Occupying an area of more than one million square miles, the Caribbean is situated southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the mainland of North America, to the east of Central America and north of the South American continent. It consists of hundreds of islands, reefs and cays in the Caribbean Sea which were, at one time, colonies of European nations and many of them remain as overseas or dependent territories. As a consequence of this historical outside influence, you’re far more likely to be able to talk to islanders in English, Spanish, French or Dutch when you visit than attempt to converse using the local Creole language. Cricket is probably still the most popular team sport in the Caribbean, however the impressive number of track and field medals won at major athletics events is also testament to the sporting prowess of the region’s elite athletes.

The North Atlantic islands of Bermuda and Bahamas are not "officially" Caribbean, but we've grouped these two countries within our Caribbean collection because they seem to sit more comfortably here than anywhere else.

We feature around seventy courses across the Caribbean and Atlantic islands and all six major golf destinations in the area – Dominican Republic, Barbados, Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Jamaica – are represented in the elite top ten positions within our Caribbean and Atlantic Top 50 ranking list.

The Dominican Republic dominates with four courses: the regularly world-ranked Teeth of the Dog is a remarkable Pete Dye-designed course at the Casa de Campo resort, and this classy track is ably supported by the Jack Nicklaus-designed Punta Espada layout at Cap Cana, Tom Fazio’s 18-hole Corales course at Punta Cana and the Robert Trent Jones Snr.-designed Playa Grande, which has recently undergone an extensive renovation by his son, Robert Jnr.

Barbados has three courses regularly featured in the Caribbean rankings, two of which (Green Monkey and Country Club), are located at the world famous Sandy Lane resort, with the other layout situated at Royal Westmoreland. In the Bahamas, Baker’s Bay is a Tom Fazio design and it is supported, perhaps even bettered, by the Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie-designed Abaco Club at Winding Bay. These two layouts have catapulted the Abacos to the position of undisputed premier golfing destination of the Bahamas.

Bermuda punches well above its weight with the outstanding Charles Blair Macdonald-designed Mid Ocean Club perennially on the cusp of a World Top 100 ranking position. Puerto Rico did lose some of its golfing gloss down the years, but the 2015 TPC re-branding at Dorado Beach has applied plenty of PGA Tour-standard polish to the courses at the resort. Finally, Jamaica is a strong golfing island with a dozen courses from which to choose. Three of the island’s best courses can be found near Montego Bay; White Witch and Cinnamon Hill at Rose Hall and the Tryall Club, which has been welcoming golfers for more than fifty years.

Our Caribbean and Atlantic Islands rankings were last updated in February 2020. Click the link to read the story.