Between the perfect half-moon beaches and the romantic star-filled night skies, it used to be easy to overlook the many worthy golf courses clinging to the volcanic islands of the Caribbean.
But Caribbean golf can no longer be ignored. In the past decade, high-end resorts have descended on these isles with the swiftness and certainty of a category-five hurricane, as Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons and assorted billionaires have erected five-star shrines to luxury. And flanking each property is at least one superb course from the likes of Fazio, Weiskopf, Dye or Norman. Spectacular new layouts such as the Green Monkey in Barbados and the White Witch in Jamaica are giving the local-golf standard, Casa de Campo's Teeth of the Dog, a run for its money. That resort, not one to sleep or lie down, responded with a $100 million makeover and a brand-new links of its own, called Dye Fore.
Simply put, Caribbean golf has been transformed from decent to utterly decadent. Butler service in the rooms, concierge service on the courses and (most astonishing of all) quality dining in the restaurants is now, at these properties, par for the course.
South African entrepreneur Sol Kerzner, who created the megalithic Atlantis resort and casino on Paradise Island, does nothing halfway, and his new superluxurious Ocean Club is a sparkling case in point. The $100 million that he lavished on this gem two years ago resulted in a new level of luxury that the highest of high rollers will appreciate.
GOLF
OCEAN CLUB GOLF COURSE, The Ocean Club, Paradise Island, Nassau; 800-321-3000. Yardage: 7,159. Par: 72. Slope: 140. Architect: Tom Weiskopf, 2001. Greens Fees: $185-$245. T&L Golf Rating: ****
When time came to renovate the Paradise Island Golf Club, a somewhat exhausted 1960s track, Kerzner wiped the canvas clean and started over. Bulldozers came in and removed all eighteen holes, and Tom Weiskopf was brought in to design a brand-new golf course.
Excellent idea. The new layout is easily one of the top five in the Caribbean—even if purists will sniff that the Bahamas are in the Atlantic Ocean, not the Caribbean Sea. Whatever body of water it is, there's a view of it on almost every hole. And Weiskopf's routing—two opposing loops—also means the wind is different on every hole. A trifling matter? Not when you're lofting an approach over an inlet to reach the fourth or trying to avoid the pink-sand beach to the left of sixteen and seventeen.
For a beachside course, the Ocean Club has a surprising variety of uphill and downhill terrain. The greens are as wavy as the nearby sea, and the scattered freshwater lakes add even more drama. It's no wonder Kerzner himself bought an oceanfront lot. So did Ernie Els. Michael Jordan, who stages his celebrity invitational here, bought two.
ALSO PLAY: Nestled away on Grand Bahama Island, Dick Wilson's tree-lined Lucayan Course ($65-$120, 242-373-1066) isn't overly long, but his trademark elevated greens make for a shot-maker's delight. Thanks to a sleek makeover by Jim Fazio, the Ruby Course ($65-$90; 242-350-7005) in Grand Bahama has been reborn. Its fairway bunkers are now pristine—and so steep-lipped you'll want to admire them only from afar.
ACCOMMODATIONS
THE OCEAN CLUB, Paradise Island; 800-321-3000. Rooms: $450- $975. Suites: $750-$1,750. Cottages: $900-$1,390.
The antidote to the Atlantis resort, this intimate (106 rooms) hotel oozes class and personal service. Rooms are sublime: furnished in mahogany and teak, with strawberries and champagne delivered every afternoon. The Ocean Club (or, as the marketing folks would prefer you call it, the "One&Only Ocean Club") also offers an excellent choice of restaurants, a Balinese spa and a pool nestled in a garden "inspired by Versailles."
DINING
COMPASS POINT (Caribbean), south of Nassau; 242-327-4500. $$$
Owned by Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records, this delightful inn is downright jazzy and painted in fanciful Caribbean colors. Its fare is mostly light and features nifty selections such as agnolotti filled with conch, and mango and cucumbers served with wasabi and pickled ginger.
DUNE (French/Asian), The Ocean Club; 242-363-2501. $$$$
Kerzner gets what Kerzner wants, and in 2000 he wanted Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the legendary New York chef, to open a truly haute cuisine eatery in his Ocean Club. What he got was an elegant beachfront restaurant with a menu featuring a mélange of Jean-Georges's acclaimed dishes—such as lobster daikon roll with rosemary-ginger dip—infused with distinctly Bahamian herbs. It's not to be missed.
