Tulum's par-3 nine has been resurfaced, and it is open to anyone

The executive course at PGA Riviera Maya, the nine-hole par 3 inside Tulum Country Club, has had its playing surface rebuilt with paspalum and has been playing on the new turf since October. It is open to the public, it takes an hour or two rather than a half day, and it is the part of the complex most residents can actually use.

That last point is the reason this is worth reporting at all. Tulum's golf story is usually told through tournaments, and the tournaments are real. But a championship course hosting professional events is not something most people who live here will ever play. A nine-hole par 3 that a beginner, a junior or someone with two free hours can walk is a different kind of facility, and it has just been improved.

What changed

The playing surface was renovated, and it is now paspalum. Andrés Brictson, Director of Golf at PGA Riviera Maya, said the aim was to give players the best possible experience and to keep raising the quality of the executive course. The reported result is more uniform, higher quality turf and better playing conditions.

Paspalum is the practical detail here, and it is the grass the club has chosen to play on. The club has not published what the work cost, who carried it out, or whether the layout itself was altered. The source gives none of those, and none should be inferred.

Nor is there an exact reopening date. The course has operated with paspalum since October, which is as precise as the announcement gets.

Who it is for

The nine-hole format is described as suiting four groups, and the list is unusually honest for a golf club: advanced players who want to work on their short game, players who have one or two hours and can finish a round in that time, beginners learning the rules and the basic skills, and young players.

Three of those four are not the destination golf customer. They are residents. A par 3 nine is the course you play on a Tuesday evening, not the one you fly in for, and the PGA Golf Academy alongside it serves residents and visitors from first lessons through to high performance training.

The context the club is building on

The executive course sits inside a complex that has had a busy year. PGA Riviera Maya hosted the Korn Ferry Tour's Tulum Championship in April. It hosted the Women's Amateur Latin America, organized by The R&A and the ANNIKA Foundation. In September it held the second edition of a collegiate NCAA tournament. PGA Riviera Maya is reported to be the only golf course in Mexico that maintains an alliance with the PGA of America.

A tournament schedule of that weight sits alongside a nine-hole par 3 that serves completely different players.

What this does not tell you

Green fees are the obvious gap. The announcement does not publish a price for the executive course, for residents or for visitors, and there is no published rate for the academy either. Anyone planning to play should call the club for the current fee rather than rely on an older figure, because the resurfacing is exactly the kind of work that precedes a price review.

How the new surface actually plays is still an open question. Paspalum takes time to establish, and a turf described as renovated in its first weeks is not the same thing as a turf settled into a season.

For owners and buyers, briefly

Tulum Country Club is one of the zones TLAP sells in, and golf is a large part of why people buy there, so the honest note is a short one. A better short course is a real improvement to the daily use of that community, in a way a professional tournament is not. It is not a reason to buy, and it is not a change in what anything is worth. It is a facility that got better.

For anyone weighing the area on its own merits, our guide to Tulum Country Club covers what is actually built there, and our earlier piece on Tulum's position as a golf destination gives the wider picture from early 2025.

Sources: Noticaribe, Todo Turismo section, "Renuevan campo ejecutivo de PGA Riviera Maya y elevan su oferta de golf en Tulum", October 7, 2026, crediting InZoomMX, quoting Andres Brictson, Director of Golf at PGA Riviera Maya.