Renewed enthusiasm : Grand golf awaits in Bahamas

Golf Digest, March, 2001 by Craig Bestrom

Until recently, golf was more of an afterthought than a selling point for the sun-soaked resorts on Grand Bahama.

But led by the new Our Lucaya Reef Course, where Senior PGA Tour stars Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Ray Floyd and Doug Tewell competed in the Senior Slam last December, Grand Bahama and the town of Freeport have started a golf renaissance.

The Reef Course is part of the new Our Lucaya resort. When completed, it will have 1,350 hotel rooms and suites, 14 restaurants and bars and three unusually shaped swimming pools that snake their way around the property.

The golf, however, is the focal point.

The Reef Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., features water on 13 holes. Some on the island are disappointed that the Reef, a redesign of the Bahama Reef course, has fewer trees and is much more susceptible to wind. Less than a mile away is the friendly Lucayan Golf and Country Club course that introduced the game to this island in 1963. Designed by Dick Wilson, Lucayan was ranked No. 2 in the Bahamas by Golf Digest. In addition there is a new Butch Harmon School of Golf. Phone 877-687-5822 or visit www.ourlucaya.com.

Not to be left behind, the courses at The Bahamia resort are undergoing major renovations. Jim Fazio has been hired to upgrade original layouts by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee. The Ruby course is expected to reopen in June. The Emerald's facelift will begin shortly thereafter. Phone 800-545-1300 or visit www.bahamia.com.

Additionally, Fortune Hills Golf & Country Club offers a solid nine-hole course. Phone 242-373-4500.