GRAYCLIFF (Continental), Nassau; 242-322-2796. $$$$
This 250-year-old mansion was reportedly once a hangout for pirates. Nowadays, the clientele is more likely to run to visiting celebrities and politicians. Some come to see and be seen, but most opt for the succulent food, such as Bahamian deep sea spiny lobster morsels or grilled hand-cut lamb chops with smoked bacon.
It may not offer quite the variety of, say, Myrtle Beach, with its more than one hundred courses, but Jamaica has long been a favorite winter destination of discriminating golfers drawn to its fine collection of eighteen-holers. The opening of Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall and its spellbinding White Witch course has only added to the island's lustre.
GOLF
THE WHITE WITCH, Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall, St. James; 876-518-0174. Yardage: 6,748. Par: 71. Slope: 139. Architects: Robert von Hagge and Rick Baril, 2000. Greens Fee: $159. T&L Golf Rating: ****1/2
Despite Jamaica's notable golf riches, the new White Witch is clearly the best of the bunch. Named for Annie Palmer, the enchanting mistress of the adjacent Rose Hall Plantation who was reputed to have eliminated three of her husbands before she herself was done in by her lover, the course certainly casts a spell as it spills up and down the hills high above the sea. Many holes demand long and scary carries over chasms filled with rocks, thick vegetation and dark places where the wild things live. Outcroppings of limestone thrust out of the fairways to create visual, if not actual, hazards. Two of the par-three holes feature stomach-dropping shots from elevated tees to water-fronted greens far below.
It's all a bewitching experience, made more fun by the services of the "golf concierges" assigned to every group. These young, white-coveralled Jamaicans help with club selection, point out trouble, recover errant shots, clean balls and clubs, and run, run, run between shots. They are exhausting to watch, but an asset to the golf experience.
ALSO PLAY: You can no longer see local Johnny Cash roaming the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort & Country Club's refurbished Cinnamon Hill Ocean Course ($80-$125; 876-953-2650), but you'll still have to walk the line to avoid the chasms of this Robert von Hagge and Rick Baril layout. Perennial favorite Half Moon Golf Club ($130; 876-953-2211) is a long stroll courtesy of Robert Trent Jones Sr.; and, just down the road, the Tryall Club ($40-$115; 876-956-5681) has completed a thorough renovation, restoring this famed oceanfront gem to the shape it deserves.
ACCOMMODATIONS
RITZ-CARLTON ROSE HALL, St. James; 876-953-2800. Rooms: $195- $695. Suites: $325-$850.
There is no denying the creature comforts and white-glove-friendly Ritz service at this new resort hotel. It boasts a wonderful Jamaican-Asian fusion restaurant, a terrific spa (the his-and-hers sugarcane rubdown has been known to halt divorce actions) and frequent shuttles up the hill to the golf club (which might get them started up again).
Pete Dye helped put Caribbean golf on the map with his legendary course at this beloved resort. The resort has been splendidly upgraded, and Dye's Dog still barks every bit as loudly—but now there's a new creature to tame as well. At almost 7,800 yards, Dye Fore is a sizable beast. That's only fitting for an island that now boasts twenty-one courses . . . and counting.
GOLF
TEETH OF THE DOG, Casa de Campo, La Romana; 800-877-3643. Yardage: 6,888. Par: 72. Slope: 140. Architect: Pete Dye, 1971. Greens Fee: $175. T&L Golf Rating: *****
Pete Dye's seaside classic, Teeth of the Dog, has been the top puppy in the Caribbean since it opened in 1971. Named fittingly for a local rock that digs painfully into skin, this course has all the master's familiar elements: visual intimidation, huge waste bunkers, an "island" green (the 180-yard thirteenth, surrounded by sand instead of water) and seven holes running alongside the sparkling blue Caribbean. A stretch of three holes on the back nine—fifteen, sixteen and seventeen—is aptly named "Reload Alley." Still, like most Dye designs, this one has more bark than bite.
