PeteDye

Guatemala's First Golf Resort

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Sports, Real Estate Developments

The first golf resort in Guatemala, a country more accustomed to attracting tourists to its ancient Mayan ruins, opened this spring outside the colonial city of Antigua. The resort, called La Reunión, occupies a former coffee plantation at the base of the active volcano Fuego.

Its centerpiece is Fuego Maya, a Pete Dye–designed golf course that offers striking views of Fuego and three other volcanoes as well as the Pacific Ocean in the distance. The layout is the architect's first course in Central America (and his second to open this year). According to Dye's son Perry, who oversaw the project, it's also the region's first course to have bent grass, which is prized by golfers because it produces lush, full fairways and smooth-rolling greens.

When completed, the 1,400-acre enclave is to include 950 units of housing in the form of villas and private homes plus a luxury hotel, a boutique eco-hotel, a spa, an observatory and a cultural center. There are 26 golf course casitas available for overnight guests, each including an outdoor terrace, small pool, Jacuzzi and shower.

Gallery: La Reunion Golf Resort in Guatemala

The clubhouse, at the base of the Fuego volcano

Tags: Antiqua, Fuego Maya, FuegoMaya, golf, Guatemala, La Reunion, LaReunion, Pete Dye, PeteDye

New Pete Dye Golf Course Opening at French Lick Resort

by Paul Rogers (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Sports

Although more golf courses in the U.S. are closing than opening these days, as spring arrives there are at least some breaks in the industry's gloomy skies. The most sparkling of all may be the new Pete Dye Course at historic French Lick Resort in southern Indiana. (An hour's drive north of Louisville, Ky., French Lick is the hometown of basketball legend Larry Bird.)

Dye, the irascible 83-year-old architect of such celebrated layouts as TPC Sawgrass and Whistling Straits, is an Indiana native, and he was clearly energized to be working on this project. The course, scheduled to open April 24, drapes across rolling hills overlooking Hoosier National Forest. It bears many of Dye's hallmarks, including aggressive mounding, bold and deceptive bunkering, and strategic holes that vary greatly in length.

The Pete Dye Course is the latest of several recent improvements to French Lick Resort, whose mineral springs have been attracting visitors since the late 1700s. Its 1917 Donald Ross course--a wonderful complement to the more modern Dye design--underwent an extensive restoration. So, too, did the landmark West Baden Springs Hotel, one of the resort's two hotels. Built at the turn of the twentieth century in the style of a grand European spa, with a soaring atrium under a massive circular dome, the hotel reopened in 2007 after a $500 million refurbishment.

Gallery: French Lick Resort

Tags: Donald Ross, DonaldRoss, French Lick Resort, FrenchLickResort, golf, Indiana, Pete Dye, PeteDye, West Baden Springs Hotel, WestBadenSpringsHotel

Carmel Valley Ranch Completes $12 Million Makeover

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Sports

Carmel Valley Ranch, the California retreat set on a stunning parcel of 400 lush acres with views of the Santa Lucia Mountains, just finished the final phase of an elegant $12 million makeover with the opening of a branch of acclaimed Washington, D.C. eatery Citronelle. Among the many improvements are a remodeled main Lodge and a refurbished Pete Dye-designed 18-hole championship golf course and clubhouse. CVR's 144 suites - that's 2.7 acres per suite, by the way - take advantage of the dramatic setting with a refined country aesthetic, many featuring wraparound decks and wood-burning fireplaces. Chef Michel Richard's Citronelle serves light, modern French cuisine "infused with locally grown ingredients and produce for a uniquely Californian twist." See the gallery for more.

Gallery: Carmel Valley Ranch