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The
Pace of life is delightfully slow in the Caribbean but at
last they have done something serious about getting golf
developed on Barbados.
David Davies reports
Just what is it that the golfing holidaymaker demands of
his destination? Sun, certainly, and this place has got
that. Great beaches, warm, clear, safe sea, superb scenery,
good hotels, reputable restaurants: this place has got all
that. Then, of course, there is the golf. A few decent courses
within easy reach of the chosen hotel are a minimum requirement
and this place - which is Barbados - has, at long last,
got that as well.
It has been one of the mysteries of golf tourism that the
Caribbean in general and Barbados in particular have lagged
so far behind other less suitable spots in the race for
the golfing pound, dollar or euro. The island has had the
ingredients for years but until recently it refused to stir
the pot. Now, though, it is bubbling nicely. SANDY
LANE, which used to possess one ordinary course, mostly
scratchily main- maintained, now has two 18-hole Tom Fazio
creations on what was once a sugar-cane plantation, plus
a revamped and renovated nine from the old course. ROYAL
WESTMORELAND, home these last three years to the Barbados
Seniors Open, has a superb 18-holer. At the other end of
the island, there is the Barbados Golf Club, a public pay-and-play
facility which has the potential to be one of the best of
its kind in the world. There is enough already to keep a
visiting golfer intrigued, but there are plans for two more
courses on the island, and it is to be hoped that these
happen. They say you can have too much of a good thing but
that is not the experience of most of us. Why has it all
taken so long? The growth in golf which so many countries
have cashed into has, until now, passed Barbados by.
In the opening ceremony of the Barbados Golf Club, the island's
Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, offered an explanation. He
said there were taboos which declared that certain sports
were only for the rich, but he added: "I suppose that
100 years ago cricket was a rich man's sport also, but we
as a nation and as a people have shown that we can rise
above all the hindrances that would hold us back."
There have been other, more physical, manifestations that
have tended to prevent golf from taking its place among
the island's pleasures.
Environmental concerns are very real in Barbados, given
that it is one of the five most water-scarce countries in
the world and that golf courses do tend to consume a lot
of water. But architects have learned how to address such
problems, and Ron Kirby, the American designer, has maximised
the recycling of available water at the Barbados Golf Club.
There they have created a 4.2-million gallon lake, and by
building special wells around the course, combined with
strategically placed run-off areas, no fewer than 104 of
the 119 acres of golf course drain into the lake.
 The
stretch of water is used as a feature on three holes, the
7th, 15th and 16th, the latter being a short hole where
there is nothing but blue between you and the green. Furthermore,
to the left of the elevated putting surface there is a deep
dip into which anything not on line will surely feed. Although
it is only 140 yards long, this is a hole that really tests
the nerves. The 487-yard, par-five, 15th is probably the
club's signature hole. A good drive leaves the player with
a big decision: whether to go left for the green or take
the safe option and go straight along the fairway and lay
up. The problem is that the green looks tantalisingly close,
well within a 5-wood's reach for the average player. But
that is to ignore what happens if the shot is not perfectly
struck. Be short and you will be in a 30-foot deep swale;
be too far and you will be in a bunker and facing a treacherous
recovery with the lake glinting evilly at you. Be too far
left and you will go directly into the lake. The lay-up
is no doddle, either. By going along the fairway you will
be left with the need to turn 45 degrees for your shot to
the green, and unless you have hit it far enough, you will
find a huge banyan tree in the way. At round's end, the
18th green shares its surface with the 9th, both representing
the finishing point for two sturdy three-shotters.
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