We were in the Cancun area for 9 days and our mission was two-fold. Firstly, we were attending the International Golf Tour Operators Conference where we would meet almost 400 exhibitors representing destinations from all over the world. We of course are hoping that they would invite us to experience a number of their resorts and destination areas so we can in turn provide you, our readers, with more information on some of the great destinations that you may not have considered in the past.

For a few days prior to the Conference and a couple of days after, our plan was to experience some of the golf that has developed in Cancun, the Riviera Maya. To be absolutely honest, from what I had read about golf in the area prior to the trip, my expectations were not high. I am not sure which courses these others writers played, but they could not have played the courses that we played. I guess you can't always believe what you read!

To generalize about the courses we played, they can only be described as "WORLD CLASS." In fact one course in particular the above mentioned El Camaleon, ranks in my top 5 in the world, and I have played a few good ones including The Ocean Course at Kiawah, Pebble Beach and Pinehurst #2. El Cameleon was the site of the first ever PGA Tour event in Mexico, the Mayakoba Classic (February 2007), won by non other that "El Funkador" the very likeable Fred Funk.

You could say that we started this little tour through Mexico in "GRAND" style. Once out of the airport, we headed 30 minutes south to the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Resort home to the Canadian Tour's – Iberostar Riviera Maya Open. Here we met up with Greg Bond, Director of Golf who advised us that our accommodations for the night would be in the newly opened Grand Hotel. Little did we know until we got settled in, that we were in an all inclusive opulent playground of which luxury knows no boundaries. The Playa Paraiso Golf Club is a PB Dye masterpiece, carved out of the ancient Mayan jungle was definitely the tightest of the 5 courses that we played on our Mexican swing.

Just a few miles south of Cancun's infamous hotel district, the Moon Spa & Golf Club is a 27-hole all inclusive-complex, home to the only Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in the Mexican Caribbean. Three distinctively nines, The Lakes, The Dunes and the Jungle take you on a golf safari through nature.

Until I came to Mexico I could not say that I had ever played a Greg Norman designed golf course. Now I can say that I will never forget the first two that I played. The aforementioned El Cameleon and the recently opened Playa Mujeres Golf Club will certainly be among the top rated courses in the area, if not all of Mexico.

Last but not least, we were hosted by the good folks at the Hilton in Cancun. As we made our way up the elevator, we could look out over the course located less than a three wood away. "Looks pretty open from up here," I said to my playing partner. My observation was fairly accurate for the front 9 anyway. However, the back nine was an entirely different story as the jungle lined fairways made accuracy off the tee extremely important in maintaining a decent score.

For more specific details and profiles on the above mentioned properties please click onto the associated stories on the side bar of this story. You will also have the opportunity to link to their respective websites. For anyone that has not ever visited Cancun or Mexico, we have also offer a few pointers that may help you out on a future visit.

To help get you started on your tour through Cancun and the Mayan Riviera you may also want to check out www.cancungolf.org.

Claudio DeMarchi is the Co-Publisher of The Traveling Golfer.