Heading to Barbados in April . . .

ceasterb · March 14, 2014

I am heading out to Barbados for the first time in April. While I am not sure how many times I will play, I am planning to bat the ball around at least twice. Anyone played out there? I have heard good things about Royal Westmoreland and Sandy Lane. Any recommendations or comments would be much appreciated. Thanks!

--Craig

gmies · March 14, 2014

Played Royal Westmoreland about 10 years ago and it was very nice. Extremely windy though. I have not played at Sandy Lane. The Green Monkey is supposed to be spectacular, but I am not sure you can play there unless you are staying at Sandy Lane. It is also super expensive.

ceasterb · March 16, 2014

[quote name='gmies' timestamp='1394801842' post='8869277']
Played Royal Westmoreland about 10 years ago and it was very nice. Extremely windy though. I have not played at Sandy Lane. The Green Monkey is supposed to be spectacular, but I am not sure you can play there unless you are staying at Sandy Lane. It is also super expensive.
[/quote]
Thanks.

jimboski93 · March 20, 2014

Check the sub-thread on the Caribbean - I have a write-up there and there's a more recent one too.

1. Sandy Lane Green Monkey is off limits. They'll tell you that you can play, but for $2,000 a round or something ridiculous.
2. Sandy Lane Country Club is open to the public but nothing to write home about.
3. Apes Hill. Just spectacular. Play it. The website says something about "limited tee time for the public" but just call. I had no problem and the course was quiet.

BENNYSUPREME · March 20, 2014

Apes Hill is a must if you can't get on the green money. Well its a must even if you can get on the green monkey.

Oh there is always the Barbados GC. but I have not played that course in about 8 years.

ceasterb · May 26, 2014

[quote name='BENNYSUPREME' timestamp='1395360375' post='8914305']
Apes Hill is a must if you can't get on the green money. Well its a must even if you can get on the green monkey.

Oh there is always the Barbados GC. but I have not played that course in about 8 years.
[/quote]

I ended up playing Royal Westmoreland (awesome), Apes Hill (awesome) and the Country Club course at Sandy Lane (well kept resort course. Pretty, but not as spectacular or challenging as the previous two courses. Also, you were right about the Green Monkey. They wanted $4,000 to play 18 there. I have never heard of a course asking for that kind of money. It's insane.

Fastboy · October 8, 2014

I know this is an old thread and the op has already gone but for anyone thinking of doing Barbados and coming across this thread I thought I'd add to it as well.

Played three courses out there - Apes Hill, Royal Westmoreland and the Barbados golf club.

Of the three I have to say we definitely favoured Royal Westmoreland. The course has some character (loved the 18th) which as beautiful and well manicured as Apes Hill was, for me it just didn't have much character, none of the holes were really stand out but definitely worth playing.

What was good about our round at Apes Hill was the total sense of Millionaires golf. We got there early to warmup properly and on the range we had guys come and clean our clubs, made sure we had plenty of tees and kept feeding us balls until we were done. The only people there were maybe 10 middle aged women (none who could hit the ball more then 50 yards) up the far end of the range who were having a group lesson so assumed it was just beginners for ladies with nothing else to fill their day.

Anyway, on to the round we were told that we were the only people booked in (week day in June) for a few hours and we literally did not see a soul for the whole 18 holes anywhere. When we got back to the clubhouse, we were given towels and took the opportunity to have a sit down in the very nice and cool locker rooms for 5 mins, changed into our swimmers and jumped into the nice cold pool..... Bliss!

Quick shower, followed by a drink and a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. The staff service was impeccable I must say that and I would play there again in the future.

Royal Westmoreland on the other hand was busy (ish) but we had great service and were let through on the third hole by a 3 ball and enjoyed a round without waiting (we saw plenty of people out on the course though) after that. No pool that was obvious this time so just a cold shower after golf followed by lunch but just something about the place, really enjoyed the atmosphere and the course which was why we'd always favour it over Apes Hill.

Both the rounds above cost us about $250 US per course for two with a buggy (Apes was a bit more expensive if I recall).

That covered our first week and in the second week, we got free golf and transfers as part of our package at the Barbados golf club (our hotel changed to a couples brand mid way through our stay although I think it is now Sandals Barbados).

This is the equivalent of a public course in Barbados and not anywhere near the levels of Westmoreland or Apes but still a fairly decent track and from what I saw, the green fees were significantly cheaper (we only paid for a buggy each day which I think was $40 US). The course was much shorter, fairways more generous so it was easy to knock in a decent score to flatter the ego a little. Still worth a play if you get a decent rate. The main challenge like all golf in Barbados is the trade winds, however, there's water that's in play on about 4 holes and some interesting holes. We played it 5 times in the second week as it was near enough free (we're used to paying for buggies anyway so don't really think about that element) and enjoyed playing it but of course would much rather have played the other two if we were paying green fees.