In terms of available venues, golf in the Cayman Islands is at a crossroads. Nevertheless a renowned professional says Grand Cayman is in a good position.
Nick Price was here this month for the 14th annual Cayman Islands Red Cross golf tournament. Price, 54, was the featured guest at the North Sound Golf Club (fellow professional Mark McNulty also took part). The Zimbabwe citizen, who was born in South Africa, said Grand Cayman has good local venues for golf.
“This is my first time with clubs at North Sound,” Price said. “I normally play no golf on holiday because golf is work. One day I hope to play on the other course at the Ritz-Carlton. You Caymanians are lucky because you have the best parts of the Caribbean with the infrastructure other countries would die for.”
At the Red Cross event, more than 200 golfers teed off at North Sound. A number of notable faces were in attendance from Governor Duncan Taylor to Digicel head Victor Corcoran and Marcello Santi (a former pro golfer now based in Cayman).
Currently, the North Sound club is Cayman’s only 18-hole championship golf course. It is open to the public and membership status is at a manageable fee.
Dragon Bay Developer Mike Ryan wants to develop a new golf course in the area to replace North Sound. The plan is that Ryan, who is part of the development company that owns North Sound, would close the club to accommodate the conversion of the Blue Tip nine-hole facility at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman into an 18-hole venue. Initially, North Sound was slated to close last November, but its closure has been put off since last October.
Interestingly an additional golf course could surface on West Bay Road. Back in January Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd. announced it had purchased the 232-room Courtyard Marriott hotel from developer Stan Thomas and his companies. The possibility of a golf course is something the Dart Group has had on its wish list, but was never a serious consideration for the Camana Bay site because it felt there wasn’t enough land.
Eight months ago Dart Realty’s CEO Mark VanDevelde told the Caymanian Compass that although there were no immediate plans to build a golf course in the area, having a large tract of land in the Seven Mile Beach corridor in close proximity of Camana Bay and many tourist accommodations made it a possibility.
“It opens up the opportunity for us, at least in land availability, to look at golf,” VanDevelde said.
For Price, golf could be a long-term attraction for Grand Cayman to rival its natural beauty.
“I’ve been here four times and I have friends here. I was here over the years and did things like spend New Years here two years ago. I love it and the kids love it. I’m a Bahamas guy and I go island hopping and do a lot of fishing. Their beaches are great. Cayman is similar, but I know more people. I’d say the beaches here are beautiful and the people are friendly.
“Cayman is a tropical island with beautiful water. Yet this place is so active, there’s so much to do in season and out of season. I’ve been here different times of the year and it’s close to the US, just around an hour and a half away. It’s not too different from Florida and it’s close, which is great.”
Price is an active member of the Professional Golfers Association Senior Tour. As such he has a number of competitions left on his schedule. The next Tour event is slated to be the Songdo Championship in South Korea. That tournament (taking place 16-18 September) is in its second year, with the inaugural edition attracting 57 players competing for the top prize of US$455,000 on the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea par-72 course in Incheon (a port city west of Seoul).
Price, who was in Cayman with his family, states he intends to skip the Korean event.
“My home is in Florida now and we’re going back there as the kids are going back to school. I won’t play any golf in September and the Korean tournament is not for me. I got four tournaments left for the year and the ultimate one is the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in San Francisco in November.”
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