Ocean Course at Peninsula Papagayo

Overview: The Ocean Course at Peninsula Papagayo is an 18-hole, par-72 Arnold Palmer design on Costa Rica's Guanacaste coast. The current course record gives 6,788 yards from the black tees and places the routing across 125 acres of old-growth forest, rolling valleys and sea cliffs shaped by ancient lava flows. Wide fairways and large greens provide room to play, but the elevation changes and exposed coastal edges make club selection important from one hole to the next. The operator says ocean views appear from 14 holes, while the course's setting within a living forest gives the round a character that is more ecological than ornamental.

History: The course opened in January 2004 as the first golf course at Peninsula Papagayo. Arnold Palmer designed the routing to follow the natural contours of the peninsula, using the valleys, lava-shaped cliffs and existing forest rather than imposing a uniform grade. The property later moved through major resort-management changes, including Four Seasons and the opening of Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, but the Ocean Course remains the same named Palmer layout. Arnold Palmer Design Company has also led improvement work, including a staged focus on greens, bunkers and practice areas, while the course continues to operate as a protected Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

Did You Know? The sixth hole, El Bajo, drops about 200 feet and finishes at an infinity green. Other named holes carry their own geographic references: Culebra is a drop-shot par three looking toward Nacascolo Beach, while Pacifico on the seventeenth overlooks Monkey Head Rock.