Vidanta Nuevo Nayarit-Vallarta

I have some mixed reviews, I was excited to play this course, it's kinda of a bucket list to play the courses the pros play, but it turns out when the pros play the dont play just the Norman course the play a mix of the courses to make it walkable. When we played the front 9 of Norman course was closed for aeration so we were scheduled to play the back 9 twice. They played it off as a way to "get a 2nd place to improve" but I wanted to experience the whole course. Caddies are required, which was not mentioned on the booking, so be aware, you have to cash pay caddy directly at course, ( it wound up being approx $25 extra a person). The caddy experience was great, he would run up to either the tee box on par 3's or your ball and give you distance and wind direction, he would grab your wedges from you around the green and hand you your putter. He would read your putts and give you an aim point(you still had to execute of course). The greens were soft and reception on the norman course, and now playing a professional course on these types of greens i understood how the grain really affects speed. The greens on the Nayer course were not as receptive and would roll out, somtimes too far. The bunkers were super soft and great to hit out of,( not the rock garden I experience at some courses). When we finished the 1st 9 holes we asked if we had to replay the 2nd 9 or could we play holes from the Nayer course and our caddy said we could, so we played front 9 of that course. I do have to say the course layout is crazy and you need the caddy to navigate, the courses are intertwined, so what you think it the next hole cuz the tee box is closest to the green you just finished is wrong, it's a different course. To get to holes 6 and 7 of Nayer the are literally like a mile from 5 and 8, yet there are holes around it, just from the other course, layout just didn't make sense. Hole 8, apparently used to be a par 4, but the made it a par 3 by adding in a green in the middle of the fairway, but beyond is a perfectly good fairway and par4 green, so dont know why it was a par 3, cuz it was a super short par 3 at that. It was windy we day we played, but the wind didn't seem to affect too much, I was at sea level and my distances were close to my distances at home which is elevation 2000 feet, even with wind. The course itself is and interesting environment, it reminds me of Disney world. You go through a front security gate, then park in a lot that has a reception area, like a hotel, they the load your clubs up on a shuttle cart to take you to the pro shop. Range and practice facilities are included, the cart paths through the facility are surrounded by beautiful shrubbery and landscaping, you cant see the "outside" world. The beverage cart takes your order and will run your tab for the round. If it's a quick beer, she'll hand it to you, but if it's a mixed drink, place your order and continue playing, she bring it to you when it's done, no pace of play being held up handing out at the beverage cart. At the end, she'll settle out your tab. If you are not staying on property, you can driver yourself or take an Uber or taxi for drop off, but to get picked up, you must use their "taxi" service. I was pleasantly surprised, their rates were much better than getting your own taxi, not as cheap as Uber, but not price gouging either. As an example, I payed $30 for taxi there, Uber would have been $22, (if I wanted to wait, but taxi was already there). Their taxi back was $26. Overall, the experience was great, I would definitely play there again, might even look into their stay and play and stay at the resort. Shot 82 for a first time playing the course, which is under handicap for me, I chalk that up to the caddy, Thanks Arturo!

Love the game on this par 3...first game of the season!

Louis was great, very helpful reading greens.

Course was in good shape and saw a couple of crocs.

I played this course as part of a time share promotion. The Vidarta property is massive with 3 golf courses, 4000 acres and 10,000 workers. It seems highly disorganized. I dropped my clubs off at one place expecting them to be delivered to the pro shop. You cannot drive to the course and drop off your clubs. There are literally golf cart shuttles running people everywhere. Highly inefficient and you spend a lot of time waiting. Credit card only at check-in. Staff are friendly but not overly helpful.

After a long drive to the practice range we proceeded on another longer drive to the golf course. We waited for a foursome ahead who had waited for a 5 some ahead of them. It was great day for golf however the pace was painstakingly slow and we finished in close to 5-1/2 hours. Some fairways were in good condition others were highly stressed. The greens were OK but did not seem consistent. Rakes for the traps are supplied with some of the carts but mine was absent.

Many of the staff speak limited English which further complicates things when asking for directions.

I do not often not recommend a course but this is one I would not return.

The course is in great shape! Challenging but a great round!

We managed to play at a fairly reasonable price thru golfnow. No caddy forced on us this time. Wasn't necessary anyway. Greens were great.

READ BEFORE GOING: DO NOT TRUST GPS NAVIGATION to correctly take you there by trying to find “VIDANTA VALLARTA” (Uber, Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze, etc). Instead, map to “VIDANTAWORLD PARK” and navigate accordingly. Once you’ve entered the resort area, follow signage to the golf courses. You will then need to get dropped off or park near the resort check-in counters where you’ll do a quick security check. Let them know you want to go to the Pro Shop to play golf and they will summon a golf cart driver to come pick you up and take you to the Pro Shop. Once there you are treated to a well presented Pro Shop where you’ll check in for your round.

I caught a great Hot Deal on GolfNow. I’d suggest taking a look every day about a month out from when you plan to visit to see if one pops up.

We rented clubs. To my surprise, they were the new 2026 TaylorMade Qi4D drivers and woods with the new Qi clubs, which was awesome to get to play since I’m a TaylorMade guy.

Now for the caddie: Did the check-in lady say we needed to get one? Yes. Did we get assigned one or used one? No. Not sure where that was supposed to happen. We got there right at our tee time because we got lost coming in so we went straight from the Pro Shop to the Hole #1. Maybe the caddie was supposed to get picked up at the Driving Range, but I wasn’t approached about it so it worked out that we didn’t end up using one. YMMV.

With all that being said, it was a wonderful course to play. Fairways and greens were immaculate. The course played well and had its fair share of challenges and hazards without being too overbearing. I would definitely come back to play again. It took us exactly 4.5 hrs to play.

This course is highly recommended, just don’t get lost on the way there.

We played the Greg Norman Course

Wow what a nice layout

Course has not been marked properly, too many golfers let played together (8 on first hole)

and even splitting to 4, waited on every hole, had made this golf course not enjoyable to play.

Loved playing this course except for pace of play. Group ahead of us had non playing female passengers and they stopped numerous times for pictures or visits. A marshal is needed.

I’ve played this course numerous times over the past 6 years. This year has been a different experience from the past. I got a hot deal 3+ weeks ago for $74. If you book too late expect anywhere from $150-325. I find the pricing upsetting as I feel like I’m being taken advantage of. I would have booked additional golf if the rates were reasonable. They’re nowhere near a $200+ course, non of the courses on golf now in PVR are. Greens are slow 8.5-9 maybe, bunker I found green side was un-raked, unacceptable with a mandatory caddy. Food and drink was on expensive side.