Elite Traveler Spring 2020

A DRIVE THROUGH THE CANYONS TPC DANZANTE BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, MEXICO

On the Baja Peninsula’s East Coast, TPC Danzante Bay offers intrepid golf travelers a destination that is more remote, and a golf course set on terrain that is even more dramatic. The course was conceived by Rees Jones, a course architect who is best known for his efforts in restoring and tweaking historic courses to prepare them for upcoming major championships. On the topic of Jones’s original course designs, though, TPC Danzante Bay is his pièce de résistance. “I don’t know that there’s a better site in Mexico that has been protected by the owners,” the 78-year-old architect says. “They don’t want to see the houses take it over. Every time we turn around they’re eliminating a lot to preserve the golf course.” The 7,237-yard course plays over, around and between the rocky, scrub-covered buttes of the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range, spilling out toward the Sea of Cortez halfway through the back nine before climbing up the hills to its signature hole — the par-3 17th, which thrills golfers with a peninsula green perched on a clifftop 250 feet above surging waves that crash into the cove below. Despite the 17th hole’s inherent drama, TPC Danzante Bay’s spectacular canyon holes are the course’s crowning achievement. “We were lucky with this site,” Jones says. “We didn’t need to create any new features. You don’t often get mountainous areas like this to work with, where you can find holes through the canyons.” Not all accommodations at the Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa measure up to the quality of the golf course; however, the presidential penthouse will not disappoint. “People travel places to create new experiences,” says Jones, “and that’s

what they’ll find here.” tpcdanzantebay.com

Photos Joann Dost