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Freeport golf mature at 40
WHAT-TO-DO - FREEPORT/LUCAYA & GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND - JAN 2004
Freeport golf mature at 40
And getting better
The Lucayan Golf Club, which ushered in the golfing era in Freeport and Lucaya 40 years ago, is still one of the stars in Grand Bahama's golfing firmament. It still retains much of the Dick Wilson imprint with tight dog-leg fairways and elevated greens protected by craftily placed sand traps.
The doyen of Grand Bahama courses has been continuously upgraded. Over the past few years the Lucayan has been altered with several new women's tees making a par 72 layout, the same as from the men's tees. Watering systems have been upgraded, and the Lucayan remains one of the classiest courses in the Caribbean area.
Maximize your game
It is also home to the acclaimed Butch Harmon School of Golf, where would-be pros and ambitious amateurs can hone their games with cutting edge instruction tools and experts.
Harmon, a former PGA tour competitor, is considered one of the most knowledgeable and successful golf coaches in the world. His simple and effective teaching techniques have enabled some of the best touring pros to maximize their games. He is credited with redefining Tiger Woods' swing half a dozen years ago. Mark Calcavecchia has also been among his students. The results, in both cases, have been impressive.
Harmon's school employs the most analytical methods of dissecting and restructuring a golf swing, including use of cameras to record and play back a swing motion. Computerized video cameras in his state-of-the-art instruction studio record your swing from front, back, side and overhead.
Understanding golf
The experience can be a little humbling, but is truly effective in improving your golf game.
The secret in Harmon's methods involves helping you understand your game. "Many people play golf," he observes, "but few truly understand it."
The school offers a series of golf clinics throughout the year, each one specializing on one aspect of the game - short irons, bunker shots, club selection, chipping and pitching, putting techniques and reading greens. There are corporate one-day short game schools and in-depth three-day schools for established golfers who want to fine-tune their games.
The three-day school covers all aspects of the game in detail, with special attention to the golfer's swing characteristics, ball flight control, short game techniques, course management and shot strategy. The three-day course also includes a teaching round each day at the Lucayan Club course.
The Butch Harmon Signature School package includes a three-hour golf instruction clinic with staff professionals, lunch and an afternoon round of golf at the Lucayan or The Reef course. Private instruction with staff professionals is also available.
Courses redesigned
Over at the Crowne Plaza, the Emerald and Ruby courses have been renovated extensively and virtually rebuilt by Jim Fazio and his design team. They added imaginatively placed sand traps and new watering systems. Originally designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, the courses now offer two different experiences for golfers, according to director of golf Scott Coetzee.
Fazio completely overhauled The Emerald course adding new greens and tees, making it "much tougher than The Ruby," according to Coetzee.
"Although it's about the same yardage it seems to play longer. It has more topsoil than The Ruby. The greens also are smaller and the fairways tighter. The tree line defines the fairways much more than the other course."
The Ruby has been opened up and the bunkers "catch your eye from the tees," says Coetzee. "From the front tees the course is relatively easy to play, but is a real challenge from the back tees.
"It's much more open than it was and the greens are larger."
Walter Kitchen, who has been operating the nine-hole Fortune Hills Golf and Country Club for about 30 years, has the club on the market. It was also designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee with large, well-trapped elevated greens and raised tees. It has matured into the only club on the island with an active local and transient membership of about 350 and the friendly ambience that goes with it.
Fortune Hills has enough land for another nine holes, but Kitchen, at 77, doesn't feel the inclination to develop it. He'd rather go fishing.
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