TPC at Baha Mar: Brilliant Bahamas Golf Coming in Spring 2015

If you haven't heard of Baha Mar, get ready for one of the world's most amazing gaming resorts. Combining the over-the-top opulence of Las Vegas with a French Riviera flair and Disneyesque style master planning, this resort will redefine luxury in the Bahamas.

The expansive, $3.5 billion resort located on the north shore of New Providence Island near Nassau is slated for a grand opening in Spring 2015. Dubbed the Bahamian Riviera, it will encompass five luxury hotels, a 100,000 square foot casino, a 2,000-seat performing arts center and art gallery, two spas, 40 restaurants and bars, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, designer retail boutiques and 20 acres of landscaped beach and pool experiences.

One of the centerpiece amenities is the TPC at Baha Mar, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, a stunning addition to the TPC Network of courses. The Golden Bear put in a lot of on-site personal attention on this layout to create what should quickly become one of the Caribbean's most desirable places to tee up. 

Arguably, the best professional golfer ever with 18 major championship victories, Nicklaus is also a prolific course architect with more than 380 golf courses in 36 countries and 39 states.

"TPC at Baha Mar truly epitomizes the standard of excellence and tournament-hosting capabilities for which TPC courses are recognized worldwide," says Charlie Zink, PGA TOUR Co-Chief Operating Officer. The TPC Network is comprised of 33 premier private, resort and daily fee golf properties designed by some of golf's most celebrated architects.

Stretching 7,189 yards, the TPC at Baha Mar, the first Caribbean golf course in the TPC Network, will feature two very distinct nines. The front offers several high-profile water features and ocean views and the back nine weaves through a lush inland forest. Tree growth on the layout is spectacular with 15 species of native trees, include protected Mahogany, Silk cotton, Caribbean Pine and Buttonwood, as well as Red and Black Mangroves. There are also more than 70 species of birds and other wildlife on the course.  

After a round, the Royal Blue Clubhouse, designed in a traditional Bahamian style, will feature an open courtyard overlooking the golf course and a bar and grill restaurant serving breakfast and lunch

What's New for Golf Vacationers in 2014

If you're sick and tired of the constant drumbeat of gloom and doom economic news, I hope I can remedy that problem for you.

Finally, here's some good news about exciting happenings in the golf travel world in 2014:

Slated to debut early 2014 is a luxury 210-room main lodge at Streamsong Resort in Polk County near Lakeland, Florida. Amenities will include three restaurants and two lounge areas, an indoor pool, outdoor infinity pool, fitness center, full-service spa with multiple treatment rooms, retail shopping, hiking, birding tours, sporting clays and lakefront fishing complex with guides, outfitters and boating equipment. Situated 53 miles from Tampa and 69 miles from Orlando, Streamsong is home to two of golf's more celebrated new courses that opened in 2012. Set on formerly mined land, the courses incorporate hills, dramatic land forms, sweeping sand dunes, ridges and vistas. The two 18-hole courses were designed by Tom Doak and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.


Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales, the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup matches, will debut 10 new luxury lodges in 2014, which is part of a planned development of 60 lodges. The large, multi-bedroom log cabins will be named Hunter Lodges. Offering views of the Usk Valley, the lodges will be situated near Celtic Manor's Twenty Ten Ryder Cup course.



The $3.5 billion Baha Mar mega-resort in Nassau's Cable Beach area (Bahamas) will open its 1,000-room casino hotel in December 2014. Opening late this year or early next year is the property's Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Baha Mar.



An 18-hole putting course at Pacific Dunes at Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon is scheduled to open in May 2014. Designed by Tom Doak, the highlights of "The Punchbowl Putting Course" include 15 to 20 feet of elevation change and a 100-foot downhill roller coaster putt.


Expected to open late 2014 is the 444-room Four Seasons Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Set in Disney's ultra-exclusive, luxury master-planned Golden Oaks community near the Tom Fazio designed Osprey Ridge Golf course, the $360 million hotel will be dripping with luxury amenities.



PGA Village Resort in Port St. Lucie, Florida has committed to a course conditioning and enhancement program that will significantly improve the overall golf experience at the resort's four golf courses. Veteran superintendent Dick Gray was hired to raise the quality of maintenance and conditioning to unparalleled levels for 2014 and beyond.


The Trump National Doral Miami (formerly named Doral Golf Resort & Spa) is undergoing a massive $250 million renovation and enhancement program. Slated for completion in fall 2014, the transformation will include refurbishment of guest rooms, extensive renovation of the clubhouse and redesign of the "Blue Monster" by architect Gil Hanse. The new "Blue Monster" is scheduled to be ready by early 2014, just prior to the 2014 World Golf Championship/Cadillac Championship in March.

The Indura Resort and Spa on the northern coast of Honduras is scheduled to open early 2014. One of the highlight amenities is an 18-hole golf course designed by Gary Player and managed by Troon Golf.