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Golf courses of Grand Bahama
WHAT-TO-DO - FREEPORT/LUCAYA & GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND - JAN 2005
Golf courses of Grand Bahama
Redesigned by nature
This golf story started out to be about the toughest, the easiest and the most picturesque holes on the courses of Grand Bahama. That was before Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne, the ultimate golf course architects.
The courses at the Crowne Plaza, the 6,679-yd Emerald and the 6,750-yd Ruby, incurred the most damage from the big blows, and will be closed for about six months. The Crowne Plaza Golf Resort's two 18-hole, par 72, courses were originally designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee in 1964. They had recently been redesigned to the tune of $6 million, by the world-renowned Jim Fazio Group, but now have been redesigned again by nature.
"Both the Ruby and Emerald sustained damage during the the hurricanes that hit Grand Bahama Island," says Scott Coetzee, golf director for Crowne Plaza.
"During the first hit we sustained major salt water damage due to ocean surge flooding and salt water the hurricane dumped on the island.
"The golf courses looked as if a big fire swept over them. The fact that the island had more rain than salt with the second hurricane, some ten days after the first disaster, diluted the salt water on the courses and saved the Bermuda grass from dying. We are currently cleaning both courses from debris and trees that fell over. The courses lost areas of bush and other trees. Some 30 palm trees will be replaced on the Ruby," explained Coetzee.
"The Bermuda grass has come back after intensive aeration and fertilizer programmes on both courses.
The greens and tees are currently undergoing aeration and top dressing as well. The electronic parts and control boxes of the pump houses and irrigation systems on both courses have to be replaced," says Coetzee.
There was also damage to other equipment and the Ruby maintenance barn is to be replaced, adds Coetzee. Some 2,000 tons of bunker sand are needed to repair the bunkers as well.
"We plan to open in April 2005, and golfers can be assured of a great golf product after the renovation," he says.
The survivors
Elsewhere on the island the Lucayan and the Reef lost quite a few trees, according to Our Lucaya golf coordinator Micheline Poitier. "We cleaned up the Reef and it was reopened October 10. There was no major damage."
The Reef is a 6,930-yd layout, with picturesque lakes on 13 of the 18 holes that make up the course. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, in a contemporary links style, it features large, undulating greens, and wide, winding fairways. The most difficult hole is the 444-yd, par-4, 12th hole, which plays straightaway, seeming always directly into the prevailing wind. Easiest is the par-3, 14th hole at 167 yds. Most picturesque is the postcard-perfect 16th hole, viewed from the clubhouse with its white sand bunkers lining the fairway.
The Lucayan was to reopen December 17 and was expected to be in top shape for the 4th Annual Breitling Pro-Am 2005 January 19-22, with more than $70,000 in prizes.
The 6,824-yd Lucayan, designed by Dick Wilson in 1962, places a premium on accuracy. Toughest hole on the Lucayan is the 4th hole, a par-4, 431-yd stretch with a slight dogleg to the left. Easiest of the Lucayan is the 469-yd, par-5 12th hole, with its mild right dogleg. Most spectacular hole is the 18th with its picturesque and often photographed waterfall.
The wide fairways may be a little forgiving but the huge bunkers that protect the greens are not. And the large, level greens may please the eye but their speed is deceiving.
A new school of golf
The Lucayan is now home to the Jim McLean School of Golf, replacing the operation run by Butch Harmon, whose contract expired. McLean and his team of professional instructors also operate golf schools at the Doral Country Club in Miami, Weston Hills Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, schools at PGA West and La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California, and Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, in the northwest corner of Michigan's Lower Peninsula.
Small course , big players
Fortune Hills Golf Club is the centerpiece of a luxurious golf and country club community setting. The 17-acre course, built in 1971, is a
9-hole golf gem designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee. It offers challenging holes with some of the most expansive elevated greens in The Bahamas. The toughest and number one handicap hole is the par-4 3rd hole, a 400-yd layout. It is the only water hole on the nine-hole course and has the smallest green. The fairway slants right to the water and left to the bush. Easiest in the Fortune Hills layout is the par-3, 5th hole with an elevated tee sitting up some 70 ft over the 175-yd fairway. The prettiest hole is the long par-5, 4th with two sets of deep bunkers. The course boasts 43 serious bunkers.
"We were pretty badly hit [by the hurricanes]," says owner Walter Kitchen. "The second storm was worse than the first but didn't last as long. My son and I wore out two chainsaws cleaning up. We took away 220 truckloads of trees and leaves. But we were back open on October 2. We were the only club open at the time and we had all the big shots playing.
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