To mark this fabulous milestone in the history of Casa de Campo, here we bring you a short history of the Teeth of the Dog:
Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog golf course opened for play in August 1971 and was Hall of Famer Pete Dye’s first 18-hole creation at Casa de Campo. The acclaimed Casa de Campo resort now features 63 Pete Dye designed holes in including the latest addition of a new nine, the “Dye Fore Lakes.”
The Inaugural Drive – Pete Dye launches the first of many golf balls to be lost in the Caribbean sea!
When the course was built in 1971, the area around Casa de Campo was mostly rural. Originally named Cajuiles I, this seaside course was built entirely by hand and was a labor of love for Pete Dye and his team. A crew of 300 used hand tools and sheer force of will to carve the course out of the rugged Dominican coral rock. During construction the crew referred to the unforgiving parcel of land as Dientes del Perro, or “Teeth of the Dog.” Pete Dye liked the name and it stuck.
Building the Teeth of the Dog golf course in Casa de Campo in 1971
“Without the properly heavy machinery to crack the coral, we used sledgehammers, pickaxes and chisels,” recalls Golf Hall of Fame Member Pete Dye. “Whatever delicate features Teeth of the Dog possesses are a direct result of the hard work of those Dominicans who took such pride in their work.”
Since 1971, golfers have been drawn to the complexities and challenges of Teeth of the Dog and for the bragging rights that come with successful completion of the course. Pete Dye’s goal was to put the Dominican Republic and Casa de Campo on the map as a premiere golfing destination. Mission accomplished. Casa de Campo has been named the “Worlds Leading Golf Resort” at the “World Travel Awards” for the last 4 consecutive years! Way to go Casa de Campo!
Pete Dye – the golf architect behind Casa de Campo’s Golf Legacy
Considered by many to be the world’s most renowned golf course architect, Pete Dye – hand-in-hand with wife Alice Dye, an American golf champion and course designer known as the “First Lady” of golf architecture in the US — have now created 63 holes for resort guests at Casa de Campo on three of the most challenging courses in the game: Teeth of the Dog (18 holes), The Links (18 holes), and Dye Fore (27 holes) including the new nine, Dye Fore Lakes, that opened Sept. 2011 with the 30th anniversary of the Casa de Campo Open. The inland Links golf course at Casa de Campo, opened in 1976 and is presently undergoing a total Pete Dye transformation and will reopen in February 2012. Pete Dye comes by his genius for golf course design naturally. An established champion golfer in his own right, his love for golf was surpassed only by his passion for design. In the 1950s, Pete Dye travelled the world and found inspiration in the world’s best courses. His role as a golf course designer and architect has changed the game for golfers everywhere and continually raised the bar for style, functionality and beauty in course construction. Pete Dye still cites Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog golf course as one of the best accomplishments in his 50-year career.
NOTE: The ‘old’ photos used in this article were contributed by Pete Dye himself from his personal photo collection. Thank you Pete!
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