STAR OF LAND AND SEA
Now that I’m feeling like a beggar in dirty rags and standing in a breadline, let’s get back to golf for a moment, shall we?
After experiencing such over-the-top luxury by the water’s edge, it’s quite refreshing to return to Twin Dolphin, where the natural terrain has been preserved by Couples and Eckenrode to “avoid that bulldozed, clean-edged look that so many Cabo courses feature. We chose to let the land be the star.”
While mostly removed from the water per se, The Sea of Cortez and Pacific Ocean are visible from almost all of the holes, with especially grand vistas on the back nine. Number 14 is a 212-yard par 3 that occupies the property’s apex at 300 feet; and the 15th – a par-4 measuring 420 yards – winds along an arroyo before making its way to the seashore. Couples doubled the size of the green on the second hole, a modest par 4, in the name of ultra-playability for his mid-handicap pals.
Not that the course is meant to be a pushover like most resort courses. Couples himself has had a trial by fire mastering his own layout, he admitted with a chuckle. “I played six straight times and struggled making putts – the greens run true but are not particularly easy to read! I didn’t make but a few birdies and I even hoisted one drive clear into the desert. Playability was key in the design, but you’d better bring some game too.”
Another plus on the design side is that Couples and Eckenrode didn’t have to route the design through or around planned homesites, allowing them to preserve the natural terrain, including various boulders that had been squatting on the land since time immemorial. “We didn’t stage anything, “ Couples said. “We put grass down and let it grow, which is pretty easy down here. We attempted to maintain its organic look and beauty and I think we did a pretty darned good job.”
