The Abaco Club at Winding Bay, a £150 million golf and sporting retreat created by British entrepreneur Peter de Savary, is opening its doors to one- time visitors who want the ultimate ‘vacation in paradise’.
Located on Great Abaco Island, just 50 minutes by plane from the Florida gateways of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and 30 minutes from Nassau, the Abaco Club is a small, tropical resort set on a remote peninsula.
Wedged between the depths of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and some of the best bonefishing waters on the other, the club has already endeared itself to celebrities such as Sir Sean Connery and golfers like Ernie Els who love the challenge of the new course, which was designed by the British golf course architects Mackenzie & Ebert and is being described as one of the world’s finest new courses. (Please see note below)
Rolling sand dunes are an unexpected feature of fifteen of the holes, with three more atop high cliffs. It is an authentic links course, albeit with somewhat warmer weather than St. Andrews or Sandwich. Tom Mackenzie says that one of the big challenges of the project was replicating the firm, fast conditions of historic links. This has been achieved with the use of Seashore Paspalum on greens, tees and fairways.
“The Club includes some 60 home sites and 75 cottages, all of which we sited as part of the golf course design process,” says Tom. “They have proved to be extremely popular and in its first year have attracted discerning property owners, serious investors and those who wish to become members of a unique development, highlighted by the first 18-hole championship ‘Scottish tropical links’ course in the Caribbean.”
For those who wish the golfing vacation with a course that Ernie Els describes as “phenomenal with a sensational beach and a great concept with privacy for family, kids and serious golfers,” the Bahamian Rhapsody packages start at £2,550 for three nights, £4,215 for five nights and £5,900 for one week. This includes double occupancy, unlimited golf for two, breakfast lunch and dinner daily and nightly cabana rental inclusive of taxes. It also represents saving of from 18 to 20 per cent on listed prices.
All prices are exclusive of air fare and UK vacationers can fly to either Miami or Nassau with commercial connections to Marsh Harbour, the main airport in Abaco, or they can opt to charter The Abaco Club plane.
Staff would meet them on arrival in either gateway and then transfer them to the island where they would go through the club’s own private terminal and clear Customs and Immigration there before being transported to the club itself, a 30-minute ride.
The Abaco Club also offers tennis; horseback riding; an Elemis health spa and a range of other aquatic events.
The Abaco Club www.theabacoclub.com
Mackenzie & Ebert www.mackenzieandebert.co.uk
N.B. Tom Mackenzie has pointed out that when he worked on the design of this course it was during his time with Donald Steel and Company. It is therefore entirely wrong to say that Abaco is a Mackenzie & Ebert Ltd course and Tom Mackenzie himself has never stated that it is. 2nd May 2006