May 5, 2016
Interested in playing golf in Tobago? Then be sure to check out the islands’ two championship 18 hole golf courses: both scenic delights fringed by coconut palms with dramatic bunkers carved out of golden Caribbean sands.
Few rounds of golf are as seductive as those that are blessed with warm Caribbean sunshine. In Tobago, a choice of award-winning courses offer golfers spectacular landscapes of sparkling waterfall cascades and rustling emerald palms teeming with a rainbow of tropical birds. Courses capture the natural theatre of Tobago’s terrain while challenging your golfing ability – and the results are sublime.
With its lengthy palm-trimmed fairways, Mount Irvine Golf Course is famous for its spellbinding glimpses of the sea: shimmering deep azure waters framed by the course’s trailing tropical blooms. Originally built in the 1960s to a well-conceived design, the Mt Irvine layout has been modified over the decades to enhance both challenge and charm. Arboreal hazards are everywhere on this site, renowned for its abundance of towering trees and forests of bamboo. And every golfer that plays this 18-hole course raves about the picturesque 9th hole – a heady distraction, even to seasoned pros, with its mesmerising views of Buccoo Point and Buccoo Reef.
Equally lauded are the panoramic vistas at the prestigious Tobago Plantations Golf Club, where beautiful lakes, fine mature trees and powdery sands combine to spectacular effect. As the venue for many of the island’s ritziest golfing soirées, the Plantations (as it’s known by locals) is notable as the venue of the Dwight Yorke Golf Invitational and a slew of celebrity events. The signature hole is undoubtedly the gasp-inducing 3rd. Set on a peninsula, it looks out to Tobago’s buzzing capital of Scarborough and the adjacent Atlantic Ocean, views that are enough to send an errant shot straight into the rough.
Both golf clubs have professional coaches that run group and 1:1 sessions for beginners and experienced players keen to perfect their swing. Green fees are also keenly priced to ensure that 18 holes won’t bust a holiday budget (less than $US99 inclusive of golf cart). Umpteen different stay-and-pay packages are available for hotel guests on Caribbean golfing vacations, and with club hire offered at both courses you can still travel light.
To find out more about where to play golf in Tobago, visit the Trinidad & Tobago Golfing Association.
Virgin Atlantic operates flights to Tobago from London Gatwick. Book your flight today.
Have you been on a golfing holiday in the Caribbean? Where do you like to play golf in Tobago? Let us know in the comments section below.
Award-winning travel writer, author & broadcaster Sarah Woods has lived, worked and travelled in The Caribbean since 1995. She has visited resort towns, villages and lesser-known islands where she has learned to cook run-down, sampled bush rum, traded coconuts, studied traditional medicine, climbed volcanoes and ridden horses in the sea. Sarah is currently working on a travel documentary about the history of Caribbean cruises.