Those oceanfront holes, alas, are the first to take a beating whenever a hurricane churns its way over the Dominican Republic. But they're also the holes that give Teeth of the Dog its notoriety, with those knee-knocking, all-or-nothing shots across sand and water, the ball buffeted by the gusty ocean winds, sparkling in the tropical sun as it heads for the tiny green targets. Even if one must reload frequently, it's a pleasure to pull the trigger a second time.
DYE FORE, Casa de Campo, La Romana; 800-877-3643. Yardage: 7,770. Par: 72. Slope: 134. Architect: Pete Dye, 2003. Greens Fee: $175. T&L Golf Rating: ****1/2
Dye also designed Casa de Campo's sporty Links course, open to resort guests, and the private La Romana Country Club course. But the big news this past April was the debut of Dye Fore, a 7,770-yard monster that stomps along the three-hundred-foot-deep gorge of the Chavon River and past Altos de Chavon, a Mediterranean-village-style collection of cafes, restaurants and shops.
With a slew of forced carries over yawning chasms and fairways that tilt toward the river gorge, Dye Fore is essentially a bad influence on your golf game: It beckons you to do something very wrong with the golf ball. But its spacious fairways (and a saner length of 6,420 from the middle tees) make doing the right thing much easier than it seems. Keep your eye from wandering to the trouble all around—and keep your ball in the fairway—and every hole offers the opportunity for a run-up to the green with your approach shot.
With time to mature, Dye Fore may one day challenge Teeth of the Dog for alpha-course superiority in the Dominican Republic. On top of all that, the layout's tees and fairways have been planted with paspalum, a new strain of grass that actually thrives in saltwater irrigation. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
ALSO PLAY: A lot of ink has been spilled over the mammoth tourist factory under development in the Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic's scenic eastern coast. But while Punta Cana may have all the glamour, the unheralded Playa Grande ($60-$90; 809-582-1170) deserves it own acclaim. Robert Trent Jones Sr. recognized this as an unusually striking site for golf, playing along an open bluff on a series of small bays and inlets high above the crashing north-coast Atlantic waves. The course is a brute of 7,042 yards from the tips, and the wind is often swirling madly, driven by the pounding surf on one side and bouncing off the hills on the other. With twelve holes on the oceanfront, the setting evokes California's Monterey Peninsula—only without all the fog.
A 7,156-yard Gary Player signature course, Guavaberry Golf & Country Club ($89; 809-333-4653) opened in 2002. A big, gently sloping track, it features one of the more challenging finishing holes in the Caribbean, a 466-yard par four with a green tucked behind an enormous bed of coral rocks that runs along the entire right side of the fairway.
ACCOMMODATIONS
CASA DE CAMPO, La Romana; 800-877-3643. Rooms: $183- $379. Suites: $312-$580. Villas: $521-$1,271.
Visitors returning for the first time since the 1998 hurricane will be amazed by the resort's makeover. Every room has been remodeled, a tropical spa and world-class marina have been added, and a new international airport has opened just ten minutes away. Besides the golf, there's tennis, skeet shooting, horseback riding, a watersports beach area and nine restaurants. Shopping and dining at the nearby Altos de Chavon district add to the resort's plethora of options.
If the so-called Platinum Coast of St. James Parish on the island of Barbados is the Caribbean's new "in" place—and it is—then the totally revamped Sandy Lane resort is its over-the-top jewel. Between the wide- screen plasma TV in your room and the parabolic stereo speakers on your veranda, you might have a hard time pulling yourself onto Sandy Lane's two world-class Tom Fazio courses. But probably not.
GOLF
COUNTRY CLUB COURSE, Sandy Lane, St. James; 246-444-2500. Yardage: 7,060. Par: 72. Slope: 132. Architect: Tom Fazio, 2001. Greens Fees: $105-$200. T&L Golf Rating: ***1/2
One has long ago lost count of the millions spent by the new Irish owners of this once-staid old hotel. They bought it, razed it, glitzed it up and brought in Tom Fazio to do the same to its golf course.
Only Fazio had even grander plans in mind. The old course had nine holes near the hotel and nine newer holes a mile or so upland. Fazio took the upper site, tore it up, and built an all-new eighteen. And while there are plenty of monkeys on the Country Club course—we saw one scamper across the third tee—there's no monkey business in Fazio's surprisingly mature design. Flowering trees overhang the greens, but most of the trouble is avoidable. The course even assigns a forecaddie to keep things moving, and our man, Winston, gave my wife a playing lesson. She liked it as much as I liked watching the monkeys.
