Dominican delight – Global Golf Post

LA ROMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | It is the last night of a four-night stay at Casa de Campo, and as I savor a rather potent rum drink on the balcony off my second-floor suite in the resort’s new Premier Club, I realize this is the eighth time I have visited this sun-soaked land. That prompts me to consider the many things I like about this spot.

Start with the setting on the southeastern coast of the D.R., which is the second-largest country in the Caribbean and the place where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492. The weather is warm and sunny most of the year, and the air frequently filled with sounds of crashing surf and scents of saltwater. Trade winds provide a cooling respite from the tropical heat as does the shade of the many varieties of palms that flourish on the property along with banana, mango and star fruit trees. And the pink, red and purple petals that bloom on the bougainvillea and hibiscus add a perfect amount of color to the island landscape.

I also appreciate the sense of comfort and familiarity I feel with each trip to Casa de Campo, which translates from Spanish into “country home” and features 306 hotel rooms and suites and more than 2,500 villas, some of which are available for rent. Whether I am returning to the sugar-sand beach at Minitas for a swim and a proper sunbath or the 245-acre shooting center for rounds of skeet and five-stand, I know what I am going to find. I also can be sure that the quality of the amenities and the overall experience will be quite good – and that I will be greeted warmly by members of the Casa de Campo staff, many of whom have served me in years past. Some may even remember my name.

Then, there is the golf. All told, the resort boasts 63 holes designed by the late, great Pete Dye, often with input from his dearly departed wife, Alice. And they represent some of the finest work that duo ever produced, especially Teeth of the Dog with seven holes running along the jagged coral coast of the Caribbean, the waves sometimes breaking so hard that seawater leaps into the air mere feet from tees and greens. In fact, that layout, as well as the three nines at Dye Fore and the 18-hole Links, combine to make Casa de Campo among the finest golf resorts in the world. Throw in the course that he designed at the La Romana Country Club, a private retreat on resort grounds that guests can sometimes access, and you have the most expansive collection of Dye designs in one place in the world.

I have come to understand another reason why I hold this 7,000-acre retreat in such esteem, and that is how it keeps upping its game.

Among the latest of those efforts is a sort of boutique hotel called the Premier Club. Opened in late 2022 and located within view of the first holes of the Links and Teeth, it features 58 suites and offers private check-in, personal concierge service, individual patios and balconies and an upgraded golf cart (when compared to others provided for guests on the resort) for traveling around the property. There is also a dedicated Club lodge that stays open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day and offers a variety of beverages – from freshly brewed Dominican coffee to exotic drinks fashioned with local rum and fruit juices – as well as complimentary canapés and appetizers.

Another recent addition is a state-of-the-art spa and wellness center. Some 18,000 square feet in size and only a short walk from the Premier Club, it offers prestige spa services and wellness experiences, whether simple but deeply satisfying massages or technology-supported treatments that include JetPeel facials, MLX i3Dome triple detox therapy or binaural acoustic and dynamic stimulation on a Welnamis table. The facility, which has been operating for less than a year, also boasts what its director, Irene Campaña, dubs a “spa within a spa” that provides VIP guests and residents – as well as the bridal parties that flock to the resort – the privacy they so often crave in such places.

Things at Casa de Campo promise only to get even better once Jerry Pate, the former U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open champion, completes a 2025 renovation of Teeth, which was named for the way locals working on the course during its construction in 1971 described the rock coral on the craggy coast as resembling dientes del perro, or Teeth of the Dog.

To be fair, some golfers might feel that taking Teeth out of service for a year can hardly be considered an improvement as far as the overall offerings at the resort are concerned. At least in the short term. But according to Pate, who led the U.S. to victory in the 1974 World Amateur Team Championship on the course and now serves as Casa de Campo’s architectural consultant, as well as Gilles Gagnon, the director of golf emeritus, the renovation is much needed for a layout 53 years of age. It will include the rebuilding of all bunkers and re-positioning of some of those hazards as well as re-grassing the tees, fairways and greens with Pure Dynasty paspalum, a saltwater-tolerant strain of turf.

