LOS CABOS, Mexico — Seventeen years ago, Diamante consisted of little more than a palapa serving as a pro shop, two comfort stations and a single golf course carved into the desert along Baja California's Pacific coast.
Today, it is one of the most prominent luxury golf communities in Los Cabos.
Javier Lopez has witnessed the transformation firsthand. A caddie at Diamante since the resort opened, Lopez recently stood beside the third tee at the Dunes Course, designed by Davis Love III, reflecting on how dramatically the property has changed.
"It's become so big," he said, "and always getting bigger."
His observation extends well beyond Diamante.
Over the last three decades, Cabo has evolved into one of the world's premier golf destinations, attracting
some of the game's most celebrated architects, luxury resort developers and affluent homeowners. Reliable weather from November through May, dramatic oceanfront landscapes and convenient direct flights from cities such as Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco have made the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula an increasingly attractive destination for golfers and second- and third-home buyers alike.
The latest addition to the region's growing golf portfolio is Oleada Links, an Ernie Els design created in partnership with longtime associate Greg Letsche. With its opening, Los Cabos now features golf courses designed by six different major championship winners.
Jack Nicklaus helped lay the foundation for the region's golf identity, building the first of six courses in Los Cabos in 1993, and famously describing Palmilla Golf Club as "Palm Springs by the sea" and Cabo del Sol as "the Pebble Beach of Baja."
The comparisons continue today.
Ivan, a starter at Oleada Links, has already coined a nickname for the new course: "the Mexican Bandon Dunes."
Situated between Diamante's El Cardonal and Solmar Golf Links, the Greg Norman design that was the area's most recent course opening in 2020, Oleada is part of an expanding oceanfront resort community attracting major hospitality investment. An all-inclusive Grand Hyatt is scheduled to open in December, while a Conrad Hilton is also in development nearby.
The Pacific side of Los Cabos is now home to six golf courses, with the potential for two more farther north. Several hotel and resort projects are also moving forward, reinforcing the area's emergence as a luxury tourism and residential destination.
Perhaps nowhere is that next phase of growth more evident than at Diamante.
Located on the western edge of Los Cabos overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the 1,500-acre gated resort destination is preparing for its next major milestone: the 2027 opening of Legacy Club at Diamante, an ultra-exclusive private golf and residential community designed by Tiger Woods.
With membership expected to be capped at 250 members, Legacy Club is intended to deliver a markedly different experience from Diamante's existing courses and fractional share model.
Rather than embracing the open desert landscape that defines the Dunes and El Cardonal, Woods' previous design from 2014, his newest design will guide golfers through a secluded environment filled with dense vegetation, water features and privacy. Developer Ken Jowdy describes the concept as an "oasis in the desert," inspired in part by Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.
"He doesn't want you to see any sand except for in the bunkers," said Diamante sales manager Rod Lynch. "It's hard to imagine, but this will be completely green, with 5,000 more trees, a main waterfall and flowers surrounding the back wall."
The vision represents more than a new golf course. It reflects Diamante's effort to move deeper into the ultra-luxury private-club market, where competition has intensified as new developments emerge throughout Los Cabos.
"There's a lot of competition. It's not just the house. It's all about the club and the amenities and the service," said Cameron Kimball, founder of Landfall Real Estate Advisory, a buyer-side consultancy specializing in Los Cabos' luxury residential market.
Los Cabos has become a benchmark for modern luxury. Among the established competitors are Chileno Bay, Cove Club, El Dorado and Querencia, each offering its own blend of golf, residential amenities and private-club access.
Jowdy believes Diamante's advantage lies in the breadth of its offerings and a membership structure designed to appeal to families.
Legacy Club will feature a vertical membership model that extends club privileges across multiple generations of a member's family without additional membership fees, a concept that has become increasingly common among high-end private clubs.
"It'll probably be the most exclusive golf course in Cabo," Jowdy said. "Other places, they don't have the variety that we do. They don't have the ability to send somebody somewhere else, and we do. So it will be the true country club experience."
Jowdy isn't concerned about the growing number of developments entering the market. As Los Cabos experiences another development boom, with several public-access courses transitioning toward private operations, he sees opportunity rather than a threat.
"I'm a more-the-merrier guy," he said. "There's enough to go around, and we'll always get our fair share. The worst thing that could happen is for one of these golf courses to fail. I want everyone to succeed."
His optimism reflects the continued investment taking place throughout the region.
Last weekend, Querencia celebrated the opening of Campo Alto, its second golf course. The original Querencia debuted in 2000 as the first truly private golf club on the Baja Peninsula.
Designed by Tom Fazio, who also created the original course, Campo Alto was built to complement its predecessor while showcasing the region's rugged terrain and featuring finishing holes routed through dramatic canyon corridors.
Fazio has described Querencia as one of the most memorable sites he has encountered during his career.
"It was a wild piece of land to tame," he told Executive Golfer.
At its highest point, the property rises roughly 700 feet above sea level and offers sweeping views of San Jose del Cabo and the Sea of Cortez.
Elsewhere in Los Cabos, additional projects remain in varying stages of development. A second course at Quivira has been roughed into the landscape, though construction is currently on hold. Farther north, Baja Bay, a David McLay Kidd design planned for the East Cape, has faced environmental hurdles and remains delayed.
Yet there is little indication that the broader momentum behind Los Cabos golf is slowing.
For Kimball, whose business revolves around luxury real estate sales, demand remains strong despite rising prices and growing competition.
"I have clients who say, 'I want a $20 million beach house,'" Kimball said. "For that, I can get you second row."
It's a reflection of how dramatically the market has changed. In Los Cabos, golf is no longer an amenity attached to luxury real estate.
Increasingly, it is the amenity driving it.
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Tiger's Legacy Club latest sign that Los Cabos golf boom is far from finished
