The GUAVABERRY RESORT & COUNTRY CLUB project is located at Km 55 of the Las Américas Motorway in La Provincia de San Pedro De Macorís, Dominican Republic.
Located on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, Guavaberry is close to the holiday destination of Juan Dolio. Here you have been within walking distance of spectacular beaches and all-inclusive resorts but also the highest mountains in the Caribbean and less than an hour of Spanish colonial architecture and other attractions of the capital city of Santo Domingo.
Its strategic location allows it to be located 40 Minutes from the Capital of Santo Domingo and 20 Minutes from the International Airport of Las Américas José Francisco Peña Gómez.
Guavaberry's convenient location, natural beauty and challenging features make it one of the most impressive achievements of the designer and golfer Gary Player.
Gary Player, with his particular swing, is the most successful international golfer of all the times.
He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1935. He has won nine Major Championships: three times the Master of Anguish (1961, 1974, 1978), as well as the British Open (1959, 1968, 1974). The PGA Championship (1962 & 1972) and achieved an US Open in 1965.
Gary Player at only 29 years old achieves what only five players in the world have managed to do, the four Grand Slam Golf tournaments.
A total of 163 titles around the world including 9 Major titles, 24 official PGA victories and nine Major League titles on the PGA Champions Tour show Player's successful career.
He is nicknamed the Black Knight for wearing black in his tournaments and Mr. Fitness for staying in excellent physical condition, entered the hall of world-wide fame in 1974.
Player is also a renowned golf course architect, with over 300 design projects worldwide; of which Guavaberry is one of his most extensive and spectacular designs.
Gary Player himself engages in the conceptualization, master plan, design, and promotional efforts of each field that his design team creates. As he says, "There is no substitute for personal contact."
That personalized touch is evident in all its fields, including Guavaberry, where each hole has five outlets to accommodate the level of each player. In short, the challenge is there but in an environment of fair competition.
Gary Player Design also specializes in incorporating natural elements into the landscaping of each field. At Guavaberry the rock formations, native vegetation, and water passages form an integral part of the complete golf experience.
When you play at Guavaberry or any other Gary Player golf course, you will appreciate the personal touches that make each course memorable and memorable.
The Course
With the tropical forest environment and its native flora. In this way, masterfully a challenging field of striking visual beauty is achieved.
The black trips are the most challenging. There is a difference of 936 yards between the white middle outs (11-20 Hcp) and the black out (scratch golfer) - the prospect lines are very different and they test the ability of the most experience golfer.
Some holes demand great precision, short game of sticks to avoid a high score and still others that promise birdie. The greens are successful for such a young field, as is the case with fields in this environment should be more consistent over time.
If you are lucky with the pot, you can have a good score here. If it fails, you will need to shoot a straight shot. You will find so hard fairways. However, in breadth and reach, this field is a graveyard of balls for the scatter golfer and it will be more according to the maturity of the flora in the field.
For example, trees bordering the whole 6. As they grow, the visual output from this hole and the perspective change for the approach shot. The splendor of the tropical flora, blue skies and the persistent breezes of the Caribbean Sea, make this a joy of field to play. Golfers of all levels will be able to enjoy the game as it offers five tees of exits from each hole, carefully created traps, and views that inspire any player to give his best suit.
Players should be careful playing with coral rock formations, especially at Hole 9. The Hole 18 coral rock garden just to the right along the fairway is worth considering. The strong and continuous breezes that come from the sea push up to a straight shot to the right.
This final hole can change your score. Even a strong blow can call into question the second shot as the direct line to the hole will require precision in the long stroke on the coralline corner, battling a possible blizzard until crossing over the protective strip that marks the smallest green in front.
There is ample space to the right and the back of the green, indicating that Gary Player after all has no heart of coral rock. This space around the green is an aspect that distinguishes the entire field and invites players to achieve that score and to continue playing.
The first hole at Guavaberry is a classic opening hole with a broad fairway and a small, softly rolling green protected by three sand traps. Keep your drive in the 75 yards. of width between the palm trees and you’ll have a clean shot to the green and a good chance at scoring. This hole has over 50 Coroso Palms protecting both sides of the fairway and the backside of the green. With over 250 Coroso palms on the property, it’s a major feature to this site and this country (as well as the logo). It only grows in a small area on this costal plain in the Dominican Republic and Guavaberry is situated in the center of this area.
With over 200’ of open width at the landing area, golfers should have no trouble finding their tee shot here. However, as with many of the holes at Guavaberry, the second shot presents a challenge, as well as an opportunity. A good drive will leave the golfer 140-180 yards from this small, undulating green that is well protected by bunkers on the right and left, but with ample room behind.
Consider taming any confidence created on the first two holes. This tee shot is slightly uphill to a fairway protected on the right by a large stand of Coroso Palms. If you drive the ball far enough off the tee, and the wind is calm, you can try to reach the green with a strong and accurate second shot. However, to accomplish this you’ll need to skirt the lake and a long fairway bunker that guard the left side of this hole. In addition you’ll need to stop the ball quickly after clearing the small berms on the front side of the green. Golfers that are successful with this difficult shot could have a putt for eagle. If you stay to the right with your second shot you’ll gain a clear view of the flat green, taking the bunker and water out of play.
