Davis Love - Cabo San Lucas

[Greg Tallman]

Had the pleasure of visiting the site for Davis Love's course here in Cabo San Lucas and I will tell you that this is one to keep on the radar.

The site is unbelievable. The routing seemingly makes great use of the land (not that I am all that skilled in assessing this aspect). I would guess that the primary dune is no less than 75 feet (help me out here Paul Cowley) above beach level and the subsequent dunes structure is equally impressive.

Of the three contiguous golf sites on this stretch of coastline on the Pacific side of Cabo it would appear that this site was certainly the pick of the litter as the others, while interesting, don't have near the character as that of the Love site.

They are shooting to have the course playable by December (optimistic) or early 2008. Should be an amazingly easy build given the site... very little heavy work required.

There is no shortage of great holes ready to be extracted from the land and the routing could change 100 times and still yield a great golf course.

Not to put undue pressure on Paul Cowley and the guys at Love but I would not be surprised to see this course debut rather high in the oft-discussed course rankings.

Paul - Am I stretching to say that #11 is very similar to #17 at Whistling Straits(minus the lake of course)? At least you did not have to build this dune! Hell even 8 and 9 should be fun, interesting and natural appearing holes. Back nine could be off the charts... 12 and 13 a bit different(anxious to see how the lagoon comes off) and the rest... wow! Best of Luck.

[George Pazin]

Photos?

 

[Greg Tallman]

Apologies but no photos were taken.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

 "Diamante Cabo, a 1,500-acre development on the Pacific Ocean shoreline just north of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California. Mickelson will design the ultra-exclusive "Oasis" course, with just 40 premium residential offerings. The second course, called the "Dunes", is already under way and is being designed by Davis Love III."

www.diamantelife.com

[Greg Tallman]

The Mickelson site is not nearly as compelling as the Love site and will cost more than double to build. Outside possibility of a third course.

A crime to call it the "second" course on their own website although it is understood where thay are going with that.

[Andrew Balakshin]

"Diamante Cabo, a 1,500-acre development on the Pacific Ocean shoreline just north of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California. Mickelson will design the ultra-exclusive "Oasis" course, with just 40 premium residential offerings. The second course, called the "Dunes", is already under way and is being designed by Davis Love III."

www.diamantelife.com

Would you happen to have a “password” we could use for the website? I don’t know where they are going with that.

[Greg Tallman]

Sorry Andrew no such luck on the password. I doubt the photos do it justice though.

[Andrew Balakshin]

Sorry Andrew no such luck on the password. I doubt the photos do it justice though.

No worries. By the way, how is the construction of the other new courses being built down there progressing?

[Tom Ferrell]

I have some incredible photos of some of the dunes on the site, and the par-3 11th hole under construction.

They are at my office, and when I go in over the weekend, I'll try to figure out how to post them.

[astavrides]

wasn't there going to be a doak course at the cabo del sol development?  (im too lazy to search or google this am)

[paul cowley]

Greg...I must of just missed you as I was there this week. Next time let me give you the backstage tour.

The site we are building on is really 'world class', similar to Cypress, Pebble, Bandon or any of the Doak trilogy when one compares the existing land forms and their dramatic relationship with the sea.......and with the added benifit of it being warm when the wind blows .

I did contact TomD over a year ago about the similar terrain to the north of us, but it seems he has a non compete clause with the course he is building farther up the peninsula.

 On a recent trip I met Jason McCoy, who is with Normans group, and he indicated that they will be building to the north.

Mickelson's group is working on plans for the rather flattish property that is out of the dunes and behind us, which we have nick named Shadow Creek ll, as it will probably require that kind of budget to create the kind of interest that already exists in ours. I love the challenge...minimal versus maximal.

Of other interest, much of the movie Troy was filmed on our site.

I promise to somehow post some pics in the future, especially when we get some grass down. We have rough shaped 8 holes and most of the others don't require much more beyond putting in irrigation.....something we should start next month, along with the sprigging of a 40 acre sod farm on site. We will be using Supreme Paspalum.

I will post more in the future if there is an interest.....but I really need to work on getting some decent pictures, as in this case a picture is worth 10,000 of my words .

[noonan]

Password - cabo

[TEPaul]

Paul C has mentioned to me a number of times that I ought to take a trip down there to see this site. He says it's the most potential site for dramatic golf and views he's ever seen. One can never take enough "before" photos, in my opinion.

[George Pazin]

wasn't there going to be a doak course at the cabo del sol development?  (im too lazy to search or google this am)

Here's a link to the development, I have no idea where things stand:

http://www.bahiadelossuenos.com/

I'd buy in ala Barnbougle, but I think the amount is a little higher.

 

Instructions for Tom Ferrell on how to post photos:



Kind of ironic that Phil would be building the "tree laden" course, isn't it?

[Jon Spaulding]

Password - cabo

Thanks for the password; unbelievable site. Appears this will end up better than the crappy movie filmed there......

