Each hole at Treasure Cay Golf Club is framed by mature tropical growth with a number of gorgeous specimen trees adding further definition. Sadly, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in September 2019 with Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco taking a direct hit...
Each hole at Treasure Cay Golf Club is framed by mature tropical growth with a number of gorgeous specimen trees adding further definition. Sadly, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in September 2019 with Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco taking a direct hit...
Treasure Cay – pronounced key – is located less than 200 miles to the east of Florida on the beautiful Bahamian island of Abaco. Treasure Cay Resort Hotel & Marina is at the integral heart of the quaint village of Treasure Cay with its own shops, post office and even police station. The resort is quite beautiful, but also very much down to earth where the locals drop in for lunch at the Coco Beach Bar, which is set directly on the glorious 3½-mile powdery white sandy bay.
The late American architect, Dick Wilson, who sadly died before its completion, designed the course at Treasure Cay. Wilson’s assistant, Joe Lee, who is now also a well-regarded golf course architect, finished it in 1968. The course measures a respectable 6,985 yards from the tips and it’s a challenging layout, especially when the ocean breezes freshen. The layout is tight and the bunkering relatively light but strategically considered. The outward nine runs parallel to the ocean and it’s here that you need to make your score because the back nine is tighter - with a couple of ponds in play - requiring precision and caution.
You can taste the salty sea air from the lush Treasure Cay fairways and, even though the ocean is only a couple of hundred yards away, you won’t catch a glimpse of it from the course. Instead each hole is framed by mature tropical growth with a number of gorgeous specimen trees adding further definition.
Despite its full-length 18-hole challenge, you will find the course at Treasure Cay quiet and uncrowded with sub three-hour rounds the norm. In 1999 Golf Digest had Treasure Cay flying high as the No.1 course in the Bahamas but, since then, a number of multi-million dollar Bahamian investments have pushed Treasure Cay out of the limelight. With a future cash injection, Treasure Cay could once again become one of the premier courses in the Bahamas.
Sadly, the eye of Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the Abaco Islands in September 2019 with Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco taking a direct hit from sustained 185 mph winds. The club, course and most properties in the vicinity suffered devastating damage. The rebuilding process continues.
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
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New York, United States
New York, United States
Top 50 Golf Courses of the Caribbean & Atlantic Islands 2020 Welcome to the latest edition of our ranking chart for the Caribbean and Atlantic Islands. It’s a vast area of more than a million square miles, where most of the land mass lies to the southeast of the United States and northwest of South America. Consisting of many hundreds of islands, cays and reefs that have all come under colonial rule by a variety of European countries down the centuries, the Caribbean and Atlantic Islands occupy a precarious geographical location which often suffers the devastating consequences of tropical hurricanes ripping through the region. Indeed, we’ve temporarily lost Baker’s Bay at Great Guana Cay in the Abacos after it suffered serious damage when Hurricane Dorian swept through the Bahamas last September. Other places, like The Abaco Club in Great Abaco Island, are just re-opening after narrowly escaping the full wrath of the storm. Apes Hill in Barbados also drops out of the Caribbean Top 50 as it undergoes a major renovation under a new owner. For the statistically minded, 11 courses stay in the same place, 17 move up the table, 19 drop down and three drop out, replaced by another three debutants. The top four courses retain the same rung on the ladder from when we last revised our Caribbean Top 50, so Pete Dye’s iconic Teeth of the Dog course at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic is still our #1 layout. Our International Correspondent David Davis reviewed the course recently and had this to say about it: Casa de Campo - Teeth of the Dog “If Dye is great at one thing it’s instilling terror in the hearts of amateur golfers and Teeth of the Dog is well known to be a tough but fair test… Dye often takes one side completely out of play and basically challenges the player not to go left or right... Teeth of the Dog has been famous ever since it was built and has always enjoyed a solid position in the World Top 