Another unusual feature of Guavaberry are the large ‘waste bunkers’. The tees and the green on the 4th seem to spring out of a vast ‘waste bunker’. Land here and you’ll face a sand shot to the green 6-7’ above the ball. There is a sizable short cut landing area before the green that can save par if you’re short off the tee.
This hole is one of the most gentle on the course, with a wide fairway that softly undulates and rolls to the green. #5 also illustrates the drastic differences in sight lines from the black championship tees to the forward white tees. A huge ‘waste bunker’ sits in front of the black tees forcing a strong drive. Stay middle-right. Another large bunker protecting the green on the left will require splendid sand skills to get out of. The obvious is that long and straight shots are highly rewarded.
This hole rises from the elevated tees to the landing area where the left side is well guarded by sand traps that must be avoided. The green is well protected by another bunker and a series of bumps, swales, and grass hollows around the green. The second shot on this hole will be one of the most difficult on the front nine as the landing and access areas get very narrow closer to the green. Stay away from the purple bougainvilleas on the right side of the green, there are no recovery shots from here.
This is a fairly short and easy par 3, unless you go left. Two deep bunkers guard the left side of this green and will challenge even the best sand players. Miss long, or to the right, and you can still make par.
A monster, the longest hole on the golf course. The central feature of this hole is the large bunker that bisects the first and second fairways and then splits the second landing area in half. Stay right and locate your spot to land the second shot on the right side landing area - and you’re still faced with a mid-iron to green. Hit the ball poorly and it will be difficult to reach the large green in three shots.
The tees on nine are elevated and built upon a large mound of coralline that also serves as a bunker that must be cleared into an expansive landing area. The best second shots on this hole are from the right side of the fairway with a clear view to the green.
This par 5 looks much easier than it will play. The bunkers on the left side will force a big recovery shot if you find one off the tee. Stay safely to the right on this narrow fairway and you’ll have plenty of room for a long iron shot to a green that measures 6,000 square feet. Stay out of the bunker to the left of the green or you’ll be extricating yourself from a very deep trap. Many of the greens at Guavaberry are relatively small, placing a premium on accurate iron play
Likely the most difficult hole on the golf course, this unforgiving par 4 doglegs left and will test any golfers game. The 3 fairway bunkers on the left side of this hole are to be avoided or you’ll have a very difficult time making par. Get the drive safely on the fairway and the second shot is a long iron or fairway wood of 190-210 yards to a large undulating green that will test any golfers skill with a putter.
This hole is not long, but accuracy off the tee is an advantage as the best place to position your drive is just to the left of the large fairway bunker on the right side. The green is very reachable but is well protected by a sand trap in the front center of the green and a steep grass faced slope that abuts the left edge of the putting surface. Pin placement and drive accuracy are critical.
Hole 13 is the Gary Player signature hole and is shaped around a small quarry. The dual greens are separated by a stream that cascades 2,000 gallons of water minute off the rock wall into a lake in the bottom of the quarry. Golfers will face a different challenge each day on this hole depending on the wind, which set of tees they are playing from, and the pin location on the dual greens. Accuracy and ball control are critical as being short isn’t an option and being long isn’t recommended.
This is the shortest par 4 on the golf course, and will be a welcome break for golfers before they play the difficult finishing holes. A straight carry over the right side of the large ‘waste bunker’ on the left of the fairway will put you in an excellent position to attack the green from the generous landing areas, just stay away from the small pot bunker in front of the green and a birdie is a possibility.
Beautiful simplicity; either land the ball on the island green in the middle of a 3-acre pond or tee it up again. Correct club selection is crucial on #15 as the wind is a major factor. There is a small and playable trap on the front left side, but nothing to catch shots flying the green. Perhaps the most beautiful hole on the course in the early morning.
This dog-leg right is cut right out of the existing tropical forest and offers an imposing tee shot over a small field of coralline for the golfers on the back tees. Regardless of where you tee up from, club selection is important, as you should be aiming to set up your approach shot, so avoid going long and cutting the corner on the right. There is ample room around the green so if your drive gives you a clear look at the green, attack it. If you’re feeling gutsy, try and carry the bunkers on the right and you can score here.
At 560 yards this is the longest hole on the back nine. However, there is ample space in the landing areas, golfers just have to keep the ball out of the 8 bunkers that line both the right and left sides of this hole. Two clean shots and a short iron will get you to a subtle green where making par - or even birdie - is possible.
Eighteen will be one of the most challenging finishing holes you’ll have ever played. It features one of the most unique hazards ever designed. From the tee, golfers will notice a large area of exposed coral rock to the right that was pushed off the ocean floor some 200,000 years ago.
If golfers are successful in landing the ball on the grass in the center of the landing area - which also slopes towards the coral - they have a shot of approximately 200 yards over the natural rock hazard the separates the landing area from the green. This is no simple task as there are 2 large ‘waste bunkers’ in front that are to be avoided at all costs, long and right is safer. Reaching this green will require a great second shot and a par will be a very good score. Like most of the holes, the wind also plays a role in club selection and aim.
