayan Palace Golf Course in July of 04.' Just be warned to bring all your golf supplies (clubs, balls, gloves, and shoes) if possible. They didn't even carry golfballs at Wal-Mart there and I found that out the hard way. LOL Damn $35 for dozen Top-Flite XL2000 from some sports store still pisses me off. LOL I think it was close to $125 to play and had to take a caddy with a cart. It was horrible experience... they take kids off the street that want to work. Guy didn't know yardages, how greens went, or anything about caddying much less the course. He would never touched my clubs if I had brought them. After about 2 holes I told him to sit in the cart and just be quite. Caddymaster I guess helps them collect their fee and told them I wasn't paying his fee because he didn't do anything. Caddymaster had strong words for him and sent him on his way. It was really a short course around 6100 yards. Also if you need rental clubs be warned (US standard lengths are not the same as what they use) atleast my rental clubs weren't. They seemed to be about 1" or more shorter I guess these were for the shorter stature of the people there. LOL

[Blues Golfer]

Well, I did not play the Mayan Palace course. I had heard it was a decent place to play, but never got there. I played the two courses at the Pierre Marquez and the Acapulco Princess hotel next to it, the places that Howard Hughes built. No caddy was required there, though I often played with a caddy in Mexico. Some caddies were excellent, other were a waste of time. Depends. I also played the 9 hole track in "downtown" which was kinda fun for a quick outing.

You can play the Marquez or the Princess course even though you are not staying there. It's about 125 or so also.
Most green fees in Mexico are resort-level fees, 100 to 125, or in Cabo, 200 and up during high season. although afternoon rates are less too. Remember that there are more courses in Arizona, than all of Mexico. Golf is still a sport for the rich, or foreigners, in Mexico.

Of course you want to bring all your own equipment. It's Mexico, not Pebble Beach. Are any courses in Acapulco worth 125 dollars? Depends on how badly you want to play. Most American golfers would say they are a bit overpriced, but if you want to play golf on vacation in Mexico, you just shrug and pay it.

You can send me a private message if you want to know more...have fun. Herradura Reposado, by the way.

[songolfbur]

I am staying at the Grand mayan which means it will only cost $55 all day (called and confirmed when tee times were booked) in february.

How was the course though? Or were you too fired up about all the nonsense?

Thx

[I_HATE_SNOW]

I'd love to have a logo ball from the Princess. We played it years ago with rented clubs, best part of the trip. Don't miss the cliff divers and watch where you go in town, especially after dark. I hope you are staying south of town in a resort. We were in an old hotel, Tortuga, in town, you couldn't sit on the beach without someone trying to sell you something every minute. It was also spring break, lots of girls not many guys, and a Navy ship was in port. I still remember seeing some of what was being sold that night.

[Reisen]

Just got back from the Grand Mayan. Actually saw this thread while using their internet lounge ($2.50 for 30 minutes on one of their computers, or like $20 for 48 hours of WIFI), but didn't get a chance to reply until now.

I'll warn you, you don't get that $55 rate at Copra just for staying at the Grand Mayan. That rate will likely be if you agree to go on their sales tour (they're selling timeshares). We didn't do it, but the people we talked to mentioned it lasted about 3 hours (they serve you breakfast), but one guy thought that was worth it for a price break on 12 rounds of golf.

Rack rate is something like $145, but they had a twilight rate after 2pm of $95. For some reason, the girl rang it up for 200 pesos lower, so what we actually paid was something like $75, plus $35 for club rentals. They have used balls for a reasonable price, and there were guys selling found balls on the course for pretty cheap. They also had NXT Extremes for something crazy like $25 a sleeve!

I was, unfortunately, pretty dissapointed in the Copra course. No ocean views; it runs through developments the whole way. The course is short, but for hackers like us (all shot in the mid-high 90's), 6100 yards was fine. VERY short par threes (several around 100 yards). The course could really use better greenskeepers. The greens are in rough shape, and there are lots of bare spots in the fairways / rough.

I would liken the conditioning to a slightly below average muni. The actual course layout is much better, but they need to do a better job of maintaining it. It didn't seem to get a ton of play, so it's not golfer traffic.

That said, it was a fine round, and worth it to get out and play in the sunshine. They have a range, with grass tees. Again, not a resort level range, but it works. The rental clubs were Cobras, and were fine. Plenty of drink carts / cervezas!

Now, on to my other complaints about Acapulco golf: the other courses.

First, the Marquez. Closed, while they build a new course, Turtle Beach. As far as I can tell, it's not open yet.

Second, the Acapulco Princess. I didn't play it, and should have. The staff at the Grand Mayan will discourage you from playing (versus Copra), but I heard from other guests it is a much nicer course in better condition.

Third, "Tres Vidas". This is supposedly the nicest course in the area, and one of the better courses in all of Mexico. $$$. $205 in the morning, $165 after noon. We were still willing to pay this, as it was supposed to be a fabulous course with an island green and lots of ocean views. However, when we made our tee times, they informed us they had NO left-handed clubs. WTF??? How does a $200 course not have a single decent set of left-handed clubs? They said something about having a few found clubs, but not a set. I'm not paying $200+ for my buddy to play with a right-handed putter, and a 20-year-old left handed 4 and 9 iron...

Lessons? Tres Vidas is supposed to be really nice, but bring your clubs if a lefty (We were toting small kids, and figured it would be worth the money to just rent). If I had it to do over again, I would probably play the Acapulco Princess instead of Copra. In the future, if someone reads this thread, Turtle Beach looks really nice.

On the bright side, the Grand Mayan is really nice. They have a lobby shop that has beer / soda, etc. for really cheap (about a third of what you'll pay at the pool bar /restaurants). They gouge you on suncreen though (like $28 for a bottle), so bring plenty!