LIV Mayakoba Review!

[TylorJudd]

Hi everyone! So @LBee and I had the awesome opportunity to attend Mayakoba 2024 at El Camaleon here in Playa Del Carmen. I’ll go through what I thought was awesome, what was lacking, some overall tips, and some for this event specifically.

 

Firstly, the overall set up of the event. These guys do a great job of setting up an event. This is definitely as they say “Golf but Louder”, but louder does not strictly mean noise. They make this so anyone can really enjoy, there are events for kids, practice greens to use, golf nets, games, prizes, concerts, local entertainment, merchandise obviously, music, and a really cool atmosphere. They definitely let you know you’re at a LIV event. They have concessions every two holes, and that is certainly so helpful, especially when it is 32 degrees outside with humidity around 70-80%. Tickets are overall affordable for $40 USD, but there are a few different stages of tickets. The birdie shacks are pretty cool, and give you an opportunity to sit at the greens of some of the cooler holes. At this course in particular, 15 and 18 were the holes to be at. 10 was neat as well but less happens there. 

 

 

The electronic scoreboards are situated every 6 holes I believe which is nice and give you your basic info, great graphics and visual presentation. I have to say, from a spectator standpoint, the shotgun start is awesome. It allows for a 5 hour day which is great so you’re not there forever. Merchandise is on the pricier side, for us anyways converting CAD to USD, but they make really nice merch, which really seemed like good quality, and a great selection. We ended up getting a couple hats which were nice, and a flag for our putting green of the Range Goats, which in my personal opinion is the greatest name, as it just resonates with us as average joes! We also ended up getting merch while Rahm, Burmeester, and Nieman were on the 18th green so size selection was limited. If you want some merch, get it early. Selection for women was unfortunately limited, but that is a patriarchy thing society does not do well. 

 

There were not as many people there as I expected, which I was absolutely thrilled about, but could be a various amount of factors. It could be accessibility for people in Mexico, limited exposure here, or it hasn’t quite got there in popularity. I really can’t distinguish why, but it isn’t a bad thing as a spectator. Now as for fans, 90% were following two groups, Rahm and Sergio. This left a lot of other players, really great players exposed for you to witness really intimately and I really liked seeing that. It levels the persona and really lets you see them as a person. I don’t know if this is the norm as since it was Rambo’s first appearance, but again, we got to follow Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Brooks Koepka, Bryson Dechambeau, and Cam Smith unhindered. I also recommend watching Pat Perez as he is hilarious. He reminds of you of playing with your buddies, like you’re on the course at home. Very unfiltered and some won’t like that but it makes it a real life experience. All the guys have no problems with autographs if that’s your thing. One thing I can’t argue is the growth in other regions than the US. Golf is a game that is tough for some to access due to “Status”, but I love that they are playing golf in other countries and showcasing the impressive courses they have. I do wish the PGA did some more of this. There also wasn’t near as much music as I thought there would be and it wasn’t near as loud as I thought. They ask you to quiet and stop moving for shots like the PGA, although their signs says “Zip It” which I thought was a cheeky fun way to go about it. Music is set up throughout the course but not at every tee, sometime in the fairways but generally at the TV Stands. The drone is far less intrusive than you think, and they do a good job not getting in the way. Dustin Johnson had some fanatical super fan following him the whole way, telling him about his shots and this guy gave me the creeps. A serious super stalker from what I observed, hahaha.

 

I’m not writing to start a debate about anyone’s preferences, if these guys are washed up, or s***** to watch. At the end of the day, these guys, all of them including Kevin Na, Brandon Grace, and other “lesser” players are Pros and we saw them pull off wildly talented shots that we can only dream of. Rahm is something of a different breed, his golf is at a very high level, as was Koepka. He is a truly incredible golfer. We saw Brandon Grace hit a flop out of the rough 4 yards from the pin that had no business being a shot and stuck it to 2”. His caddie is also an absolute beauty. We spoke to him a little as we followed them for a couple holes, and two LIV volunteers were yelling at each other off the green while they were trying to putt so we shared a great laugh about those clowns.

 

That brings me to a few things I thought they could improve on. First, some of the volunteers. They seemed like they didn’t know what was going on, and some were just there for reasons unbeknownst to all. Like the yelling at each other because one called the other over too many times, or letting the crowd through the ropes while the players were there, or not letting anyone through for any reason. I felt bad for the staff that were carrying the score placards for each grouping as they looked as though they were given no break, food or water. LIV also has, and had, so many opportunities to engage with the crowd but didn’t. Those would make people feel appreciated and included in the overall theme they are trying to achieve. Greg Norman was walking with the mic but of course was only following Rahm, and the other announcers as well. Faherty never came out of his booth either and I really enjoy him as a commentary and personality so that would have been cool. One other thing to improve on would be instructions, or ease of finding them. Parking was the first mess, we took a taxi to the course and they instructed us you had to go another kilometre down the highway and turn into the public parking lot, there was one sign on the highway but that was it. That led to a construction site gate, with no signage, down a dirt road into a parking lot, which you then had to board a shuttle that took you back to the gate. This seemed excessive and could have been better thought out. Now, there are few places here that could accommodate the parking, and I totally get that as I know in the states it would be better, but just some instructions would have been great to give to our transport there. Once you’re in, they tell you everything is cashless. Not a biggie, but without telling you ahead of time, especially in another country, you need to download the app from their QR code and load it with money. You can use your phone or wristband to purchase concession items. This needed verification through SMS though or WhatsApp and since I’m not in Canada, I needed to enable roaming for $16 to get the verification code, then to find out inside the grounds that I could have just preloaded a wristband with my debit card instead.  Not sure why we couldn’t use the card in the first place, especially since the merch shop accepted it. Once inside I had 4 wristbands on, one for my resort, one for my LIV pass, one for my LIV concession, and one for my LIV entertainment grounds. I looked like I was back at EDC Vegas 2015 . These things don’t bother me but I hate trying to figure this s*** out on the fly like this. My last gripe was the website actually. Since we are doing a shotgun start, it would be nice if you could click on a hole versus the player to see where the players are. 

 

 

Otherwise, this is a well thought out professional venue for all. You can have fun, see some really great golf, and see your favourite players hit unbelievable shots. I may send this to LIV and see what they think, but I like LIV and what they’re doing. 

Edited February 5 by TylorJudd