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Golfing in GB top courses on tap
WELCOME BAHAMAS - GRAND BAHAMA - 2006
Golfing in GB top courses on tap
Ginn project promises two new venues
New, planned and re-designed golf courses throughout The Bahamas are giving serious golfers ever more venues in which to indulge their obsession.
Here in Grand Bahama, the Ginn Development Corporation of Florida is building at least two quality courses as part of its $3.7 billion real estate development in western Grand Bahama. Advance information says they will be championship tracks, up to the standard of PGA tour courses in the United States. New courses are also included in the long-term real estate plans of DEVCO, the development arm of the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
This is good news for the Grand Bahama golfing community, which lost two courses in the 2004 hurricane season. The Ruby and the Emerald were both damaged and are still out of operation.
Nevertheless, "We still have great golf now," says Ministry of Tourism spokesman Terrence Roberts. "And with these new courses we're going to have fantastic golf in Grand Bahama.
"The new accommodations coming on line are very definitely going to be upmarket and the courses are going to be world class," Roberts says.
Until these courses are available, golfers can still enjoy the 6,800-yard Lucayan, designed by Dick Wilson in 1962, and the 6,900-yard Reef, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.
The Reef is a links-style course featuring big greens and wide, winding fairways. The Lucayan is a fun course and home to one of the Jim McLean schools of golf.
Fortune Hills Golf and Country Club is a memorable nine holer you can play twice, from the white tees and then the blues, to get in a full game. Originally designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, it features large, well-trapped and elevated greens. Also, it has the friendly ambience that comes with an active local membership.
New in the Family Islands
Well-heeled golfers are still buzzing about the Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie-designed tropical links course at the Abaco Club at Winding Bay. The Abaco Club is for members only. However, you may rent a $1,000-a-night beach cabana to test the greens. Golf writers ran out of superlatives trying todescribe this one.
Club pro Kenny Gargiulo effuses about the 18th hole, his favourite. "It's a 572-yard par-5 that plays off an elevated tee with the entire left side (of the fairway) hugging the Atlantic Ocean," says Gargiulo. "The wind is ever-present off the water and plays havoc with any lofted iron. It may be hard to concentrate on your putting when the waves come crashing into the shoreline and provide a dazzling white-water display high overhead, next to the green."
Over on New Providence, the One&Only Resort?s Ocean Club Golf Course on Paradise Island is famous for hosting the annual Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational Tournament in January. Ocean Club golf manager T J Baggett welcomes the revitalization and building of additional courses throughout the islands.
"The way things are moving, golf and tourism are being interlinked, and that's integral to accessing more of the market," says Baggett. "Golf has spiked in popularity in the last 10 years, and The Bahamas can be positioned as the choice Caribbean destination. When you can see the ocean from almost any hole" that's an attractive option for players sitting at home in the snow in January."
Two more for Nassau
In Nassau, two recent announcements have drawn international attention.
Jack Nicklaus is redesigning the Radisson Resort course at Cable Beach and Greg Norman is revamping the South Ocean Golf and Beach Resort course in western New Providence. Norman also designed the beautiful Emerald Bay course on Exuma. Joe Lee originally designed South Ocean and Norman plans to improve his already magnificent layout.
"Projects like this help in the growth of golf as well as the destination, and create a huge opportunity for The Bahamas," said Norman at a news conference.
Agatha Delancy, president of the Bahamas Golf Federation, says the current boom in golf development, such as the planned courses in Grand Bahama and New Providence, heralds in a new era for the sport in The Bahamas.
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