The quality of golf in Los Cabos is suggested by the names of those who have designed golf courses in the area: acclaimed players and course designers like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Davis Love III and Robert Trent Jones Jr.
Now there’s another name to add to the list. David McLay Kidd, the Scottish golf course architect who designed the famed links-style layout at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes, is also designing a course on the Los Cabos municipality’s picturesque East Cape.
What to know about Baja Bay Club and its golf course
Kidd’s 18-hole links-style layout in Los Cabos will be a signature amenity for the residents at Baja Bay Club, a 2,400-acre East Cape real estate development expected to feature up to 500 beach- and ocean-view homes. Located only six kilometers from the living coral reef and national park of Cabo Pulmo, the residential community will be nestled between the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range and the Sea of Cortez, with over three miles of beachfront land.
“Once in a lifetime, a golf designer might get a site on sand, next to an ocean and in the perfect climate and with an owner that understands how to respect such precious land,” Kidd noted via Robb Report. “At Baja Bay Club, we hit the jackpot. We intend to celebrate not only the rumbled dunes but the gorgeous native trees and shrubs that cover these precious sand dunes. If we do our job, we will take these perfect ingredients and create a course full of mystery and adventure, fun and challenge. We believe Baja Bay Club can redefine golf in Baja.”
No projected completion date for the course has been announced, but those eligible to play Kidd’s course will also have access to the club’s short course and practice facility.
Baja Bay Club’s connection to other Los Cabos golf courses
The Baja Bay Club is a collaboration between U.S.-based DMB Development and Swaback Architects and Planners and Mexican partners Grupo Desarrolla and Grupo Questro. The latter partnership, it should be noted, is also responsible for bringing to life the Puerto Los Cabos resort, residential and marina development just outside San José del Cabo. Grupo Questro, of course, is a very familiar name to Los Cabos golf aficionados, as it manages three world-class golf courses in the area: the Cabo Real course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the Jack Nicklaus-crafted layout at Club Campestre and 27 holes at Puerto Los Cabos. 18 of the holes at Puerto Los Cabos are courtesy of Nicklaus, while the other nine are the work of Greg Norman).
Oleada and other courses in development in Los Cabos
Golf and real estate go hand in hand in Los Cabos. It should come as no surprise, then, that another notable course in development is linked to Oleada, an 860-acre residential and resort community north of Cabo San Lucas. The course here, scheduled to open in 2026 between nearby courses at Diamante and Solmar Golf Links, will be crafted by Ernie “Big Easy” Els, a four-time major champion making his design debut in Mexico.
In other Los Cabos golfing news, Jack Nicklaus has signed on to add a second course at Quivira. His first, famously, is one of three Los Cabos courses currently ranked by Golf Digest among the 100 greatest in the world — the others being Querencia and Diamante’s Dunes Course. A second Tom Fazio design is currently in development at Querencia as well.
That means Los Cabos, which currently has 18 operating golf courses, will boast at least 22 in a few more years.
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.
The towns people run short of water often. How much does each golf course use just to keep the grass green? …
Water is an ongoing concern in Los Cabos, but most local golf courses have taken a responsible approach by opting for grasses like seashore papsalum that can be irrigated with “grey,” or recycled water. It’s a little different issue, then, than the one facing residents, which is that they run out of water from their cisternas or tinacos, and then have trouble finding a truck to bring more … in a timely fashion, anyway.
Actually Seashore Paspalum and many of the other grasses they will use are Salt Water tolerant and they will probably put in a desalinization plant like many of the others and use the ocean water more than grey water and no fresh water at all unless it rains. I know I’ve grown it before and a 20 year Class “A” Superintendent here in the USA now but in Mexico a few years ago.