Playa Mujeres Golf Club — Local services in Quintana Roo

I played the course yesterday, April 23, 2023 at 09:52. The good and the BAD.

The Good:

The course was fun and playable. It is kept in good shape and I enjoyed the grass used on the greens. Lot's of wind, so making pars is a challenge, but a good challenge. It is really easy to lose balls due to the high winds. Nice staff at the range.

The BAD:

1. Upon arrival I went to check in and the price increased from $210 to $285. Prior to arriving I checked with my hotel concierge at Garza Blanca, and they told me that me and my 13 year old son would both be $210. I knew this was bunk because on the course website it offers a junior fee of $85. Instead of booking through the hotel concierge, I called the pro shop directly and booked my tee times. I was told that I would be $210 and my son $85. I made notes in my phone inclusive of my reservation number, etc. The pro shop lady on the phone should have stated that to honor the $210 hotel price I would need to bring a piece of paper (not kidding) from hotel Garza Blanca concierge regarding the $210 rate. Of course the woman on the phone said nothing about the paper. Despite me proving concrete evidence to her that I was staying at Garza Blanca, the check in person was insistent that I pay the $285. I told her that her customer service was not good and that this would never happen in America. Her response was "well this is Mexico". Lose one star and a bad way to start the day!
2. Due to the high winds we lost some balls to the jungle. So at the turn we decided to buy some balls from the pro shop. The cheapest balls were $15 per sleeve! I bought a box of low grade balls for $60. For reference Titleist Pro V1's cost $100 per box, $25 per sleeve at the pro shop! As it so happens we did not use any of the balls from the box I bought for the back 9. After my round I went to return the balls which were in perfect condition and never opened. The pro shop refused to accept the return and refund my money. What if I had bought a shirt with the tags and it was never worn, would they have returned it? Mexico! Lose one star.
3. At 10 I was teeing off and 3 landscape workers were fixing an irrigation line. After I hit, one of them chatted me up. He was very nice and talkative. He then brought out a of balls and wanted to sell them to me for $20. I didn't need nor want the balls, but wanted to help the guy out. I offered him $10 and he accepted. I walked back to the cart to grab some cash. I turned back and saw the 3 workers scrambling, emptying balls out of the bag they just showed me to hide some balls. A bait and switch - show me 20 balls and sell me 14. When I saw the guys I told them that the deal was off because they are not honorable. Mexico! Lose a star.
4. When finishing my round we brought the cart back and the attendants started washing my clubs right away. I went into the pro shop to break a $20 and give the attendant $10, a good tip for them! Of course the pro shop said they they could not make change. I went to the bar to ask the same. Surely, a bar can break a $20, right? Nope. They could not have cared less. Seriously how do they not have change? My thought is that even the management of the golf course doesn't trust their workers with cash because they are all schemers. The attendant was able to break the $20, but just barely. I left him with no smaller bills than the $20 I just gave him and 20 pesos that fell out of his pocket.

Overall the course is good and it is a fun round despite the winds. The staff are all schemers and no one can be trusted. Their sole purpose is to extract money out of you. Customer service is...

Played Friday morning round at 7:50 AM teetime, September 13th. Managed to get out there as a single. Rate was not bad at $125 with cart (was staying at nearby Dreams, Playa Mujeres), however, the club rental rate was high at $80 for a Taylormade Stealth driver and irons bag, with Spider putter and only one low bounce 56 degree wedge, which I ended up loving off the tight lies here. I brought my own shoes, glove, balls, tees, and tee markers from back home. They do give you about 10 to 12 free tees with the round, and one bottle of water with some ice in the cart cooler, as well. Excellent driving range and practice putting green. This was during the end of their hot and slow season, overall the course itself was still in excellent shape. The greens however, were a bit slow and beat up, they were aerating the greens so I started on the 10th hole. I did skip one hole (a par 3 somewhere in the front 9) as they were actively performing work on it. I did, however, replay the 10th hole one more time to finish up a full 18. The course itself is beautiful, and even though you can only see the ocean from one hole or so, the place, definitely felt like coastal/jungle golf. Not too challenging, however, there are some definite challenge holes with huge expanses of water, and other holes with large waste areas and bunkers. Also, there are several holes with fish bowl greens, which was my first time playing on those types of greens. Service was excellent here, all staff very kind and helpful. Cart girl came by at least four times throughout the round. Bottles of water were one dollar and Modelo’s were six dollars. Pace of play was mostly very fast, as it is still considered their slow season. I did get stuck behind one group, but they were very friendly and let me play through. Even though I took my time for about nine holes, still finished under 3 1/2. My timing was perfect as when my round was done, it really started to get hot outside. I shot low this round (91, I play to a 22.7) off the silver tees. Will definitely try again next time out there, and perhaps bring my own...

Fair, but honest review. The course itself was beautiful! Very tight, but if you can find the fairway, you will be good to go. Not very long (I played from the silver tees, just over 6,200 yards). That being said, there were multiple par 4's that were under 400yds or just over. So, challenging enough and very fun to play! Only one hole where you could see the ocean. Water on multiple holes presented a bit of a challenge with stiff winds.

Overall experience: They provided a transportation service to our resort, since it was only a 5 minute drive in Playa Mujeres, so that was great. No charge, just tip. But for the overall price of the course, I think it was standard for most vacation destination golf courses, but I've played nicer courses in the US for way less, with much better amenities. The driving range didn't have any stacked racks of balls, but instead 10-15 thrown in a pile on the ground - only 3 of the 10ish spots had balls there. The electric carts were nice with a touch screen that guided you throughout the course. Coolers had no ice in them, they provided a small water bottle, and a handful of tees. Simple things like the club cleaner and ball cleaners didn't have water in them... and there was no place to water down a towel. This was my first time playing out of the US, but for the price I paid I guess I was expecting the same level of service I've received at nice courses in the states. There weren't many people playing on a Thursday morning, so playing by myself solo, I was able to finish in under 3 hours after playing through 3-4 groups. The fairways, rough, traps and greens were all in great shape. Very fun play, but challenging for those who struggle to hit it off the...