Between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, renowned instructor Jim McClean has set up his only golf school in Mexico, the Jim McLean Golf School Mayakoba . One- and two-day schools may encompass biodynamic training, whereby the highest tech equipment creates biomechanical reports on the golfer’s body motions during the swing. These communicate information on the real-time position and orientation of the head, shoulders, arms, hips, and clubs, rendered in three dimensions. These images can be viewed from any angle and even superimposed upon images of other swings, to either compare a student’s swing to those of more successful golfers (which is to say actual Tour pros) or to his own swing to measure progress. The program also offers biofeedback training so that students can see whether they have achieved their desired swing changes. It is considered by many to be the top golf teaching facility in Mexico. The course plays through three distinct topographies: tropical jungle, dense mangroves, and oceanside dunes. Some holes parallel long limestone canals, which add to the hazards presented by lagoons, ample white-sand bunkering, and cenotes — natural underground lakes. The gorgeous modern clubhouse is home to an Argentine steakhouse.
Designed by Hale Irwin across 23 acres of gorgeous, wind-blown Hawaiian topography, the Kapalua Golf Academy features highly personalized instruction under the watchful eye of award-winning instructor Ben Hongo. Facilities include 85,000 sq ft of grass teeing areas (down to 84,000 due to the divots chunked out during my visit), indoor bays, an 18-hole putting course, 2,500-sq ft learning center, and more. Instructional programs range from a half-day tune-up to players schools for golfers with handicaps of 12 or lower. The academy also offers corporate clinics and will even make house calls. Plantation is an 18-headed monster that plays host to the SBS Championship, where the previous year’s winners on the PGA Tour battle wind, length, forced carries, and each other over the evil love-child of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore.
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