Golf in Ecuador, where are the places to retire and play golf.

CWV123
So where, more precisely, is the touted golf course located?
I am traveling Ecuador next month and wd want to check location and amenities.
Gracias
PS Costa Jama or Coasta Jama

pensionado wrote:

So where, more precisely, is the touted golf course located?
I am traveling Ecuador next month and would want to check location and amenities.
PS Costa Jama or Coasta Jama

Costa Jama's course is about 75 percent of the way up the EC coastline near Jama, Ecuador (pronounced HAH-mah).  On a map, Jama is between Bahia de Caraques and Pedernales and almost due west of Quito.

Posted at ecuadorrealestate.com:

"It's right on the Equator, where the mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, with three finishing holes on the water or playing directly toward it.  It traverses a jungle, a ravine, a riverside and winds into the foothills," said golf architect Steve Smyers of his course. 

"We even play along the side of a river.  It's an absolutely spectacular natural setting for golf," said Smyers, who has now designed courses on six continents.  (source cited: Cybergolf)

I have traveled past Las Olas several times over the past year. Whomever posted that three months ago there was no construction clear has not been to the property or has an interest in promoting some other project. For most of last year when I went by I counted at least 10 to 15 different pieces of heavy equipment working just at the oceanfront area alone. If you drive up the road that borders the property you can see multiple holes of the golf course taking shape along with one of the back communities that you do not see from the ocean area.

If you take a look at their website lasolasecuador.com you can see a good description of their Ceibo Valley Golf Course. Based on their MasterPlan it looks to me like a lot of the holes will have ocean views with two of the holes playing right on the ocean. It is located just south of Bahia de Caraquez and they have a sales office in Bahia.

cccmedia is right, anyone interested in Las Olas should visit the specific Las Olas Developement thread (https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=243442).  It's a HOT topic!

I posted pictures I took of the future Ceibo Valley Golf Course when visited the Las Olas Development in November 2014 (https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= … =drive_web).  At that time, two holes were in final shaping stage, 4 holes were in the "ready for final shaping form" and a few other holes were in the process of being cleared (up to the 11th hole).  Holes closer to the ocean are still virgin, but they won't need a lot of work.  It's a gentle slope going to the beach and back to the middle of the property, following a ravine that will cross left and right of fairways.  This golf course will be spectacular, certainly in the top 10 in South America if not #1.  I played Carmelo Golf at Four Seasons in Uruguay which is considered top 3 in South America by many and Ceibo Valley Golf course will, in my opinion, be a much better course.

David told me that their shaper is now working full time on the course since the beginning of the year.

I also visited Montecristi when I was there.  A full nine hole is completed and ready to play (it will improve with the rain season I presume) and the second nice hole was in final completion stage (final touch and seeding).  The club house is already open, but the course wasn't officially opened yet.  Montecristi is a much smaller property compared to Las Olas and the golf course is a quite narrow and short.  Home owners should expect a lot of golf balls in their pool (and windows I presume).  I think it will be a good course for local elite to learn and play golf, but I do not see any long term pleasure for a foreigner golfer to live and play there.

Regarding the course in Jama, I've heard about it, saw a few pictures from the architect Facebook page and website, but I can't find any real website (which is weird if they want to attract buyers and golf players).  You can see the master plan on the golf architect website.  Many fairways are placed between rows of lots which remind me the typical Florida golf estate course.  Las Olas was designed with houses or condos only one side of the fairway (and not too close), the other side being a ravine or jungle and often, both sides are in the middle of nowhere, which is even greater.

I don't know if Montecristi or Jama will be opened for public play, but Las Olas is supposed to be a strictly private course.  Golf condo starts under $100k and includes membership, so it looks like a good investment if they are able to deliver what they are selling.

Looks like the golf course at Montecristi (montecristigolfclub.com) is open for play.  Not much info on their website, but I saw on their Facebook page they recently hosted a junior tournament.

I still don't know if they will allow visitors or if it's only a private club.  Their website only talks about real estate.  Would be cool if someone on site could update us.  Even better if it's someone who already played the course.

Regarding Las Olas, I know they should post an update about the golf course construction soon, so I'll let you know when available.

We are going there tomorrow, have been touring the coastal areas the last few days.....

The course will be wi-fi with five clubhouses. (mantaexpatsonline.com)

Is this correct....

cccmedia wrote:

The course will be wi-fi with five clubhouses. (mantaexpatsonline.com)

Is this correct....

I have no idea cccmedia. The actual clubhouse is the former house of the project owner (a very wealthy local businessman).

