Small as it is, Barbados is indeed a golfer's paradise.
What makes this 166 square mile island ideal for golf is its splendid weather virtually all year round and golf facilities that range from the nine-hole par 70 course at the Rockley Golf Club to the sprawling Tom Fazio designed Green Monkey golf course at the posh five-diamond Sandy Lane Golf and Country Club
Barbados Golf Courses:
» Royal Westmoreland Golf Course
» Rockley Golf & Country Club
» The Barbados Golf Club
» Sandy Lane Golf and Country Club
» Sandy Lane Old Nine Golf Course
» Sandy Lane Green Monkey Golf Course
» Almond Beach Resort Golf Course
Several hotels and resorts in Barbados offer special golf packages and Barbados is increasingly being regarded as one of the top islands for a Caribbean golf vacation (world number one golfer Tiger Woods chose a Sandy Lane golf course for his 2004 wedding).
Barbados plays host to numerous tournaments throughout the year, including golf's World Cup Championships in 2006.
As far as the best known courses go, you can choose from three at the Sandy Lane Resort - the 47-year-old Old Nine, the lush Country Club Course and the prestigious par 72, 7,343-yard Green Monkey. The Sandy Lane facility also offers restaurant, spa, tennis, children's club and water sports.
Barbados Golf Club, located at Durants in the southern parish of Christ Church, has become the soul of golfing in Barbados for local players, hotel guests and visitors cruising through the Caribbean.
The course was approved by the PGA European Tour to host a PGA Seniors Tournament five years ago and it has hosted the Barbados Open on several occasions.
The Rockley Golf Course is the oldest in Barbados. It's a 9-hole par 70, 5610 yd course that meanders through a residential development on the South Coast of Barbados.
Operators say it's ideally set up for all ages and abilities of golfers with tight fairways, out-of-bounds on all holes so strategic club selection is well rewarded. To compliment the course, there's a well stocked pro-shop called Inspire Sports, plus bar and restaurant, appropriately named Tee Off.
The 27-hole Royal Westmoreland Golf Course, in operation since 1994, is designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and sits on 500 acres of a former sugar plantation.
It's a private and limited-membership course, open only to guests and those staying at certain Barbados hotels. Royal Westmoreland also features a spa, tennis, restaurants and golf villas.
The all-inclusive Almond Beach Resort boasts a nine-hole par 3 course. Guests at the resort have unlimited access to the course, as well as to all the restaurants and other facilities of the sister hotel, the Almond Beach Village.
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