COURSE REVIEWS

The Raven Golf Club at Cabo San Lucas makes stunning comeback

By Robert Lewis

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (June 16, 2003) -- The Intrawest Golf Group has been highly successful managing top-notch courses in the United States and Canada, many through its upper-end Raven brand. But recently the Raven flew South of the Border for the first time and the results are good enough to register a hearty ole' from many golfers.

The Raven Golf Club in sunny Cabo San Lucas held its grand re-opening in early December after beginning life in the early 1990s as the Cabo San Lucas Country Club. A multi-million renovation, thanks in part to the new Intrawest infusion and a 2001 hurricane that leveled much of the area brought great improvements.

"Why did we do a grand re-opening for a course which has been around for nearly a decade?," asked Resort Group Vice-President Greg Reisdorf, whose father originally founded the project. "Because we think the new Raven course will be become one of the finest golf experiences in the entire Baja."

To be sure, The Raven at Cabo San Lucas lacks the dramatic Oceanside vistas, which has made nearby El Dorado or the Ocean Course at Cabo Del Sol world class. In fact the only water you're likely to hear coming off the rocks here is the adult beverage splashing off the ice in the 19th hole cantina.

But the experienced Raven management team is banking on its ability to provide stellar service, in an area where some courses have relied on the resort hotel-fueled customers with a take it or leave it attitude, along with a solid Dye group course design and unmatched natural scenery.

In fact, while the ocean waves are not likely to disturb your three-footer, The Raven is one of the only courses in the area where you can see the signature Lands End rock formation, which marks the juncture of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez at the tip of the Baja Peninsula.

The Los Cabos resort, a combination hotel and time share property, sits alongside many of the holes making it a natural for the stay-and-play golfers along with the hard-core hackers looking to add this public course to their complete Cabo golf tour.

Perry Dye, whose entire talented family of golf architects led by Pete has shaped many of the top courses in North America, first began construction of this par 72 layout in 1992 and had all 18 holes finished by 1994.

The course functioned as a workable semi-private layout for nearly six years before the Reisdorf family decided it could do better and wanted to take the course to a new level to compete with the high tone golfing neighbors.

"We talked to several companies, but then approached Intrawest to help us and the way they jumped in after the hurricane hit, just re-confirmed we made the right decision," said Reisdorf.

That would be hurricane as in Juliet, a four-day storm of wind, rain and mud, which blazed a very unwelcome trail through the course and surrounding landscape in the spring of 2001.

When a hurricane wants to play through, no foursome in the world is going to slow her down and Juliet did more than $5 million dollars of damage to the course by the time the wind had stopped and the rain had ended.

Holes 10-15 had to be nearly totally reconstructed because of the damage done to the course, but with the dedication that has made courses in Arizona, Florida, West Virginia and Colorado, highly rated, the Raven team raised a bird of another sort, a phoenix, from the Cabo golfing ashes.

"We wanted to create a top-notch golfing experience for guests who came to this area, and we feel like with this newly renovated course we're well on our way," said Raven at Cabo San Lucas Director of Golf Eric Grindereng.

Like many top courses, the course starts slowly, but builds in interest, challenge and scenery.

The first few holes are fairly non-descript layouts routed around several manmade lakes, but the ocean comes into view starting on holes 4-5-6. The par-5 seventh claims to be one of the longest holes in Mexico measuring 610 yards from the back tees.

Unless you have former World Long Drive champion Brian Pavlet booming 400-yard-plus drives for you as he did at the grand opening (then using an 8-iron approach to the green), you'll need three well-struck shots of your own on this hole to reach the green in regulation.

There is a large lake to the right of the green with the ocean and rock formation clearly visible in the backdrop. The eight hole is a par-3, measuring more than 200 yards from all but the shortest of tees. It's at least one well-struck tee ball to large green with a huge, narrow bunker guarding the right side of the fairway.

Both the par-4 9th and 18th holes are laid out together in another Dye signature separated by another large lake.

The back nine at the Raven offers more outstanding views of the surrounding ocean, desert and mountains. While many of the hole were rebuilt nearly from the ground up, the routing and character was not changed to keep with the flow of the entire Dye design.

While there are no forced canyon carries or large streams running across the fairways, length continues to be the daunting defense on the course. There is another 200-yard par-3 (No. 11) with the par-5 16th measuring 584 yards from the back tee.

While course conditions can be spotty at times, the course is constantly improving with the new Raven touches. The tifway bermuda fairways and tifdwarf bermuda greens are major improvements over the original construction.

"What we've been able to do with the golf course and facilities has surpassed even our own expectations," said Intrawest VP-Operations Kirk Kokoska.

Considering its humble beginning, its hurricane hangover and its re-birth as an upper end resort facility worthy to join its oceanside neighbors, perhaps The Phoenix at Cabo San Lucas isn't a bad alternate name, but by any title it's a welcome addition to this booming Mexican golf kingdom filled with seas, sand, sun and birdies of all shapes and sizes on land and sea.

Know Before You Go
The Raven Golf Club at Cabo San Lucas

• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,220 yards (from the back)
• Slope: 138 (from the back)
• Course Rating: 75.4 (from the back)
• Fees: $159 (includes Cart) High season rate, rates vary greatly during year Pro shop, practice range, putting green, 19th hole Tee times: 1-866-381-5999
• Lodging: Los Cabos Resort on property. Stay-and-play packages available Off-Course.
• Activities: Downtown Cabo San Lucas is 5-7 minutes away. Giggling Marlin, a local nightclub where guests can be literally strung by heels from the ceiling. Cabo Wabo, partly owned by Sammy Hagar, who has been known to slip into town for an impromptu jam session Transportation: The Los Cabos area is served by a modern international airport and offers direct flights to much of the West Coast along with Phoenix, Dallas and Houston.

Editor's Note: In January 2007, a new ownership group acquired the WorldGolf.com network. The author of this article is no longer affiliated with this company.