Higuera Golf Course — Local services in Nayarit

This review is from a 30 handicapper - anyone that's remotely decent at golf can just skip me, as they always do when I'm on my 4th shot on a Par 4 with 150 yards to go. I have been teeter-tottering on booking a tee time here for about 3 weeks and after my 3rd day at my resort, I needed to scratch my golf itch.

I booked my tee at a much lower rate through GolfNow at $152 per person. Additional fees was my wife as a ridealong and club rentals (latest model TaylorMade Qi10's) that totaled around $114. I bought my own glove, shoes, tees and balls. In total, just to get my bum self to the tee box was around $250.

The staff are AMAZING from the clubhouse, the snack bars and the maintenance crew. They WILL make sure you are properly hydrated and fed. Many thanks to the staff at Higuera.

The course is in great shape with very forgiving fairways. I would try not to slice it into the woods as I'm not sure what awaits there. Lots of elevated greens for challenges. Tee boxes were balanced and cut well. Greens were faster than the pictures I saw from other reviews.

We had a tee time at 10:50 AM and we basically had the whole course to ourselves. We took many pictures ( because there are some great views of the ocean / mountains) and no one was behind us.

For the picture people - Beautiful views on the front 9, back 9 was more closed but you'll get one more picture shot on hole 18. I recommend getting all of your pictures before the turn. Hole 4 is where everyone's getting their Instagram shot.

For the food/alcohol - There's 2 snack bars (Hole 4 and 14) which is included with your green fees. HOWEVER, the bar/restaurant on the turn (hole 9) is NOT included.

I'm assuming if you're reading this, you're either a golfer that isn't sure if the price is worth it or you're a spouse that's been hearing your golfer ho-humming for the past week on if they should pack their golf stuff or not in their luggage...I'd say it was worth it, but I booked at a discounted rate. I think after hole 4 with our wives happily taking pictures, one of my closest friends and I eating the delicious tacos with our beers getting replenished in the cooler was when I thought "OK this was worth it".

I shot a 95 on the...

A well-designed track that is unfortunately pricing itself out of contention.

The good: The 18 holes are varied and interesting, and provide a fun challenge without being overly punishing. The signature hole #4 (picture included) is a beautiful par-3 bordering the Pacific Ocean. The greens are in great shape, both absorbing approach shots and rolling true and at a nice pace. The staff is welcoming and not invasive. The included drinks and snacks are a nice touch, if a bit confusing (only specific options at holes 4 and 13 are included; everything else like the beverage cart and the food at the turn is NOT included).

If you’re staying at the nearby Iberostar Playa Mita, the proximity of the golf club is perhaps its biggest advantage, being a 5-minute golf cart ride away.

The bad: Some areas of the course are in really bad shape. The biggest example of this is hole #1, where the last 100 yards to the hole barely have any grass at all (except for the green itself). It does look like management is trying to bring the course back into shape, but while this is a work in progress, they should not be charging full price (more on that soon).

Also, the tee box options are too long for their intended audience; while this can be adjusted down for most players, in practice it means there is no woman/beginner-friendly option when the shortest set is 5300y long, and everyone else might be confused as to which tees to play from.

The ugly: Simply put, at MX $4,400 (approximately US $260) this course is WAY overpriced for what it is, even with the 10% discount you can get from Iberostar. The only reason we played it more than once was the convenience factor for us because we were staying at the Iberostar, but if you aren't staying there, it’s not worth the detour; you can play El Tigre and Vista Vallarta for a lot less.

In Los Cabos (also in Mexico), you can play the amazing Puerto Los Cabos which has dramatic views everywhere, is in top shape, includes all the bells and whistles and is a real all-inclusive food+drinks, for less than Higuera. That should tell you the price...

Well, I guess I was the April fool! As an avid golfer, I love bringing my clubs to play different courses when on vacations. In the days and weeks prior to coming to Sayulita, I was checking this course’s online tee-sheet, and it surprisingly stayed wide open up until the day before I decided to go, so I didn’t bother making a reservation online as I figured I could just show up and get on as a single, no problem. The price shown online is 3600 pesos. I guess I assumed that was for 18 holes. To say the least I was a bit shocked when I showed up at the clubhouse and they told me that price was for nine holes. Who advertises their green fees online for nine holes only?! For 18, it was 6400 pesos!! That’s $350! I voiced my frustration to the clubhouse attendant, but to no avail. Very misleading! As for the course, so not worth it. No wonder the tee-sheet was wide open. The greens were the only decent part of this course. Oh, and the on-course staff was great. The rest is a dog track. There were only a few other groups that I saw the entire day playing this thing as well. Think they would figure out that if they had reasonable prices, they would have more golfers, which would make up for the difference in revenue and then some. ...