La Paz, Mexico – Course construction is under way at Paraiso del Mar, a new, 1,700-acre residential/resort development in La Paz, Mexico, where the centerpiece is an 18-hole design from Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates.
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“This property has all the markings of a classic, pure golf experience,” says Hills. “The peninsula on which this land sits could not be more beautiful. The sandy, gentle roll of the topography inspired a design comparable to the great courses of the British Isles – with weather and climatic conditions a Scot could only dream about. Pieces of property like this one come along only once in a great while. Paraiso del Mar is special, something that will stand out in the Baja market and endure the test of time.”
More than 1,000 acres of the development’s 1,700 acres have been set aside for wildlife sanctuaries and open space. The remaining 700 acres will be used for residential units, including single-family homes and condominiums, resort hotels and recreational amenities. A 10-year project, with its first phase due for completion along with the golf course, in Fall 2006, Paraiso del Mar (www.paradiseofthesea.com) will comprise more than 2,000 condominium units, 1,500 single family homes and five hotels. It also will include tennis courts, a marina, swimming pools, a beach club, country club, church and miles of hiking trails.
Paraiso del Mar’s primary developers are Fair Enterprises, headed by John Fair of Denver, Colo., and Luis Cano, a La Paz native and seasoned real estate developer in Baja, California. Both men were previously involved in the Residences at Esperanza, in Cabo San Lucas.
As the development’s centerpiece, The Paraiso del Mar Golf & Country Club will feature an 18-hole Hills/Forrest-designed course that maximizes the views of the Sea of Cortez, the Cape of La Paz as well as the property’s pervasive wildlife preserves and natural dunes. Now being built by Gravi Construction, the project is being directed by Hills/Forrest partner Brian Yoder.
“This course and the development complementing it are totally unique,” Yoder says. “It’s just so natural. Arthur says it reminds him of St. Andrews with the natural dunes formations and the gnarly vegetation. It’s a fanciful comparison, with all the cacti on site. You won’t see many of those in Fife. However, the Paraiso property also features huge swaths of ocotillo, which is gorse-like shrub without the yellow flowers – but with all the thorns.”
Yoder points out that designing a links course in Baja does require some departures from tradition. Paraiso del Mar G&CC will feature salaam paspalum turf, as opposed to fescues and bents.
“And we have designed a couple irrigation ponds on the golf course,” he adds. “The 18th is a wonderful, short, drivable par-4 around a pond, which departs from the links model somewhat. But the vast majority of holes evoke a genuine links environment.
“You simply can’t beat the natural setting here. The 6th and 14th holes are both par-3s playing in opposite directions on a dune line overlooking the beach and the Sea of Cortez. The 13th plays up this high dune, right to its apex, so from the fairway you’ll see the flag waving but the horizon line will be the green surface itself. Standing on 13 green, players will be looking down on 14 tee. Great views and anticipation.”
Paraiso del Mar G&CC will be Mexico’s first Audubon International Cooperative Signature Sanctuary, golf’s highest and most exacting environmental standard. In 1995, the Hills/Forrest design at Collier’s Reserve GC in Naples, Fla. became the first course in the world to earn Audubon International’s Cooperative Gold Signature Sanctuary status. Another Hills/Forrest creation, Oitavos Golfe Quinta da Marinha in Cascais, Portugal – host of the European PGA Tour’s Open of Portugal – became Audubon’s first International Gold Signature Sanctuary when it opened in 2001. Paraiso del Mar will be the second.
“There are wildlife preserve areas all through the Paraiso del Mar course,” Hills says. “Holes 1 through 4, 9 and 18 – that whole area plays through a protected environmental corridor. As a firm, we’ve always been committed to building golf courses that relate closely to the land and don’t require a tremendous amount of earth moving or disruption … always keeping in mind the strategy of the game and the elements that provide beauty in a golf course. It’s second nature for us. A property like Paraiso del Mar merely gives that philosophy a chance to really shine.”