Special Post – Golfing at Playa Grande Resort

Not sure how to describe the golf experience Mo, Garrett and Matt had but hopefully a few brief sentences and a bunch of pictures will do the trick.

Imagine you’re at a bar and you strike up a conversation with a stranger that leads to discussing everything from politics and war to women and sports.  Before you know it you do a 151 shot and you agree to a round of golf with the new friend, not thinking it’ll actually happen.  That’s how it started. 

After going to bed only hours before, we took the leap of faith and woke up at 7am to meet our new friend Senor Robert.  We figured it’d be a 50-50 shot he’d show, but when we got downstairs he was there waiting.  What ensued is arguably one of the greatest rounds of golf of our lives.

Senor Robert, Matt, Mo and Garrett were all smiles

When you drive through the Playa Grande Golf Resort gates the views of the endless cliffs with pristine turquoise water crashing against the rocks immediately strike you.   The course is designed by renowned architect Robert Trent Jones, the same designer of Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, California.  In fact, the course is often referred to as the Pebble Beach of the Caribbean. 

The views made looking for your lost ball not nearly as depressing

Garrett takes in the pristine views from the fairway

We teed off around 8:30am and after a few holes of mostly staring at the views and not paying attention to our golf game, we noticed we were the only ones on the course.   Our caddies kept us on track and treated us like professionals by recommending clubs, providing distances, cleaning…and finding…our balls, lining up our putts, etc.

Matt found himself in the rough throughout the day...

Mo sets up his putt against a postcard-like backdrop

Several holes, such as this one, called for a cross-canyon tee shot

We were the only golfers on the course so we stopped to take photos whenever possible

Be sure not to hook it or you'll be swimming with the fishes

Mo lines up one of his handful of birdie putts - he birdied two holes on the day

Matt toes the edge of one of the many Playa Grande cliffs

Garrett and Matt enjoy one of the many picturesque scenes

Garrett tees off with the beautiful Playa Grande in the background

The views continued to get better on each hole and peaked on the 13^th where the green over looked the famous Playa Grande beach, considered one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  Again, we took note that still no one else had teed off and we had the entire world-class golf course to ourselves like we were playing in our own backyard. 

The view of Playa Grande beach from the 13th green

The boys were on cloud nine the whole round

We picked up a few words and learned a few lessons throughout the round such as:

* Gorilla Grande – A big dude who hits the ball a long way; Mo and Garrett were referenced as a Gorilla Grandes on several occasions

* Dominican Gimme – Gimmes in the Dominican are an extra club length

* Putter – Putter in Spanish is Putter

* Mierda – Literally translates to ‘shit’ and was used by the caddies after Matt teed off saying “en la mierda otro vez” or 'in the shit again'

* Dame Gasolina – What you say when you hit a putt short as if it ran out of gas

* Luna – When you hit a ball sky high off the tee

We wrapped up the round in the early afternoon on Tuesday and we are still on a high from the experience.  Huge, huge thanks to Senor Robert for hosting us on an absolutely phenomenal experience and adding such an invaluable excursion to our trip.

Day 12 - Vamos A La Playa

Cabarete is as lively during the day as it is at night.  All the restaurants, bars and souvenir shops open bright and early to capture the tourist business.  However, Cabarete is probably best known for its world-class windsurfing and kite surfing.  People from around the world travel here to take advantage of the unique wind conditions that funnel through the bay.

Our crew was up mid-morning to grab breakfast and then hit the sand.  We were treated to another perfect day of weather.  Other than a few dips in the water, a couple of strolls up and down the beach, a card game or two, and several massages on the beach, it was an uneventful day, which is just what we planned.

Mo and Garrett getting their beach bodies ready

The epitome of our relaxing day - massages, naps and taking in the sun

Seats open

Cabarete beach

Garrett was the King of Queens in the hard fought Hearts battle

Matt mixed in a massage from 'El Tigre'

Una cerveza por favor

Local vendors walked the beaches selling fresh fruit

As the sun set we went back to the room to clean up.  Earlier in the day we noticed a great surf & turf, aka mar y tierra, dinner offer that we planned to take full advantage of.  We got to dinner around 7:30pm and it was a bit warm and humid so Mo, Greg and Matt decided to go topless at dinner – it’s the Caribbean so topless is completely acceptable. 

