{"id":7168,"date":"2013-01-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nicklausdesign.com\/2013\/01\/31\/puerto-vallarta-golf\/"},"modified":"2013-01-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T05:00:00","slug":"puerto-vallarta-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicklausdesign.com\/2013\/01\/31\/puerto-vallarta-golf\/","title":{"rendered":"Vista Vallarta Golf Club provides a glimpse of Puerto Vallarta’s wild side"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Wes Gilbertson, TravelGolfMexico.com<\/p>\n
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Just a few hours after I arrived in Puerto Vallarta, a local — perhaps noticing I was in severe need of a sun-tan — grinned and offered, "Welcome to the jungle."<\/p>\n
And he didn’t even know I was traveling with golf gear.<\/p>\n
This tourist hot spot on Mexico’s Pacific Coast might be best known as a beach destination, but Vista Vallarta Golf Club — where Jack Nicklaus designed a championship-calibre course — is proof the intrigue doesn’t end at the shoreline.<\/p>\n
"These are the only mountain courses in town. They’re the only two courses in the jungle, period," said KC Crandall, the general manager of the 36-hole setup at the base of the Sierra Madre mountain range.<\/p>\n
"We have a totally different experience up here. You can see all the big mountains. If you turn and look the other way, you can see the water. It’s just a very cool experience."<\/p>\n
A unique experience, too.<\/p>\n
Chances are, your home course doesn’t look anything like this. There are four other courses within a reasonably short taxi ride of Puerto Vallarta’s tourist corridor, and they don’t look anything like this, either.<\/p>\n