The earliest known travel propaganda for the charms of the Dominican Republic characterized this place as “a beautiful island paradise with high forested mountains and large river valleys.” Which happens to be as true today as it was in 1492, when a fellow named Christopher Columbus jotted down those words during one of his little sea jaunts. He established Isabella here, the hemisphere’s oldest European settlement, and installed his brother, Bartholomew, as governor. And by 1496, Bartholomew had founded the city of Santa Domingo.

It was a mere 475 years later — three years before Casa de Campo opened its doors in 1974 — that Teeth of the Dog was created, the classic track designer Pete Dye still calls his favorite, not without reason, which helped rev up the engine of tourism that is now an economic mainstay of the Republic.

The raw sugar of the La Romana area was once the grist for sugar mills owned by Gulf+Western, but a year after the 1983 death of G+W founder and CEO Charles Bluhdorn, the world’s largest sugar barons the Cuban-American Fanjul family, took over the operation — including Casa de Campo. In the past few years, new course openings have given the Dominican Republic an embarrassment of golfing riches (think Nicklaus’ Punta Espada at Cap Cana, Fazio’s Corales at PuntaCana). But according to Casa de Campo’s golf director Gilles Gagnon, “There is not a better place in the Caribbean to play golf than here.”

Gagnon is a peppery Quebecois installed at the Casa de Campo resort in La Romana by Dye himself, more than 30 years ago, and no visitor should let the opportunity to speak with him get away. The resort has been the playground of kings and counselors for decades, and Gagnon has teed it up with many of them. Even the golfing habits of recent U.S. presidents (Clinton, Bush 43) have come under his scrutiny, and he’ll relate the tales with as much color as the tropical flora and fauna abounding on the 7,000-acre property.

And color there is, first revealed to the world when Teeth of the Dog served as a backdrop for the 1987 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Golfers have been booking tee times ever since, though the trip back then was about as arduous as Dye’s construction of the course. On my recent journey to experience the resort’s new Dye nine, I flew into the Santo Domingo airport. The trip from there is about an hour and 15 minutes, over roads still largely under repair or in need of it. Better to book an American Airlines flight directly into the La Romana airport from Miami or, beginning in mid-November, out of JFK in New York on JetBlue or out of San Juan on American Eagle.

Yet once inside the secured gates of the resort, a vast playground awaits. Pick your passion — from riding, polo lessons, yachting, shooting clays, fine dining, shopping, tennis, river kayaking and other water sports, or just lounging on the beaches of the Caribbean Sea.

A recent $40 million renovation has kept the resort sparkling, just as Dye’s redo of his Dientes del Perro have kept the Teeth from being long in the tooth.

If some parts of the resort look vaguely familiar, recall that G+W bought Paramount Pictures in 1966, and some of the company’s films were shot here, including the river scenes from Apocalypse Now on the Chavón River, most dramatically visible from the Dye Fore course, with Altos de Chavón as backdrop. Resembling a 16th century village perched on the Amalfi Coast, Altos de Chavón is an artist village and shopping enclave created by an Italian cinematographer. (Frank Sinatra sang at the inauguration of its amphitheater in ’82.)

But the designer most of our readers can relate to is Pete Dye. There are now 63 holes of his workmanship open to public play at the resort — Teeth of the Dog, the Links Course and now 27 holes at Dye Fore — plus 18 more if you can wrangle an invite to the private La Romana Country Club.

Teeth of the Dog is still the main prize, routinely ranked in the Top 100 courses in the world (usually in the Top 50, for that matter), and a rousing treat to play. The first of four outgoing seaside holes, No. 5 turns the wow factor knob straight to 11, making the course name seem all too appropriate, and it stays tuned up right through the three inward seaside holes.

There are those (albeit a minority) who favor Dye Fore over Teeth, and they’ll be happy to hear that the new nine (the Lakes) may ultimately be part of a new 18, but for now it will serve as part of a 27-hole rotation, with the Marina (former front nine) and Chavón (former back nine).

“Dye wanted something different for the new nine,” says Eric Lillibridge, director of instruction at the resort’s Jim McLean Golf School. “It plays firmer to small and in some cases tabletop greens, and there are some lakes out there, too.”

This may suggest that the Links Course is the red-headed stepsister of the collection, and while an easier course than its siblings, it’s no pushover. It’s set to re-emerge with new paspalum greens in late February, which would be a good time to visit the island paradise and follow the usual good advice:
play them all.

SIDESPIN: SHOOTING, SPAS, SUDS & CIGARS
FIRE AWAY: The resort’s Shooting Center has 300 stations spread over 245 acres where you can take aim at trap, skeet and sporting clays, including a 110-foot tower that fires the targets in all directions. It had been a couple of decades since I’d fired any kind of weapon, and I fully expected to hit absolutely nothing when our group gave it a try. Turned out I was the sharpshooter among the crowd, blowing clays apart right, left and overhead. Had to admit it was a blast.

DOWN A PRESIDENTE: Ask for a beer in the DR, and locals’ faces appear to light up, saying, “Ah, Presidente,” as though it’s the only beer on the planet and why would you even think of ordering something else? They might be right. The Cervecería Nacional Dominicana does make other beers, like Bohemia and Bohemia Light (not to mention Presidente Light), but these seem like afterthoughts. Presidente is a pilsner-style beer made with corn grits and sugar, and I might not have given it a second glance in the United States. But I wasn’t in the United States. After a round of golf in midday heat, Presidente is the right beer in the right place at the right time. It gets my vote.

SUBMIT TO THE TOUCH: The resort’s Cygalle Healing Spa will offer treatments indoors or out, by the private beach or in your villa. I wouldn’t miss it. I had a general massage and although I had my doubts at first — thinking I’d landed a masseuse with ADD, since she was all over the map of my body seemingly without a plan, and with strokes so fast I thought I was going to wind up with friction burn — I quickly realized it was just a different plan, a different rhythm, and I was soon in tune and experiencing a real balm for two rounds of tough and sweaty golf.

IT’S A WRAP: “The Dominican Republic doesn’t really have a strong smoking culture,” said Enrique Seijas as he led us on a tour of Tabacalera de Garcia, the world’s largest cigar maker. They may not smoke ’em much, but they sure know how to hand roll ’em — the company’s 4,700 employees churn out some 40 million cigars a years, brands like Montecristo, H. Upmann, Don Diego, Onyx or Romeo y Julieta. Anyone would find this half-hour factory tour in La Romana interesting, but serious cigar lovers can opt for an extended two-hour version. Their knees may buckle when led into the aging vault, basically a giant humidor for 7 million sticks, but not to worry ... all tours wind up the cigar shop. Visit www.procigar.org for information about the fifth annual Procigar Festival in La Romana, Feb. 19-21, with all costs included for those who book a stay at Casa de Campo.

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