Dinner on Sunday was toptional

The surf and turf feast in Cabarete

Even with his shirt off, Greg was still overheating so the boys assisted him with a head-and-shoulders-only dip in the restaurant’s pool.

Preparation...

Ready to engage...

Commencing the dip...

Drying...

Todo bien!!

After dinner, we bar-hopped up and down the beach to watch Dallas squeak by Garrett’s Redskins on Monday Night Football. 

LA was well-represented in the Cabarete bars

We wrapped up the night by again making new friends at Jose O’Shea’s, including a Canadian named Robert who had retired and moved to the north shore of the Dominican.  Robert was sitting bar top alongside us and he started telling us about all kinds of great things to do on the island, including a claim that the nearby Playa Grande Golf Resort is one of the best golf courses in the world.  Matt, Mo and Garrett had been looking to get in some golf on the trip, so this recommendation piqued our interest.  After a couple rounds of shots, Robert told us he would pick us up at 7am the next morning (it was about 1:30am as this decision was made) and take us on the 45 minute drive to the course.

Would the gang be able to get home, sleep off some drinks, wake up early, and make it to Playa Grande for a spontaneous round of world-class golf?  Stay tuned…

Day 11 – Travel from Puerto Rico to Dominican Republic

We left San Juan around 9am on Sunday and caught our flight to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.  Once we landed we jumped in our van and drove three and half hours to a little surf town on the north side of the island called Cabarete.

All aboard...

Jet-setter Garrett

Our driver Joselito

The drive to Cabarete took us right through the middle of the island so we saw a lot of the forest areas as well as a lot of their agricultural lands - they grow rice and coconuts.  We also witnessed numerous villages and towns, which we must say, were so third world it was tough to look at.  There were shacks along the street, trash littered everywhere, kids running around without shoes and a lot of the would-be business structures looked abandoned.  Scooters and motorcycles are the main mode of transportation in the DR and in some cases they get three or four people including infants on a scooter.

It was a three-hour tour...

We passed a few palm tree fields with the frawns chopped off

Rice fields in the middle of the Dominican

There were plenty of beautiful scenic views along the drive

Although a few of the towns were rough, the landscape  was  gorgeous

We stopped for lunch at Cafe de Paris in Rio San Juan

We arrived in Cabarete around 6pm and our assumption after seeing some of the other towns was that we were in for a rough couple of days.   To our surprise, Cabarete is a lot more developed and has a large tourist business.   Unlike the other locations where we stayed in hotels, in Cabarete we rented a condo on the beach so we had prime real estate. 

Our Cabarete condo, walking distance to the beach, restaurants and bars

After we unpacked, we headed out to get something to eat and check out the scene.   The town is one main road with restaurants, shops, hotels and condo complexes all with entrances on both the street side and beach side.  Walking along the beach side was fantastic because there’s about 10 restaurants all side-by-side with gorgeous ocean views and fun, comfortable beach-side dining. 

We started with a drink at LAX and then moved onto dinner at LA CASITA DE DON ALFREDO, aka Chez Papy, because it was the most packed of the bunch.  Since it’s the offseason and we got into town on a Sunday, the town was pretty quiet.

We started with a few appetizers and drinks at LAX

Chez Papy did not disappoint.  We had delicious ceviche to start followed by massive platters of langostina (mini lobsters) and camrones (shrimp) smothered in their special "Papi" sauce, delicious!

Bebidas at La Casita de Don Alfredo

"Me gusta tocar la guitarra, me gusta tomar el sol"

Langostinas a la papi

Boom!

After the massive feast, it was time for a siesta

For after dinner drinks we settled on JOSE O’SHEA’S – great name – and hung there for the evening meeting the locals and making friends.

Matt and Mery sitting in a tree...

What should we order next...

By the end of the night we were all close friends

Mas amigas - Summer, Mery and Cherish

Lauren enjoyed her coconut juice

Lauren making friends with stray dogs - we had four or five dogs following us by the end of the night

We closed O’shea’s down around 2am and headed back down the beach to our condo.  Day 12 is another beach day, our final one of the trip because Santo Domingo is mostly site seeing and city life.