On the Montecristi website where you can access the master plan, you can see there's a pool house around other sport playground (soccer, basket, etc.).  These facilities are for owners I suppose, so if you go there to play golf, visitors will only have access to golf clubhouse (if ever they accept visitor which is something we don't know yet).  Regarding wifi, that's not hard to put in place as long as someone's paying for bandwidth!

yulrun wrote:

cccmedia wrote:

The course will be wi-fi with five clubhouses. (mantaexpatsonline.com)

Is this correct....

I have no idea cccmedia. The actual clubhouse is the former house of the project owner.

On the Montecristi website where you can access the master plan, you can see there's a pool house...These facilities are for owners I suppose, so if you go there to play golf, visitors will only have access to golf clubhouse (if ever they accept visitors which is something we don't know yet).

Well, perhaps Brother Foch can tell us more this weekend after his party  visits.

cccmedia in Quito

@fosh, do you have any updates for us?  We would love to know how went your visit and would appreciate a few pictures if possible. 

Thanks!

I just made my second trip to Ecuador and Las Olas. I was there in October of last year. I was amazed at how much more work was completed since my last visit. The whole back community which you do not see from the ocean has been graded and the golf course holes have all been shaped in that area and look absolutely amazing. The oceanfront area of the property continues to be shaped in preparation for home construction. I amazes me how Las Olas came up with a unique and revolutionary design to allow so many homes to have ocean views.

I was also fortunate enough to meet both partners Randy Russ and David Maksymuik while I was there. Both are very impressive. What was equally if not more impressive was my opportunity to talk with Jerry Pierman. Mr. Pierman was invited down to Las Olas to take a look at their golf course Ciebo Valley. Jerry is one of the foremost experts in golf course construction in the world. He worked for over ten years with Jack Nicklaus, half as a Vice President of Golden Bear. He has been a manager of both Tom Fazio's and of Pete Dye's Golf design companies. He has constructed over 23 courses for designers like Jack Nicklaus, Jim Fazio, Art Hills and others and remodel several more. He has traveled all over the world looking at resort properties and golf course locations. Jerry was formerly the President of the Golf Course Builders Association and sat on the Advisory Board for the World Golf Hall of Fame. In addition to building Muirfield Village Golf Course for Jack Nicklaus he was its first General Manager and served on the Executive Committee for Jack Nicklaus's PGA tour Memorial Golf Tournament.

So apparently no one could argue that he is more than qualified to assess Las Olas and Ciebo Valley Golf Course. What he said to me was that it was the most incredible site and layout for a golf course and development that he has ever seen. He thought the routing for the golf course, the beauty of the ocean and surrounding mountains was simple spectacular. He said their use of the property and innovated design was remarkable. Randy and David are true visionaries. I was very captivated by Jerry's insights and he obviously is very qualified to make that determination.

Had a great visit, although the last three holes were still being "finished" I can tell it's going to be to my liking.

Good layout

Adequate length (from the mid-back tees)

They have big plans including a small hotel and a clinic/ small hospital and an upscale retail area

Got to know the general manager and his family, met staff (including a great chef for the main dining room).....everyone very nice and eager to please.....although we fully understand they are in sales mode

Not
We bought a lot overlooking three holes and plan to begin construction early summer.   

Not a great deal of construction of homes but beginning to ramp up

Looking forward to a LOT of time there in the future

For those of you interested to know what the Ceibo Valley golf course at Las Olas will look like, they posted a video today.  You can see they started to build the 14th and 15th greens which are the closest to the ocean (15th green sits directly of the beach!).

https://youtu.be/ZlgQm4sJgZw

I presume we should have some pictures or video of the front nine soon and I will share it here when available.

New update regarding the final design of Ceibo Valley golf course at Las Olas.  You can see the detailed plan and final routing here: http://lasolasecuador.com/ceibo-valley- … ship-tees/

Few interesting things to note:

-Full practice facility, including a short par-3 9-hole course

-8 different tees from as short as 3,200 yards (two thumbs up!) up to 7,700 yards!! You will see in the plan that they kept space for an extra tee-off that could extend the course over 8,000 yards.  Crazy, but brilliant.

I walked and hit a few balls on the course while in construction back in November.  Won't be an easy course to play with long carries required on certain holes, but if you play from the right tee block, everyone should be able to enjoy.

Sad it won't be walkable, but the elevation changes would make it difficult anyway.

Can't wait to see real pics and play it!

Las Olas posted a video update yesterday showing the ongoing construction of the 15th par-3 hole of the Ceibo Valley Golf Course.  It was already viewed +100 in less than 12 hours, so it looks like I'm not the only one following!

https://youtu.be/OHo9flcoEqM

Next step is final shaping.  Very promising.