100… It’s Pete Dye’s favorite of his designs and, having played all of his best-ranked courses, I would have to agree with that.” Three courses climb six places in our new standings. The Robert Trent Jones Junior-designed course at Bahia Beach Resort & Golf Club (up to #21) is a 2008 production that overlays the site of the former Bahia Beach Plantation course. Situated inside a large maritime forest on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, with fairways working their way round eighty acres of saltwater lagoons, the course comes to a thrilling conclusion with the final three holes played out along the Atlantic coast. Bahia Beach Casa de Campo has three 18-hole courses that are open to the public – Teeth of the Dog, Dye Fore and The Links – but it’s the Pete Dye-designed La Romana Country Club course that advances to #28 in our new listings. You’ll not find this layout listed on the resort’s website as it’s a private track where guest players must be accompanied by a member. Initially established with eighteen holes in 1990, the club has since added another nine. The course at the Blue Bay Golf & Beach Resort near Sint Michiel in Curaçao (up to #41) is an early 1990s design that winds its way through an expansive 300-acre residential estate on the south side of the island. Dave Elliott of Caribbean Golf Getaways posted a course review a couple of months ago and this was his verdict on his playing experience: Blue Bay “Located just northwest of downtown Willemstad the capital city, the course plays along the Caribbean Sea... Designed by William ‘Rocky’ Roquemore, he took advantage of the steep elevation to create challenging holes… The pace at the course is quick [so] you won’t be playing a 4 or 5-hour round [and] holes 4, 5, 17 and 18 offer incredible views as they run toward, along, or over the ocean.” There are three new entries in our revised chart. The first of these is the Royal Blue course at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau (new at #5) which debuted in 2017. The first Jack Nicklaus Signature course to open in the Bahamas, the Royal Blue layout partially occupies the site of the old Cable Beach Golf Club, with water and sandy waste areas coming into play at many of the holes on the outward half before the back nine then transitions into more elevated terrain. Royal Blue - Baha Mar Managed by experienced OB Sports staff, the course enjoys a "freeform" teeing policy, where tee markers are adjusted every day to create the right mix of shorter and longer holes, depending on a number of factors. The club also operates a "better than your own clubs" rental program, offering latest equipment from all the top brands, so there’s no need to worry about transporting your own sticks if you plan to tee it up here. Our second new entry arrives at #31 and it’s the course at Iberostar Bávaro Golf Club in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where P. B. Dye fashioned this resort track early in the new millennium, at a time when he was involved in several projects on the island. A fair amount of soil was shifted to create contouring on a rather flat landscape which now incorporates water features in the shape of lakes, streams and an attractive cascade. Iberostar Bávaro The third newcomer is the Palm course at Palmas Athletic Club (new at #34), a 36-hole facility located within the Palmas del Mar resort in the southeast corner of Puerto Rico. Originally laid out by Gary Player and Ron Kirby in the early 1970s, the Palm course was subsequently remodelled by Rees Jones when he created the Flamboyán course for the club in the late 1990s. Palmas Athletic Club For those of a certain age who can remember the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf television series, one of the matches recorded during the 1995 season was played on the Palm course between local hero Chi Chi Rodriguez and Texan-born Lee Trevino. Looking to the future, the two Tom Fazio ongoing projects at Christophe Harbour in St Kitts and Williams Cay in the Bahamas seem to be progressing at glacial pace, and the same can be said of Tom Doak’s Tropicalia course at Miches in the Dominican Republic. Instead, the next layout to make a chart impact might well be the much-anticipated Coore & Crenshaw course at Cabot Point in St. Lucia (mooted to open in 2021), where Ben Cowan-Dewar is extending his Canadian Cabot golf model into the tropics. Cabot Point St Lucia Rank/ To view the complete detailed list of the Top 50 Golf Courses of the Caribbean and Atlantic Islands click the link. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses
