RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico -- You won't find an architect better suited to design golf courses in Mexico and the Caribbean than P.B. Dye.
Dye -- like his more famous relative, dad Pete Dye -- doesn't design cookie-cutter golf courses. He loves to shape wild mounds and undulating greens. This philosophy serves him well at courses like the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club in the Riviera Maya south of Cancun.
He took a flat parcel and transformed it into one of the most dynamic tests in Mexico. Playa Paraiso hosted a Canadian Tour event in the 1990s and serves as the Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour's Mayakoba Classic. The three-tiered green at no. 7 features two ridges like ski slopes.
The course is another strong amenity of the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Resort, home to five hotels and more than 2,000 beds. The most luxurious of those, the Grand Hotel, sits right on the beach. Three restaurants -- American and Japanese steakhouses and an Italian restaurant -- and a five-star buffet serve some of the best meals of any all-inclusive in Mexico.
Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club - hole 6
The 144-yard sixth hole is the shortest par 3 at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club - hole 2
The par-3 second hole at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club is deceivingly difficult.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club - hole 3
The 312-yard third hole at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club is littered with bunkers.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso golf course - hole 4
Incredible mounding guards the par-4 fourth hole at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club - hole 7
Beware of the three-tiered green on the par-5 seventh hole at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club - hole 9
A replica of a Mayan palace sits in the background of the ninth green at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club south of Cancun.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso G.C. - hole 12
Water guards the daunting 12th hole at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club near Cancun.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
Iberostar Playa Paraiso golf course - hole 18
The 18th green at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club is severe.
Jason Scott Deegan/TravelGolf
