The signature
Punta Espada
Jack Nicklaus’s signature course in Cap Cana. Eight holes play along the water, and the par-3 13th over the ocean is the one you will talk about all year.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,396
- Designer
- Jack Nicklaus
Punta Cana · Dominican Republic
Golf in Punta Cana, handled end to end.
Four rounds, one coastline, zero logistics.
Punta Cana anchors the southeast tip of the Dominican Republic, and its best golf sits up the coast in Cap Cana, where three championship courses lie a short drive apart. A group can play a different one on consecutive days, each with holes on the water, and still be back at the resort in time for dinner. We handle the tee times, the rooms, and the transfers.
- Courses
- 13
- Region
- Cap Cana
- Country
- Dominican Republic
- Updated
- July 18, 2026
The case
Why play golf in Punta Cana?
Three reasons: the courses, the calendar, and the ease. One coast holds a Jack Nicklaus signature, a PGA Tour host by Tom Fazio, and a rolling P.B. Dye eighteen, all a short drive apart. It is warm when the north is frozen, a straightforward flight from most of the U.S. East Coast, and set up so a group can arrive and simply play.
Most golf destinations give you one course worth the flight and a few to fill the days around it. Punta Cana gives you three courses that all earn the trip. Punta Espada is Jack Nicklaus's signature course in Cap Cana, with eight holes along the sea and a short par three over the ocean that the group replays in conversation for years. Corales is Tom Fazio's cliffside layout and the host of the PGA Tour's Corales Puntacana Championship, finishing along the Atlantic through a stretch the pros call the Devil's Elbow. La Cana is P.B. Dye's rolling design, with holes in view of the Caribbean and the most forgiving lines of the three.
The other half of the appeal is how little the trip asks of you. The courses and the resorts sit close together, the flight is short, and the golf runs all winter while the fairways back home are frozen. Non-golfers are not an afterthought either: the beach, the spa, and the dining carry the day whether or not you ever pick up a club.
The calendar
When is the best time to golf in Punta Cana?
The peak golf season runs through the northern winter, roughly December to April, when the weather is warm and dry and tee sheets are busiest. May and November are quieter shoulder months with the same golf and more room on the calendar. Summer is hot and humid with brief afternoon showers, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs June through November, so we build those trips with extra flexibility.
- Peak season
- Dec–Apr
- warm and dry, busiest tee sheets
- Shoulder months
- May & Nov
- same courses, more room on the calendar
- Warm and wet
- Jun–Aug
- morning golf, the water stays warm
- Hurricane window
- Jun–Nov
- planned with built-in flexibility
December through April is the classic window: reliably warm, dry, and in demand, which is exactly why the best dates and tee times go early. If your group can travel in the May or November shoulders, you get the same courses in the same shape, with more room on the calendar. Ask how the shoulder months price for your group.
Summer trips are very much doable. Mornings are the play, showers tend to pass quickly, and the water stays warm for everyone back at the resort. Because the Atlantic hurricane season overlaps those months, a summer or early-fall trip is planned with contingencies in place, and our cancellation terms protect you if a storm ever disrupts a hosted trip.
The arrival
How do you get from the airport to the golf?
You fly into Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ), the region's main international gateway, with direct service from many U.S. and Canadian cities. From the terminal it is a short drive to the Cap Cana and Puntacana resorts and their courses. On our trips a private car meets the group at arrivals and handles every transfer, so no one rents a car or hunts for a taxi.
- 1
Land at PUJ
the region's main gateway
- 2
Met at arrivals
VIP service, private car
- 3
Short drive in
no taxi, no rental
- 4
First tee
same day, if flights line up
PUJ is one of the easiest Caribbean airports to reach from the East Coast, and the courses are close once you land, so the day you arrive can still be a golf day if the flights line up. Everything you play sits within a short drive of the resort.
