THE
HUNTERDON COUNTY NEWS |
TITLE: Destination Review - ST KITTS – THE ROYAL ST KITTS GOLF CLUB
Front Nine
DESCRIPTION:
Time: 06:38:56
For those of you who are either thinking about vacationing on the isle and want to play a round or two or perhaps are planning an outing to the island, rejoice, the Royal St Kitts Golf Club can meet your needs. Arriving at the end of April, a scant two days after the Buffalo Bills Bruce Smith and his buddies held a tourney celebrating his election to the NFL Hall of Fame, the course was in excellent playing condition. The pro, Scott Lien, could not have been more gracious in setting up our play, meeting us before we played, and caring for any need we had, including two fine rental sets of Taylor Made clubs, with perhaps one of the biggest driver heads I have ever seen.
After a round of golf at the Royal St Kitts you will know one thing, the architect made superb use out of the natural resources, the most important being the wind and the water – including the ocean, to create a risk reward golf course that will challenge not only your shot making ability, but it will test your patience and imagination. Overall experience - wonderful - let's take a spin around 18
Right off the first tee you are challenged with the wind and the water. On the left edge of the fairway there are many bunkers scattered in the landing zone with the prevailing wind blowing left to right and of course there is a long pond/lake on the right edge of the fairway. If you try and hit the ball down the middle and don’t have a pronounced left to right spin on the ball there is a high likelihood that you will end up in the water and you will be surprised at how good you thought you had originally hit and how poor a result you got. So what do you do? You have to gamble and start the ball over the left edge of the bunkers and drift it toward the middle of the fairway. GULP – a pull hook gets you into a big mess left and a tentative shot leaves you in a bunker and your chances of reaching this par five in three are severely challenged. If you hit a fairly good shot you are still most likely going to be hugging the right edge which leaves you a risky second should you choose to go for it in two. The lake runs the entire length of the hole and if you get a little twitchy you will hear the dreaded splash behind the jutting tree line before you see the waves in the water.
The second hole is again risk and reward, how much do you want to chew off. A typical shot straight down the fairway to the left leaves you a long uphill second shot. Off the tee, in front of your face, are a set of bunkers that run up the hill to the left. Ideally you hit a towering drive to the middle bunker, fly it, and let the wind drift you right toward the green. My playing partner did this beautifully and had only 94 yards to the middle. The green is well protected for the errant shot but its also quite large and if you take your eyes off the pin and aim for the middle walking away with par should be a reasonable chore.
The third hole takes you down to the beach at Frigate bay, on the calm Caribbean side. It’s a short hole. Stay left away from the jungle rough on the right and you should have a very short iron in. On the second shot don’t get distracted by the sail boat anchored off shore and the people in the surf and you will post a good score. This is a birdie hole.
Hole four turns you around and puts you directly back into the wind for a fairly long par three, 175 from the whites. With the wind in the face take a two extra clubs, it’s also uphill, and swing easy. Its better to be long than short, so take another extra club if its really gusting, being in the front traps will make the up and down an enormous challenge.
Hole five is a par five that parallels the local exercise road, one of the only flat areas on the east end of the island. At happy hour this route becomes the singles bar of exercise as many folks come to gander at the opposite sex as the sun goes down. The hole runs the entire length of the roadway toward the southeast peninsula. Hit the drive left, it makes the hole longer but it keep you out of all the trouble on the right, bunkers, deep grass, the road. A shot out to the left leaves you an easy second. Take the three wood out and you have a ton of fairway in front of you. Give it the best rap you can. A good second leaves you about 100 yards in. Aim for the left edge of the green and take one less club and ride the breeze right at the flag. This is a good birdie opportunity.
Hole 6, the number one handicap, is a bear. It plays directly back into the breeze. It is a long hole. You have to challenge the bunkers on the left side in order to leave a reasonable shot. You should not be surprised about having to play a three wood into the green. The Tee shot makes or breaks you. Be happy making a bogey.
Hole 7 – Again you have to summons all the courage in your belly to shoot this ball at the green. It is a 200 yard carry over water if you are aiming at the pin. Most will bail out left, which is a smart play, unless you want to be hitting three off tee.
Hole Number 8 – again you have to decide, go for the gusto or lay up to the right into the breeze. Eyeballing it I thought it was safe to give it a go and carry the entire pond. Alas the wind again is the enemy and the ball splashed down into the water just short of the end. The second shot is between a nice grove of palms that shape the way in.
Number nine is a fairly benign par three, and you need it. Take an extra club to contend with the breeze but other than that hit is down the middle and smile.
