Hills-Forrest Design at Paraiso del Mar to Open in 2006

Construction is underway on a new 18-hole design from Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates in La Paz, Mexico. The course is being built amid the tropical dunescape of Paraiso del Mar, a 1,700-acre residential/resort development.

Laid out on a secluded peninsula overlooking the Bay of La Paz, just minutes by water taxi from La Paz itself, Paraiso del Mar Golf & Country Club has been routed amid miles of pristine dunes and wildlife sanctuaries. Hills/Forrest has worked with this stunning setting to create what will be Mexico's first true links experience, not to mention the country's first Audubon International Signature project, when it opens for play in Fall 2006.

"This property has all the markings of a classic, pure golf experience," says Arthur Hills, founder and principal of Toledo, Ohio-based Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates. "The peninsula on which this land sits could not be more beautiful. The sandy, gentle roll of the topography inspired a design comparable to the great courses of the British Isles – with weather and climatic conditions a Scot could only dream about. Pieces of property like this one come along only once in a great while. Paraiso del Mar is special, something that will stand out in the Baja market and endure the test of time."

Located on the tip of Baja Peninsula, two hours north of Cabo San Lucas, La Paz is Baja California Sur's capital city. Unlike its neighbors to the rapidly developing south, La Paz still retains the small-town charm of a traditional Mexican fishing village.

More than 1,000 acres of the development's 1,700 acres have been set aside for wildlife sanctuaries and open space. The remaining 700 acres will be used for residential units, including single-family homes and condominiums, resort hotels and recreational amenities. A 10-year project, with its first phase due for completion along with the golf course next Fall, Paraiso del Mar will comprise more than 2,000 condominium units, 1,500 single family homes and five hotels (totaling 1,500 hotel rooms). It will also include tennis courts, a marina, swimming pools, a beach club, country club, church and miles of hiking trails.

Paraiso del Mar's primary developers are Fair Enterprises, headed by John Fair of Denver, Colo., and Luis Cano, a La Paz native and seasoned real estate developer in Baja California. Both men were previously involved in the Residences at Esperanza, in Cabo San Lucas.

Current real estate opportunities range in price from the low $200,000's to more than $1,000,000, and include 294 two- and three-bedroom homes and more than 400 two-, three- and four-bedroom condominiums. They range in size from around 1,450 square feet to more than 3,100 square feet. Owners have the option to buy a golf membership for $20,000 that offers access to all club amenities including golf. To date more than $100 million worth of real estate has already been sold. Future plans include a second 18-hole course.

As the development's centerpiece, the course at Paraiso del Mar Golf & Country Club will maximize views of the Sea of Cortez, the Cape of La Paz as well as the property's wildlife preserves and natural dunes. Now being built by Gravi Construction, the project is being directed by Hills/Forrest partner Brian Yoder.

"This course and the development complementing it are totally unique," Yoder says. "It's just so natural. Arthur says it reminds him of St. Andrews with the natural dunes formations and the gnarly vegetation. It's a fanciful comparison, with all the cacti on site. You won't see many of those in Fife. However, the Paraiso property also features huge swaths of ocotillo, which is gorse-like shrub without the yellow flowers – but with all the thorns!"

Yoder points out that designing a links course in Baja does require some departures from tradition. Paraiso del Mar G&CC will feature salaam paspalum turf, as opposed to fescues and bents. "And we have designed a couple irrigation ponds on the golf course. The 18th is a wonderful, short, drivable par-4 around a pond, which departs from the links model somewhat. But the vast majority of holes evoke a genuine links environment.

"You simply can’t beat the natural setting here. The 6th and 14th holes are both par-3s playing in opposite directions on a dune line overlooking the beach and the Sea of Cortez. The 13th plays up this high dune, right to its apex, so from the fairway you’ll see the flag waving but the horizon line will be the green surface itself. Standing on 13 green, players will be looking down on 14 tee. Great views and anticipation."

Paraiso del Mar G&CC will be Mexico’s first Audubon International Cooperative Signature Sanctuary, golf’s highest and most exacting environmental standard. No firm working in course architecture today boasts a stronger Audubon Signature resumé than Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates. In 1995, the Hills/Forrest design at Collier’s Reserve GC in Naples, Fla. became the first course in the world to earn Audubon International’s Cooperative Gold Signature Sanctuary status. Another Hills/Forrest creation, Oitavos Golfe Quinta da Marinha in Cascais, Portugal – host of the European PGA Tour’s Open of Portugal – became Audubon’s first International Gold Signature Sanctuary when it opened in 2001. Paraiso del Mar will be the second.

"There are wildlife preserve areas all through the Paraiso del Mar course," Hills adds. "Holes 1 through 4, 9 and 18 – that whole area plays through a protected environmental corridor. As a firm, we’ve always been committed to building golf courses that relate closely to the land and don’t require a tremendous amount of earth moving or disruption- always keeping in mind the strategy of the game and the elements that provide beauty in a golf course. It’s second nature for us. A property like Paraiso del Mar merely gives that philosophy a chance to really shine."

The La Paz area is renowned for its water-oriented activities. Several islands offshore of La Paz, such as Espiritu Santo Island, provide popular day excursions that may include hiking, snorkeling, swimming with the sea lions, kayaking, fishing, sailing and whale watching.

"This is a big whale watching and sport-fishing area, so I put an enormous whale-shaped bunker on the 13th hole," says Yoder, who notes that this demanding 545-yard par 5 also requires the circumnavigation of thick occotillo stands and randomly placed pot bunkers.

"Golfers probably won’t be able to appreciate the whale bunker fully; with all the hazards and a green sitting atop a primary dune in the distance, there’s a lot to catch the eye. But flying over the course into La Paz, you’ll look down and see this huge, whale of sand that fits the hole perfectly. Like most everything at Paraiso del Mar, it’s pretty darned cool."

About Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates

Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates is one of golf’s most prolific and respected course designers, with 180 courses to its name and projects under construction on four continents. Hills/Forrest was recently commissioned to design its first course in Bahrain, and the firm has projects under construction in Mexico, China and Sweden. The eagerly awaited Hills Golf Club will celebrate its grand opening in the spring, just north of Gothenberg, while Olde Stone, an exquisite new private club project, is nearing completion in western Kentucky. For additional information, call 419/841-8553 or visit www.arthurhills.com.

About Paraiso del Mar

Overlooking the Sea of Cortez with five miles of beach frontage, Paraiso del Mar is a 1,700-acre, members-only club and community situated on a peninsula in the Bay of La Paz. Paraiso del Mar was designed as a collection of neighborhoods that simultaneously reflect the ideals of small-town USA and celebrate the spirit of traditional Mexico. The project, which broke ground in June 2005, will be comprised of two-, three- and four-bedroom oceanfront villas, and two- and three-bedroom casas with views of vast nature preserves and the area’s first golf course. For additional details, call toll-free 888/789-4975 or 888/201-2825, or visit www.paradiseofthesea.com.