On a hosted trip, the ground is fully handled: VIP service on arrival at PUJ, a private car to the resort, and transfers to and from every round and back to the airport at the end. You step off the plane and your only job is to decide who is in your first foursome.
The rhythm
What does a week of golf in Punta Cana look like?
A typical hosted trip is five nights and four rounds. You land, settle into ocean-view rooms, and play the three courses over the next few days, with a fourth round to replay a favorite or settle the match. Mornings are for golf, afternoons and evenings for the beach, the pool, and long dinners. Companions travel the same days with a plan of their own.
Arrival day
Land and settle in
A private car meets the group at PUJ and runs you to ocean-view rooms at the resort. If the flights land early, the day you arrive can still be a golf day.
The playing mornings
Three courses, unhurried
Over the next few mornings you play all three courses, each a short drive away. A round finishes with plenty of day left, so the afternoons belong to the pool, the water, or a nap before dinner.
The fourth round
Replay a favorite, or settle it
Four rounds means you come back to one course, usually the one your group liked most or the one with a score to settle. The evenings are for long dinners with the whole group.
Alongside the golf
Companions travel as equals
Non-golfers travel the same days on a plan of their own: the spa, excursions, the beach, and dining, timed so everyone lands back together each evening.
Landing to last putt
A concierge on the ground
Everything but your flight and your caddie tips is arranged before you arrive. A concierge confirms every tee time, holds the dinner tables, runs the scoring if you want a competition going, and quietly fixes the small things before the group notices.
You booked a golf trip; you get to be a guest on it.
The golf
The courses we plan around
The 13 courses we build Punta Cana trips around, grouped by the areas they sit in, each with its designer and the numbers that matter. Your itinerary confirms your exact rotation. Facts from our verified course library.
Cap Cana
The newcomer
Las Iguanas Golf Course
Las Iguanas is the newest golf in Cap Cana and the deliberate complement to Punta Espada: a Jack Nicklaus Signature routing whose first nine opened in November 2025, with the remainder, including three holes drawn along the rocky Caribbean shoreline, to follow. The design keeps the site's caves, wetlands and native topography intact, down to the resident iguanas that named it. Book it now for the newness itself: a Nicklaus course in its opening season, on ground golfers will be comparing notes about for years.
- Designer
- Jack Nicklaus
Puntacana Resort
The championship
Corales
Tom Fazio’s cliffside finish and home of the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship. Coves, blowholes, and the Devil’s Elbow closing stretch along the Caribbean.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,670
- Designer
- Tom Fazio
The classic
La Cana
P.B. Dye’s rolling layout, with fourteen holes in view of the Caribbean Sea, and the round your higher handicaps will love.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,159
- Designer
- P.B. Dye
Casa de Campo–La Romana
The legend
Teeth of the Dog
Pete Dye laid Teeth of the Dog along the La Romana coast in 1971. Seven holes play hard against the sea, close enough for spray on the wind, and it has appeared on every GOLF world top-100 list since the rankings began in 1983.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,263
- Designer
- Pete Dye
The high wire
Dye Fore
Pete Dye’s 27 holes on the bluffs above the Río Chavón: the Chavón and Marina nines opened in 2003, the lake-strewn Lagos nine in 2011. The clifftop Chavón stretch, with the river far below and mountains on the horizon, is golf at full scale.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,667
- Designer
- Pete Dye
The companion
The Links at Casa de Campo
The resort calls The Links 'Dye 101,' and that's the honest pitch: everything that makes Pete Dye Pete Dye, from sculpted bunkers framed in tall guinea grass to water waiting on five holes and greens that reward the ground game, at a scale a traveling golfer can enjoy on the first look. It rolls over moderately hilly inland ground with glimpses of the Caribbean and the resort below, and it earns its usual role in a Casa de Campo itinerary: the round that lets you swing freely the day before Teeth of the Dog asks harder questions.
