Caribbean’s Newest Golf Resort Is A Travel Game Changer

21.11.2023 - 13:39 / forbes.com

With the very recent opening of the Apes Hill resort, Barbados leaps onto the global stage as a golf travel destination. Now, for the first time, you can play all five of the island’s top courses from one very comfortable home base. And while many Caribbean islands have one stellar course, one course does not make a golf destination, and few have the critical mass that requires. Barbados now rises to what is likely second only to the Dominican Republic in terms of the number of standout golf designs open to the public.

Along with a peer from Links Magazine, we were the first U.S. journalists to visit Apes Hill since its reopening, which in effect is really a grand opening. The previous incarnation that was here the last time I visited Barbados was an entirely private club with no resort/public component and a much different–and frankly less appealing–golf course.

Situated on one of the highest spots on the island, a breathtaking piece of property with views of both the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, it is the kind of site that cries out for a great golf course. But there was a time when difficulty was considered something to brag about, especially for private clubs, and the previous design here was just that, quite difficult and lacking in fun. New owners and management used the pandemic down time to radically redo the course, and brought in the late Ron Kirby, an acclaimed golf course architect who just passed away in August, shortly after finishing the new Apes Hill. Kirby is best known for his stunning Old Head links design in Ireland, on Golf Magazine and Golf Digest’s Top 100 in the World lists. Old Head sits on a similarly impressive clifftop peninsula with 14 waterfront holes, and his mastery of this type of setting is why he was chosen to come to Barbados. As such, Apes Hill is his last design, and worthy of that legacy.

The views, elevation changes, dramatic exposed limestone and coral rock at every turn are still as dramatic as ever, but the course is much more fun to play. The fairways are wide, especially landing areas off the tee, there are no blind shots, and while many approaches and tee shots clearly have a preferred side and a “do not miss” side, everything you need to know can be seen with the naked eye. It’s nice to have no unpleasant surprises, and it’s really nice to have very few homes on the course, though there are plenty of the monkeys the island is famous for.

Conditioning is excellent, both through intentional effort and the fact that 30 players is a busy day here. The tee variety is such that it caters to all abilities, and from the white tees there are some reachable par-4s and eagle opportunity par-5s, while from the back the course is for only the biggest hitters and