Royal St Kitts

Come the new millennium however, the layout was looking decidedly tired and so the management of the Marriot hotel group who run the course decided to radically update the course, calling in prolific Canadian designer Tom McBroom to renovate the design.

After almost two years of remodeling on the 125-acre site, nine holes of the revamped McBroom course were unveiled at the end of 2003 with the full 18-hole Royal St Kitts layout opening for play a year later.

According to Tom McBroom's PR release: "In 2002, Marriott's Royal St. Kitts debuted as Tom McBroom's first design in the Caribbean and immediately took its place among the region's most popular courses next to Teeth of the Dog in the Dominican and Green Monkey in Barbados. McBroom artfully routed the holes along both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, presenting golfers with a variety of shots, ever-present wind and spectacular ocean views. Royal St. Kitts is planted with seashore paspalum grass ideal for the Caribbean. The greens are aesthetic gems with subtle to severe swales that test a player's shot-making ability and short game."

The new par-71 course measures around 6,900 yards from the back tees and its palm-fringed fairways are strung out along the Atlantic coast of the island, culminating in a spectacular closing sequence of holes between the 15th and 17th that run along the Caribbean Sea.

Royal St Kitts professional, Scott Lien, commented as follows "Our signature hole is the par three 15th. It measures 165 yards from the championship tees and sits atop the highest point on the golf course. With the Atlantic Ocean as a beautiful backdrop for the hole, you'll be able to see neighbouring islands of Saba, St. Maarten, and Nevis.

The hardest handicapped hole on the course is hole 6, a par four measuring 457 yards from the championship tees. Playing into the prevailing wind makes this a long and difficult hole with bunkers lining both sides of the fairway and surrounding the long, narrow green."