- Par
- 71
- Designer
- Pete Dye
The sleeper
La Estancia Golf & Country Club
About ten minutes from La Romana's airport, near the beaches at Bayahibe, La Estancia is the quiet heavyweight of the region: 7,382 yards of P.B. Dye across genuinely rolling ground, with long views over the countryside and a tournament-tee card rated 78.2 on a 137 slope. Move up a set and it becomes a handsome, walkable resort round with caddies in the local tradition. Golfers heading for Casa de Campo pass its gate; the sharp ones stop.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,382
- Designer
- P.B. Dye
Bávaro–Uvero Alto
The crowd-pleaser
Hard Rock Golf Club at Cana Bay
Cana Bay plays under the Hard Rock flag and wears it lightly: every hole is named for a rock song, the flyovers on the cart GPS play along, and underneath the theming is a serious 7,253-yard Nicklaus Design test. Rolling fairways move through native vegetation to Platinum Paspalum greens, with a 76.1 rating from the black tees. It sits beside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, a short run up the coast from Bávaro.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,253
- Designer
- Nicklaus Design
The bunker gauntlet
Iberostar Bávaro Golf Club
P.B. Dye built Iberostar's Bávaro course on flat resort ground and then made flatness irrelevant: more than a hundred white-sand bunkers, desert-style waste areas, lakes and a waterfall turn every approach into a decision. The greens are pure Dye, small, tilted, and quick to punish the merely adequate shot, and the trade-wind crosswinds do the rest. It plays inside the Iberostar complex and takes outside play, which makes it one of Bávaro's most accessible serious rounds.
- Par
- 72
- Designer
- P.B. Dye
The fair fight
Punta Blanca Golf Club
Punta Blanca was the first course the World Golf Hall of Famer built in the Caribbean, and it plays like Price talked about the game: generous landing areas that keep the driver honest rather than holstered, movement in the fairways instead of tricks around the greens. Lakes and wetlands tighten the math on the back nine, where two of its three par 3s play over water, and Paspalum surfaces keep it consistent year-round on the Arena Gorda stretch north of Bávaro.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,174
- Designer
- Nick Price
The mangrove round
The Lakes Barceló Golf
When P.B. Dye rebuilt Barceló's original Bávaro course, reopened at the end of 2010 as The Lakes, he took the name literally: twenty-five inland lakes and 122 bunkers now shape a round that winds through genuine mangrove forest, all of it on Sea Isle Supreme Paspalum. At 6,655 yards from the back it favors precision over power, which suits its setting: an on-resort course inside the Barceló Bávaro complex that welcomes outside play and keeps the logistics of a golf morning refreshingly short.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 6,655
- Designer
- P.B. Dye
The neighborhood 27
Cocotal Golf & Country Club
Cocotal is Bávaro's neighborhood course in the best sense: three nines named for the flora that lines them (Hibiscus, Bougainvillea, Benjamina), combinable into a different par-72 every morning. Gancedo shaped it across gently rolling country-club ground rather than oceanfront dunes, so the defense here is the steady east breeze and the placement it demands. The greens run on Bermuda grass, and the club puts the airport about twenty-five minutes away, a practical arrival- or departure-day round.
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 7,289
- Designer
- José "Pepe" Gancedo
The stay
Where our groups stay
The resorts we place our groups in, chosen so the golf, the dining, and the beach are all a short step from the room. Your itinerary confirms your group's resort.
The oceanfront option
The Westin Punta Cana Resort
Oceanfront on Playa Blanca inside the 15,000 acres of Puntacana Resort & Club. Balcony rooms five minutes from the airport, with La Cana and Corales minutes away and Punta Espada an easy drive.
Explore the resort The Westin Punta Cana Resort
Unlimited-Luxury on Juanillo Beach
Dreams Cap Cana Resort & Spa
An all-inclusive Unlimited-Luxury resort on Juanillo Beach, inside the gated community of Cap Cana and twelve minutes from Punta Cana International Airport. Nine gourmet restaurants, five bars, infinity pools, a serene spa, and live entertainment each night. Minutes from Punta Espada, Corales, and La Cana.
