The Lakes Barcelo Golf Course - Dominican Republic - Hole #9

The Lakes Barcelo Golf Course - Dominican Republic Golf Review

An Insightful Interview With Sergio Poo, Director of Golf

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Sergio Poo, Director of Golf at The Lakes Barcelo Golf Course, who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Located on the east cost of the beautiful Caribbean Island of The Dominican Republic, this breath taking 1991 room luxurious resort, invites you to enjoy the first golf course ever built in the Bavaro / Punta Cana area over 20 years a go. Re-design by renowned acquitted P.B Dye in 2010 this Championship golf course keep his original essence, the rolling fairways that traverses trough a lush mangrove forest, with 25 inland lakes and 122 strategically positioned bunkers, the golf course capitalizes on the natural beauty of the Bávaro area, incorporating native plants and species, around it's meticulously manicured greens providing you best playing surface with the highest industry standards.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
The Lakes Barcelo Golf Course perfectly located in Punta Cana, it is in the heart of the Bavaro area and its very easy to get to.
We have some amazing stay and play golf packages - view them at www.barcelobavarogolf.net/en/Stay-and-Play-Packages.html

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Keep you driver in the bag as much as possible, the golf course is not very long so you don't need to bomb it down there, club selection is key.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Hole #9 160 yards par 3. Elevated island green surrounded by water and sand bunkers. The tee shot is nerve racking for most golfers because it is over the water into swirling winds. The hole is beautiful to play and beautiful to see.

Hole #9 Flyover

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Hole #4 par 5 535 yards.
This dog leg to the left par five requires all your senses, with a predominant cross left to right and in your face wind this holes offers you the risk and reward option, the left side of the dog leg is protected with a tall three almost impossible to over it, the right side has a bunker that will protect your ball from going in to the jungle. Your second shot from the fairway will give you the option to go for it, you will require a high and long shot to fly all the bunkers and grass dunes that guard this wide green. I you decide to play safe a mid iron will do the job leaving a short shot in to the protected green with a bunker on the let side and back center.

Hole #4 Flyover

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Gazpacho, better than Spain!!!

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Jorge Cruz, 67 May 19th 2012

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6655 yards
Slope: 72.1
Rating: 135

More Information
The Lakes Barcelo Golf Course
Carretera Bavaro Km. 1, Bavaro
Punta Cana, Higuey, 00000 +1 809 686 5797 Ext. 1859
www.barcelobavarogolf.net

Revised: 10/07/2014 - Article Viewed 31,224 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.