THE GREEN MONKEY, Sandy Lane, St. James; 866-444-4080. Yardage: 7,341. Par: 72. Slope: 132. Architect: Tom Fazio, 2003. Greens Fees: n/a. T&L Golf Rating: ***** (potentially)
Speaking of monkeys, Fazio wasn't done with Sandy Lane; after the Country Club, he went up and hacked eighteen more holes out of an old quarry. But these are not any old holes. Just up the hill from the hotel, this course promises to be truly unlike anything else in golf.
The Green Monkey features Fazio's typical muscular, wide-open tee shots and challenging green complexes; what sets it apart are the jaw-dropping coral cliffs running throughout. Playing along and over quarry walls that soar up to ninety feet high, with every shot commanding a glorious Caribbean view, is an experience you won't soon forget. The course is scheduled to open this December—then again, it has been "scheduled" to open for months—but once this monkey is up and running, it should set a new standard in the region for tough and thrilling golf.
ALSO PLAY: While it's battling the Monkey for props, the refurbished Royal Westmoreland Golf Club ($100-$190; 246-422-4653) is a superb hillside Robert Trent Jones Jr. track with sea views on nearly every hole.
ACCOMMODATIONS
SANDY LANE, St. James; 866-444-4080. Rooms: $800-$1,800. Suites: $1,000-$4,000. Villa: $10,000-$15,000.
Extremely chic, this marble and coral palace caters to those seeking a sybaritic treat. There's a stunning private beach, a 47,000-square-foot spa and ever-prescient service. There's even a five-bedroom, 7,300-square-foot villa for those for whom price is not an object—but a dare.
DINING
CARAMBOLA (Caribbean), St. James Parish; 246-432-0832. $$$$
The romance factor is sky-high on Carambola's multilevel terraces, on the cliffs on Barbados's quiet west coast. Barbadian Robin Walcott's kitchen favors local seafood, such as the pan-seared flying fish with curried coleslaw drizzled with lemon-infused oil. It's a fine place to linger.
VILLA NOVA (Continental), St. John Parish; 246-433-1524. $$$$
Once a plantation home, Villa Nova has been transformed into a sublime, twenty-seven-suite boutique hotel. Here chef Renee Griffith uses local organic ingredients to offer crispy duck watercress salad, Thai red curry chicken and the Brits' favored bread-and-butter pudding.
This lovely beachfront resort was rebuilt after a visit from hurricane Lenny in 1999. The course, too, has been beautifully restored and is once again one of the Caribbean's finest. All of which you'll truly appreciate as you receive a complimentary spritz and scented towel after your post-round dip in the resort's stunning infinity-edge pool.
GOLF
ROBERT TRENT JONES II GOLF COURSE, Charlestown; 869-469-1111. Yardage: 6,776. Par: 71. Slope: 132. Architect: Robert Trent Jones Jr., 1991. Greens Fee: $175. T&L Golf Rating: ****
You get the feeling you're not in Kansas, Toto, even on the practice range of this course. The targets are not flags or fake greens, but towering coconut palms—dozens of them—pockmarked but unbowed.
The rest of the golf here is similarly Oz-like, as the emerald fairways climb slowly up the side of Nevis Peak, the 3,232-foot mountain whose summit seems constantly shrouded in clouds. On the layout's inexorable upward climb to these clouds, golfers encounter vervet monkeys, dwarf goats grazing in the rough and sometimes small children offering used golf balls for sale. Finally, on the par-five fifteenth tee, it all turns downhill for good. For those feeling lionhearted, the back tee on the 663-yard hole calls for a downhill carry of some 200 yards over a deep, stream-filled crevasse. The course used to pass out certificates of achievement for those who dared and made the shot.
Hurricanes have been known to hurl houses around on Nevis. But after this round's thrill ride, you'd be forgiven for clicking your FootJoys together and chanting, "I don't wanna go home, I don't wanna go home."
