Punta Cana Golf Courses, Compared

Updated November 2026

Punta Cana has three golf courses that golfers fly in for, Corales, La Cana and Punta Espada, and a fourth, Teeth of the Dog, about an hour and a quarter down the coast at Casa de Campo. All four play along the Caribbean. This guide compares them, says where each one sits in relation to the airport and the villas, and which of our Punta Cana villa rentals are on the fairways.

The short answer. Punta Espada in Cap Cana is the one most golfers rank first, with eight holes along the sea. Corales, in Puntacana Resort, is the PGA Tour course, with six oceanfront holes and the Devil’s Elbow finish. La Cana, next to it, is the easier 27 holes with the most water views. Stay in Puntacana Resort for Corales and La Cana, in Cap Cana for Punta Espada; the two estates are 15 minutes apart.

Punta Cana golf courses at a glance

Cap Cana and Puntacana Resort are each 10 to 15 minutes from Punta Cana International Airport and about 15 minutes from each other. Casa de Campo is about an hour and a quarter by car, or ten minutes from La Romana airport.

Punta Espada, Cap Cana

Jack Nicklaus opened Punta Espada in 2006 inside Cap Cana, and it has been the reference course of the Caribbean since: Golfweek has ranked it the best in the Caribbean and Mexico, and it hosted the PGA Tour Champions Cap Cana Championship from 2008. Eight holes play along and over the sea and every hole has a view of it; the par-three 13th, across a turquoise bay, is the photograph everyone takes home. The course is a few minutes from Juanillo Beach and Marina Cap Cana, so a Cap Cana house puts the first tee, the beach and dinner at the marina within one golf-cart ride.

Las Hamacas

Playa Juanillo, Cap Cana · 6 bedrooms · sleeps 12

On Juanillo Beach, inside the gated roads of Cap Cana, with Punta Espada a short ride away for the early tee times and the veranda a few feet from the sand for the afternoon.

Villa Oceania

Cap Cana · 6 bedrooms · sleeps 14

Every room faces a protected cove with the house’s own dock and a small beach. A chef sets the day’s menu in the kitchen; the Cap Cana coastline, Punta Espada included, opens up by boat or by cart.

Villa Guacamaya

Playa Juanillo, Cap Cana · 9 bedrooms · sleeps 18

The largest of our Cap Cana houses: almost four acres on Juanillo, nine sea-facing bedrooms, two chefs’ kitchens, a paddle court and a gym for the group that does not golf.

Corales, Puntacana Resort and Club

Corales is the course the professionals play. Tom Fazio laid it out in 2010 along the cliffs and coves of Puntacana Resort, with six holes on the ocean and a finish, the three-hole Devil’s Elbow, that turns back along the water. Since 2018 it has hosted the Corales Puntacana Championship, the only PGA Tour event in the Dominican Republic; the 2026 edition was played in July and the agreement runs through 2027. The houses of the Corales enclave sit on the course itself, with the private Corales Beach a five-minute walk away.

Corales 114

Corales, Puntacana Resort & Club · 6 bedrooms · sleeps 14

Three pavilions around a French-style courtyard on the Corales championship course, two bedrooms in each. A butler, a chef, a gardener and a pool attendant come with the house; the fairways are outside the door.

Corales 40

Corales, Puntacana Resort & Club · 8 bedrooms · sleeps 16

West Indies colonial style, double-height ceilings and coralina stone floors, with views over the sea and the fairways and Corales Beach a five-minute walk away. Built for larger families and groups.

Villa Miramar

Puntacana Resort & Club · 7 bedrooms · sleeps 16

A great room that frames the ocean and the finishing green, an oceanfront main suite, and the resort’s private beaches and both courses as part of the stay. A private chef can be arranged for tasting menus.

La Cana, Puntacana Resort and Club

La Cana is the resort’s first course, 27 holes by P.B. Dye with 14 of them in sight of the ocean. It is friendlier than Corales and busier, the course for the second round of the day and for the players in the group who are not chasing a score. It was the first course in the Caribbean grown on paspalum, a grass irrigated with seawater, which is why it stays green through the dry winter. The La Cana clubhouse, with its pool, restaurant and spa, is the beach club of the villas in the Hacienda, Tortuga Bay and La Cana enclaves.

Villa La Cana H8

La Cana, Puntacana Resort & Club · 6 bedrooms · sleeps 14

A walled garden with a private pool, a heated jacuzzi and a barbecue on the La Cana course. A chef prepares three meals a day to menus agreed with your concierge, a butler and daily housekeeping attend to the rest, and tee times are booked before you land.

Tortuga Bay C20

Tortuga Bay, Puntacana Resort & Club · 5 bedrooms · sleeps 12

Island design with generous indoor-outdoor living and views across the golf course, a butler, a housekeeper and a gardener, and access to the La Cana clubhouse, its pool, restaurant and spa.

Hacienda A43

Hacienda, Puntacana Resort & Club · 6 bedrooms · sleeps 14

Ten minutes from the airport in the Hacienda enclave, with a chef for three meals a day, housekeeping seven days a week, one round-trip airport transfer, and resort access to both courses and both beach clubs.

Teeth of the Dog, Casa de Campo

Not in Punta Cana, but close enough that serious golfers plan a week around both. Casa de Campo, the 7,000-acre estate at La Romana, is about an hour and a quarter west by car. Pete Dye’s Teeth of the Dog, opened in 1971 with seven holes on the sea, has been the top-ranked course in the Caribbean for most of the years since, and Dye Fore above the Chavon river and The Links complete the set. Our houses there sit between the fairways and Minitas Beach, the estate’s protected, swimmable sand. How the two estates compare for a villa week is in La Romana or Punta Cana.

Casa Cana

Casa de Campo · 8 bedrooms · sleeps 20

An estate along the course with a view of the Caribbean beyond the fairway, designed by a Dominican architect, with a butler and a chef cooking local seafood and island produce.

Casa Minitas

Minitas, Casa de Campo · 12 bedrooms · sleeps 24

Twelve bedrooms above Minitas Bay with the fairways running to the horizon, a wellness room, a gym and a staff of English-speaking butlers and a chef. Tennis in the morning, Teeth of the Dog after lunch, the water at the end of the day.

Planning the golf week

• Tee times: your concierge books Corales, La Cana and Punta Espada before you arrive, with transport between the estates when the group plays both.
• Season: December to April is the dry season and the busiest on the courses; book the villa nine to twelve months ahead for Christmas, New Year, Presidents’ Day and Easter, six to nine months for the rest of spring and autumn. The seasons are in the best time to visit Punta Cana.
• The rest of the group: the beaches are compared in the best beaches in Punta Cana, and the houses with a chef in Punta Cana villas with private chef.
• Getting there: direct flights from the United States to Punta Cana, and the resort estates ten to fifteen minutes from the terminal.

Punta Cana golf: your questions answered