SANDALS Grande Saint Lucian Spa and Beach Resort recently welcomed a group of golf professionals from the United States, the United Kingdom and Trinidad on an extended golf familiarization tour, the first of its kind in Saint Lucia.
This follows extensive work that has been going on to upgrade the course at the Sandals St Lucia Golf and Country Club at Cap Estate, and a promise by Sandals Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart to make Saint Lucia a premium golfing destination.
With 75% of the work completed, which is being spearheaded by the Greg Norman Design Company, this trip was organized to entice these golf professionals to invest in organized group (golf vacation) travel to Saint Lucia. Once complete, the Sandals Golf Course will accommodate up to 120 players.
Having been executed successfully in Jamaica, this is the first such event for Sandals in Saint Lucia, and is expected to become an annual activity. The immediate reaction from the group has been extremely positive, and agents were particularly passionate about the tournament, for which there was a Challenge Trophy for the first place winner and certificates for all participants. Scott Wilson and Subash Ranjitsingh made history and won the inaugural Sandals Trophy. Filius Laurent, the resort’s Hotel Manager teed off with Wayne Baptiste and took home the second place prize.
Overall the group was very positive about the experience. Janine and Mike Marr from Colorado were extremely impressed with the potential of the golf course. “I would certainly be interested in bringing 5 to 10 couples.”
In addition to the strong potential for good golfing activities, Anne Bueso-Wilson and Scott Wilson said, “The experience here was great. We had lots of fun. The mud baths and the snorkeling are both fantastic.”
Tournament winner Subash Ranjitsingh had this to say: “It was a fantastic experience, and the new golf course is breath-taking. I would recommend people to Saint Lucia.”
Gregory Salazar, in describing his experience, said, “The golf course will be fantastic. By November 2020 I would like to bring a group of five to eight couples.”
With golf professionals who sell tours to groups from as far as North America and Europe, the future looks very bright for golf in Saint Lucia. On departure the agents were particularly proud to present school supplies as part of their contribution to community development on the island.