Is the primary irrigation pond located within the boundary of the course?

[paul cowley]

TomP .....there is an abundance of before photos....the only thing lacking is my ability to post them .

[paul cowley]

Jon....the primary irrigation lagoon is located between holes 12 and 13. It will be about 10 acres in size and is situated in a natural depression that was not part of the arroyo system and backs up against the primary dune.
It is designed to resemble an impounded interdunal/tidal lagoon, similar to the impounded estuary in nearby San Jose.
It will be planted with salt tolerant bulrush and other native emergent aquatics and allow for a water fluctuation of 3 to 4'.
No turf grass will border any of the lagoons edges.
We will on occasion create a brackish situation by having the ability to mix the desal water with salt water.

Hopefully most people [and wildlife], will think that the lagoon was an existing one, which we utilized to our advantage by routing two holes around it.

[Andrew Balakshin]

I have some incredible photos of some of the dunes on the site, and the par-3 11th hole under construction.

They are at my office, and when I go in over the weekend, I'll try to figure out how to post them.

I look forward to seeing them!

It’s unfortunate that only one tee and one green (the 16th) are one the ocean however. Apart from those two holes, it looks like the rest of the course is located behind the oceanside resort development.

[Jon Spaulding]

Thanks Paul; so long as there are no waterfalls....are there any places with similar sites to draw inspiration for these two water holes?

I've only seen sketches of Westward Ho, but recollect that there is a great short par 4 there with an estuarial/tidal hazard. Bodega Bay (which I do not like overall), has a couple of good holes skirting the same type of hazard.

[paul cowley]

Jon....no waterfalls for us, but probably many for the Mickelson course. At one point during his site visit he was suggesting that the entry road terminate on a veiled falls that when you approached close enough the falls would cease while you drove through. He also wanted a zip line that went from the nearby Light House down to the Clubhouse area. Phil seems to have a capacity and enthusiasm for fun ideas and design solutions.

It should be very interesting what develops at Shadow Creek ll, the Oasis Edition .

[Greg Tallman]

wasn't there going to be a doak course at the cabo del sol development?  (im too lazy to search or google this am)

Doak did a routing here at Cabo del Sol several years ago and the routing is still staked while others are explored due to  changes to the master plan. Final number of golf courses still up in the air.

I also had the good fortune of visiting Doak's course at Bahia de Los Sueños earlier last week (along with an Arthur Hills layout on the peninsula across from LaPaz). This will be another excellent golf course with distinctly different feels throughout the course (from dunes to moutains to oceanfront green sites). Pretty neat design and an amazing property overall. The same property also has a Nicklaus routing in place on the north end of the development.

[Greg Tallman]

Greg...I must of just missed you as I was there this week. Next time let me give you the backstage tour.

The site we are building on is really 'world class', similar to Cypress, Pebble, Bandon or any of the Doak trilogy when one compares the existing land forms and their dramatic relationship with the sea.......and with the added benifit of it being warm when the wind blows .

I did contact TomD over a year ago about the similar terrain to the north of us, but it seems he has a non compete clause with the course he is building farther up the peninsula.

 On a recent trip I met Jason McCoy, who is with Normans group, and he indicated that they will be building to the north.

Mickelson's group is working on plans for the rather flattish property that is out of the dunes and behind us, which we have nick named Shadow Creek ll, as it will probably require that kind of budget to create the kind of interest that already exists in ours. I love the challenge...minimal versus maximal.

Of other interest, much of the movie Troy was filmed on our site.

I promise to somehow post some pics in the future, especially when we get some grass down. We have rough shaped 8 holes and most of the others don't require much more beyond putting in irrigation.....something we should start next month, along with the sprigging of a 40 acre sod farm on site. We will be using Supreme Paspalum.

I will post more in the future if there is an interest.....but I really need to work on getting some decent pictures, as in this case a picture is worth 10,000 of my words .

Paul, We were there on Thursday just after the President left (dedicating the desal plant). I truly was blown away by the property.

My biggest question is exaclty where and how the fourth green will come off... Do you envision blowing out the face of the dune and placing the green in the natural bowl just behind?

From what I could see the property Norman is supposed to build on is not nearly as dynamic as your site. It seems to have far less natural character and would require more earthmoving. Also the Nicklaus site above and south certainly has some wow factor but not as interesting overall. I know they feel differently but for pure golf it does not compare... the tourists should like it though.

Next time you are down give me shout.

[paul cowley]

 Greg....the stakes you are seeing on #4 were put there incorrectly months ago....if you shift the green and landing area stakes back about 50 yds you will be closer to the true sites.....the green is in a vegetated natural elongated bowl and the fairway is really split around the natural diagonal cross bunker. The hole will be a downwind reachable par four of about 340 yds from the tips. I don't envision we will be moving more than 50 yds of dirt to build the hole.

The stake you are mistaking for the green is close to where one of the tees will be for the crosswind par three...hole #5.

Yes, we need to meet up .