LOS CABOS, Mexico — One of the joys of playing golf at several of the courses that dot the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula are the outrageous comfort stations, which include all the snacks and candy and drinks that your heart desires.
Five years ago, I checked out Twin Dolphin, a course designed by Todd Eckenrode with Masters champion Fred Couples and the marketing guy told me that their “Red Door” comfort stations were designed to top anything that had come before it. They didn’t disappoint.
The one at the fifth hole is where Couples filmed an episode of Golf Channel’s Feherty show, a lavish setting that many assumed was Fred’s home. Its selection of sugar-laden treats would make Willy Wonka blush, and Couples, it turns out, is a candy addict. “I like the Snickers and Hershey Kisses, but I try to stay the hell out of there,” he says. “If I’m there seven days, it’s a losing proposition.”
The bar was stocked, too, and manned by a full-time attendant who made me a salty margarita and talked me into what he billed as the best tequila I’ll ever taste. Did I mention the fresh guacamole, fish tacos, and octopus ceviche? In case anyone could possibly be hungry or thirsty again, there’s a second Red Door between holes 12 and 13 and also accessible when moving from 15 to 16. You won’t need lunch or dinner. (Don’t skip the sliders!)
On Saturday, I bumped into Mike Abbott on the practice tee at El Cardonal at Diamante, the host course of the World Wide Technology Championship. Abbott, who returned to Diamante to run the Legacy Club, a third course at the facility that is being touted as a members-only club and likely the future home of the tournament, was looking resplendent in pink. Abbott knows all about the comfort stations and when I mentioned how they had jumped the shark, he shook his head and said, “They’ve turned into Costco’s out there.”
“That was never the purpose of comfort stations,” he added. “It was to have a couple of unique items that were signature to that facility, some nuts and snacks and a little bit of candy and something to freshen your drink.”
Abbott should know. He’s considered the Godfather of the comfort station. As the vice president of operations of Discovery Land Company, where he oversaw all aspects of the development of courses such as Vaquero near Dallas, El Dorado in Los Cabos, Mexico, and Mirabel in Scottsdale, Arizona, Abbott introduced and perfected the comfort station with the intent of giving golfers a big surprise. At Diamante, that means tamales and tacos and black bean soup. He explained how he conceived the concept at Vaquero and Kukio, an oceanfront residential golf and beach club located in Kohala, Hawaii.
“We didn’t have any place to house a chef so we stuck them at the comfort station, better known as a bathroom. When I die, I figure I’m going to be known as the bathroom guy,” he said. “But there was no clubhouse when we started so we cooked off bunsen burners in the back and smokers. We sold a lot of real estate that way.”
Abbot spent several years at Diamante before using his vast experience in the luxury resort and private golf club industry to form Abbott Golf Management and partnering in the development of Blue Jack National near Houston, another course designed by Tiger Woods where the comfort stations are known for locally grown fruit and treats. But he promised Diamante’s developer, Ken Jowdy, that if a third course was built he’d come back and so here he is.
Cabo is ground zero for the comfort station competition between clubs of anything you can do, we can do better. Will the comfort stations at Legacy Club follow suit and top Twin Dolphin and others at their own game?
“We talked about it a bunch and said, ‘Let’s go the other way.’ Let’s make it very simple and have an old-school halfway house and just know that everyone on the golf course can get what they want when they want,” Jowdy said. “We’re not going to try to top everyone else.”
The problem with the comfort station is that some of them are so luxurious that you can’t help but stop and shove your favorite treats into your bag to get your money’s worth on the all-inclusive deal. It ends up slowing play. But with Legacy Club designed as a members-only course with a maximum of 250 members, Abbott said they envision an old-school halfway house.
“We’re going to change the profile again,” he said. “It’s going to have a creaky screen door and a greasy burger and all the great smells you associate with it.”