GREAT ABACO ISLAND BAHAMAS
by MARC ATCHISON

The first time Sean Connery (yes, THAT Sean Connery) stood on the opening tee at The Abaco Club's magnificent new golf course, he scanned the breathtaking scenery that surrounds it, and, in his thick brogue, said: "Lads, this reminds me of Scotland." "Scots only wish they had this type of weather", laughed the local taxi driver who related the Connery story to me on yet another sun-drenched Abaco day.

Scotland, the home of golf, also wishes it had a course like The Abaco Club. The spectacular layout at a place called Winding Bay is the centerpiece of a $250 million (U.S.) resort being built by British tycoon Peter de Savary on Great Abaco Island, the biggest of a chain of Bahamian islands known as the Abacos.

It's also the only links-style course in the Caribbean and the topography surrounding it certainly has Scottish overtones - without the trademark biting winds that swirl about Scotland's sea coast courses, thankfully.

So, it' no wonder de Savary's Abaco Club is being hailed as the best new golf course in the Caribbean. Its main competition for bragging rights in the region are the Green Monkey in Barbados and the collection of beauties in the Dominican Republic. After seeing the competition - each a gem in their own right - there is no question de Savary's Abaco Club is the best. Mainly because of its unique, links design.

But, the Abaco Club doesn't just qualify as one of the world's best new golf courses. It's one of the best golf courses ever designed, period!

And de Savary, a man of great wealth and great taste, would have settled for nothing less.

To make sure his Abaco Club course had this effect on the people who play it, whether they be a Hollywood super spy like Connery, or one of the tycoons of business who tie up their million-dollar yachts in the tranquil harbour at Winding Bay, or mere mortals like myself, de Savary hired two of the world's best golf course architects, Tom Mackenzie and Donald Steel, to bring Scotland to the tropics.

They succeeded - minus the heather.

The Abaco Club is 7,183 yards of the most















glorious real estate in the Caribbean. When one steps on the first tee here, thoughts of Scotland certainly come rushing back. The 560-yard stunner plays through a shallow valley and the sweeping fairway, dunes, hollows and the odd pot bunker one must navigate before reaching the tucked-back green could easily be at a course in St. Andrews.

That's pretty much the story on holes two and three, as well. But the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh are vintage Caribbean golf - four gems that border Winding Bay's pristine 2.25 miles of baby powder soft beach highlighted by bluffs that stretch all the way to the tip of this awesome peninsula. On those holes, especially No. 5, elevated tees and greens provide players with wonderful ocean views and certainly test their concentration.

No. 8 marks the return for home and begins a series of holes where the surrounding water is never far from view - much like the great seaside courses of England and Ireland. The biggest difference is that here you have to share the fairways with the little crabs that crawl up off the beach. Just another of the qualities that makes the Abaco Club so unique.

The fairways of Nos 15 and 16 are split by a white rock quarry that give both a distinct appearance not seen anywhere else. Then comes 17 and 18. Few words can describe the feeling one gets when standing in the tee blocks at the elevated 17th, where the panoramic sea view and the ever present sea breeze literally takes your breath away.

Golf doesn't get much better than this - anywhere! And the best, No. 18, is still to come.

During construction, Mackenzie, the Monet of golf course designers, told someone: "Standing on the 17th tee will become one of great experiences in golf." It certainly was!

The challenge of the 17th is best described in the guidebook players get at the outset of a round here - the one that suggests, depending on the wind conditions at launch, the weapon of choice could vary from a pitching wedge to a three wood. Wow!

Okay, with the 17th out of the way, and with your heart still racing, you head over to the 18th tee, where you're greeted by the sound of waves crashing against the rocky cliffs and where a rolling carpet of lush green landscape lies before your. It's at this point where many golfers look to the heavens and say: "Take me now Lord, because it can't get much better than this!"

But it does keep getting better at the Abaco Club. After a round you can retreat to one of the 75 tastefully furnished Bahamian "cottages" that are sold for millions but are rented out for far more reasonable prices. Or relax in the world-class spa that de Savary has added next to the club's main restaurant, which also overlooks the bay and golf course.

A new clubhouse has been just completed next to the 18th green at the Abaco Club, overlooking Ocean Point, which will give guests just one more breathtaking view of this relatively unknown part of the Bahamas.

CONTINUED: Great Abaco Island Bahamas

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