Playing Fair in Mexico

Developed by Coloradoan John Fair, Paraiso del Mar blazes a trail along Baja’s eastern coast.
  
“I’m a total golf snob,” laughs real estate developer and Castle Pines member John Fair. As a student at Stevenson School, located smack dab in the middle of Pebble Beach, Fair spent countless afternoons playing the famed links as well as Spyglass Hill and, on occasion, Cypress Point. “People always ask me why I still work so hard and I tell them it’s because I’m trying to aspire to the lifestyle I had when I was in high school.”

Now he’s bringing a touch of that golf snobbery and vision—which has created high-end resorts like Esperanza in Cabo San Lucas and Grace Bay Club in Turks & Caicos—to the small city of La Paz in Baja California. Paraiso del Mar, Fair’s residential resort development situated on an isolated peninsula across a bay from the city, fans out across 1,700 acres along more than five miles of beachfront. The harsh desert terrain, painted with a palette of copper, russet and sepia, contrasts sharply with the Sea of Cortez’s glassy emerald waters and the verdant fairways of the Arthur Hills-designed golf course, which opened last May.

“Less man, more god,” says Arthur Hills, summing up his approach to his design. “Once native vegetation was cleared, the land revealed great undulations. Believe it or not, this landscape is very similar to St. Andrews in the way the land rolls and rumbles. It was like taking a sheet out of the dryer and just letting it lay across the land.”

And that’s the exact sense you get playing Paraiso del Mar, as its 7,100 yards smoothly ripple and swell with the land’s natural contours. The “sheet” Hills and design associate Brian Yoder draped over the landscape is actually a species of saltwater resistant Paspalum grass, which feels like a sponge and nearly guarantees a good lie. Keep to the supple turf and you’ll be fine. Stray off the generous fairways, some of which are nearly 80 yards wide, and you’ll be forced to contend with an inhospitable environment filled with gnarly ocotillo, cacti, expanses of super-soft silt and rugged rock and gravel outcroppings.

But what the fairways giveth, the greens taketh away. The putting surfaces offer some of the most brutal pin locations you’ve ever faced. Should your ball find the wrong part of the putting surface, you’re almost guaranteed a three-jack––or worse. The best example of this comes at the quirky par-three seventh, whose green features a nine-foot-deep crater on its right side.

Perhaps the course’s best attribute is that 11 holes feature no real estate development, creating a sense of seclusion and connection to the severe natural landscape. What homes do exist come in the form of two- and three-bedroom villas and two-, three- and four-bedroom condominiums, which range in price from the low $200s to more than $1 million and in size from 1,450 square feet to 3,100. Each come with luxe furniture options and decked out in fine finishes like granite and travertine floors and custom mosaic showers.

Aside from the golf course, other amenities include a stunning pool complex that overlooks the sea, tennis courts, a planned marina and miles of hiking trails on 800 acres set aside for wildlife sanctuaries. And just as Paraiso del Mar connects its residents with nature, it does the same with the local culture, the rich Spanish colonial heritage of which dates back more than 470 years.

A quick ferry ride delivers the many treasures of this capital city of 200,000, which melds centuries-old streetscapes that are comfortable to tourists yet maintain the vibrancy and authenticity of a port city. Dining options include favorites like El Aljibe for more upscale fare, Buffalo BBQ for great grilled steaks and seafood and Rancho Viejo for some Mexican classics. After eating, stroll along the waterfront Malecón and shop for curios.

Still in its infancy, Paraiso del Mar is the first master-planned community in the area. Once completed, the 10-year project will be a city unto itself, with more than 2,000 condo units, 1,600 single-family homes and 500 hotel rooms.

During the next few decades, the 100 miles between Paraiso del Mar and Cabo San Lucas could sprout as many as 17 new golf courses and countless resorts and vacation homes. Plans are well underway. It just took a self-professed “golf snob” to lead the charge.
For more information visit paradiseofthesea.com.

*All information in this article was accurate at the time of publication

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