Marina Vallarta Golf Club — Attraction in Jalisco

A fun and solid mid shelf track with a local vibe in Puerto Vallarta. I played Marina Vallarta Golf Course on a warm sunny day with light breezes at the end of December 2021. It’s a regulation length parkland-resort style track set on level terrain near the ocean. It courses through neighborhoods and crosses streets and players must avoid its several water hazards, residential out-of-bounds, trees, and bunkers. Oh, and crocodiles. There are crocodiles. Usually in the water hazards, but not always. You’re going to want to keep your eyes open for them. I think the designer, Joe Finger (1918-2003) did an admirable job creating a combination of holes that includes findable landing areas, risk-rewards, a beautiful oceanfront one shoter, and a doozy of an approach to the 18th green. Marina Vallarta has a nice practice putting green and a decent grass range supplied with range balls from this century, which is nice. The facility gets a lot of play from vacationers and snowbirds, some of whom buy memberships, otherwise it’s daily fee golf. Side note: One such snowbird told me that they are always trying to figure out which course in the area they want to settle into as their “home course.” This was coming from a marshall. Hmm.

The condition of the course was a bit underwhelming. While the greens were totally respectable, the fairways were a tad scrappy for the price point. That could change after the detrimental impact of the covid pandemic wanes and Marina V receives more cash flow. After the exchange rate I paid $142 to play there. You may be able to pay less, perhaps more. In Oregon, where I’m from, this course would cost less than half that, but I find golf in Mexico to be priced super high everywhere. That notwithstanding I enjoyed the splurge. I also played the two Vista Vallarta courses and while Marina doesn’t rise to their level, it was a perfectly suitable addition to the week. Plus, crocodiles! Hit...

I chose this course because it was the must reasonably priced, at least as far as I could tell, and closest to my vacation spot south of PV.

Twilight rates were about $150 CAN including cart, and about $75 CAN for rental clubs.

The course is ok. Some holes are ridiculously hard. Tenth hole in particular is right next to the driving range, side by side, and there is no barrier, so the fairway is littered with range balls. Good luck finding your ball. The cart path crosses the street several times so you need to be aware as traffic does not give AF.

Crocs and birds were cool.

Carts have a gps or something so if you stray out of some invisible border, the cart stops dead and will not move. Only in reverse. You might tell a guy this.

The rental clubs were garage sale garbage. Worn out grooves, grips worn shiny and missing chunks, and caked with grass and dirt from the last renter. Plus, my right handed bag of “Callaway” clubs had a left handed putter. FFS. Great way to end the first hole with the group behind coming up. Finally got it switched at the turn for a RTH putter with a crooked grip. For $54 USD I’m not impressed.

Cart gals were friendly and drinks priced reasonably.

For a guy who left feet of snow and -26C a round of golf in January is a treat. But I’m not sure I’d...

I just played a round here today 3/26 and I have to say that I’m disappointed in how the course managed the tee times. When I teed off at 3pm we had a group of 3 and as we hit the 3rd hole we realized that we were waiting for the group ahead which isn’t unusual for this type of course or any golf course. The issue that I had is that just a few groups ahead there was a six pair together all golfing on the same hole which backed up the other groups including us. When we ran into the group ahead of us they informed us that they called the clubhouse to inform them that the group needed to be broken up, however this was not done and they continued to play to where we could not finish our round and ended up back at the clubhouse after hole 12. When we spoke to the employee behind the desk and raised our concerns she simply replied with that’s why the prices are how they are for later tee times, which did not make any sense because this is why you have tee times so nobody is waiting for too long and the pace of play is kept consistent between all groups, it’s only when you don’t enforce the rules and have a group of six players playing at once. Needless to say nothing was done for the inconvenience and we were told that’s just...