Grand Bahama golf explosion
WHAT-TO-DO - FREEPORT/LUCAYA & GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND - JULY 2006
Grand Bahama golf explosion
Many new courses planned
Grand Bahama has great golf right now, says Ministry of Tourism spokesman Terry Roberts, and with several new courses coming on line, "we are going to have fantastic golf in Grand Bahama."
The new developments are "very definitely going to be upmarket," says Roberts, "and the courses are going to be world class."
Two quality courses are promised by the Ginn Development Corporation of Florida, which is investing $3.7 billion into what it calls "a world class resort community" at West End, Grand Bahama. While golf will be a major attraction, there will be plenty of other things to do according to company owner and president Edward Bobby Ginn III.
There will be a fly-in private airport for pilots, a casino for gamblers and tennis complexes for the racquet set, as well as topnotch golfing venues for residents and vacationers. According to word from Ginn, the new courses will match the standards set for PGA Tour stops in the United States.
"We spent years looking around the Caribbean and The Bahamas for a place to build the kind of community we have planned here" we're very happy to be here," Ginn said in announcing the development in December 2005.
New courses are also included in the plans of DEVCO, the development and real estate arm of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. This is good news for local and visiting golfers, who lost two good courses in the 2004 hurricane season. The Ruby and The Emerald were both damaged and were still out of operation at press time. However, new owners of these properties are expected to reopen them in due time.
Until they are, golfers can still enjoy the 6,800-yard Lucayan, designed by the well-known Dick Wilson in 1962, and the 6,900 Reef, designed by the equally famous Robert Trent Jones Jr. The Lucayan is home to one of the prestigious Jim McLean schools of golf, where duffers learn how to trim strokes off their handicaps.
Also open for premium play is the Fortune Hills Golf and Country Club, a lovely nine-hole track that you can play twice to get in a full game - adding variety by playing once from the white tees and then from the blues. Here, you'll enjoy the large, well-trapped and elevated greens, which are among the largest in The Bahamas.
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