Dominican Republic: Swinging in Punta Cana

October 23-25

Hello everyone!

The Dominican Republic receives an average of over 11 million tourist visitors per year. The majority of them don’t go near Santo Domingo, the capital and my current home. The most popular region by far is the most eastern section of the country: Punta Cana.

Golfing at Hard Rock Hotel, Punta Cana

Sign at the beach. I didn't see it. I didn't see any beaches.

For a long time, there was nothing here. Isolated, undeveloped, covered with jungle. In the 1960s, a young Dominican man called Frank Ranieri teamed up with some American investors to build a hotel called the Punta Cana Club. From that point, the region transformed into what it is today: the most visited location in the Caribbean.

Probably had the palm trees, but not the golf green

The building site behind is one example of
continued construction in the Punta Cana area

Punta Cana isn’t actually that far from Santo Domingo (less than 200 km). We decided to take our first trip east, braving the Friday traffic that had us crawling along the road heading out of Santo Domingo.

Punta Cana is the eastern tip of the island of Hispaniola

An internet picture of Santo Domingo. The way people drive here,
I wouldn't dare lose focus for a split second to take my own photo!

When someone thinks of Punta Cana, they likely picture beaches and ocean. Where we stayed…wasn’t that. It was arguably better, one of the nicest AirBnBs I have ever stayed in.

A very open, spacious living room

The rocking chairs next to the pool got used a lot!

Halloween is here, which some houses seem to be 'celebrating'

We weren’t coming for the ‘typical’ Punta Cana experience, you see. We were here for one its other touristic magnetic pulls: golf. The number of courses in this part of the Dominican Republic is in double figures. It brings a lot of golfers, particularly Americans, down to the Caribbean.

No shade on Americans here: we played with Rob
from Chicago on Sunday and he was lovely

The driving range at Iberostar, which is a Spanish chain

I knew that there were a lot of North American tourists who popped down to Punta Cana, and it gave me a preconception of what to expect. Something similar to Playa del Carmen in Mexico: gringo town without a single semblance of authentic local culture. I’m not sure if Punta Cana is like that, because we didn’t really go into Punta Cana.

Santa was visiting the community where we stayed

This is as close as I got to my stereotype: a photo in the toilet of a golf course

Whatever that might be, actually. I couldn’t actually figure out where this vision of ‘Punta Cana’ existed. It seemed to be a bit of a sprawl, all roads and no central node. There is an area called Cap Cana, which has a small marina and a slightly Disneyfied vibe. Maybe that is the ‘centre’? My guess is that perhaps people base themselves at their all-inclusive hotels, so there’s no reason for there to be a main area of hubbub.

Its coastline stretches up to about 50 kilometres

I didn't take a picture at this restaurant, called
Noah's - too busy eating delicious seafood

Wherever they may be, the huge number of visitors bring with them what I would describe as American prices. This is definitely reflected at the two golf courses we visited, with the cheaper one being $180 for 18 holes. You do get other things included in that, but that is $10 a hole. Luckily, if you play like me, that’s less than $2 for each time you hit the golf ball.

Golf carts were included

What we got through sheer luck were coconuts that they
were bringing down from the trees - many in our group thought
the water made them play better. It didn't work for me...

Far luckier for us, and the reason we can actually afford a weekend like this, is the fact that nationals and residents of the Dominican Republic don’t have to pay these prices. Having a residency card, which I received a couple of weeks ago, allows you to register for an app called Fedogolf. Paying the joining fee - approximately $100 - gives you reduced rates at the courses. So the course that was $180 actually cost me $55. Signing up paid for itself.

The magical money-saving app

Another course price dropped from $195 to $80

The first of those courses also has an American connection: the hotel it belongs to is called the Hard Rock Hotel. This opened in 2010 and is enormous, with almost 1800 rooms. We didn’t get near the hotel itself, as its eponymous golf course is closer to the main road. Still has some clues about the connection, mind…

The entire Hard Rock Hotel Complex

The sign in front of the driving range

Hard Rock’s course was apparently designed by Jack Nicklaus, history’s most successful male golfer. The course was enjoyable, though I’d have been worried about staying in one of the rooms along the fairway. The complimentary golf cart was appreciated as the mercury rose and clouds dispersed soon after our 7:30am tee time. It also helped keep our beers cold, which is always good!

My drives often go left - luckily I drove pretty well and
kept the people in the hotel rooms safe

Humidity was pretty high in the morning

When the sun was out, the weather felt quite fierce

We were allowed to sneakily play as a group of 5 here, which made it a lot more fun. We were briefly joined by a litter of cats, who seemed keen to explore the snacks within our golf cart. A group of players behind us seemed keen to join us, as they once hit tee shots when we were on the fairway, with one ball landing a metre from our golf cart. 

Far from a snail's pace was our speed, even as a fivesome

Another fun hole filled with potential hazards at Hard Rock

The rules seemed stricter at the other golf course we visited on Sunday morning. At Iberostar Bávaro Golf Club, we were forced to split into a 3 and a 2. This course definitely had a more manicured look than Hard Rock, though I enjoyed both equally.

The Iberostar Group was founded in 1956

Their hotel in Bavaro was created in 1993,
their first outside Europe

The golf club opened in 2009 - I'm glad they
kept many funky trees that are far older!

Iberostar’s signature hold is a par 3 with the green and immediately surrounding rough cut into the shape of a starfish, plonked onto a large tranche of sand. I’m pleased to say that I did not end up in that sand, managing to squirt my shot onto the bottom of one of its arms. I also didn’t end up in the water at the beautiful par 3, whose green sits behind a pond. I avoided that by about 50 centimetres, my ball hitting the rocks immediately above it and thankfully bouncing on forward rather than back into the drink.

An internet picture of the hole

View from ground level

Hole 16 has a viewing platform behind it

I’ll be back in Punta Cana in December, as its airport has a direct flight to the UK. I imagine I’ll return a few times whilst living in the DR, hopefully giving myself the opportunity to find the ‘real Punta Cana’. Admittedly, what I found in terms of golfing, I really, really liked.

Hitting out at Hard Rock Hotel

Enjoying a relaxing afternoon in our AirBnB

Wonderful weekend!

Love you all,

Matt