Tiger Woods celebrates new short course at Diamante
Golf champion Tiger Woods has revealed he is ‘excited’ that his new 12-hole par 3 course will bring golf to payers of all abilities and ages now that it has opened at Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
Designed to ‘provide a fun and casual experience’, The Oasis Short Course opened in late December with Woods and Major League Baseball player Roger Clemens playing the inaugural round.
The Oasis Short Course complements two existing 18-hole courses at Diamante, including the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal course that opened in 2014. It occupies the site of the former twelfth and thirteenth holes on the Dunes Course, the club’s internationally ranked course by Davis Love III.
Routed around a lake, the course features 12 greens surrounded by tightly mown TifDwarf Bermuda grass to allow shots to be played along the ground. The fairways are grassed with 419 Bermuda and the greens with TifEagle Bermuda grass.
Players can choose their own tees from the fairway areas so it can be played as a 12-hole par 3 course ranging from 41 to 143 yards, or as a three-hole course featuring a 374-yard par 4, a 143-yard par 3 and a 540-yard par 5. Preferred angles of play are defined by feature placement, while the green surrounds are shaped with feeder slopes to encourage low, running shots, or putters from long distances. There is also a wedge and short-game practice area around all the greens.
Posting on social media, Woods said the 12-hole course can be played in an hour and the three-hole course can be played in less than an hour.
“With this design, I'm trying to go back to my roots,” said Woods in a blog post. “Golf now is almost impossible to play in less than five hours, so why don't we open things up? We can play faster and have more fun in an entertaining environment – like a short course – where everyone can participate, practice and learn the game, and kids can play without being overwhelmed by a big golf course.”