Mexico has quietly built one of the strongest resort golf portfolios in the world, from the desert links of Los Cabos to the jungle and cenotes of the Riviera Maya and the ocean holes of Punta Mita. Here are the ten we rate most highly, ranked, with our verdict on each and how to play it.
Photograph: Diamante Dunes Golf Course, 飞翔, via Google
Mexican golf splits into a handful of distinct worlds. Los Cabos, at the tip of the Baja peninsula, is the heavyweight, a desert meets ocean stretch where Davis Love, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman have all built, and where the best holes run straight down to the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific. Across on the mainland Pacific, Punta Mita and the Riviera Nayarit hold Jack Nicklaus golf on a peninsula between Banderas Bay and the ocean. On the Caribbean side, the Riviera Maya offers a different game entirely, cut through jungle, mangrove and limestone cenotes around Playa del Carmen and Cancun.
We weighed design pedigree, conditioning, the drama of the setting and how realistically a travelling golfer can play each, leaning toward resort and semi private courses that take visitors. Several of the very best, such as Querencia, are private, so we flag access where it matters. Every fact here, from designers to host events, was checked at the time of writing, and where a detail could not be confirmed we describe the course by its verified character. The order and the verdicts are our editors' view, so reasonable people will reorder the top of the list. If you want any of these built into a costed trip, that is what our concierge does.
The most highly rated course in the country, Davis Love's links style Dunes Course at Diamante on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, which has featured among Golf Digest's World's 100 Greatest. Routed through enormous natural sand dunes with the ocean as a constant, it is bold, windswept and utterly memorable. Diamante is a private community, so access runs through the resort and trusted operators, which is exactly the kind of door our concierge opens.
The most famous resort course on the Caribbean coast, a Greg Norman design opened in 2006 at Mayakoba near Playa del Carmen that hosted a PGA Tour event from 2007 through 2022. It threads jungle, mangrove canals and a vast natural cenote, with the par 3 holes especially memorable, and the conditioning is tour grade. The standout reason to base a golf trip on the Riviera Maya rather than Cabo.
A Tom Fazio design inside an 840 acre private community between Palmilla and Costa Azul in Los Cabos, routinely rated among the very best courses in Mexico and the Caribbean. It climbs from the Sea of Cortez up into the foothills with sweeping ocean views and Fazio's trademark polish. Strictly private, so a round here is arranged through membership or carefully managed access rather than walk up play.
The Jack Nicklaus Signature course on the Punta Mita peninsula north of Puerto Vallarta, opened in 1999 and home to the Tail of the Whale, an optional natural island green reachable by amphibious cart at low tide, billed as the only natural ocean island par 3 in the world. Ocean holes, Banderas Bay views and Four Seasons and St Regis resorts on site make it the flagship of mainland Pacific golf.
The Jack Nicklaus course at Cabo del Sol, long known as the Ocean Course and now the Cove Club, whose closing stretch along the Sea of Cortez is among the most photographed golf in Mexico. Nicklaus himself called these some of the finest holes he had built. A recent repositioning has sharpened the resort, and it remains a must play for anyone serious about Los Cabos golf.
Perhaps the most dramatic routing in Los Cabos, a Jack Nicklaus design at the very tip of the Baja peninsula where holes climb across clifftops, beach and desert with the Pacific crashing below. The sheer scale and the elevation changes make it a thrill ride of a round, served by some of the best halfway houses in golf. Access runs through the Pueblo Bonito resorts.
A Tom Fazio design on the corridor between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, part of the Discovery Land community at Chileno Bay and one of the most exclusive rounds in the region. Wide, beautifully shaped fairways frame ocean and mountain views, with Fazio's usual immaculate finish. Private and tightly held, it is the sort of course a well connected trip can sometimes unlock.
Tiger Woods's first design to open in the United States or Mexico, the inland course at Diamante that complements Love's Dunes. Wide, firm and ground game friendly, with cactus strewn desert framing the playing corridors and an emphasis on angles and the run of the ball, it is more playable and strategic than fearsome, and a fascinating window on how Woods thinks about golf architecture.
The second Jack Nicklaus Signature course on the Punta Mita peninsula, opened in 2009 and climbing into the hills above Banderas Bay with long ocean views and a strong, varied set of holes. Paired with Pacifico, it makes Punta Mita a genuine 36 hole resort base, and the quieter of the two is a fine round in its own right, particularly for guests of the on site resorts.
A Greg Norman course within the large Vidanta resort at Nuevo Vallarta, reached across a one lane cart suspension bridge high over the Ameca River, an undulating, well conditioned layout that anchors a sprawling all inclusive complex. It is more holiday golf than championship test, but the resort scale, the access and the easy Puerto Vallarta location make it a popular, dependable round on a mainland Pacific trip.
Designers and host events verified June 2026 where stated; courses without a confirmed detail are described by their verified setting and character. Several leading Mexican courses are private. Course profiles are added across the site as the directory grows. Always confirm access and fees directly before booking. Check tee time availability.
Tell us whether you want the desert links of Los Cabos, the jungle golf of the Riviera Maya, or the ocean holes of Punta Mita, and roughly when. One concierge arranges the tee times and resort and costs the trip to the head, with no obligation.
Davis Love III's Dunes Course at Diamante in Los Cabos is the most highly rated course in Mexico and has featured among Golf Digest's World's 100 Greatest, with Greg Norman's El Camaleon at Mayakoba and Tom Fazio's Querencia its closest rivals. Reasonable people reorder the top three, but those anchor any serious list.
Los Cabos has the deepest concentration of world class courses, with desert and ocean golf by Love, Nicklaus, Fazio and Woods within a short drive. The Riviera Maya offers fewer but very distinctive jungle and cenote courses led by El Camaleon. Cabo suits a pure golf trip, the Riviera Maya a golf and family beach holiday. Many of our clients do one of each.
The prime season runs from roughly November to April, when both coasts are warm, dry and pleasant and the courses are at their best. Summer is hot and, on the Caribbean side, falls within the hurricane season, so most visiting golfers travel in winter and early spring. Always confirm conditions before booking.
Many of the leading courses are resort or semi private and welcome visitors, often with a room booking at the attached resort, including El Camaleon, the Punta Mita courses and the Diamante layouts. A few of the very best, such as Querencia and Chileno Bay, are strictly private, and access there is arranged rather than bought. Always confirm directly before booking.
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course designers and host events verified June 2026 where stated. Last reviewed June 2026.