The holiday season will soon be over. But golf is the gift that keeps on giving. New courses are forever in the works. Having already listed domestic projects we’re keen to see in 2023, we’re now dusting off our passports and looking overseas. Here are six international ribbon-cuttings we’ve got our eyes on in the year ahead.
Cabot Saint Lucia, Point Hardy Golf Club, Saint Lucia
Projected opening: Winter 2023
In their time as co-designers, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have been handed some dramatic sites, but none looks more astounding than this coastal swatch on Saint Lucia. If the photo above doesn’t get your pulse up, we suggest you take up a different sport.
Barbuda Ocean Club, Barbuda
Projected opening: Spring
A pristinely kept Tom Fazio course at the heart of a private residential development of outrageously laidback opulence? Sounds like another slam-dunk from Discovery Land Company, this one in a tucked-away tropical locale, with a nearby runway for private aircraft, natch.
Comporta Dunes, Portugal
Projected opening: Spring
In recent years, the hotbed of golf in Portugal has shifted north from the Algarve toward the coast of the Alentejo, a region blessed with a temperate climate and sandy terrain. In this promising setting, about an hour south of Lisbon, Bandon Dunes designer David McLay Kidd has completed his first course in continental Europe, on a compelling landscape of pines and dunes.
Te Arai Resort, North Course, New Zealand
Projected opening: Fall
New Zealand is a long way to go but well worth the trip. And don’t say we didn’t give you lots of advance notice on this Tom Doak design, which is shaping up to be a stunning, private complement to Te Arai’s South Course, a Coore-Crenshaw layout that opened in late 2022.
Seven Mile Beach, Tasmania
Projected opening: Fall
True to its name, Seven Mile Beach will skirt along a sandy spit, on a postcard-worthy peninsula near the Tasmanian capital city of Hobart. But seaside holes won’t be the only highlights of this Mike Clayton-Mike DeVries collaboration. The rumpled inland acreage here is so well-suited to golf that among the biggest challenges, Clayton has said, was winnowing down the best ground for 18.
La Reserve Golf Links, Mauritius
Projected opening: Winter
If you’ve never placed Mauritius atop your list of golf destinations, you’re not alone. But maybe now you’ll give the island nation some consideration. Already home to Le Chateau Golf Course, the Heritage Bel Ombre resort is set to open what is being described as the first links on the Indian Ocean. Designed by Louis Oosthuizen and situated within a UNESCO-protected bird and wildlife reserve, Le Reserve has been selected as the new host venue for a DP World Tour event.