Costa Rica has four courses worth building a trip around: Reserva Conchal, the Ocean Course at Peninsula Papagayo, Hacienda Pinilla and La Iguana. The first two are the best, and both are private. Reserva Conchal is for resort guests and members of its community. The Ocean Course is for members and guests staying on the peninsula.
From Liberia airport the road to Reserva Conchal takes about 45 minutes, across Guanacaste towards the Pacific. The course runs beside 1.6 miles of that coast, but its holes are kept at least 150 feet back from the sand, behind trees and lagoons. The sea arrives late. At the 16th, a par five of 554 yards played downhill, it finally fills the view.
That is the shape of golf in this country. A small number of courses, each inside a resort estate, with a hotel close to the first tee and forest on both sides of the fairway. Here they are in the order we would play them, with the one question that matters most in Costa Rica answered for each: who is allowed on.
Reserva Conchal, Guanacaste
Robert Trent Jones II designed it: a par 71 of about 7,000 yards from the back tees, laid out through forest and around water. The 17th is a par three of 212 yards, downhill through a gap in the trees to a three-tiered green with water in front. The 18th is a par five with water down the whole of the left side. The architect’s own firm writes of iguanas and howler monkeys on the course. Buggies are compulsory, and the first tee time is 6.30am.
Who can play: the resort says the course is open only to its guests and to members of the Reserva Conchal community. The two hotels on the estate are the W Costa Rica and The Westin Reserva Conchal.
For the player who likes to plot a way round water from a buggy, this is the best morning in the country; for the player who wants to walk, it is not available on foot at all.
The Ocean Course, Peninsula Papagayo
Arnold Palmer’s course opened in January 2004 on a private peninsula a short drive from Liberia airport. Par 72, 6,788 yards. Fourteen holes have a view of the ocean. The third, named Buena Vista, looks over 270 degrees of Pacific, and the 17th looks out to Monkey Head Rock and the tip of the peninsula.
Who can play: the course is private. It is open to club members and to guests staying on the peninsula, at the Four Seasons, the Andaz and Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. We are confirming the terms with the club.
For the golfer staying on the peninsula who wants the sea in view for most of the round, this is the round of the trip; for the golfer staying anywhere else, it is closed.
Hacienda Pinilla, Guanacaste
Mike Young designed the course on the Hacienda Pinilla estate on the Guanacaste coast. It is a par 72 that plays up to 7,200 yards, the longest on this list, and an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. The JW Marriott Guanacaste is next door.
Who can play: the club takes tee-time requests by phone and email and does not say they are limited to residents or hotel guests. We are confirming visitor access with the club before we promise it to anyone.
For the long hitter who wants 7,200 yards from the back, this is the place; for the shorter player on the wrong set of tees, it is a long, hot afternoon.
La Iguana, Los Sueños
La Iguana is not in Guanacaste. It is on the Central Pacific at Playa Herradura, about an hour and a half from San José airport, which makes it a natural last round before the flight home. Ted Robinson designed it and it opened in 1999: par 72, 6,698 yards, cut through rainforest, with a slope rating of 145 from the back tees. The club counts more than 150 species of birds on the property. Tee times start at 6.20am.
Who can play: it is a resort course open to visitors, and the club promotes stay and play with the Los Sueños Marriott.
For the straight driver who likes wildlife in the trees, this is the most distinctive round on the list; for the player who misses fairways, a slope of 145 through forest is a morning spent looking for golf balls.
Valle del Sol, San José
Valle del Sol is in Santa Ana, in the Central Valley, almost 3,000 feet above sea level inside a residential estate. The layout is by Tracy May: par 72, 7,011 yards from the back, with a driving range and a putting green. Course listings say it takes visitors who arrange a tee time ahead; we are confirming that with the club.
For the golfer just off a flight of more than 11 hours who wants a gentle first card, this is the sensible opener; for the golfer who came this far for the Pacific, it is a course inside a housing estate, with no sea in sight.
The one we have left out
Cariari Country Club, near San José airport, was the first 18-hole course in the country, designed by George Fazio in the early 1970s. It is a private members’ club and we have not confirmed that visitors can play. Until we have, it is not on our list.
The honest drawback
That is all of it. Four courses and a warm-up, spread across three regions, with the two best closed to anyone who is not a member or a guest staying beside them. A golfer who wants a different course every day for a week will run out.
Who this suits
Couples and groups who want three or four good rounds inside a larger holiday, and who would rather play one course most people cannot than six they could have played in Spain. It does not suit a society that wants 36 holes a day.
For the weather on these fairways, see the best time to play golf in Costa Rica, month by month.
The price, stated flat
There isn’t one. We have never sold Costa Rica, we have not yet contracted a room or a tee time there, and we will not guess at a figure. Nothing on this page is on sale today.
The next step
Because the hotel decides the golf, we want to know which of these courses matters most to you before we choose the hotels. Register your interest in Costa Rica, tell us who is travelling and which course you would cross an ocean for, and you will see the first trips before anyone else. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Frequently asked questions
How many golf courses in Costa Rica are worth travelling for?
We count four, plus a warm-up near the capital: Reserva Conchal, the Ocean Course at Peninsula Papagayo, Hacienda Pinilla and La Iguana, with Valle del Sol for the first morning. Costa Rica has few courses, and these are the ones we would cross an ocean for.
Can you play Reserva Conchal without staying at the resort?
Not as a day visitor. The resort says the course is open only to its guests and to members of the Reserva Conchal community. The two hotels on the estate are the W Costa Rica and The Westin Reserva Conchal.
Who designed the Ocean Course at Peninsula Papagayo?
Arnold Palmer. It opened in January 2004 and is a par 72 of 6,788 yards. It is private, open to club members and to guests staying on the peninsula, including at the Four Seasons, the Andaz and Nekajui.
Do you have to take a buggy on Costa Rica's golf courses?
At Reserva Conchal, yes: buggies are compulsory. We are confirming the rule at the other courses. In Guanacaste, where afternoon highs average above 30 degrees in every month, most visiting golfers would choose one anyway.
Which Costa Rica golf course is closest to San José?
Of the courses on our list, Valle del Sol in Santa Ana is in the Central Valley near the capital. La Iguana at Los Sueños is about an hour and a half from San José airport. The Guanacaste courses are a much longer drive and are closer to Liberia airport.
Does Golf Planet Holidays sell golf trips to Costa Rica?
Not yet. We have never sold Costa Rica. Register your interest and you will hear from us first if we build the trips.
Come and play with us
Wherever you're travelling from, you're welcome on our Western Cape Spring Tour: a small group, a host with you from the first tee to the last, and every round, transfer and dinner taken care of. You just bring the clubs.