ACCOMMODATIONS
FOUR SEASONS NEVIS, Pinney's Beach, Charlestown; 869-469-1111. Rooms: $340-$835. Suites: $550-$1,445. Villas: $850-$1,600.
In the newest iteration of this restored resort, it's hard to pick between an oceanfront room overlooking Pinney's Beach or one of the cathedral-ceilinged golf villas. It doesn't matter: The excellent service, three fine restaurants and lovely pool-and-beach complex are the same for all guests.
DINING
MISS JUNE'S CUISINE (Caribbean), Jones Bay; 869-469-5330. $$$
Three or four nights a week during the season (once a week in the off-season), Miss June Mestier cooks a five-course dinner for the no more than sixty guests who pay to eat family-style in her large dining room. The menu varies by what's fresh and available, but as great a delight as her West Indian cooking is meeting the other guests at Miss June's party. It's such a good time that Miss June has been known to go to bed and ask the last revelers to turn out the lights when they leave.
With more than twenty courses, Puerto Rico boasts one of the largest collections of golf in the Caribbean, and almost as many fine resorts to match. But this vote for the best on the island goes to the Westin Rio Mar and Greg Norman's River course. Laid out in the shadow of the El Yunque rain forest, it's stunningly beautiful, hard yet fair and—with a resort that boasts the island's most extensive array of water activities—offers several exceptional ways to cool your heels after the last hole.
GOLF
RIVER COURSE, Westin Rio Mar, Rio Grande; 800-474-6627. Yardage: 6,945. Par: 72. Slope: 135. Architect: Greg Norman, 1996. Greens Fees: $100-$160. T&L Golf Rating: ***1/2
Say this about the River course: It is nothing if not a healthy challenge. Fairways crisscross the Mameyes River as it flows out of the rain forest. Cloud-draped mountains form the course's backdrop, while the nearby ocean provides steady breezes. Marshy wetlands encroach on many holes, and Norman asks for forced carries on several tees. But even with all the marshes, rivers, creeks and lakes, it's not a two-dozen-ball kind of course—unless, of course, you're having one of those days.
Rio Mar also offers the Ocean course, an uncle-nephew collaboration by George and Tom Fazio. Several shots easier than Norman's track, the Ocean is noted for its sixteenth hole, a spectacular seaside 238-yard par three. It's also noted for the scary-looking but harmless iguanas—some as long as five feet—that frequent the lagoons and, at times, even crawl around the fairways.
ALSO PLAY: The Hyatt Dorado Beach complex, where Chi Chi Rodriguez mastered the game, offers four mainstay Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses, the Dorado Beach East & West and the former Cerromar North & South ($85-$155; 787-796-1234). Palmas del Mar Country Club, on the island's southeast coast, features two sensational tracks: the 1973 Gary Player-designed Palm ($95-$170; 787-285-2256), which hosted the 1995 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf, and Rees Jones's sporty Flamboyan ($95-$170; 787-285-2256), which debuted in 1998. Both courses offer gorgeous views of sea and island, but the Flamboyan is the more restless, circling a lake, crossing the Candelero River, buzzing the coast, then climbing the hills high above the ocean. Arthur Hills's hilly El Conquistador ($110-$165; 787-863-1000) at Wyndham El Conquistador Resort & Golden Door Spa is a lot of fun; equally fun are the fabulous hotel, casino and spa that surround it.
ACCOMMODATIONS
WESTIN RIO MAR, Rio Grande; 800-474-6627. Rooms: $399- $795. Suites: $600-$3,950
This splendid six-hundred-room hotel has all the modern bells and whistles: beach, pools, spa, meeting facilities and excellent restaurants. And with many rooms overlooking the North Shore beach and its heavy surf, the view is hard to beat. But our favorite amenity is the adjacent Caribbean National Rainforest of El Yunque. No need to bring your "realistic" natural-sounds sleep machine. Just open up the window.
DINING
DRAGONFLY (Caribbean), Old San Juan; 787-977-3886. $$$
Puerto Rican cuisine, once mostly heavy dishes of beef, onions and garlic, is reborn at this trendy spot in Old San Juan as criollo, with root vegetables, delicate spices and sundry unusual flavors. Fried green plantains, an island staple, are dressed up with sour cream and caviar. An Asian marinated churasco is served with "dragonfries" dusted with cinnamon and ginger. Call it what you want, it's just plain tasty.
