Great Afterlife Punch-ups - Castro v Donald Ross

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, "to lose one Donald Ross course may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two is a disgrace."

As talk grows of Cuba becoming the next corner of the planet to be charged with the task of keeping golf architects in work, the full horror of the Castro regime is revealed. Let's just say Donald may want words when Fidel shows at the Pearly Gates...

"When the revolution triumphed in 1959, Havana had three courses. Fidel, though not keen on the game, played [Che] Guevara in 1962 as a publicity stunt...Fidel, a bad loser, resented being beaten...

The course, Colinas de Villareal, was ripped up and converted into a barracks. Another course, the Havana Biltmore Golf Club, was turned into an arts school, leaving only the Havana Golf Club. Its grandeur has faded. These days the bar is musty, tee-flags are missing and staff spend idle moments knocking fruit from the trees." - Rory Carroll, The Guardian

The Biltmore's course was designed by Ross, as was the Country Club of Havana, whose course was similarly ploughed under once Castro came to power. Some delightful postcards of the Country Club course in its prime can be found here, while part of the obsolete Biltmore course can be seen in the background of this picture.

A possible measure of the Country Club's challenge can be found in this ancient New York Times report from 1913; former US Amateur champion Walter Travis shooting 83, 81 and 76 on his way to winning Cuba's first golf tournament. Not exactly 'burning it up'...

On a more positive note, there is proof of the country's golfing potential at Les Furber's eye-catching design at Varadero Golf Club (pictured above: background story here):



I suspect the best part of this course is the one you can't deduce from a map: the wind factor, but Furber looks to have used different tee locations well on several holes, altering the character of the challenge depending on where you start from. The 15th and 16th look as though they make for a daunting run-in, too.

There's a closer look at the 18th - and at some highly-inadvisable white shorts - here and I would be failing in my duty as a golf architecture hack if I didn't report the enthusiastic reception for the course given by a visiting party of Royal & Ancient officials recently. The video's here and while my Spanish isn't great, I'm pretty sure I can hear "Kelly Tilghman can shove my sand wedge where the sun don't shine" somewhere in the chorus...


[Pic courtesy of PamIAm]
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