An 18,000-square-foot spa and wellness center is a recent addition at Casa de Campo.

Pate is quick to add that while he will implement those and other changes, such as returning greens to their original sizes, reinstating contours on some of the putting surfaces, adding a back tee or two and sand-capping the tees and fairways to improve soil depth and conditioning, the routing and overall strategies of the course will not change.

In other words, Teeth will remain very much a Pete Dye classic and continue to challenge better players, as it has in three Latin America Amateur Championships since 2016, while providing higher-handicappers with a fun and very scenic place to enjoy their games.

“I knew Pete quite well,” said Pate, who famously tossed the designer into the drink off the 18th green at TPC Sawgrass in 1982 after winning the first Players Championship held at the home of the PGA Tour. “And we talked a lot about Teeth. Pete and Alice had a winter home here, off the seventh tee, and he was constantly tweaking the course. I have also talked a lot about Teeth with their son, P.B., who more or less grew up at Casa de Campo, and he knows Teeth as well as anyone.”

“After all, they are Pete Dye golf courses. … And there is not a weak hole out there.” – Todd Gilley

It is also worth noting that with the Links, which opened in 1975, and Dye Fore, the first two nines of which (Chavon and Marina) came on line in 2003 and the third (Lagos) in 2011, Casa de Campo will still have 45 holes open for play in 2025. And games on those other tracks hardly would be slumming it.

“After all, they are Pete Dye golf courses,” said Todd Gilley, the resort’s head golf professional, adding that residents and guests are especially fond of Dye Fore. “The three nines there are very different in their own ways, both in how they look and the ways they play. And there is not a weak hole out there.”

Chavon is, in a word, dramatic, with all or parts of seven of its holes perched on clifftops rising some 300 feet above a river gorge. But the views on Marina are stunning in their own ways, the holes meandering down toward the marina at Casa de Campo that is full of million-dollar yachts and then heading back up to the clubhouse again. And while Lagos is not nearly as visually arresting, it is good fun to play and asks golfers to hit a variety of shots.

“The ‘wow’ factor at Lagos is not as great as the other nines at Dye Fore,” Gilley said. “And I think that made Pete only work harder on the design of the holes and make sure they were interesting.”

The Premier Club lounge and terrace beyond (left), and a peek inside one of the suites

As best as Gilley can tell, resort guests and residents at Casa de Campo like Dye Fore a lot. “And when I hear them talk about their rounds on the shuttle afterwards, I’d say about half if not more say they actually prefer Dye Fore to Teeth,” he said.

Dye Fore is that good, and the Links is not far behind.

There is no denying that the Premier Club is good. Very good, in fact. That is due in part to the sense of intimacy it possesses along with a very high level of service, whether the check-in process that entails sitting across from a receptionist at a stylish wood desk and very quickly and easily procuring your room or the way a server almost telepathically keeps topping off the glass of a New Zealand sauvignon blanc I am enjoying one afternoon on the Premier Club terrace.

Then, there was the housekeeper who made sure the ice bucket in my room was filled each evening by 5 p.m. (I guess the bottle of Dominican rum I had bought in Duty Free was a dead giveaway that I might get a little thirsty at that time of day.) And I positively luxuriated in the other features of my quarters, from the 1,000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets on my king-sized and very comfortable bed to the Kohler rain shower and tub in the bathroom.

As for the spa, I kept it simple from a treatment standpoint and opted only for a 50-minute massage and some good soak time in an outdoor pool. But after spending a few hours there, I was still able to discern – and appreciate – how this facility has made Casa de Campo for the first time as much of a spa and wellness destination as a place to go for golf.

It’ll be interesting to see what the resort does next.

Top: Nos. 7 and 8 on the Teeth of the Dog. Photos courtesy Casa de Campo

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