Meanwhile
the Castle Harbour Golf Club, originally designed by
Charles Banks, has been
completely redesigned by Roger
Rulewich and is
already open for play, to rave
reviews, as
Tucker's Point Club. Cynics,
and there
are plenty of them in such a
small community, sneer that the
new layout is "still Castle
Harbour." But that is a most
unfair
comment. All the old holes
that remain have
been completely upgraded,
and
considerably
improved,
and all the new holes are excellent. The
greens are also
planted with TifEagle Bermuda. The new course measures
6,361
yards in total
length, a par-70 with five par-3s and three
par-5s.
To
those familiar with the old Castle Harbour layout, the first
hole, with new
bunkering, is now the 17th. The second and
third holes
are gone to make way for
luxury estate
homes,
their lots selling for $3
million each. And sell they
have.
By
late last summer, the ambitious
residential
real estate plans were
panning
out nicely here; some $40
million worth of house lots
were under contract by
then, during just 15
months of the
sales effort.
Buyers
of these lots are naturally considered strong candidates to
join the new
Tucker's Point Club as golf members. They will
find the
old par-5 fourth is now
a much improved
third hole,
with new fairway
and greenside bunkers, and the
green moved
much lower on the hill, and
further back.
The old par-3 fifth is now
the fourth, with a completely
changed--and huge--green. The
old sixth, a
ridiculous
dogleg-right
par-4 with a largely
hidden landing area from the
tee,
has been
flattened out at
huge expense, and
makes a fine fifth
hole.
For
me, the new ninth (it's the former 14th), which sports a newly
dug lake in front
of the green, is Tucker's Point's signature
hole. The
new 10th is the old 17th,
and the old par-3
18th,
with its absurd pond
removed, plays as the 11th,
considerably
longer at 225 yards.
Rulewich
has re-routed and shortened the old 12th, leveling out the
fairway and placing a
new green to the right, hard by the
road, which
allowed him to use the old 12th
green as
the new
14th, a par-3 played
from the top of the hill at 175
yards into
the teeth of the prevailing
wind. The old ninth is
now the
16th, with an
enormous bunker at the
angle of
the dogleg-left,
and a lowered green with a new
bunker front
right. The
completely new 18th hole was cut out through the
jungle
to
the
right of the old second hole, and at
398 yards into the wind provides a
testing enough finish.
Members
must share my view of how fine a job Rulewich turned in.
They have to pay a
wholly refundable deposit of $75,000 just
to get in,
and 91 have already done
so. With Bermuda
emerging
as a new global
center for the insurance industry,
there are
already many corporate
members, as one
might expect of a club that
boasts expensive housing, a
beach
and tennis club, and a
private residence club
all under one
umbrella. Excellent value
at the price, if you wish my
opinion.
