When he isn’t hitting tennis balls, Charlie Pasarell spends a lot of time hitting golf balls. And sometime this spring, the former tennis star will open what the Golf Channel calls “definitely the best golf course in Puerto Rico, very likely the top course in the Caribbean, and possibly the most interesting golf course in the world.”
The track is the centerpiece of Royal Isabela, a private resort community taking shape on the island’s northwestern coast, and it clearly has plenty to live up to. Friends and would-be property owners have been playing the 18-hole, David Pfaff-designed track since 2009, but Pasarell has held off the official unveiling until some of the community’s other planned amenities – including a lodge with 20 casitas for overnight guests, a restaurant, a spa, and, yes, a few tennis courts – were ready for their close-ups.
For those too young to remember, Pasarell played on four U.S. Davis Cup teams in the 1960s and 1970s, though he was probably best known as a doubles player. Today he and his brother, Stanley, operating as Costa Isabela Partners, own 426 idyllic, richly diverse acres – “one of the most striking locations on the planet,” according to the Golf Channel – outside the city of Isabela. They aim to build what their website describes as “a vibrant community” for people who believe in “the ideals of preservation, conservation, and sustainability, without having to sacrifice luxury.”
Golf Links of Royal Isabela, its marketers say, “evolved from the land itself.” If that’s truly the case, the land told the Pasarells to build a very long, very difficult course. Golfers can elect to play the track at 7,538 yards (par-72) or at 7,667 yards (par-73). In either case, a reviewer says, they must “not be afraid to lose a ball.”
What’s more, the land is telling the Pasarells to build more courses. The brothers believe Royal Isabela could eventually accommodate as many as five courses, on their land as well as adjacent property. A source tells us that the Pasarells plan to break ground on a second course when their club, which currently has 20 members, signs its 50th.
Pfaff appears to have won the right to design another course at Royal Isabela, but he says that the Pasarells haven’t yet hired him to do so.
“We’re taking things as the economy gives them to us,” says the Carmel, California-based architect. “These guys aren’t in any hurry to do anything.”
This story originally appeared in the World Edition of the Golf Course Report, in a slightly different form. For a sample copy of the World Edition, call 301/680-9460 or write to WorldEdition@aol.com.
