From Colorado Avid Golfer Magazine

By Matt McKay

It seemed like another random turn in a narrow Costa Rican Highway on the road from San Jose to Jaco. But Landy Blank knew the road and smoothly pedaled the brake.

"Look here. You can see all the way to the Pacific," Blank said, pointing out a gap in the mountains that revealed a glimpse of the West Coast.

"There are a lot of great views in this country, but this is one of my favorites," said Blank the president and founder of Costa Rica Golf Adventures. "When the mountaintops are misty and you can still see the ocean, that's really something."

I'd already heard - and by now, you've probably heard it too - that Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful spots on earth. But seeing it was something else; it's Jamaica without trash in the gutters, a Spanish-speaking Hawai'i.

I'd also heard it is difficult to fly into Costa Rica, and it takes hours to drive from the capital, San Jose, to any other resort area in the country.

I'm not going to tell you that's not true. There are great golf courses, and there are first-class hotels (and second-class, third-class, etc.). Travel into the country has always come through San Jose, and the drive to the Northwest coast takes nearly four hours because of the winding, two-lane mountain passes that must be negotiated.

The Guanacaste International Airport at Liberia, which serves the Northwest coast, is busy taking on new routes from U.S. air carriers, and a Four Seasons Hotel complete with an Arnold Palmer designed golf course is expected to open within months.

But a majority of gringos still enter through the capital city, then fan out to all points. That type of itinerary helps make up a portion of why any trip to Costa Rica - golf or otherwise - is an "adventure."

However, here's what you may not know. In this time, when it is fashionable to hate Americans worldwide, evidently Costa Ricans haven't been watching MSNBC or reading their newspapers at all. For their collective arms are outstretched to U.S. citizens, but not to try and sell them a wooden carving or cocaine. The Ticos appear to take great pride in the fact that foreigners of any nationality would choose their country to spend their hard-earned vacation dollars. Thusly, when they smile, nod, and reply to your "gracias" with "Con mucho gusto" - with much pleasure - it seems genuine.

There's a socioeconomic reason for the love affair. The U.S. has evidently been very good to the country for some time in terms of financial support, trade, and tourism, pouring money into the country during the late 20th century to keep tabs on its less-reliable neighbors, Nicaragua and Panama.

But as a tourist in 2003, it's easy to see the benefits of the Yankee dollar, and I'm not just talking about the McDonalds and Hampton Inn just outside the San Jose Juan Santamaria International Airport. From the time you hit the tarmac in San Jose (or Guanacaste), you are made to feel truly welcome and at ease. While your dollars are very welcome and therefore deserving of a certain level of pampering, Costa Rica is a country with a wide economic base. As a result, even the street vendors have adopted a low-pressure approach.

Some gringos - and the number is growing daily - have grown so attached to the country they have simply pulled up roots and relocated. Or they have sunk thousands of dollars into land purchases, home construction, and locally-based businesses, all of which continues the love-and-money-go-round between the Ticos and the Americans.

Blank is one of those gringos who got in close to the ground floor. A native Pennsylvanian and former defensive back at North Carolina in the 1960's, Blank and his wife Susan fell in love with the country during their visits there in the early 1990's.

With his contacts in the golf industry, the incredible landscapes, the gringo-friendly environment, the existing courses, and the knowledge that several large companies had already planned golf destinations for the country led him to believe there was a market that needed promotion. And he and his wife were just the team to get it done.

Blank's company is sort of a one-stop shop for golf tourists considering a junket to Costa Rica. He won't personally be with you every step of the way as he was while serving as my host, but he or a member of his staff is a phone call away. And, because I was able to spend quality time with Blank while he served as my national golf tour guide, I saw with my own eyes that he has the knowledge, power and connections to fulfill nearly any travel request and to clear away any possible hurdles.

Among his premier partners is the Melia Cariari Conference Center and Resort between the San Jose city limits and the Santamaria airport, where guests can play the 6,700-yard par 71 Cariari Country Club. This is the course that can't be missed while in the country. And because it's near the San Jose Airport, it's quite easy to begin the adventure there. After a late flight, check into the Cariari and get the 6,700-yard George Fazio design (1974) under your belt.

The Cariari's challenge is a real 70's experience, like flopping into a beanbag under the swag lamp and digging your toes into a orange-brown-maroon shag carpet. Pines were planted early in the course's development in an attempt to get strategic trees up and growing. Now the pines choke down on the fairways, giving the illusion that some are so narrow players must line up single file to walk to their tee shots.

Some of the pines may eventually be cut back, which wouldn't harm the courses' playability - in fact, it would make the Fazio routing more accessible to the eye. In combination with the narrow, sloping fairways and greens, it is a championship challenge - the course has hosted the Costa Rican Open for the last several years.

Having notched the Cariari, fasten your seat belt for a four-hour ride through spectacular mountains and rainforests on your way to the Northwest coast. That's where the Paradisus Playa Conchal awaits with it's 7,033-yard Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed "Lion's Paw," and the lesser-known Hacienda Pinilla. The development lies minutes south of Conchal, and its 7,500-yard course was designed by Atlanta (Ga.) based architect Mike Young.

Players will be able to tell immediately that Jones Jr. considered the Lion's Paw to be a hands-on project. The wide fairways sweep through valleys and rise to ridges with greens perched atop, architectural principles employed by Jones' famous father. Players from Fort Worth's Shady Oaks Country Club to jetsetters familiar with Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island will not only recognize the Jones' family signatures; they'll identify it as one of Jr.'s best works.

Pinilla is a broad-shouldered course occupying land that Blank says reminds him of the African savannah (even though he's never been to Africa). Untamed grasslands and tree-covered emerald mountains surround the property and course, which twists and bends past parkland-style framing trees. The length, layout, and conditioning are worthy of a championship golf tournament, and should that tournament be played during the high season between January and March, serious ocean breezes add to the course's difficulty.

Both courses are located near the funky surfing town of Tamarindo, where the streets are lined with surf shops, tour packagers, boutique hotels, bars, and blonde dreadlocked gringos selling tye-dyed shirts and silver jewelry. It's rumored that the Nougi Bar has the world's best banana crème pie in the world, but that rumor went unsubstantiated on our visit.

Further down the coast near another surfing haven, Jaco, is one of the newest entries on the golf resort landscape. In fact, the 222-room Los Suenos Marriott Ocean and Golf Resort may develop a sparkling reputation from boaters before golfers can spread the word. Its deep-water marina is the only recreational stop on the Pacific between Mexico and South America.

The hotel was intentionally scaled down to help create a cozy and exclusive feel simultaneously. It's just steps from the front door to the golf shop, which administers to the 6,700-yard "La Iguana" course designed by Ted Robinson. Despite it's proximity to the ocean, the course reveals just how quickly the jungle gobbles up the seashore. The course is routed inland along a narrow river bed in an out-and-back fashion, and by the time players reach the fourth green, they are surrounded by tree-covered mountains that are home to a wide variety of domestic wildlife.

Although Blank runs Costa Rica Golf Adventures, he's well aware that tourists can visit the country and never strike a golf ball. Between horseback riding, surfing, hang gliding, touring volcanoes, and maxing at the pool, there's plenty for tourists to experience. But if golf is part of the adventure, there are venues to enjoy con mucho gusto.

Matt McKay is a freelance golf/ travel writer based in Dallas, Tx.