TPC Dorado Beach (East)

Golfing visitors who venture to the popular tourist destination of Dorado on the northern coast of Puerto Rico are spoiled for choice when it comes to playing above average courses as there are a handful of top tracks attached to large beach resorts. In 2015 the facility became part of the TPC network.

One of the main resorts, the Dorado Beach Hotel and Golf Club, was a major development created by Laurance Rockefeller in the 1950s and Robert Trent Jones was the architect tasked with routing two courses – the East and West – over land once used as a coconut and grapefruit plantation.

Major modifications to the layout were made in 2005 by Raymond Floyd and the two nines on the course were reversed to end the round on a hole that sweeps to the left, playing to a green set below the oceanside clubhouse.

Another fine hole on the course, the par five 4th, is a double dogleg that weaves around a couple of ponds en route to a seaside green that’s rated one of the best sites in the Caribbean.

The East course has twice hosted the prestigious World Cup tournament, contested by teams of two representing their country. The first time was in 1961 when the 9th Canada Cup (as it was named then) was won by Sam Snead and Jimmy Demaret. The second time around, in 1994, the event was won by Fred Couples and Davis Love III (the third of four straight victories for them in the competition).