Pok-Ta-Pok Golf Course
By Bob Enzel
 I've always wanted to
play Pok-Ta-Pok. I guess the name intrigued
me. The course is situated on a
peninsula between Cancun City and the Hotel
Zone and is set in a picturesque community
of shops, small hotels, residences and boat
harbors.
After playing the Hilton
Hotel's Kukulcan course just across the
lagoon we anticipated a similar experience,
but were disappointed by the lack of
amenities--old carts, no holder for ice or
divot filler and no water to drink on the
course. Water was also lacking in most
of the ball cleaning facilities and yardage
indicators were in short supply.
 The
first nine holes are packed together with
tight fairways reminiscent of Palm Springs,
CA housing development. In fact, hole #1 and
hole #8 share the same elongated rolling
green. One in our party hit a shot to the
green on hole #1 that rolled onto the green
of hole #8 and had to put the length of two
greens. The entrance to the back nine is
rather interesting. You drive the cart onto
the main road, head across a bridge and
enter a secluded back nine that is spread
out amongst many flame trees and is by far
the nicer of the two nines.
Like the
Kukulcan course, It is a flat and that about
sums up the similarity. The course is
populated by fairway shrubs and flattish
sand traps and no water holes. The only
place water might come into play is along
the 7th hole where the fairway runs along
the coast. One of our tee shots rolled into
the shrubs adjacent to the water. This
occurred just about the time a resident was
walking his German Shepherd along the edge
of the fairway. The approaching dog caused
an alligator to slide into the water. The
ball was search was abruptly abandoned.
Golfers will find a couple of par 4's rather
long and challenging. To reach the green in
two will require a 250 yard drive and a 200
yard fairway wood.
Now that
I've played Pok-Ta-Pok and gotten it out of
my system I don't have any desire to return.
Note: As
we approached the 18th hole, a twosome
showed up as if they were part of our group
and played right onto the green with us. The
idiots were first time players and had no
clue about golf etiquette. Strange!
Par 72. 7,051 blue 72.9/130; 6,473 white
69.0/118; 5,855 yellow 72/125
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