One of the most picture-postcard-perfect half-moon bays in all the Caribbean also boasts an exquisite resort and a wonderfully tricky, windswept golf course across the road. It's all very worthy of framing—even if your scorecard isn't.
GOLF
PROVO GOLF CLUB, Providenciales; 649-946-5991. Yardage: 6,641. Par: 72. Slope: 136. Architect: Karl Litten, 1992. Greens Fee: $130. T&L Golf Rating: ***1/2
One way to get around the perennial problem of finding and paying for enough water to keep a Caribbean golf course green is to have the local water company own it. It's worked quite well at the Provo Golf Club.
Architect Karl Litten helped by designing a desertlike target course, with smallish islands of greenery tucked within a Xeriscape of crushed coral and limestone. There are twelve acres of water hazards as well, providing a home to grateful flocks of pink flamingos, white herons and several species of ducks. The course is just 6,641 yards from the tips, but with all those tiny little targets awash in a sea of crushed rock—not to mention the water that lurks on almost every hole, the frequent doglegs and the fact that the flat, largely treeless island is open to the wind blasting off the sea—scoring is always a heady challenge.
The par-five sixteenth is typical of the trouble at Provo. A snippet of fairway is bordered by rough and waste bunkers, which meet in the middle for another hundred yards. Depending on the wind and your tee shot, you can go for the green or settle for a layup to a napkin-size fairway and try to avoid dumping a wedge into the bunkers surrounding the green. It's no wonder most golfers stagger into the Fairways Bar & Grill after a round and tote up their score in disbelief. At least the wind is cool on the second-floor porch. And the water is free.
ACCOMMODATIONS
GRACE BAY CLUB, Providenciales; 800-946-5757. One-Bedroom Suites: $395-$1,195. Two-Bedroom Suites: $755-$1,495.
Just twenty-one Spanish hacienda-style suites perch on Grace Bay's beach. The colors in the ultraclear water are mesmerizing, the half-moon arc of sand is perfect, and the sun seems never-ending. With exquisite service, fine dining and lavish rooms located just across the road from the course, the Grace Bay Club is much like we picture heaven.
DINING
COYABA (Caribbean/Asian), Grace Bay (at the Coral Gardens Resort); 649-946-5186. $$$
Chef Paul Newman (no, not that one) alters the menu daily at this well-known eatery, according to the season, the daily catch and his own whims. His Asian, European and West Indian influences meld into unique dishes. But his version of the local conch chowder—with local seafood, aged rum, nuclear Scotch bonnet peppers, curry, coconut milk, cream and sweet potato—will have you licking the bowl.
The golf course building boom in the Caribbean has been going on for some years now—because building anything in the Caribbean takes a while. But the result is an array of interesting new courses in a few unlikely but scenic spots.
As new as it gets—scheduled to open this month—the Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma at Emerald Bay ($175; 242-336-6800) is perhaps the Caribbean's most anticipated new resort course. This 6,880-yard Greg Norman signature sensation meanders its way around sand dunes and mangrove preserves, closing with a 603-yard par-five test of will that calls for two gutsy water carries to a green perched upon a rocky outcrop.
While not truly new (it opened in 2000), the course at the 15,000-acre Punta Cana Resort & Club ($69-$88; 809-959-2262) features a fun layout by P. B. Dye. He even stole from his father's book of visual creativity, with nests of pot bunkers (twenty-one alone in front of the seventh green), lurking waste areas and other trickery.
Debuting in 2001 on the Dutch island of Curaçao, the sporty Blue Bay Curaçao Golf & Beach Resort course ($60-$95; 011-59-99-868-1755), designed by Rocky Rocquemore, is a traditional Caribbean course, with some elevation, some tropical vegetation and a few holes built along the coral cliffs above the sea.
The tiny island of Tobago has always been known more for its bird watching than for its golf. Or at least it was until last year, when the new Tobago Plantations Beach & Golf Resort ($78; 868-631-0875) opened the first eighteen of a planned twenty-seven-hole complex designed by Bob Hunt and Marcus Blackburn. This strong Florida-like layout is mostly flat, but boasts plenty of water, sand and, yes, palm trees.
