The PGA Tour stops this week in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, a slice of paradise between the iconic El Yunque rainforest and the Atlantic Ocean
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — I’ve just hit my second golf shot on a getaway to Puerto Rico — neither quite as good as I hoped or as bad as I anticipated — and now I’m stopped along the cart path on the first hole on the Ocean Course at Rio Mar Country Club, clicking photos of an iguana that is hanging out in the shadows not too far from the green.
While I guesstimate this creature is about the same length as my three-wood, I am not willing to get close enough to confirm that measurement.
As I click away, I realize this is on par with snapping shots of the geese back home. There are literally millions of iguanas on this island.
“You see them all over” said Elcor Castillo, who maintains two sibling stunners — the Ocean Course and River Course — as superintendent at Rio Mar Country Club. “They are in the bunkers. They are up on the palm trees. They are … everywhere.”
Rio Grande is a hotspot for tourists, a stretch of paradise between the iconic El Yunque rainforest and the Atlantic Ocean.
This week, it also is a hotspot for tour pros, with Grand Reserve Golf Club playing host to the Puerto Rico Open. This is an opposite-field event, with the PGA Tour’s biggest names busy at Bay Hill, but it serves as a stellar showcase for what is an under-rated option for your next sun-and-swing escape.
Be warned, if you catch even a few minutes of the coverage on Golf Channel, you will be tempted to book a trip.
“It’s always a big treat,” Eduardo Figueroa, the director of golf at Grand Reserve, said of the PGA Tour’s annual visit. “I’m seeing all these players in front of me — in the clubhouse, in the locker room, hitting balls on the driving range.
“And because we are in front of El Yunque, our rainforest, when we go to the TV, it’s amazing to see all the colours of Puerto Rico.”
I’d heard many great things about the golf scene in Puerto Rico from a PR associate who had several times pitched a visit — and it certainly did not disappoint.
There are four strong courses in Rio Grande, all within about 20 minutes of driving, all with big-name designers and all connected to top-notch resorts.
If you’re crashing this week at any of the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar, the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve or the St. Regis Bahia Beach, you could spot a PGA Tour sharpshooter unwinding by the pool after an early round. (If they think 66 or 67 strokes is tiring, they should try the sport that the rest of us play.)
The Puerto Rico Open has, in years past, been a springboard to stardom, with Tony Finau and Viktor Hovland both securing their first career victory on this Caribbean island.
“A lot of people, they watch the tournament and then they come to play the River or Ocean Course and they have a blast,” Castillo said. “They love it here.”
Alberto Rios, the longtime director of golf at Bahia Beach, is accustomed to hearing those same sort or compliments. Winding through woodlands and saltwater lagoons, this serene setup has been ranked by some publications as the best of the nearly 30 layouts on the island.
“Everybody is always excited and surprised at the same time with our golf course,” Rios said. “It’s kind of like a combination because you start the front nine and you’re playing through nature and then you come out and you’re right by the Atlantic Ocean. It’s kind of like a change of scenery within the same 18 holes.”
That finishing stretch is breathtaking. Two of the final three assignments play right along the beach.
Similarly stunning is No. 16 on the Ocean Course at Rio Mar, a long-and-strong Par 3 where a righty with a snap-hook could scare the folks in flip-flops as they stroll through the sand.
Not to be outdone, the River Course dances back-and-forth across the Mameyes. Rio Mar’s two tracks combined to host the World Amateur Team Championship in 2004.
The PGA Tour pros may also be distracted by the crash of waves and the gentle sway of palm trees at Grand Reserve.
“When people go to Hole 12, which is our signature hole, they look at the front of the beach and see that view and they just want to keep playing that hole, you know?” Figueroa said. “They want to finish up 18 and come back to No. 12.”
And if you want to finish up 18 and do something else, you’ve picked the right place. This is more of a getaway-with-golf than a dig-divots-til-you-drop type of destination.
You can explore the colourful architecture in the capital city of San Juan.
You can sample the local cuisine, like mofongo, at the famed Kioskos de Luquillo.
You must, must, must make time to visit El Yunque, a bucket-lister for nature-lovers and shutterbugs. You can hike with a guide to a series of gorgeous waterfalls and then luge — to choose a wintery word for it — back to your starting point on natural waterslides.
“We also have a beautiful bioluminescent bay and that’s within about 30 minutes of here. The island is blessed with having all this oceanfront, but you have mountainous areas, you have areas that are very dry. If you go to the other side of the island, you have some of the greatest surfing available. It rivals some of the areas in Hawaii.
“So there’s a lot to this island. There’s a lot of great restaurants. There’s a lot of history. There’s a lot of art and culture.”
And a lot of iguanas.