Moon Spa & Golf Club - Lakes Course

Nicklaus designed this course well. I played the Dunes and Lakes . A nice blend of holes weaved through tropical vegetation with well positioned deep white sand bunkers and lakes very much in play. Caution: Cancun time changed 2/1/15, your "real" starting time will be an hour later than you planned. The starter did his best to get off as soon as possible, however starting at 2:30PM local time just allowed for enough time to finish before dark! You will be glad you played here. If you do not get a discounted rate I would play Iberostar Pariso which I believe is a better value and just another 15 minutes further by car from Cancun.

I am a VIP member of palace resorts, have played the golf course since it opened in 2003. It is a great golf course, you can get unlimited golf with your stay by giving up your resort credit and just paying cart fees of 29 dollars a day. Our golf trip last year was first we had rain and this course can take a ton of it and still be playable. I am a 6 handicap and play the blue tees. The hardest of the 3 nines is Dunes, then River, then Jungle. The staff can be a little difficult to communicate with, the employees at the golf course speak very little English, but enough to get it done. Moon Palace is my favorite resort of the Palace resorts. I recommend you take your next golf trip there, you will love it!

I strongly recommend the course, particularly if you get a discount on GolfNow... it's truly all inclusive, so the sandwiches and beers and range balls are free. Great service.

Very well laid out course except long backup on par 3s

They overbook this course!! Way too packed with people. Nice condition, but greens are a bit slow. Nice if you want to play a 6 hour round. Saw some nice wildlife, coati and small crocodiles. Coati are very aggressive and take food out of your cart though. Unlimited food and drinks was a plus and needed this to pass the time with the slow play. Mosquitoes are very bad at dusk. Leave before this time or get eaten alive! Course is super expensive unless you book the 2:30 tee time, which is $70. Before or after this time is $170-$250, which is a joke. I booked 2 tee times but did not play the 2nd day because of the experience the first day.

A little background:
Played this in off-season of October
Played late in the day and got Great discount (HotDeal) from GolfNow. Brought my own clubs.
This is an All-Inclusive GC. Meaninging they will fill your cooler repeaditly and they have palapa's out on course for top shelf drinks and refresh your ice/drinks and set you up with food.
Now lets review the course and the staff.
Moon Palace provides a free shuttle (stayed at 18/19KM) to and from hotel because I made reservations 48-hours in advance.
I'm a low single digit (2-3) who doesn't hit it very long.
Started on Jungle nine from the blues, 3,235 yrs
Couldn't reach two of the greens in reg and also had to hit driver into back pin on 205yd par 3. Don't know if it was because of the direction of the breeze or if this nine just plays that tough! Caught a break on the short par 4 of 265 that played down wind so I was able to two putt for a birdie.
They've got signs up that has suggestions for driver distance and starting blocks. Take a serious look at that!!
Try to remember that you're at sea level in heavy humidity. Not going to get too much roll here either. Might find yourself needing an extra club (or at least a 1/2 club) into greens/pins. Misses around the green you'll get the chance to use your putter since there is no rough around greens. JN design.
Went from Jungle to Dunes course.
This is how good the course design is....I hit every club in my bag after playing the 18 holes. Not going to find yourself hitting Driver 8-Iron on every hole. Great layout!
Tee boxes fantastic, fairways immaculate, greens fair and quicker downwind, down grain. Normal speeds the rest of the times. Bunkers could use more that (1) rake per sand trap. Find myself a bit tired and I can see where previous players may not have made the effort to go get the rake and take care of the hazards.
My "thanks" go out to the guys at starter shack. Alexis & Ricardo.
So I went out as a single with a starting time of 2:30. Tee'd it up at 2:00. Took the turn about 3:15 (found all you can eat/drink palapa behind 4) then headed down to play #1 hole (on back 9) hole when Adrian came and found me and said there was two other groups in front of me, why don't I jump over to 5th hole? Play quickly from 5 to 9 then 1 to 4. Good advice not to follow those other 'resort' golfers. I think this was great for all levels of play, they don't feel pushed and I didn't have to wait.
Got done about 4:45. Headed back to starter shack, asked them about my shuttle pick-up scheduled for 7pm.
Adrian suggested I play the "Lakes Nine" at N/C, big Shout-Out to Adrian !!
Got to play all (3) nines in 4+ hours.
Jungle nine played longer than I thought
Dunes nine played shorter 3,312 yards with more traps in play. By now you've hit every club in your bag.
Lakes nine had more water but easily playable at 3,270 yds.
Course was in Great shape. Challenging holes. Fantastic staff!
After your round you can hang out at the bar and grill for more of that 'All-Inclusive' pace. Then they'll get that shuttle back to your hotel for you.
Come on out and play this course. Full price or discount. They're player friendly and I think you'll really like the course, no matter what nines you play.

hi
great value when booked through golfnow on a hot deal ($48) course off of back tees quite demanding, if you miss the fairway you will not be playing that ball again !!!!.
fairways & greens in good condition.
mind the gator in the big "dunes" lake
(noticed that after I played my first round on this course on a hot deal, it was removed from the following week), be aware that the rack rate for this course is $300

We teed off at 8 and finished by a little after 12 on the dunes - jungle course covered in sweat. It was really warm and humid this time of year (end of July). The course forces you to play conservative. Big hitters must be very accurate. Greens are very fair and I never saw a ball mark. We rented clubs (Callaway razor x) and I wish the set included a 56 and 60 wedge. These clubs were needed to stop the ball on the greens. Bring you own balls. I paid $20 for 12 shag balls at the pro shop. One would think if a person paid the full greens fee and rental price of clubs they may throw in a sleeve of balls. Next time I will bring my own clubs and be better prepared. Nice food restaurant and good drinks in the bar. Have fun this proved to be a good break from the beach and pool crowd.

This is a great golf course that was in excellent condition. We played on a GolfNow Hot Deal that included RT transportation, green fees, cart and unlimited food and drink. The staff is friendly and helpful and the facilities are first class. I highly recommend this course.

This is a nice place 20 minutes south of the Hotel Zone in Cancun. The course was in very good condition (played Lakes and Jungle). There are lots of forced water and waste bunker carries off the tee. All the par 3's were water holes. Typical sadistic Nicklaus setup with most shots into the greens having to be in the center in order to stay on. No rough around greens to hold the ball from draining into the bunkers. Greens putted nicely, but did not hold approach shots. Fairways were similarly shaped, caroming balls on the edges of the fairway out into the jungle. I'm not complaining, just informing other golfers. Holes were straightforward as far as approach shots were concerned, with no surprise water or bunkers. I liked the course, but would recommend playing more conservatively (favor the center of the green, etc.) for anyone wishing to have an enjoyable round.

The versatility of 27 holes, a central location and the all-inclusive food and drinks included in the green fee make the Moon Palace the most popular round of golf along the Riviera Maya. That makes it feel a bit like a golf factory just pumping out players in all directions. Once on the course, the beauty of the property shines through with tons of lakes and jungle. The Dunes nine, built one year after the original Lakes and Jungle nines, reigns as the best loop in all of Cancun, although it’s also painfully difficult. The Lakes-Dunes nines form the best loop at the resort.

The course was soo overcrowded that we were only able to get in 9 holes. They should not allow that many bookings if the course is that crowded. Also - the shuttle there was hit by a bus.. and my shuttle home never showed up. Nothing offered for trouble.

Was on our honeymoon and decided to play here and of the 3 courses we played while in the area this was the worse. Only 3 of the 4 9s were open and the one was in BAD BAD shape. Food after the round was buffet style and was pretty much closed down. It could be really nice but no plans on returning