Pete Dye built famous courses all over the world — Sawgrass, Kiawah's Ocean Course, Whistling Straits — but the one he kept coming back to sits on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic. Dye and his wife Alice kept a home overlooking Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo for decades, and the designer's connection runs deep: his remains are buried near the eighth green, marked by a plaque behind a pot bunker.
Teeth of the Dog opened in 1971, nine years before the Stadium Course at Sawgrass. Seven holes run along the Caribbean on jagged coral rock, including the par-three fifth with its carry over water — a hole where the wind alone can decide your score. After a $15 million restoration led by Jerry Pate Design, the course came back with restored green edges, contours and bunkers, plus new grass throughout. The firmer turf now means where you land an approach and where it stops can be two different spots, especially with a tucked flag.
The resort's 63 holes give Dye fans plenty beyond his signature layout. Dye Fore, opened in 2003, starts with the Chavón and Marina nines: cliffside holes roughly 300 feet above the river, then fairways looking out toward the marina and the sea. The third nine, Lagos, puts lakes in play on five holes — a smart swap for a second round while keeping the dramatic Chavón stretch. And The Links, the inland 18 many players skip, is worth booking first: wider fairways to loosen up on, then greens with enough movement that being on the surface doesn't guarantee an easy two-putt.
Casa de Campo itself is a 7,000-acre resort with hotel rooms, suites and villas — the latter handy for a foursome wanting space to decompress after a round. Non-golfers aren't an afterthought: meet at Minitas Beach Club for lunch after a morning at Dye Fore, spend an evening at the marina, and save another for Altos de Chavón, the hilltop village above the river you played over earlier. One tip from the source: book Teeth of the Dog early in the trip so there's room for a return round on a spare morning — the fun comes from standing on the fifth tee again with the wind shifted and the decision still hard.
