Overlooking hole 9 at Cabo Real Golf Course RELATED LINKS City Guide: Cabo San Lucas

Over the past 20 years, developers have transformed the stretch of arid coastline between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo into a string of large seaside resorts. With seven championship courses built over a scenic mix of mountain, desert and oceanfront terrain, the area has quickly become a major international golfing destination as well.

Jack Nicklaus alone is responsible for designing 63 holes on three major courses here, including the 27-hole Palmilla Golf Club at the One&Only Palmilla Resort (www.palmillaresort.com). The expansive Cabo Real resort complex (www.caboreal.com) encompasses seven major hotels and two 18-hole courses, the Cabo Real course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, and the newer Nicklaus-designed El Dorado course. Two more 18-hole courses are located at the Cabo del Sol resort (www.cabodelsol.com), an ocean-front course also signed by Jack Nicklaus, and a spanking-new desert course by Tom Weiskopf.

The Raven Golf Club (www.golfincabo.com) just east of Cabo San Lucas — formerly the Cabo San Lucas Country Club — features an 18-hole Roy Dye-designed course with postcard views across the bay to the rocky point at Land's End. The exclusive Querencia Golf Club outside San Jose del Cabo is open only to members and their guests, so you'll need well-placed friends if you want to play the 18-hole championship course and nine-hole short course designed by Tom Fazio.

All of the above are world-class facilities that charge world-class greens fees, but there is a well-maintained nine-hole municipal course in San Jose del Cabo where you can enjoy lovely and reasonably challenging ocean-view links for a fraction of the cost.