Bahia Beach Golf Club & Resort Review
Bahia Beach Resort & Golf Club is located in Río Grande, Puerto Rico. The resort is located 26 minutes from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU). Playing as a par 72 at 6,872 yards with a course rating of 75.9 and a slope rating of 145.
Course History
Robert Trent Jones Jr., one of the world’s preeminent golf course architects, designed this spectacular golf course. Fifteen to eighteen holes border some form of water, as the course takes a circuitous route around the lakes before emerging onto the Atlantic coast for the final holes. Bahia Beach has been designed with the resort golfer in mind but will provide players of all skill levels with a strategic and challenging golf experience.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. captures the essence of the experience when he proclaims, “Bahia Beach will be a haven of golf that will challenge but also delight your soul and spirit.” Managed by Troon Golf and rewarded as a certified Silver Signature Sanctuary by Audubon International, this exclusive stretch of green is a true statement of perfection.
Bahia Beach Golf Course Features
Bahia Beach Golf Course has a wonderful pro shop with branded golf shirts and hats from the top brand in the industry. The club has electric golf carts with a range finder interactive screen that you can connect and play some music while enjoying the Robert Trend Jones Jr design. Their website doesn’t make it the easiest to find the tee times, here is the link!
Driving Range with Trackman
Practice Putting Green
Short Game Area
Pro Shop
Snack Stand/Small Restaurant at the turn
Golf Carts with Distances, Bluetooth, and Online Scorecard
Bahia Beach Golf Club Rating
The Bahia Beach Golf Club is one of the top 3 courses on the island. This excellent resort course has very playable rough and immaculate fairways. Greens were running pure and true, and the speed was running fast. Make sure to keep the ball below the hole when playing approach shots.
Course Design – ★★★★½
Bahia Beach Golf Club is a course beautiful from tee to green. While you wind your way around the front 9 holes, you have stunning views of the Puerto Rico mountains in the background. Water is EVERYWHERE and will come into play on 11 of the 18 holes. In some spots, the water comes into play more than others. If you are using a GPS, make sure to check the water locations; sometimes, it will sneak up on you!
Par-3’s: This is where I will be a little critical of the course. The Par-3s are beautiful to look at, but three of the four par-3s play at similar distances. The 15th hole play's shorter and is a very scorable hole if you can stay out of the bunkers.
Par-4’s: The Par 4’s are a great test with varying distances. Hole #1 is a great little icebreaker to get your round. My favorite Par 4’s is #2; it’s a pretty easy hole. However, you start to get a feel for how the water will come into play.
Once you make the turn, you will be greeted with a short little hole that will be less than a driver for most. Keep it in the center or a little right to have the best approach shot, as left can cause you to be blocked out by trees.
Hole #16 and Hole #18 are the signature holes on the course as they run along the beach. They give you a beautiful view of the bright blue Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing more incredible than teeing off with the sound of crashing waves in the background.
Par-5’s: OH BOY! These Par 5’s are fun! Hole #5 is appropriately named the Green Monster as it sits at 568 yards from the tips. It runs along a crescent moon-shaped pond that will come into play on the drive and the next 2 shots.
Hole #14 is a very long par 5 and has a pond along the left side. This hole gave me the most challenging test. The approach shot is water short, and if the pin is tucked in the back, it messes with your depth perception.
Course Difficulty – ★★★★
The Bahia Beach course is challenging but, if played correctly, is very easy. The course plays some eye tricks; if you don’t fall for those, you should be fine. Additionally, the course has little mounds on the sides of most fairways in the rough, which helps shape the hole, but it also keeps the ball in play if you send one into the rough. However, if you hit the backside of those mounds, your ball will get sent somewhere you don’t want it to go.
The Par-5 holes are beasts; if you make the smart plays and lay up in the correct position, you will set yourself up to score well.
Course Amenities – ★★★★★
The course offers a lot, but you are paying for that, so that is to be expected. We will start with the pro shop. It is fully stocked and has shirts from Travis Matthew and other top golf brands. They have a great logo, so some items look excellent!
Once you leave the pro shop and head over to the short game area, you will find an excellent putting green so you can get your speed dialed. There is also a bunker so you can work on your outs. Then you head across the road and find the driving range there. It’s just an average driving range. However, they do have a large trackman on the range.
The carts are some of the best coaches I have personally been on. The seats were super comfortable, and the staff stocked the coolers with 4 ice-cold bottles of water, which came in handy on that hot day. They also had a towel, branded tee’s, ball marker, and divot tool. Let me tell you about that entertainment screen inside the cart. It had real-time scoring, yardages, and even a breakdown of the screen for approach shots. It was simply amazing.
Course Conditions- ★★★★★
I mean, what can I say… You pay $200 for a round. It better be perfect, and it was! The greens were pure, the tee boxes were excellent, and the fairways were immaculate. It was one of the most beautiful and enjoyable rounds ever.
Bahia Beach Photo Gallery
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