In 1975 Gulf+Western

Gulf+Western

Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...

 developed 7000 acres (28.3 km²) of its Central Romana sugar mill's land into the Casa de Campo resort. Situated in La Romana on the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, Casa de Campo (Spanish for "Country House") is a Ponderosa-style, tropical seaside resort.

The first to enjoy the luxuries of this enclave were friends of the late Charles Bluhdorn

Charles Bluhdorn

Charles Blühdorn was a Vienna, Austria-born American industrialist.-Biography:Per a Who's Who in Ridgefield he was considered such a "hellion" that his father sent the 11-year-old to an English boarding school for disciplining...

, Gulf+Western’s founder and CEO, who built the retreat. One of Bluhdorn's Dominican friends, Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta is one of the world's leading fashion designers. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973.-Career:...

, was hired to do interior design for Casa De Campo. After Bluhdorn's death, the Cuban-American Fanjul family

The Fanjul Brothers

The Fanjul brothers — Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul, José "Pepe" Fanjul, Alexander Fanjul, and Andres Fanjul — are owners of Fanjul Corp., a vast sugar and real estate conglomerate in the United States and Dominican Republic, comprising the subsidiaries Domino Sugar, , C&H Sugar, Redpath Sugar, Tate & Lyle...

 (the world’s top sugar barons), bought Casa and opened it to paying guests. Without compromising the feeling of exclusivity, they’ve developed it into one of the most complete resorts in the region.

Casa de Campo’s golf has been internationally recognized for more than three decades. Golf architects Pete

Pete Dye

Paul B. "Pete" Dye is a world-renowned golf course designer and a member of a famous family of course designers. He is married to fellow designer and former amateur champion Alice Dye.-Early life:Pete Dye was born in Urbana, Ohio...

 and Alice Dye have had a home at Casa de Campo since the early 1970s, when they guided 300 local laborers with machetes to blaze the Diente del Perro, (Teeth of the Dog, opened in 1971) through the jungle and along a rocky coast. The world's golfers flocked to the course after it served as a backdrop for the 1971 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....

. It remains the only Caribbean course consistently in the world’s top 100 courses (usually top 50). The Links Course (opened in 1974) and the members-only La Romana Country Club (opened in 1990) are inland layouts spiced with lakes. Dye’s newest course, the much-acclaimed Dye Fore (opened in 2000), skirts cliffs 300 feet (91.4 m) above the Chavón River

Chavón River

- Film shot on the Chavón River :* 1976-1977: Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola-References:* The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000.**...

, with views of the village of Altos de Chavón

Altos de Chavón

The biggest attraction in La Romana, Dominican Republic, is Altos de Chavón, a re-creation of a medieval European village conceived from the imagination of Roberto Copa, a former Paramount Studios set designer, and Charles Bluhdorn....

, distant mountains and the new marina. Dye is at work on another course on the plateau next to Dye Fore.

Casa de Campo has a modern, new 400-berth marina, complete with a shipyard with a 120-ton TraveLift designed by Italian architect, Gianfranco Fini to resemble Portofino

Portofino

Portofino is a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is crowded round its small harbour, is closely associated with Paraggi Beach, which is a few minutes up the coast...

. Surrounding this harbor are restaurants, shops, bars, and homes.

Casa de Campo served as the backdrop for the 1987 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Notable golf championships held at Casa de Campo

• 1974: Eisenhower Trophy
  Eisenhower Trophy
  The Eisenhower Trophy is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. It is named for Dwight D. Eisenhower, the President of the United States when the tournament was first played, who was a keen amateur golfer. Recent tournaments have...
  
  
• 1974: Espirito Santo Trophy
  Espirito Santo Trophy
  The Espirito Santo Trophy is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964 and recent tournaments have featured teams from around forty countries. It is a strokeplay event, in which the best two...
  
  
• 1994: Shell's Wonderful World of Golf
  Shell's Wonderful World of Golf
  Shell's Wonderful World of Golf was a televised series of golf matches began in the 1960s. The program was sponsored by Shell Oil. It was a part of the tradition of "challenge matches" between pairs of professional golfers, which were the earliest form of professional golf competition, but have now...