Elite Traveler Winter 2020

elite traveler WINTER 2020/21 117

Garzón Tajamares is designated as a PGA Tour Preferred Golf Course

Aside from that, much of the course remains as Bulgheroni first envisioned it — an assemblage of holes that bound over and trundle down gentle hillsides, with beautifully maintained water hazards in play and more than 50 bunkers certain to test a golfer’s mettle in the sand. A Garzón Club membership is not the only way to gain access to the course, however. Garzón Tajamares is designated as a PGA Tour Preferred Golf Course, which means it’s affiliated with the TPC Network and, as such, it can be played by members of any of the 30 TPC golf clubs around the world. It is not the only course in Uruguay, either. A dozen golf clubs exist, most of which are private, although all welcome public play on Mondays (Garzón Tajamares being the lone exception). Arguably, Uruguay’s most historic course, Club de Golf del Uruguay, offers a striking counterbalance to the playing experience at Garzón Tajamares. The course, which is set in downtown Montevideo, boasts a well-preserved layout designed by Alister MacKenzie. Built in 1930, during golf’s golden age in the Americas, Club de Golf del Uruguay plays at least 500 yards shorter than Bulgheroni’s contemporary layout. With its tight, tree-lined fairways, fast greens and precipitous bunkers, it offers an experience illustrative of how golf was played almost a century ago. “You’ll find some of his signature designs here,” “We don’t want to lose the MacKenzie design,” he adds, explaining that the club has invested resources to preserve the layout as it originally existed. “It’s very interesting and important to us. We want to Carlos Crispo, the club’s captain, says of MacKenzie’s revered architectural work.

Above, below Club de Golf del Uruguay; Garzón Tajamares Golf Club

preserve that.” by Shaun Tolson thegarzonclub.com, cgu.com.uy

Photos Bankston Images