by: Simon Harris
A vacation destination for decades, Jamaica is home to a number of quality golf courses. The temperate climate is a welcome part of the golfing experience, as is the general atmosphere of the golf courses, with many being notable for their outstanding customer service focus and their beautifully kept grounds. It should be noted that while many of the golf courses are private, most of the more exclusive facilities do make day passes available for vacationers.
Half Moon Golf Club, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, is known among tournament players throughout the world for its classic lines and challenging set up. Open and beautiful, one of the most challenging aspects of this golf course is the wind. Over 7,000 yards long, this course offers a good work out, in addition to a fine game.
Luxurious, enchanting, and uniquely challenging are apt descriptions of the White Witch Course, a recent addition to the famed Ritz Carlton Rose Hall Resort of Montego Bay, Jamaica. The course is named for the infamous Annee Palmer who is said to haunt the area, and rumored to have indulged in illicit relationships with the slaves she held and treated brutally during the 1800’s to run her huge sugar plantation, and also said to have murdered three husbands before turning up strangled herself.
This magnificent course was designed by Robert Von Hagge, Rick Baril and Mike Smelek, and has a slightly different style from the typical Caribbean golfing experience. While there are stunning ocean views to be had at 16 of the holes, they rest upon high ground, as the course wanders through strong hills and players are cooled by the unobstructed ocean breeze.
Three Palms Ocean Course, found at Wyndham Rose Hall, is renowned through Jamaica and well beyond the island for the amazing scenery that its 6798-yard course is built around. Golfers will play alongside of the family graveyard of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the ruins of an aqueduct from the 18th century. There will be ocean side holes, canyons, waterfalls and gorges. This is a truly beautiful and historic course, and can only be an unforgettable golfing experience.
The Tryall Golf Course, at the Tryall Club in Montego Bay hosts the Johnny Walker World Championship and is a favorite playing spot of golfers all over the world. The 6,772-yard course extends from flowering forest to cool seaside, and includes mountain and ocean views that are simply spectacular. Fascinating relics of history along the course include an 18th century water wheel.
There are several other notable golf courses in Jamaica. These include the Manchester Club, one of the oldest facilities of its nature, which also makes available tennis and billiards, the rugged terrain of the Negril Hills Golf Club, which is known to be a challenging and exhilarating play. Breezes Golf and Beach Resort offers truly upscale play.
Whether you’re planning a vacation devoted to enjoying the very best courses that Jamaica has to offer or you are a casual golfer seeking fun greens for a day or two’s play, Jamaica is home to some of the finest golfing opportunities in the entire region.