The Guavaberry Golf & Country Club
	Those are a few of the comments you’ll hear as you play your way around Guavaberry Golf and Country Club on the sunny southeast coast of the Dominican Republic.

The Gary Player Design team has really outdone itself this time, creating not only a golf course but a landscaping marvel. They’ve blended the course design flawlessly into the existing natural environment, giving the impression that the links have been part of this gently-rolling, tropical terrain from the beginning of time.

Guavaberry will challenge you with its impressive waste bunkers, deep sand traps, and indigenous coral rock formations that rise up from lush fairways. Together, they make this a course not to be tamed easily.

And if the natural hazards aren’t tricky enough for you, the ever-present Caribbean breezes and five different tee positions that cater to every level of play will tempt you to come back and try to conquer Guavaberry again and again.

The 13th hole comes as a refreshing surprise with its waterfall cascading into a quarry pond. Brace yourself for Hole 15 where a three-acre pond surrounds and protects the green from your best shot. And save some strength for the arduous 18th!

Location

Only one hour to the east of the capital of Santo Domingo, Guavaberry is located near the resort town of Juan Dolio. Here you are within reach of spectacular beaches, all-inclusive resort hotels, the highest mountains in the Caribbean, and the capital city’s Spanish colonial architecture and modern amenities. Guavaberry’s convenient location, natural beauty, and challenging features make it one of Gary Player’s most stunning achievements.

Golf Pro

Director of Golf, Mark Clouse, comes to us from the United States with an impressive background both professionally and academically. Mark is a Class A Member of the PGA and graduate of the Golf Professional Training Program. In addition to working as Director of Golf at North Links Golf in Mankato, Minnesota, Mark was also selected "Coach of the Year" of the North Central Conference of the NCAA in 2000-01.

Golf Academy

Getting the right instruction is one of the most important steps to improving your game.
Golf Pro Mark Clouse offers clinics and private instruction from beginner level to the most advanced. The Golf Academy is open to women, men and junior golfers.

The Clubhouse at Guavaberry features a gourmet restaurant, terrace bar, piano bar, gym room, locker rooms, club storage area, meeting rooms and pool, as well as golf pro shop, 19th hole snack bar and golf academy classroom. The Pro Shop features logo golf clothing and is open year-round. CLUBHOUSE RESTAURANT On the second floor of the Clubhouse, the restaurant is the ideal setting for luncheons and dinners for groups of up to 60. It has an excellent ambiance, attractive lighting, air conditioning and screens for viewing satellite television programming

GARY PLAYER SALON
A boardroom with capacity for 12 guests with four additional posts for assistants, this air-conditioned room is on the third floor of the clubhouse. It features in-room telephone service, attractive lighting, piped-in music, a sofa and chairs.

PIANO BAR
Also on the third floor of the Clubhouse, this room has capacity for 30 and is recommended for private luncheons or cocktails. It features its own bar, air-conditioning, piped-in music and a dance floor.

POOLSIDE LAWN
This park-like setting between the pool and tennis courts can accommodate 300 guests for lunch or 400 for cocktails. Ideal for BBQs and children’s birthday parties. When the poolside lawn or pool terrace are booked, lunch is served under large white tents. For night events, the food tents are optional but recommended.

This beautiful 7,156-yard par-72 course is sensitively blended into the landscape bordering a tropical forest and nature preserve. The course is as beautiful as it is challenging.
The black championship tees offer the greatest challenge. There is a 936-yard difference between the middle white tees (11-20 Hcp) and black tees (scratch golfer) -- the sight lines are quite different and the penalty for missing a landing area can be quite ruthless.

There are a few holes that require some sharp, short iron play to avoid a big number and still others that offer birdie opportunities. The greens are quite true for such a young course and, as is the case with courses in this environment, they should become even more consistent with time.

If you get hot with the putter you can score well here. Failing that, you’ll need to hit a straight shot. There are some forgiving fairways; however, in width and reach, this course is a ball graveyard for the scatter golfer and will only become more so as the flora matures.

Hole 6, for instance, has trees growing in on the right side that will eventually change the view from the tee and also affect the sight lines for the approach shot. With the splendor of the tropical flora, blue skies, and consistent Caribbean breezes, this is a highly enjoyable course to play. It caters to every golfer’s whim with five sets of tees, smartly-crafted waste bunkers, and some inviting looks that seem to inspire the golfer to take a shot at scoring on every hole.

Watch out for the coral rock formations, especially on Hole 9. Also, notably, the closing 18th has a massive coralline garden on the right flank with the fairway tilting precariously in that direction as well. Its exposure to a strong and steady ocean breeze pushes even a straight drive to the right.

This ending hole is a true score killer. Even a strong drive will leave the second shot in question as the direct line to the hole will require an accurate long iron over the coralline corner, through a strong wind and over a protective bunker in front of the smallish green.

Links:

• Guavaberry Website