Laid-back
luxury is par for the course in the Bahamas...
As
a golfer, you may not have heard of the Abaco
Islands of the Bahamas before since it is best
known for its' boating, scuba diving and fishing.
My wife, Jane and I have vacationed in the Abaco
Islands six times now and we both agree it is
one of our favorite destinations on earth to
kick back and relax. However, in all the times
that we have been coming, I have never once
played golf there.
That
all changed when ‘The Abaco Club on Winding
Bay' opened for play in December of 2004. Because
of the great accolades from golf writers around
the world and the fact that Marc Atchison from
The Toronto Star ranked the Abaco Club #6 in
The Star's 2006 Top 18 International Golf Courses,
I knew I had to play this course. (See sidebar
for Marc's story) So when, Sandy Gardiner, invited
me to stay and play, I could not pass up on
the opportunity.
Although
you can only play this course once without buying
an equity membership, it is an experience you
can not afford to miss if your goal is to play
all the top courses in the world. To date, the
Members Plaque is emblazoned with professional
tour players like Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Annika
Sorenstam and Len Mattice. I'm told Darren Clarke
& Lee Westwood co-own a cottage off the
18th green and usually fly there to play golf
the week before The Masters and Nick Faldo was
supposedly vacationing there the next week.
With credentials like these, I knew I was in
for a special treat.
The
Abaco Club is the brainchild of British entrepreneur,
Peter de Savary who decided to build an exclusive
retreat for affluent people who want both privacy
and relaxation. He spent 4 years searching the
Caribbean for the ideal place to build his dream
resort until he discovered Winding Bay. What
he found was 500 acres of jungle and bush bordered
by 2 miles of white sandy beach on the west,
majestic 65 foot cliffs on the east and a range
of elevation changes that are not typical in
the Bahamas.
de
Savary had the foresight to hire the tandem
of Tom Mackenzie and Donald Steel to design
this gem because they have worked together on
many courses in the UK including Carnegie Links,
Monk's Walk and Stapleford Park. The duo was
able to use the contours of the land and the
proximately to the ocean to create the world's
first true Scottish style tropical links golf
course utilizing the local white sand and seashore
paspalum, a salt and drought-tolerant grass.
