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Vista Vallarta Golf Club - The Nicklaus Course
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About
The Nicklaus Course at Vista Vallarta Golf Club is one of two championship courses at the club, the other was designed by Tom Weiskopf. The Nicklaus Course is perched atop the property's highest elevation, offering spectacular views of Puerto Vallarta and the Bay of Banderas. The course tumbles across grassy hillsides covered with dense forests of palms and giant ficus trees. True to Nicklaus' style, the wildly undulating greens are balanced by generous driving areas. He also chose to route the holes along the natural contours of the land, giving each hole a unique character. One of the most talked-about holes on the golf course is the par-5 third, which is ranked as the toughest. This 550-yard monster demands three strong shots in order to make it onto the elevated green in regulation, but the tricky part is that the elevation rises a bit more with each shot.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 72 | 7074 yards | 73.8 | 144 |
| Blue | 72 | 6595 yards | 71.7 | 137 |
| White | 72 | 6031 yards | 69.5 | 124 |
| Yellow | 72 | 5287 yards | 66.4 | 117 |
| Red | 72 | 5251 yards | 71.1 | 119 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold M: 74.7/138 | 401 | 429 | 550 | 381 | 213 | 452 | 427 | 534 | 182 | 3569 | 536 | 394 | 580 | 340 | 440 | 177 | 423 | 170 | 445 | 3505 | 7074 |
| Blue M: 72.7/130 W: 78.6/142 | 338 | 408 | 519 | 366 | 192 | 435 | 395 | 499 | 178 | 3330 | 513 | 370 | 558 | 314 | 422 | 149 | 383 | 157 | 399 | 3265 | 6595 |
| White M: 69.7/126 W: 73.5/125 | 294 | 360 | 484 | 338 | 168 | 416 | 372 | 453 | 152 | 3037 | 466 | 356 | 538 | 262 | 402 | 125 | 347 | 131 | 367 | 2994 | 6031 |
| Yellow M: 66.8/118 W: 72.0/121 | 260 | 336 | 443 | 268 | 145 | 331 | 284 | 422 | 131 | 2620 | 433 | 334 | 521 | 236 | 311 | 113 | 307 | 114 | 298 | 2667 | 5287 |
| Red W: 70.0/121 | 258 | 334 | 441 | 266 | 143 | 329 | 282 | 420 | 129 | 2602 | 431 | 332 | 519 | 234 | 309 | 111 | 305 | 112 | 296 | 2649 | 5251 |
| Handicap | 11 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 15 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 17 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 18 | 8 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 36 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 13 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 10 | 18 | 12 |
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Reviews
Reviewer Photos
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Photo submitted by Bea1213 on 02/02/2026
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Photo submitted by tcallaway25 on 06/12/2023
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Photo submitted by tcallaway25 on 06/12/2023
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Photo submitted by tcallaway25 on 06/12/2023
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Photo submitted by u314160452191 on 02/04/2023
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Photo submitted by u314160452191 on 02/04/2023
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Photo submitted by u314160452191 on 02/04/2023
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Photo submitted by u9883322 on 06/12/2022
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Photo submitted by u9883322 on 06/12/2022
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Photo submitted by u397521615 on 02/08/2022
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Photo submitted by browndoodle on 02/02/2022
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Hole 15 Photo submitted by u290742857 on 12/02/2021
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Photo submitted by RTomaselli1 on 11/22/2021
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Photo submitted by RTomaselli1 on 11/22/2021
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Photo submitted by RTomaselli1 on 11/22/2021
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Photo submitted by u778001500 on 11/16/2021
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Photo submitted by u778001500 on 11/16/2021
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Photo submitted by u778001500 on 11/16/2021
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Photo submitted by u000006172924 on 12/15/2020
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No. 16 on the Nicklaus course Photo submitted by greg0000023 on 05/26/2019
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A bunker and the bougainvilleas on the Nicklaus course. Photo submitted by JasonDeeganGA on 04/09/2018
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Pro Ivan Cueva on the Nicklaus course. Photo submitted by JasonDeeganGA on 04/09/2018
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A wall of fame celebrates the players from the 2002 World Golf Championships-World Cup at Vista Vallarta. Photo submitted by JasonDeeganGA on 04/09/2018
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Photo submitted by TroyJames on 01/24/2018
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View of one of the holes Photo submitted by kl3443 on 09/20/2012
Great Golf Track and Facility
Golf course is a beautiful track and was in great shape, the staff was super helpful and friendly and the tacos at the restaurant were super good :)
Best Bang for your buck
Played the Nicolas course good layout best golf so far in PVR got a hot deal.
First Time Last Time
This is a Jack Nicholas design so it is well laid out with plenty of challenges over gorges, uphill to greens and lots of bunkers. The driving range and practice area is good. The golf cart was good with a cooler and club/ball washer, GPS, but for $200 plus uSD you would expect some water in the cooler. The fairways were mowed short, and the sand traps had numerous pebbles in them. There was hardly anyone on the course as it is so badly overpriced and therefore 18 holes was less than 2-1/2 hours. I certainly was sadly disappointed expecting nice tee boxes, lush fairways and sand not gravel in the bunkers. Signage on the course was lacking and numerous times the cart shut off and had to be reversed.
No beach views.
No beach views despite the description on their website
Water hazards were almost all dry
Better than I remember
I generally play the Weiskopf course at Vista Vallarta, having played Nicklaus 3-4 years ago and not enjoying it because of so many forced carries over arroyos. That criticism is still fair, but the course is nevertheless a fun challenge and very well designed. I will be back.
Great course!
Amazing layout and pace of play was perfect. Overall great value!
Amazing views
This course was really fun and challenging. Water bottles were included, so that's nice. The staff were amazing- tip!
Vista Vallarta
Played the Nicklaus course yesterday.
Quite a fair test of golf with wide fairways and protected greens. Good conditions with nice green surfaces. Club staff was great.
Enjoyed our round but must say it’s an overpriced experience at VV.
But to be fair, that’s just the way it is during high season in PV.
You’ve got to pay to play anywhere !
One of the best I have played
I went to Scotland and played at Carnoustie. It had lot of history but I didn't enjoy it as it was long and straight and deep bunkers might challenge you sometimes. But this course in Puerto Vallarta was excellent. Very well designed by Jack, challenging but fair and above all it was maintained so well - immaculate. Only criticism I had was that bunkers need more sand. Overall loved it . Paid much less - US$169 due to discount from the resort I was staying in. I thoroughly enjoyed it, so much that I played two days in a row and third day I played Tom Weiskopf course which was also nice!
Fairway
I had a hard time distinguishing the gullies on the gps system in the cart. This lead me to loose three balls because I through my shot would roll towards the green. When in fact there was a deep gully in front of the green
Very Interesting Course
Great layout in the mountains overlooking Puerto Vallarta. We played in December, early in the golf season. The course was nearly empty allowing us to play in less than 4 hours. The greens were in very good condition.
Great first time, great time
My first and maybe my only time playing on this course. Good location and i am glad I booked it thru GP. Staff offered discount off the bat for my companion. Not a busy
day so I played less than 4 hours. Elevation and layout is great. I broke 80 for the first time and in a great course.
Vista Vallarta
The Nicklaus course is a bear! :) The greens were excellent, difficult but fair. The rough is intense!I should have moved up a set of tees.
Back 9th without flags
Everything was excellent, only that we have to play the back 9 without flags since the staff withdraws them at 4:30, even though the course close at 7:00 pm
