Vista Vallarta Golf Club - The Nicklaus Course
Rating Snapshot
About
The Nicklaus Course at Vista Vallarta Golf Club is one of two championship courses at the club, the other was designed by Tom Weiskopf. The Nicklaus Course is perched atop the property's highest elevation, offering spectacular views of Puerto Vallarta and the Bay of Banderas. The course tumbles across grassy hillsides covered with dense forests of palms and giant ficus trees. True to Nicklaus' style, the wildly undulating greens are balanced by generous driving areas. He also chose to route the holes along the natural contours of the land, giving each hole a unique character. One of the most talked-about holes on the golf course is the par-5 third, which is ranked as the toughest. This 550-yard monster demands three strong shots in order to make it onto the elevated green in regulation, but the tricky part is that the elevation rises a bit more with each shot.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 72 | 7074 yards | 73.8 | 144 |
| Blue | 72 | 6595 yards | 71.7 | 137 |
| White | 72 | 6031 yards | 69.5 | 124 |
| Red (W) | 72 | 5251 yards | 71.1 | 119 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold M: 73.8/144 | 401 | 429 | 550 | 381 | 213 | 452 | 427 | 534 | 182 | 3569 | 536 | 394 | 580 | 340 | 440 | 177 | 423 | 170 | 445 | 3505 | 7074 |
| Blue M: 71.7/137 | 338 | 408 | 519 | 366 | 192 | 435 | 395 | 499 | 178 | 3330 | 513 | 370 | 558 | 314 | 422 | 149 | 383 | 157 | 399 | 3265 | 6595 |
| White M: 69.5/124 W: 73.5/125 | 294 | 360 | 484 | 338 | 168 | 416 | 372 | 453 | 152 | 3037 | 466 | 356 | 538 | 262 | 402 | 125 | 347 | 131 | 367 | 2994 | 6031 |
| Yellow M: 66.4/117 W: 72.0/121 | 260 | 336 | 443 | 268 | 145 | 331 | 284 | 422 | 131 | 2620 | 433 | 334 | 521 | 236 | 311 | 113 | 307 | 114 | 298 | 2667 | 5287 |
| Red W: 71.1/119 | 258 | 334 | 441 | 266 | 143 | 329 | 282 | 420 | 129 | 2602 | 431 | 332 | 519 | 234 | 309 | 111 | 305 | 112 | 296 | 2649 | 5251 |
| Handicap | 11 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 15 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 17 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 18 | 8 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 36 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 13 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 10 | 18 | 12 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, Grill, RestaurantAvailable Facilities
ClubhouseReviews
Reviewer Photos
-
Photo submitted by tcallaway25 on 06/12/2023
-
Photo submitted by tcallaway25 on 06/12/2023
-
Photo submitted by tcallaway25 on 06/12/2023
-
Photo submitted by u314160452191 on 02/04/2023
-
Photo submitted by u314160452191 on 02/04/2023
-
Photo submitted by u314160452191 on 02/04/2023
-
Photo submitted by u9883322 on 06/12/2022
-
Photo submitted by u9883322 on 06/12/2022
-
Photo submitted by u397521615 on 02/08/2022
-
Photo submitted by browndoodle on 02/02/2022
-
Hole 15 Photo submitted by u290742857 on 12/02/2021
-
Photo submitted by RTomaselli1 on 11/22/2021
-
Photo submitted by RTomaselli1 on 11/22/2021
-
Photo submitted by RTomaselli1 on 11/22/2021
-
Photo submitted by u778001500 on 11/16/2021
-
Photo submitted by u778001500 on 11/16/2021
-
Photo submitted by u778001500 on 11/16/2021
-
Photo submitted by u000006172924 on 12/15/2020
-
No. 16 on the Nicklaus course Photo submitted by greg0000023 on 05/26/2019
-
A bunker and the bougainvilleas on the Nicklaus course. Photo submitted by JasonDeeganGA on 04/09/2018
-
Pro Ivan Cueva on the Nicklaus course. Photo submitted by JasonDeeganGA on 04/09/2018
-
A wall of fame celebrates the players from the 2002 World Golf Championships-World Cup at Vista Vallarta. Photo submitted by JasonDeeganGA on 04/09/2018
-
Photo submitted by TroyJames on 01/24/2018
-
View of one of the holes Photo submitted by kl3443 on 09/20/2012
Awesome Day!
I had a 3:00 tee time and had the course pretty much to myself. It was a challenging course for me with the amount of sand traps and the undulating greens. The fairway and greens were in good shape even though it was dry. Expensive to rent clubs but other than that I was happy with my experience.
EXTRAORDINARY GREENS !!
Vista Vallarta may not have the sweeping ocean views of the some of the other PV area courses like Vidanta and Litibu, but the greens are unquestionably the best in the region ! Firm, smooth, virtually perfect rolls . .
The fairways are in decent shape; I haven't played in course in the PV area that has excellent fairways . . the bunkers, due to the Covid no rakes in or near the bunker policy, are often times not smooth or raked. .
The course itself is a mix of relatively easy holes with incredibly demanding ones . . it's a very stimulating, fun, enjoyable track . .
Carts are required, unless you are up for massive long walks to get to the 1st tee, and between many holes . . the views, albeit not on the water, are amazing . .
This is my favorite course in all of the extended Puerto Vallarta golf world :)
Awesome
Played at 2:10 , had the whole course to ourselves.
Awesome layout never a boring hole.. definitely going back later this week…played the blue tees which was a good challenge..
Fun day
Great day with perfect weather. The biggest problem was the condition of the roadway accessing the course. It was in a word “HORRIBLE. It is a shame because when the Senior’s Championship tournament was held there for 10 years, roads were great. Now it is like driving an obstacle course!!
Great value if you T off at 2:30 pm lots of time to finish.
Vista Vallarta Nicklaus
Vista Vallarta is a gorgeous facility,. Great practice facilities, club house, pro-shop, staff, and the courses. Both courses are wonderful, I think the Nicklaus course is slightly more difficult. Do yourself a favor and get a caddy especially if it’s your first visit. They are invaluable and most really know the course. They will observe you on the range and quickly be able to recommend clubs on the course. The greens have significant grain and they read them well.
Nice course
Played after 2:30. Pace was good, 3:50. Loved the layout and scenery. A fair challenge. Would play again.
Vallarta
Great course, but to difficult for me. Played from the white tees, should have played the red tees.
Selling Tee Times too close to Tournaments
We got to the course over an hour before our tee time. Ate a quick breakfast and went out to hit some balls and putt to get warmed up. We were scheduled to go out at 10:10. We got to the range and it was completely full with golfers warming up for a tournament that was starting very close to our tee time. The starter asked us to forego warming up and go out early. Felt VERY rushed. Then a marshal followed us for the first hole, I hate that, we are not slow players. Anyway we really feel as though for the price this was very poorly handled as we really lost the first few holes because we couldn't relax and play. Felt like we had to get out of the way.
