Hotel Casa Velas and Velas Vallarta

I really enjoyed my first time visit to the Vista Vallarta Nicklaus Course.

Arrival:

All the staff were every helpful and friendly and made for a welcoming experience.

Warmup:

Range was in great shape and practice greens large with a variety of slopes that aligned to what I experienced on the course.

The Course:

The layout is long (I played from the tips), challenging in the all the right ways, and offers some beautiful views. We absolutely loved it.

With that said, a couple negatives on our round:

1. Much of the fairway on the first hole could best be described as burnt up or crispy. This was really the only fairway like this on the entire course so was easily forgotten. Now, it is the off season, so work may be being done, but it was a bit of a bummer to start off the round that way.

2. They had just aerated the greens. Excited to play a Nicklaus course, we opted to play as planned vs switching to the Weiskopf course. The staff were happy to discount the round for us which was a nice touch. This isn't impacting my review of the course by any means, but not necessary what you hope for on your first visit.

On Course Service:

Between the snack bar we hit up on our way out to the course, the beverage cart which visited us several times, or the delivery of fresh cold, towels to cool us off during our off-season round, the service was excellent.

Dining:

I highly recommend the western burger!

Played here on my last trip. Very disappointed on this one. Got a Hot Deal at $179. Regular fee was north of $250. Paying $100 would have been too much.

Course condition were poor, except for the Greens which were Good.

I loved the course although the greens were not top shape. I guess I Will have to go back

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 :)

Played the Nicolas course good layout best golf so far in PVR got a hot deal.

It is a very well kept course, l quite difficult but also very beautiful. I could golf here all the time.

If you are paying over $200 US you expect sand in the sand traps, not gravel, lush fairways and tee boxes and great greens. This course has a long way to go to meet these standards. The fairways were short, there was small rocks in the bunkers and they were more like gravel than sand. Course is nicely laid out with challenges. No cooler on the cart and no complimentary water.

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.

The course was in good condition and offered a good variety of holes. Like all the courses in PUERTA VALLARTA they are very high priced so are typically not good value. I was able to pick up a hot deal on golf now however the real value was there was no waiting so we finished in just over 3 hours.The greens, fairways and sand traps were all very consistent.

Both courses on this property are great. Pace of play is seldom an issue here because they don’t promote the courses and there is very little playing traffic. That being said they keep the greens in top condition so they are a pleasure to putt on. If they had a more favorable pricing structure I would play there more often.

Late afternoon game, no stress , very enjoyable pace.

It’s way to overrated, to much money for the course… it’s not as much of a course for the money they charge

Everything was really good except the cost to rent clubs was over the top. Otherwise the golf itself was really good. Great staff and sights and wildlife. Lunch prior was good too.

Lots of water and traps. Nice staff and generally in good condition.

It would be great if they offered a 9 hole rate. As an older golfer it is sometimes difficult to finish 18.

No beach views despite the description on their website

Water hazards were almost all dry

I played this course with my relatives for the second time in a week. This was a late afternoon start time that was half the normal morning price and we got done prior to sunset so it was a great value. The course is in great shape and well maintained.