Caribbean Islands Top 50 Golf Courses 2012 Top 50 Golf Courses of the Caribbean Islands assembled for the first time The Top 100 website has featured the best golf courses across hundreds of countries and regions for years, but we have never before assembled the best golf courses of the tropical Caribbean Islands. There are many countries that enjoy a Caribbean coastline such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela but we decided to omit these from our list because they are not Caribbean Islands. We also left out the North Atlantic islands of Bermuda but included the Lucayan Archipelago of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos in our collection, even though they are geographically in the Atlantic. The crescent-shaped Caribbean Islands stretch for more than 1,700 miles from Florida to Venezuela and for many golf course aficionados, these tropical islands slot neatly in the mould of family holiday destination with a little golf rather than a pure, out-and-out golfing vacation. For many years, the main Caribbean island golf course attraction was Pete Dye’s Teeth of the Dog in the Dominican Republic but in the last ten years or so, things have changed, and the reason is largely down to the grass. First of all let’s not get our grasses confused. We’re not talking about the Jamaican variety, we’re referring to the tough-as-nails hybrid called Paspalum. The pros and cons of Paspalum versus bermudagrass or bentgrass are for the agronomy debate but, essentially, Paspalum copes miraculously in the Caribbean’s hot sunshine and salty conditions. It’s the enabler for high quality golf courses to be built in challenging climates. We first experienced tee to green Paspalum at the fantastic Abaco Club on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas in 2006. Billed a tropical links, which we thought would surely be a misnomer, the Abaco Club is impressive and it’s a beguiling Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie creation that deserves close inspection. The Jack Nicklaus Punta Espada course at the Cap Cana resort is another Paspalum success story and, coupled with the Tom Fazio-designed Corales, which opened in Aril 2010, there are now two further world-class layouts within the Dominican Republic’s burgeoning portfolio. Factor in the four courses at Casa de Campo, throw in the Faldo Legacy course at Roco Ki Golf Club along with the Robert Trent Jones-designed Playa Grande and you’ve got one a stunning collection of golf courses that are real jewels in the Caribbean’s crown. However, the Dominican Republic is not the only strong Caribbean golfing island. Barbados has three courses in the Caribbean Top 10 and there’s little to choose between RTJ II’s Royal Westmoreland and Tom Fazio’s creations at Sandy Lane. Many golfers think the Green Monkey is the best Barbadian course but you’ll have to stay at the resort in order to find out for yourself. Puerto Rico is often billed as “the golf capital of the Caribbean” but despite its relatively large size, the island’s courses are not as well regarded as one might imagine. Some commentators reckon that golf in Puerto Rico consisted of too many bland resort courses but Donald Trump has now left his mark with two courses at his ubiquitously named Trump International Golf Club. One Puerto Rican course to watch was created by tennis star Charlie Pasarell, his brother Stanley, their business partner and David Pfaff – a former associate of Pete Dye. It’s called Royal Isabela and it’s routed along the Atlantic facing cliff tops of the island’s northern coastline. Hats off to Paspalum! That clever little hybrid has helped to create some cracking new tropical golf courses. Click the hyperlink to see our all-new list of the Top 50 Golf Courses of the Caribbean Islands. Alternatively scroll down to see the 2012 list. The Top 100 Team
PGA exports its Village to Bahamas 18th August 2008 The PGA of America has entered a licensing agreement to establish a PGA Village on Cat Island in the Bahamas – its first outside of the United States. The PGA-licensed property will be owned by Cat Island Partners Ltd., which is spearheading development of Cat Island Golf & Beach Resort. The PGA Village project will feature a Rees Jones designed course, which will be included in Phase 1 construction that is expected to last three years. The Bahamas project marks the third PGA Village; the others are the original PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and the newly opened PGA Village at Coyote Springs in Las Vegas. “The PGA Village in the Bahamas is an example of the global growth of golf and will be a premiere destination for PGA professionals and the golfing public,” said PGA of America President Brian Whitcomb. “We are excited about the impact it will have on the Bahamas as a tourist destination as well as the employment and golf opportunities it will create for the Island.” The master-planned resort community will feature the PGA Golf Club The Bahamas, a 36 hole facility, a PGA Learning Center and a PGA Historical Center. In addition, the community includes a luxury hotel, casino and various residential units. From: Golfweek
