Casa de Campo’s Year of Living Dangerously

Long the Caribbean’s premier golf resort, Casa de Campo has temporarily closed Pete Dye’s iconic Teeth of the Dog course for a major restoration. But do the property’s two other Dye courses pack enough punch to keep the tourists coming?

Can Casa de Campo Resort & Villas continue to prosper even through an almost year-long shutdown of its renowned Teeth of the Dog course?

Managers at the Dominican Republic luxury resort are about to find out. From mid-January 2025 to November 2025, Teeth of the Dog will close for a major restoration by Jerry Pate Design. The work will include a complete re-grassing of the course with Dynasty Paspalum (considered ideal for seaside courses), the return of the edges of Dye’s greens to their original specifications (with only slight re-contouring), and the refreshing of green-side bunkers with sharper faces for a more dramatic look. 

Set beside the Caribbean Sea near the bustling city of La Romana on the island’s southeast coast, Teeth of the Dog has been a bucket-list destination for every well-travelled golfer since its launch in 1971. Especially unforgettable are Teeth’s seven oceanside holes—including the eponymous 16^th, a treacherous par three set in a rock cove roughly shaped like a dog’s snapping jaws. Dye called this windswept and watery stretch “the seven holes created by God.”

Here’s another quote from Dye, who was famous—or infamous—for designing agonizingly difficult golf courses: “Life is not fair, so why should I make a course that is fair?”

A hands-on perfectionist, Dye spent half a lifetime tweaking and even massively reworking Teeth of the Dog and the resort’s two other courses, Dye Fore and The Links. They’re the centrepieces of a sprawling luxury resort so big and ripe with possibilities that hotel guests are given golf carts to get around the grounds. Guest rooms are in red-roofed, two-storey casitas that dogleg out from the main reception area. Also available are 50 three- to seven-bedroom villas.

Montreal-born Gilles Gagnon, the resort’s Golf Director Emeritus and Senior Director of Golf Sales, is trusting that Dye Fore, in particular, is a big enough attraction to keep golf visitors coming. “As a matter of fact, Dye Fore has become as popular in the last few years and is on par with Teeth of the Dog,” Gagnon says.

Launched to rave reviews in 2003, 27-hole Dye Fore is a rolling and starkly bare behemoth. The Chavon nine sweeps along cliffs towering 300 feet above the Chavon River; the Marina nine features panoramic views of the Caribbean Sea; and the Lagos nine is artfully sculpted through tumultuous terrain that places a premium on shotmaking.

And Casa de Campo’s third Dye course, The Links, is  an 18-hole inland layout played around man-made lakes and through tall roughs of bahia and guinea grass. Extensively remodelled about a decade ago, the Links is considered one of the most playable courses designed by Dye during his long career.

I’ve played both Dye Fore and The Links many times, and would happily make the trip to Casa de Campo even without the possibility of playing Teeth of the Dog, a course I consider the best in the Caribbean. 

Still not convinced? As an enticement, Casa de Campo is now offering an Unlimited Golf package starting at US$699 per night. This package gives guests unlimited play on Dye Fore and The Links, as well as luxury accommodation and access to activities that range from tennis to horseback riding and clay target shooting.

Sounds like a deal to me.