Any time golfers get ready to drive off the first tee in Los Cabos, they should first say a brief thank you to the late Don Koll. Nothing major, and certainly nothing to interrupt waggles or swing thoughts. Just a quick nod before addressing the ball to acknowledge that Los Cabos would likely never have become the incredible golf destination it currently is without Koll’s vision and foresight.
A major figure in Southern California real estate, Koll made three significant moves in Los Cabos during the mid-1980s and early 1990s. First, he bought land for the Cabo del Sol development in partnership with Robert Day in 1985. Second, he purchased the iconic Hotel Palmilla — now One&Only Palmilla — in 1986. Third, he paid golf legend Jack Nicklaus US $2.5 million to design golf courses for each.
How Jack Nicklaus put Los Cabos on the golfing map
Nicklaus, the all-time leader in major championships and then a burgeoning design superstar, knew the area well. He had been flying down for vacations in his Aero Commander since the 1960s. He was committed to taking advantage of the area’s diversity of ocean, desert and mountain terrains and felt he could create world-class layouts: in his words, a “Palm Springs by the sea” at Palmilla and a “Pebble Beach of Baja” at Cabo del Sol.
When the first 18 holes of golf opened at Palmilla in 1993, it was only the second local course. A Mexico City architect, Mario Schjetnan, had designed a modest 9-hole Fonatur course — now Vidanta Los Cabos — in San José del Cabo in 1987. But Nicklaus’ Tourist Corridor efforts were world-class. When his Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol premiered in 1994, Golf Digest wasted little time declaring it one of the world’s best.
Koll set the standard for golf in Los Cabos: big-name designers crafting spectacular courses in picturesque natural settings. Others soon followed in his footsteps. Eduardo Sánchez Navarro, another important Los Cabos developer, originally announced that Texan Joe Finger — a bilingual designer noted for many fine courses in Mexico — would create 27 holes at his Cabo Real resort and residential development. Palmilla, it bears noting, was also conceived as having 27 holes, and that goal was achieved when Nicklaus returned to lay out its 9-hole Ocean Course in 1999.
But when Cabo Real was completed as an 18-hole layout in 1993, it was credited instead to course architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., brought in for his greater name value to golfers from the U.S. Like Nicklaus’ designs, it was an instant success. Cabo Real hosted two Senior Slam tournaments in 1996 and 1999. These events pitted the four major winners of the previous year’s Senior PGA Tour. Raymond Floyd won the first by three strokes over Nicklaus, but the real winner was Los Cabos when network television cameras caught whales breaching in the background.
More pioneering courses in Los Cabos, including extensive private layouts
Plenty of golfers have played the Cabo San Lucas Country Club course since it opened in 1994. Developer Ed Reisdorf hired Roy Dye to design what the course, originally called Campo de Carlos. Dye’s son Matt helped, and after Tropical Storm Lidia in 2017, Mexican golf course architect Agustín Piza was brought in to remodel flood-damaged areas. It remains an enjoyable 18-hole course and is affordable by Los Cabos standards.
Meanwhile, no one but members and guests have played the Jack Nicklaus-designed El Dorado, which opened in 1999, and the Tom Fazio-designed Querencia, which premiered in 2000. That’s because these gorgeous layouts are very exclusive and very private. They’re also world-class. Particularly Querencia, which by 2016 had been named one of the “World’s 100 Greatest” by Golf Digest.
Nicklaus returns and Diamante earns rankings glory
Cabo Real was soon joined in Sánchez Navarro’s Questro Golf group by two courses in San José del Cabo: the Jack Nicklaus-designed Club Campestre, and what was originally a composite course at Puerto Los Cabos; meaning it featured 9 hole layouts from two different designers. One, of course, was Jack Nicklaus, marking his fifth Los Cabos design in 15 years. The other was Greg Norman. The idea was that each would later return to expand their 9 holes into 18. Nicklaus later did, so as at Palmilla, there are 27 holes available for play. The “Golden Bear” was joined by another major champion at Cabo del Sol when Tom Weiskop designed a Desert Course in 2001 to accompany Nicklaus’ masterful Ocean Course, now called the Cove Club.
However, the most exciting new addition during the first decade of the 21st century was undoubtedly Davis Love III’s Dunes Course at Diamante. The links-style layout opened in 2009 and was immediately hailed as a masterpiece, climbing to 36th best in the world by 2017, per Golf Magazine. Diamante developer Ken Jowdy would follow up on this success by bringing in Tiger Woods for his design debut and inspiring a flurry of superb new courses on the Pacific Coast north of Cabo San Lucas.
Tiger Woods builds a legacy in Los Cabos
By the time Tiger Woods opened his first restaurant in Los Cabos, he had already designed two golf courses and had a third on the way. He had also, by then, brought the PGA-sponsored World Wide Technology Championship to Cabo San Lucas, with the first local event hosted at his El Cardonal course in 2023. El Cardonal, Woods’ first completed course, opened at Diamante in late 2014. It was followed by the 12-hole par-3 Oasis Short Course in 2017. The exclusive, invitation-only Legacy Club development is expected to open its eponymous Tiger Woods course soon.
The courses at Diamante were the first of several on the Pacific Coast of Cabo San Lucas, as new layouts from Nicklaus and Norman debuted at Quivira and Solmar Golf Links, respectively. More are coming, including the Ernie Els-designed Oleada course in 2026.
Golf comes to Los Cabos’ East Cape region
So far, five major champions have designed courses in Los Cabos: Nicklaus, Norman, Weiskopf, Woods and Couples, with Els slated to be the sixth to join the club. 1992 Masters Champion Fred Couples, it should be noted, collaborated with Todd Eckenrode on the stylish Twin Dolphin course which premiered in the Tourist Corridor that connects cape cities Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo in 2018. Tom Fazio, the architect of the acclaimed Querencia course, opened his newest Los Cabos design, Chileno Bay, in 2016.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. has also returned. After scoring with his early Cabo Real layout, he designed Costa Palmas, the first course on Los Cabos’ picturesque East Cape, in 2020. The second is scheduled to be David McLay Kidd’s Baja Bay Club, although a completion date has yet to be announced for this project.
For those counting, that’s 18 courses currently open, including one that hosts a PGA Tour event. Remarkably, all opened after 1987.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
