Agustín Pisa doesn’t watch the news. To maintain his peace of mind, the golf course architect largely ignores the incessant blur of headlines, continuing instead to steal glances at select social feeds. Sports are an exception.
“I follow them because they focus on success stories,” Pizá told GOLF.com by phone.
However, on rare occasions, events intervene. Last Sunday morning was one of them.
Pisa was in Puerto Vallartawhere he maintains an office and apartment, completing a business trip that included site visits to two ongoing projects. With a flight scheduled at noon, he was in no rush. Sitting up from the bed, he pulled back the curtains. Not more than 600 meters away, columns of black smoke darkened the sky above the city.
“At first I thought it was an accident,” he said. “But it almost looked like a war zone.”
His news making was about to end. Pizá scanned his phone, which was buzzing with worried messages from family and friends, then fumbled with the TV remote control.
“I do this so infrequently that it took me a while to find the channel,” he said.
The story was coming into focus. A military operation had killed the country’s most wanted drug lord, prompting cartel retaliation. Buses and businesses were burned. Clashes broke out between security forces and suspected gang members. Dozens were reported dead. The city was put into isolation. The Pisa flight was cancelled.
This was inappropriate. It was also the least of his worries.
“This is really an incident unique to Puerto Vallarta,” he said. “Anyone who’s been here knows it’s one of the coolest, safest, friendliest places you can go. But it’s a shame because at the end of the day Mexico lives on tourism.”
For Puerto Vallarta, the stakes are especially high. The metropolitan area is home to around 500,000 people and has been a major international destination since the 1960s. Tourism is the region’s economic engine and golf is one of the pistons.
The stretch of coastline along the Bay of Banderas, running north Punta Mita, it’s a mosaic of jungle, mountain and ocean, a varied landscape that Pizá considers a uniquely compelling canvas for golf. The region’s portfolio ranges from the moody mountain corridors of Vista Vallarta Club de Golf to the coastal resort that hosts the PGA Tour’s VidantaWorld Mexico Open just across the river in Nayarit.
For Pizá, the connection is personal and professional. Born and raised in Tijuana and now based in San Diego with his wife and three children, he has crossed the line in both life and work. He opened his office in Puerto Vallarta in 2006 in conjunction with a commission as project manager on the Bahía course, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design in Punta Mita. The office now employs eight people and serves as a hub for projects throughout Mexico, Latin America and Europe. Pizá’s San Diego office handles projects in the state.
In industry circles, Pizá is regarded as a creative thinker with a penchant for unconventional concepts. Among his most elusive projects is the Butterfly Effect, a 24-hole layout in the Coahuila desert divided into four six-hole loops that can be played independently. Among everyday golf fans, it gained wider attention with the launch of the DATEthe technology-driven league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
In that virtual arena, his holes have stood out for their own whims. One is modeled on a cenote, a limestone cave filled with water; its fairway is a concave, concave platform. Another, called “The Temple,” looks like what you’d get if Alister MacKenzie had teamed up with the Aztecs. If you watched as Justin Thomas or Rickie Fowler trying to plot their way around those fantastical environments, you’ve seen Pisa’s imagination at work.
On Monday, with parts of the city still under lockdown and its Puerto Vallarta office closed, TGL offered a welcome outlet. Pizá stayed inside and tuned in as the simulator league was televised, watching the players take on the challenges he had helped conceive.
“If it wasn’t for TGL,” he said, “I’m not sure what I would be doing.”
By Tuesday, authorities had lifted restrictions, the airport had reopened and his flight was rescheduled. The smoke had cleared. In Puerto Vallarta, at least, the immediate crisis seemed contained.
Pisa is careful not to dismiss what happened. He knows how annoying it must look from afar, and he knows there will be short-term consequences for the locals whose livelihoods depend on the visit.
“I’m thinking restaurateurs, hotel workers, corpses,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll feel it.”
At the same time, Pizá opposes sweeping conclusions. When such clashes break out, he said, tourists are usually not the intended targets. Violence tends to be a show of force between the authorities and criminal groups before retreating. However, images travel, violent images especially. Context, in contrast, travels slowly.
Pisa tries to assure this to anyone who will listen. When friends ask if Mexico is dangerous, he often responds with a question of his own.
“Are you going to buy guns or drugs?” he said. “If not, you’ll be fine.”
The risk, he said, is not unique to any one country. When bad things happen, they are more often the exception than the rule. But he also knows that perceptions can be stubborn and that perceptions matter.
“I don’t want to minimize what happened,” he said. “But Puerto Vallarta will recover much faster than people expect.”
On Tuesday, with his re-booked flight, Pisa could already see a city rising to its feet. His office in Puerto Vallarta had reopened, and although he had given his staff the option to stay home, every single one of them came in.
Nearby, at Marina Vallarta Golf Club, a public-access development located along the bay, the fairways told a similar story. Pisa stopped and talked to the general manager. They had already done 200 rounds that day and were giving out free margaritas.
His journey home was uneventful. The airport was busy but orderly. His noon flight took off on schedule, and when he landed in San Diego, passengers cheered.
Pisa said he was also happy to be home. He would make a quick stop at the office, then at his family. But his thoughts were already going south.
“I’ll be back in Puerto Vallarta in three weeks,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
