Okay, a quick report on my recent trip to the DR.
First of all, many thanks to Grahame (Bushbaby) for his warm hospitality. What a prince of a fellow! Grahame and I played three rounds together. Once at Playa Grande and twice at Los Aromas.
Grahame graciously ferried me and two other tourists to Playa Grande, gave us a crash course on the DR and a near crash course on DR driving and made the whole day enjoyable. Really good company and sneaky long off the tee. Unfortunately, as beautiful as this course is, the greens were damn near unputtable. It was just bad timing as they had recently aerated and sanded the greens with very course topping. I would dearly love to play this course again when the greens were in prime condition, probably during peak season.
Los Aromas is a beautiful but diabolical Pete Dye track with superb greens and many elevation changes and blind shots. It has the feel of a well kept secret as the club doesn't have a lot of money for cart paths and the fairways are not groomed to perfection, but what beautiful greens! Highly recommended, especially if you have the good fortune to enjoy the company of Luis (Hillbilly). Another great guy and even more knowledgeable than Grahame about DR history and culture. By the way, belated happy birthday wishes to Luis.
Next time, and there will definitely be a next time, I'm going to get down to La Romana, Cap Cana, and Guavaberry (sp?). I naively thought I could stay in Costambar and drive South, but lesson learned for next time.
If you are fortunate enough to hook-up with Grahame and Luis for golf in the DR, please treat them well and appreciate how lucky you have been.
First of all, many thanks to Grahame (Bushbaby) for his warm hospitality. What a prince of a fellow! Grahame and I played three rounds together. Once at Playa Grande and twice at Los Aromas.
Grahame graciously ferried me and two other tourists to Playa Grande, gave us a crash course on the DR and a near crash course on DR driving and made the whole day enjoyable. Really good company and sneaky long off the tee. Unfortunately, as beautiful as this course is, the greens were damn near unputtable. It was just bad timing as they had recently aerated and sanded the greens with very course topping. I would dearly love to play this course again when the greens were in prime condition, probably during peak season.
Los Aromas is a beautiful but diabolical Pete Dye track with superb greens and many elevation changes and blind shots. It has the feel of a well kept secret as the club doesn't have a lot of money for cart paths and the fairways are not groomed to perfection, but what beautiful greens! Highly recommended, especially if you have the good fortune to enjoy the company of Luis (Hillbilly). Another great guy and even more knowledgeable than Grahame about DR history and culture. By the way, belated happy birthday wishes to Luis.
Next time, and there will definitely be a next time, I'm going to get down to La Romana, Cap Cana, and Guavaberry (sp?). I naively thought I could stay in Costambar and drive South, but lesson learned for next time.
If you are fortunate enough to hook-up with Grahame and Luis for golf in the DR, please treat them well and appreciate how lucky you have been.
aranoid:~ Grahame.