Explore the resort Dreams Cap Cana Resort & Spa
A lively all-inclusive on Bávaro Beach
Meliá Caribe Beach Resort
A lively all-inclusive beachfront resort on Bávaro Beach, with nine international dining venues, multiple bars, tropical pools, a water park, and direct beach access. A casino and spa are available at additional cost. Minutes from Punta Espada, Corales, and La Cana.
Explore the resort Meliá Caribe Beach Resort
Barefoot luxury by Oscar de la Renta
Tortuga Bay Puntacana
An intimate 30-suite beachfront retreat designed by Oscar de la Renta inside Puntacana Resort & Club, minutes from Punta Cana International Airport. Barefoot luxury with personalized service, resort-wide dining led by Bamboo and La Yola, a serene spa, and privileged access to 45 holes of championship golf at La Cana and Corales.
Explore the resort Tortuga Bay Puntacana
The Luxury Collection address
Sanctuary Cap Cana
A five-star, adults-only, all-inclusive resort in Marriott's Luxury Collection, set directly on the beach at Cap Cana. Five pools including a saltwater pool and the Freshco swim-up bar, Spanish colonial architecture, and premium service, fifteen minutes from the airport and minutes from all three courses.
Explore the resort Sanctuary Cap CanaOn the calendar
Trips to Punta Cana
The dates we're running now. Every golfer books and pays for their own spot.
CURATED STAY & PLAY
Dreams Cap Cana Golf Escape
Punta Cana · Flexible dates
4 nights · 3 rounds · travel through October 2027
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CURATED STAY & PLAY
Meliá Caribe Beach Golf Escape
Punta Cana · Flexible dates
4 nights · 3 rounds · travel through October 2027
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CURATED STAY & PLAY
Tortuga Bay Golf Escape
Punta Cana · Flexible dates
4 nights · 3 rounds · travel through October 2027
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SIGNATURE HOSTED EXPERIENCE
The Punta Cana Invitational
Punta Cana · December 4 to 9, 2026
5 nights · 4 rounds
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SIGNATURE HOSTED EXPERIENCE
Westin Punta Cana Golf Escape
Punta Cana · December 4 to 9, 2026
5 nights · 4 rounds
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Good questions
Common questions about golf in Punta Cana
- Which golf courses do you play in Punta Cana?
- Three championship courses in and around Cap Cana: Punta Espada, a Jack Nicklaus signature with eight holes along the sea; Corales, Tom Fazio's cliffside course and host of the PGA Tour's Corales Puntacana Championship; and La Cana, a rolling P.B. Dye layout with holes in view of the Caribbean. A typical trip plays all three.
- What is the best golf course in Punta Cana?
- It depends on your group. Punta Espada is the signature and the one most people remember, for its run of ocean holes. Corales is the sternest test and the tournament course. La Cana is the most forgiving, and the one higher handicaps tend to enjoy most. The good news is you do not have to choose: a hosted week plays all three.
- Do you need a caddie, and what does it cost?
- Caddies are part of golf in the Dominican Republic and add a lot to the round. Their fees and gratuities are paid directly to the caddie in cash, separate from your trip price. Your concierge tells you exactly what to plan for before you travel, so there is no math to do at the first tee.
- Can non-golfers come on a Punta Cana golf trip?
- Yes. On a hosted group trip, companions travel the same days with an itinerary of their own: spa, excursions, the beach, and dinners, planned with the same care as the golf. On a stay-and-play escape for a couple or a small party, everyone shares the same plan from the start, so there is no separate track to arrange.
- How far in advance should we book a Punta Cana golf trip?
- For a group of sixteen to twenty in the December-to-April peak, several months ahead is ideal, because the rooms and the best tee times go first. The quieter shoulder months come together faster. Either way, the earlier you start, the more of the calendar and the tee sheet is yours.