PUNTACANA Resort & Club, the exclusive resort property in the Dominican Republic, has been named Golf Resort of the Year by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO).

PUNTACANA Resort & Club is currently home to two world class golf courses, P.B Dye’s La Cana and Tom Fazio’s Corales, with a third, Hacienda, set to open in 2011. The P.B. Dye-designed La Cana Golf Course, which opened in 2001, has long been a firm favorite of golfers from all over the world and, in line with PCRC’s efforts to be as environmentally friendly as possible, was the first course in the Caribbean to use paspalum, a grass seed that can be watered using sea water.

In April 2010, the highly anticipated Tom Fazio designed Corales course opened to rave reviews with Golf Week’s Brad Klein naming the course “The future of Caribbean golf”. With the addition of Hacienda, the resort will offer 54 holes of championship golf to guests of the resort. The combination of the three courses, along with the many other amenities available to guests, makes PUNTACANA Resort & Club the Caribbean’s premier golf and beach destination.

Over 2,000 golf resorts from around the world were considered for this award category and were judged based on customer satisfaction, quality of golf course and accommodation, value for money, accessibility to tee times as well as speed of communication and quality of service of the golf resort sales and marketing team.

The development of Grupo PUNTACANA dates back to 1969 when Dominican businessman and hotelier Frank R. Rainieri and Theodore W. Kheel, the prominent New York attorney and labor mediator, created a partnership to construct a resort and real estate community that respects the natural habitat of Punta Cana while offering a world-class vacation experience. Maintaining a dedication to sustainable tourism, PUNTACANA Resort & Club has since grown to encompass over 26 square miles and now includes Tortuga Bay; Six Senses Spa; the PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation; four residential communities (Corales, Hacienda, Marina and Arrecife); a full-service marina; nine restaurants; a shopping village; two 18-hole golf courses; and Punta Cana International Airport, a modern facility that incorporates innovative and eco-friendly design. In 1997, Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta joined the Group as co-investors and have made PUNTACANA Resort & Club their home. Currently, Punta Cana is the most highly visited Caribbean destination and is easily accessible from all over the globe.

The IAGTO Awards were established in 2000 to reward to recognize those exceptional resorts in the world of golf travel.