New course open in Mexico with see-it-to-believe-it beach stretch
Nauka Golf Club, featuring a new Tom Fazio-designed course with three holes playing directly atop a Pacific Ocean beach, opened in 2025 in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Starting in 2026, the scenic layout began to allow limited play for guests of the adjacent Siari Riviera Nayarit, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel.
The golf club is a key part of a 920-acre, high-end community developed by LIFE Properties International. The company also has properties in Belize and Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. The low-density Nauka community is offering clifftop estates, beach estates and four-bedroom golf villas. Plans limit the development to 395 residences with prices starting at $8.1 million for residences and lots running $6 million to $40 million.
Amenities at Nauka include a private, deep-water marina that is yet to open and will accept yachts up to 220 feet long. Already open are expansive wellness facilities, beach and ocean clubs and racquet facilities. The community also features an on-site organic farm with produce to be featured on various menus across the property, with chef David Castro Hussong developing the food programs. For any adult with a thirst, the property's establishments include a library bar at the Ritz-Carlton and the Nauka Speakeasy tucked into the jungle.
It's all set within a 45-minute drive of Puerto Vallarta International Airport and 35 minutes away from the in-development Riviera Nayarit International Airport. The property is 40 minutes north of Punta Mita.
Fazio laid out the golf course along and through jungle, volcanic cliffs, an estuary and the coastline. The course features a par-72, 7,600-yard routing, and it's those three holes atop the beach, Nos. 14-16, that will catch the most eyeballs. The community also features a lighted, nine-hole par-3 course named The Booby Trap that was designed by Fazio. Both the full 18-hole course and the short course feature Pure Dynasty paspalum turf.
"Nauka is the result of an extraordinary site and a vision that allowed the land to lead the design," Jaime Fasja, founder of LIFE, said in a media release about the property. "The transitions, from jungle to dunes to estuary and then directly to the ocean, are seamless and natural. It's a course that challenges players strategically while immersing them in one of the most beautiful settings in the world."
Jason Lusk is Golfweek's travel and golf course architecture editor, as well as the magazine's creative director. He has written for and designed Golfweek for more than two decades .
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Nauka open in Mexico with Tom Fazio-designed golf course
