With breathtaking holes chiseled into desert foothills at the foot of rugged mountain peaks, Cabo Real’s longer back nine presents a great test of golf. Free-form bunkers and small, elevated greens combine with fairways that play along ridge tops, to provide an expansive feel. The 14th hole, at 454 yards, runs along the edge of a steep canyon to a green carved into a precipice at the layout’s highest point—nearly 500 feet above the sea. The short par-4 17th hole is a study in clean lines. This right-to-left dogleg is punctuated by two large fairway bunkers, a sentinel cactus and a small green benched into the base of a hill. From an elevated tee, the brawny par-4 18th hole is a classic fin-ishing hole that will force you to navigate the crossing arroyo on the right and the ex-pansive lake on the left.

Host to two PGA Senior Slam events (1996, 1999), Cabo Real offers a memorable, well-balanced test of golf. Uphill holes generally play downwind, while downhill holes usually play into the prevailing onshore breeze. Jones and his design team artfully contoured the green complexes and containment mounds to mimic the shapes of the richly hued mountain peaks in the Sierra de la Laguna that frame the course.