Caribbean Golf
Tee Time in the Islands Having written about Caribbean golf for about 20 years, I have to say that it gets more exciting all the time. Every new course seems to raise the bar, showcasing the innate beauty of the region while creating challenges worthy of the best country clubs back home. Major designers are building dazzling new courses in places once deemed impossible--quarries, salt marshes and arid regions. Older tracks are being revamped. Hardy seashore paspalum grass has revolutionized course maintenance and lessened the need for chemical fertilizers. This fine-bladed miracle grass also offers a softer alternative to Bermuda grass.
There's never been a better time to tee it up in the Caribbean. Here's a sampler of the courses.
ARUBA Since 1995, Tierra del Sol, a fine desert design by Robert Trent Jones II, has been the only 18-hole layout on this arid island. Fall 2004 marked the debut of a nine-hole test, the Links at Divi Aruba. BAHAMAS The new Four Seasons Great Exuma at Emerald Bay is home to a Greg Norman course with several dazzling ocean holes and a thought-provoking gauntlet through wetlands and rock outcroppings. On Paradise Island, the Ocean Club course--a Tom Weiskopf redesign of a Dick Wilson original—is edgy and interesting, with lots of water. Homeowner Michael Jordan holds his annual celebrity invitational here. Grand Bahama Island offers four very playable courses near the tourist mecca of Freeport—the Dick Wilson-Joe Lee Emerald and Ruby courses, recently refurbished by the Fazio Design Group; the Robert Trent Jones II Reef Course and the Lucayan Course crafted by Dick Wilson. BARBADOS
In October 2004 the golf spotlight fell on Barbados and Sandy Lane Resort, the setting for Tiger Woods’ nuptials. The resort's 45-hole, Tom Fazio-designed complex includes the new Green Monkey course (an eye-catching journey around and through a hilltop quarry site), the Country Club Course and the Old Nine. Also on Barbados is Royal Westmoreland, a Robert Trent Jones II design with wild ravines and abrupt rises and drops. The public Barbados Golf Club, dormant for 20 years, was recently revamped by European Tour player Roddy Carr and American designer Ron Kirby.
. BERMUDA
Bermuda, a semi-tropical island in the Atlantic, is frequently "adopted" by Caribbean aficionados, especially when it comes to golf. The tiny British colony has nine courses--five championship tracks (Ocean Club, Port Royal, Belmont Hills, Riddells Bay and Tucker's Point) and a superb nine-holer at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Resort. CANOUAN ISLAND, THE GRENADINES
Raffles Canouan, opened in November 2004, is the first Caribbean venture for Singapore-based Raffles International, one of the world's top luxury hotel brands. It's also the company's first foray into golf. One of the most beautiful and exciting in the Caribbean, the Jim Fazio creation is a scenic and strategic treat. Holes range along the flanks of Mount Royal, which rises 877 feet above sea level. COSTA RICA
In less than a decade, the country's golf complement has grown from one to six championship layouts, many couched in impressive luxury resorts. The oldest 18-hole course in Costa Rica is the Melia Cariari Country Club in San Jose, a fine tournament venue crafted by George and Tom Fazio. Fifteen minutes from the city is the windswept public Parque Valle del Sol, a good test by Tracy Mays. Arnold Palmer designed the course at the Four Seasons Papagayo in Guanacaste. Also on the coast in Guanacaste is Garre de Leon, a Robert Trent Jones II layout at the Paradisus Playa Conchal. Nearby is Hacienda Pinella, a Mike Young design in a resort/residential development. Herradura Bay southwest of San Jose is the setting for the Los Suenos Marriott Ocean and Golf Resort and its Ted Robinson Jr. creation.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
One of the fastest growing golf destinations in the Caribbean is the Dominican Republic, where La Romana's Casa de Campo Resort draws golfers the way sirens drew sailors. The resort's three Pete Dye creations include Teeth of the Dog, for more than 30 years the only Caribbean course ranked in the world's top 50. The young Dye Fore layout runs along the rim of a 300-foot-deep river gorge, with views of mountains, ocean and the recreated Mediterranean village of Altos de Chavon. The inland Links Course is rife with lakes that factor into many holes. In Punta Cana, Dye's son P.B. created the La Cana Course at the Punta Cana Resort, an intriguing and sometimes frustrating course with generous helpings of water and sand. P.B. is slated to add another 18 holes, and Tom Fazio is also at work on a new track for the resort. Also under construction in Punta Cana is a Jack Nicklaus four-course project. The fledgling Guavaberry Country Club, a Gary Player layout, lies near the capital city, Santo Domingo.
