Las Aromas Golf Club

Overview: Las Aromas Golf Club, also known as Santiago Golf Club, is an 18-hole course in the hills above Santiago de los Caballeros. A Dominican golf profile gives par 70 and 6,001 yards, while the club's own history explains how the two nines were assembled. The hilly site creates elevated tees, sloping fairways and raised greens, with views across the Cibao Valley. Pete Dye's design is more about changing elevation and precise targets than about a long, flat resort corridor.

History: The present project grew from the Santiago Golf Club, formed in 1968 around a small practice facility. Construction of Las Aromas began around 1978 as part of the Cibaotur hotel and villa project, with Pete Dye commissioned for the design. The club history records 1981 for the first stage, now the course's tenth through eighteenth; the second nine followed in 1984, when the Santiago Golf Club took over administration. The 1984 date is used for the completed 18-hole routing.

Did You Know? Las Aromas has a built-in routing reversal in its history: the first nine, recorded as entering play in 1981, is now played as holes 10 through 18. The club also records the old Santiago golf initiative that preceded the course, when an earlier practice area and driving range were created before the full project could be financed. That gives the current course a local golf story that starts well before the first complete round.