Tom Fazio creates something wild and wonderful in Mexico’s Nauka

We traveled through the volcanic cliffs high on Mexico’s central coast and visited several secluded residential areas in various stages of construction (many of them owned by some travel professionals whose names you may recognize). Mark Birnbaum and I sat on a Canadian-American buggy, asking questions while trying not to eat another palm frond. It’s dusk on the first day of arrival at Nauka, a new private golf course community on 920 acres located in the charming Riviera Nayarit region, about 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta.

Nauka’s signature attraction is a new Tom Fazio championship golf course with accompanying practice facilities (as well as The Booby Trap, a delightful light-filled 9-hole par-3) that will wow country clubs and golf professionals alike.

The vision for Nauka belongs to Jaime Fasja, a successful Mexican real estate developer and private club owner who was the driving force behind the project’s direction and personality. This atmosphere belongs to LIFE Properties International, a company dedicated to creating unique heritage communities. Birnbaum is a longtime restaurateur best known as the owner of Catch New York and other hotels frequented by the rich and famous, while Fasja is a partner at LPI.

It’s a testament to the stunning scenery and the incredible imagination of this group that families with the means to buy a vacation property anywhere in the world would be drawn to a rugged location as the area returns to its clearing phase. Birnbaum referred to these early sales tours as “touring with a machete.”

“When you can lure wealthy buyers with enough money to look for their third, fourth, fifth home, and the trees are slapping them in the face as they rumble through the jungle, that says something,” Birnbaum said. “They still want to buy! There’s no road, there’s nothing. It’s unbelievable how much they love it. That’s really why I’m not crazy.”

Nauka Golf Club has five sets of tee boxes with a length of up to 7,600 yards. There are many things that make this course unique, but chief among them is the variety of experiences. Fazio created a route that takes golfers from mangrove estuaries to volcanic mountains, through ancient jungle, and along crashing surf. It’s laid out like a roller coaster and every turn is awe-inspiring, keeping you guessing and, most importantly, asking you to play again.

Fazio was clearly prolific with his courses, with over 300 courses to his name, including Shadow Creek, World Woods and Pinehurst #6 and #8. Think about it: Fazio is rumored to have said that Nauka was one of the top three pitches he touched. When asked which of the other two they were, he demurred.

“Our expectations are here,” Fazio said with his head held high. “This course meets them.”

One of the reasons designers and developers had such high hopes for Fazio was that Fazio had the freedom to create, could play on dozens of acres of varied terrain, and had virtually unlimited funds to build his dream course.

But it won’t be easy. Construction crews dug out nearly 60 million cubic feet of sand to build the deep-water marina that supports the village and yacht club, and provided all the sand to Fazio’s team to build the fairways and greens. The course’s sand cover is an unprecedented five feet deep, allowing for maximum drainage and ideal turf conditions.

“For many reasons, I think Fazio is the best living designer in the world right now,” said Fasja. “But when it comes to giving someone sand to work with, there’s no one better than Tom Fazio. So, it’s like giving a kid the key to a candy store. We thought ‘Tom, you’ve got 60 million cubic feet of sand. Go design what you think might be the best golf course in the country.'”

Despite all the land and sand, Fazio hit a snag in the middle of the front nine. There is a parcel just outside the Nauka property line that he believes will definitely elevate this part of the course.

“He said, ‘There’s a critical point in this area, and if you can buy that land, that’s just the cherry on the cake,'” Fascia quoted Fazio as saying. “I said ‘Tom, this isn’t going to happen. This is just a big tract of land.'” He said, “Well, this will improve the golf course.” Within two weeks we had that land. “

Is this acquisition worth it?

“This is a game changer,” Fascia said. “The purchase of these 40-plus acres, which are now (different portions of) the 3rd, 4th and 5th holes, completely changed the landscape of the golf course.”

Fazio felt the same way: “It really made this happen,” he said. “That really makes it work.”

A very unique part of the landscape has always existed; Sunny Beach Fazio and company took full advantage of this. Holes 14, 15 and 16 are nearly a mile long and run parallel to the shoreline, about 60 yards from the crashing surf. Golfers were encouraged, nay, forced to kick off their cleats before the 14th tee shot and plunge into the refreshing Pacific Ocean. Post-swim cocktails and snacks on the beach added to the adventure. I’ve lost my shirt on the golf course many times, but never on purpose. It was a completely unique and unforgettable encounter.

The funny thing is, when you ask Fazio what he thinks sign He had no answer for Naka’s hole.

“Try to pick your favorite hole. But you can’t,” he said. “If we had a favorite hole, then we’d (say) we have fewer holes. That’s the great thing about golf courses. Everyone likes different holes for different reasons, but they all like them because they’re all compelling.”

As he puts it, if you ask golfers of all skill levels who have played Nauka GC, you’ll hear a variety of reasons and reasons why they love the course. Starting from the back, it’s long and difficult enough to challenge the best golfers in the world. However, if you switch to a tee that suits your game, you’ll have a great time. Basically, this course offers anything you could want.

“It’s great to see that professional players are coming here and buying (land) not only for a place for their families but also a legal place where they can practice,” Birnbaum said. “These guys come down during tours and on their days off to practice and improve their game.”

I’m curious if they jump in the ocean.

Of course, most members purchase to spend time with friends and family, and for them, there’s no shortage of amenities to enjoy. Birnbaum is a master of hospitality, and his stamp can be seen on everything dining, from the delightful Nest complex perched high on the 8th hole (which, among many other delights, offers made-to-order “Burger-Dillas” (cheese-crumbed burgers wrapped in tortillas) and a Willy Wonka-level dessert shop) to the Nauka Beach Club, which serves sustainably caught seafood and produce from its on-site organic farm.

There is also a 15-acre wellness retreat nestled among mangroves. It’s not a building but a series of bamboo huts and spaces dotted along the sandy jungle paths, offering everything from traditional massages to sound therapy to indigenous practices like Temezcal, a sweat lodge-style ritual that will definitely make you forget about that three-putt on the 18th hole.

Although Nauka is a low-density private community, visitors have the opportunity to experience the property and play golf. Siari, the ninth Ritz-Carlton boutique resort in the world, will open this fall with 91 guest rooms. There are five on-site dining options (the same number of bedrooms as the Presidential Suite), an on-site beach club and limited Nauka tee times for Siari guests.

“Nauka has never been a resort development,” Fasja said. “This land has five miles of unspoilt coastline, cliffs and bushland. It needed something different. We wanted to create a private club community closely connected to nature, where families could enjoy the best in food, wellness and golf, but also feel like they were part of a place that would be passed down for generations. It wasn’t about creating volume; it was about creating legacy.”

The Nauka logo features the whimsical image of the blue-footed booby, a rather rare and colorful bird found primarily in the Galapagos Islands. The only habitat of the boobies blue-footed is the subtropical Pacific coastline, including the rocky outcrops of the Riviera Nayarit coast. Boobies instinctively recognize that this is a unique, safe and welcoming environment. Nauka knows this too, and they are very careful to keep it that way.