JAMAICA
The island that stole the hearts of Errol Flynn, Noel Coward and Ian Fleming has always been one of the Caribbean’s top golf destinations, with a dozen tracks scattered throughout the island. Montego Bay has four fine courses convenient to the international airport. The 40-year-old Tryall Club, which hosted the Johnnie Walker World Cup for five years in the early 90s, is routed around the hilltop Great House and along the ocean. It has generous fairways but the wind and slick greens can take a heavy toll. Another venerable layout is the Robert Trent Jones Sr. course at Half Moon Montego Bay. Jones' protégé Roger Rulewich has recently revamped the course, adding tees and reshaping bunkers in what he calls “cosmetic touches without being gimmicky.” The visually stunning White Witch Course at the Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall is a Robert von Hagge-Rick Baril creation. Elevated fairways dotted with rock outcroppings skip along jungle-lined plateaus. Sixteen holes have views of the sea. Nearby is another Von Hagge design called Cinnamon Hill. Though not as challenging as the White Witch, it is a top-notch course with holes abutting the sea and ranging up into the mountains along a heavily treed route. PUERTO RICO
America's own island is the undisputed king of Caribbean golf, with more tropical courses on one island than anywhere else in the world. If you haven't been there recently, here's what you've been missing. Willowbend Golf and Land Design's Bruce Besse Jr. teamed up with Tom Kite on the new 36-hole Coco Beach Golf & Country Club in Rio Grande. Set on 1,200 acres of delta and mangrove swamp with views of the ocean and El Yunque rainforest, the club has four nines--The Mountains, The Palms, The Ocean and The Lakes--each offering a different golf experience. The most spectacular loop is The Mountain, which has elevation changes of 60 feet or more throughout. The 48,000-square-foot clubhouse is the largest in the Caribbean. The golf club is adjacent to the new Paradisus Puerto Rico Resort. Bruce Besse also crafted the new 27-hole Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club in Ponce. The layout is a mosaic of 14 lakes, marshes and wide fairways with views of the ocean and mountains. The centerpiece of the facility is a 33,000-square foot clubhouse overlooking the ocean. Ray Floyd recently worked on the quartet of Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses at the Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort. He restored the classic East and West courses and restructured the Plantation and Ocean (formerly North and South), with new holes, lakes, rivers, practice facility and pavilion. If you're game for a bit of driving, you can go home with scorecards from a dozen championship courses, including a new design by favorite son Chi Chi Rodriguez called El Legado, Palmas del Mar’s two courses by Gary Player and Rees Jones, Westin Rio Mar’s two courses by Tom and George Fazio and Greg Norman, and Arthur Hills' layout at the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort.
ST KITTS-NEVIS
This tiny two-island nation in the Leeward Islands has been a magnet for celebrities and commoners since the early 90s, when Four Seasons Nevis opened. The resort's golf course, a Robert Trent Jones II design, winds through the foothills of Nevis Peak, a dormant volcano, with elevations varying as much as 400 feet. Fairways are lined with colorful plantings and trees frequented by green vervet monkeys. There are frequent panoramas of the sea.
On neighboring St. Kitts, Canadian architect Thomas McBroom crafted the new Royal St. Kitts Golf Club. Scrupulously maintained, the paspalum course is studded with 85 bunkers and a plethora of lake encounters. On the back nine, the route rises dramatically for three holes, then heads home along a beautiful coastline. Overlooking the course is a stylish clubhouse with a country club atmosphere.
TURKS & CAICOS
The islands' only 18-hole course is a fine one—the Karl Litton desert-style design at the Provo Golf Club on Providenciales. Developed by the owners of the island's water company, the course has a $600,000 irrigation system that has created a tropical sanctuary for wildlife and an interesting challenge for golfers. U.S. Virgin Islands
The resort course at the Buccaneer Resort on St. Croix occupies a pretty setting, with several elevated holes overlooking the sea. The course has undergone frequent upgrades and is conscientiously maintained. PLACES TO WATCH
Golf is booming in the islands, with new courses underway in Anguilla, the Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao, Grand Cayman, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Just when you think you've played them all, there are new venues to test and luxurious new golf resorts to complete the island golf experience. Contribution By Dale Leatherman, Editorial Director, Caribbean Escapes Luxury Travel Coffee Table Publication |
