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Top Golf Resorts in the Caribbean
by Karen Misuraca, published in The Miami Herald
 Beloved for a tropical climate and
beaches caressed by warm, translucent seas, the islands of the Caribbean are world-class golfing
destinations. At the turn of this century, vintage resort courses were updated to new millennium
standards, while a liberal scattering of new golf clubs opened at luxury resorts. Sweet Pineapple and Sugarcane
On Puerto Rico's north coast, seven white beaches fringe the Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort and Country
Club. Guests get happily lost wandering 1,000 acres of rainforest among waterfalls and 200
varieties of orchids, while golfers are in nirvana. The four Robert Trent Jones, Sr., championship
golf courses were recently renovated to the tune of $3 million, with lakes, rivers, a new driving
range and hacienda-like clubhouse enhancing an already legendary golf experience.
Senior PGA star, Raymond Floyd, recently updated the Pineapple and Sugarcane courses by
adding exotic greenery and water features to the hundreds of coconut and citrus trees. The
links-style Pineapple is a challenge, with 95 bunkers, massive greens and seeming endless "runway"
tees, while the rolling, dependably breezy Sugarcane is awash with ponds, streams and
lagoons.
Most of the resort's 262 rooms were recently redecorated, and 36 oversized "Su Casa"
cottages constructed along the waterfront. Guests swim in the 1,700-foot-long freshwater River
Pool; indulge in "Yoga-ssage" and learn to windsurf and snorkel, while kids play happily at Camp
Hyatt. Laid Back Nevis
A tropical forest blankets the slopes of cloud-kissed Mount Nevis, looming above the tiny
island of Nevis in the West Indies, once a playground for 18th-century British plantation owners.
Between the velvety-green mountain and the sea, the Four Seasons Resort Nevis is
nestled among palm trees and flower gardens on golden Pinney's Beach. Two lagoon-like
infinity-edge pools are rimmed with bougainvillea, pink hibiscus, blue morning glory vines, and
mango and papaya trees. Off the half-mile crescent of beach, snorkelers and scuba divers, water
skiers, sailboaters and deep sea fishers ply the warm Caribbean. Surrounding the airy,
high-ceilinged great house, beachfront guest rooms, suites and villas are outfitted British
colonial-style with carved teak and rattan.
Lined with dense jungle vegetation, the Robert Trent Jones, Jr., golf course undulates in
narrow fairways up the shoulders of Nevis Peak—the farther up you go, the cooler, mistier,
and windier, and the more likely you will sight green vervet monkeys and bright-colored birds and
butterflies. The signature fifteenth hole, 450 feet above the sea, asks for a 240-yard carry from
the back tee across a deep ravine, while the finishing hole rockets to within twenty yards of the
ocean to a green perched above a stone wall over the foaming waves. Free golf clinics, and a
weekly scramble with club pros and resort management are highlights of a golfer's stay at the Four
Seasons.  Teeth of the Dog, Breath of
the Sea
Hewn by hand through dense jungle and along dry coral reefs on a jagged shoreline, Pete
Dye's "Teeth of the Dog" at Casa de Campo in
the Dominican Republic remains, after three decades, at the top of most "Best in the Caribbean"
lists. Seven holes are so near the sea that you feel the mist, hear the surf and contend with
steady winds, and balls bouncing off the rocks. Look for a 224-yard carry over the water on the
seventh, and blessed relief on the eighth as you tee off from a high peninsula showered with sea
spray. The twelfth asks for a 200-yard drive over the airport runway—golfers bide their time
when a jet lands (non-stop flights from Miami).
Another of the three Dye sensations here, the Links Course meanders up into green hills
through guinea grass and cactus, finishing on the coastline. The new Dye Fore layout has
spectacular views of the ocean and below, the Chavón River and the artists' village of Altos
de Chavón.
Along the calm waters of private Minitas Beach, Casa de Campo is a sprawling vacation
Shangri-la with equestrian and tennis centers, a marina and yacht club, polo, shooting and tennis,
fishing and every kind of water sport. Touring carts ferry guests from their room, suites or
villas. Kids get golf and baseball clinics, while parents check in at the new Golf Academy, headed
by LPGA pro, Patty Bucher. The Witch of Jamaica
Her fairways languidly roaming the silken-green foothills of the Blue Mountains above
Montego Bay, the White Witch Golf Course at the Ritz Carlton Golf
Resort and Spa became instantly famous when it opened in 2000. Sea views alleviate the stiff
challenge of this rocky layout as it tumbles down the mountainside, braced by fieldstone walls.
Forecaddies chase balls in the dense undergrowth and offer advice on how to manage dramatic
elevation changes and forced carries over crashing surf and wild gorges; your personal golf
concierge will arrange everything from phone calls on the green to a "White Witch Foot
Soak."
The Witch is one of a remarkable quartet of golf courses around Montego Bay, encompassing
the newly renovated Cinnamon Hall at the Wyndam Resort; and the Tryall and Half Moon Golf Clubs,
making Jamaica a world-class golf mecca.
Majestic above the beach and a shimmering swimming lagoon, with the lush backdrop of the
historic Rose Hall Plantation, the Ritz exemplifies Old World charm and personal service. Inspired
by the halcyon days of the colonial era, the main pavilion and guest wings—ivory stucco with
peach-colored roofs—recall gracious plantation homes. Interiors are vibrant with Caribbean
colors, elegant with high arches and tall limestone columns. The private beach is blissfully
quiet, with only non-motorized water sports equipment used; jet skis and wave runners fly about
off a nearby shore, out of earshot. Haven in the Bahamas
Once a private jet-set hideaway on Paradise Island, the posh One&Only Ocean Club is a
British colonial-style compound on a two-mile stretch of pearl-pink beach—some call it the
most beautiful stretch of sand in the Caribbean. Tom Weiskopf designed a languorous links-style
golf course here, a 7,123-yard beauty swept by tradewinds. Nearly surrounded by the cerulean
Atlantic and well-watered by lagoons and ponds, the sandy track mitigates unpredictable winds and
water hazards with generous fairways and five sets of tees. On the twelfth hole, panoramic vistas
of azure ocean and Nassau Harbor are your reward for carrying your tee shot over a marsh where sea
turtles and shorebirds hide.
A gracious mansion built in the 1930s presides over the resort, secluded villas and
two-story, curving wings of suites. A 12th-century stone cloister, moved here from France, is
entrancing in Versailles-style gardens. When guests can bear to leave their sumptuous enclosures,
they head for Dune at the beach, where über-chef Jean-George Vongerichten creates
French-Asian cuisine.
Ernie Els is the resident touring pro, and Michael Jordan and friends fly in for his annual
Celebrity Invitational based at the parrot-yellow clubhouse.
If You Go:
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