In Nauka, Tom Fazio created something wild and wonderful along Mexico’s Pacific coast

We’ll tear through the volcanic cliffs high above Mexico’s central coast and tour several remote residential lots in various stages of construction (more than a few of which belong to some touring professionals whose names you know). I’m in a Can-Am four-wheeler with Mark Birnbaum asking questions while trying to avoid eating another palm frond. It is dusk on the first day at Sciencea new 920-acre private golf course community in the enchanting Riviera Nayarit region, approximately 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta.

The big attraction at Nauka is a brand new Tom Fazio championship golf course with a practice facility to match (also The Booby Trap, a gloriously floodlit 9-hole par-3) capable of taking on both the country club set and professionals who make their living playing golf.

Nauka’s vision comes from Jaime Fasja, a successful Mexican real estate developer and private club owner, who is the driving force behind the project’s direction and personality. The vibe is from LIFE Properties International, a company dedicated to creating exclusive legacy communities. Birnbaum, a longtime restaurateur known as the owner of Catch New York, among other hangouts of the rich and famous, and Fasja are partners at LPI.

It is a testament to the awe-inspiring landscape and incredible imagination of this group that families who could afford to buy a holiday home anywhere in the world would be drawn to a place as wild and rugged as this region was when it was still in the eviction phase. Birnbaum calls those early sales trips “machete touring.”

“It says something when you can interest wealthy buyers who have enough money to be looking for their third, fourth, fifth home and the trees hit them in the face as they rummage through the jungle,” Birnbaum says. “And they still want to buy! Without a road, without anything. It was unbelievable how much they loved it. It was really a vindication that I wasn’t crazy.”

The Learn golf club features five sets of tees and can extend to 7,600 yards. There are many things that make the course unique, but chief among them is the diversity of the experience. Fazio has created a route that transports golfers from the mangrove estuary to volcanic mountains, through ancient jungle and along the surf. It’s a rollercoaster with a layout that impresses at every turn, keeps you guessing and, most importantly, demands you play it again.

Fazio’s portfolio is clearly prolific, with more than 300 courses to his credit, including Shadow Creek, World Woods, and Pinehurst #6 and #8. Think about this: Fazio is rumored to have said that Nauka is among the top three courses he has ever landed. He demurred when asked which the other two were.

“Our expectations were higher here,” says Fazio, gesturing high above his head. “And this course met them.”

One of the reasons the designer and developers hoped so high is because Fazio was given free rein to create, dozens of acres of varied terrain to play with, and virtually unlimited resources to build his dream course.

Not that it was easy. Construction crews dredged nearly 60 million cubic yards of sand to create the deepwater marina that anchors the village and yacht club, and they made all that sand available to Fazio’s team to build their fairways and greens. The track is covered with sand at an unprecedented depth of one and a half meters for maximum drainage and ideal grass condition.

“I think Fazio is the best living designer in the world right now for many reasons,” says Fasja. “But when it comes to giving someone sand to work with, there’s no one better than Tom Fazio. So it’s like giving a kid the keys to a candy store. We thought, ‘Tom, you’ve got 60 million cubic yards of sand. Go and design what you think could be the best golf course in this country.'”

Despite all that land and sand, Fazio encountered a problem halfway through the front nine. There was a parcel just beyond Nauka’s property line that he believed would absolutely elevate this part of the course.

“He says, ‘There’s a bottleneck here in this area, and if you could buy that land, that’s just the icing on the cake,’” Fasja quotes Fazio. “I said, ‘Tom, that’s not going to happen. It’s just a lot of land.’ And he says, ‘well, this would improve the golf course.’ We acquired that land within two weeks.”

Was the acquisition worth the cost?

“That was a game changer,” says Fasja. “Buying those 40-plus acres, which are now (different parts of) the 3rd, 4th and 5th holes, has completely changed the landscape of the golf course.”

Fazio thinks the same: “That really made it work,” he says. “That really made it work.”

One very distinctive part of the landscape always existed; the sun-drenched sandy beach. Fazio and Co. took full advantage of it. Holes 14, 15 and 16 run almost a mile parallel to the shoreline, about 60 yards from the breaking surf. Golfers are encouraged, even forced, to kick off their spikes before the 14th tee shot and take a dip in the refreshing Pacific Ocean. Post-swim cocktails and snacks, served beachside, just add to the adventure. I’ve lost my shirt on the golf course many times, but never on purpose. It is a completely unique and memorable encounter.

However, it is interesting that if you ask Fazio what he thinks of the signature hole at Nauka, he has no answer.

“Try to pick your favorite hole. You can’t,” he says. “If we had a favorite hole, we would have smaller holes. That’s what makes a golf course great. Everyone likes a different hole for a different reason, but they love them all because they’re all dramatic.”

As he says, if you ask golfers of all levels who have played Nauka GC, you will hear all kinds of reasons why and what they like about the course. It is long and difficult enough to challenge the best golfers in the world from the back. But if you choose the right set of tees for your game, you will have a great time. In short, the course offers everything you are looking for.

“The pros are coming here and buying (a lot) not just as a place for their family, but as a legitimate place where they can practice, and that’s been great to see,” Birnbaum said. “These guys are on tour and come down on their days off to practice and work on their games.”

I wonder if they will jump into the sea.

Of course, most members buy with friends and family in mind, and there is no shortage of amenities for them to enjoy. Birnbaum is the Master of Hospitality, and his mark is on all things F&B, from the beautiful Nest complex high above hole #8 – which offers, among many other delights, made-to-order “Burger-Dillas” (a cheesy smashburger wrapped in a tortilla) and a Willy Wonka-level sweet shop – to the Nauka Beach Club which serves sustainably caught seafood and produce from their own organic farm.

There’s also a 15-hectare wellness retreat, literally among the mangroves. It’s not a building, it’s a series of bamboo huts and spaces along sandy jungle paths that offer everything from traditional massage to sound therapy to indigenous practices like Temezcal, a sweat lodge-style ceremony sure to make you forget that three-putt on 18.

Although Nauka is a private, low-density community, there is the opportunity for visitors to experience the property and play the golf course. Siari, the ninth Ritz-Carlton Reserve in the world, opens this fall and welcomes guests to its own 91-room resort. There are five on-site dining options (same as the number of bedrooms in the Presidential Suite), an on-site beach club, and limited Nauka tee times available to Siari guests.

“Nauka was never intended to be just another resort development,” says Fasja. “This land consists of eight kilometers of pristine coastline, cliffs and jungle. It demanded something different. We wanted to build a private club community that felt deeply connected to nature, where families could enjoy the best food, wellness and golf, but also feel part of a place that will last for generations. It’s not about creating volume; it’s about creating heritage.”

The Nauka logo features a playful representation of the Blue-footed Booby, a fairly rare and colorfully hooded bird that is mainly found on the Galapagos Islands. The only other place where the Booby sets its blue feet is along the subtropical coastline of the Pacific Ocean, including the rocky outcroppings off the coast of Riviera Nayarit. Instinctively the Booby understands that this is an exclusive, safe and hospitable environment. Nauka knows this too, and they do everything they can to keep it that way.