Column: Swan On St. George’s Island & More

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[Column written by Kim Swan]

We are celebrating the birth of golf in Bermuda and thank the British military for transporting the game to Bermuda in the 1800s through at least two Garrison Golf Links in St. George’s and Prospect.

We in St. George’s proudly proclaim that “it all started in St. George’s,” and as it relates to the resort golf experience in Bermuda, that is truly the case.

Golf in the early 1900s was growing in popularity in America, and the British golf architectural and golf instructional influence was enormous. The great Harry Vardon wrote instructional articles in newspapers around the world, while the great architect C. B. McDonald rubbed shoulders with the decision-makers in Bermuda, having proclaimed Bermuda an ideal location for golf, which history has proven.

For many reasons, through meaningful longstanding relationships, Bermuda was increasingly becoming a go-to destination for North Americans – especially with the endorsements of Mark Twain, President Woodrow Wilson, President William Taft, and many, many others.

Three Golf Courses on St. George’s Island

Between 1899 and 1927, St. George’s Island cultivated two additional 9-hole golf courses [St. George's Rose Hill Golf Course and Shore Hills Golf Course], and both would be resort hotels. Noteworthy, the St. George’s Hotel had already set the stage for Bermuda’s first golf resort by promoting the neighboring Garrison Golf Links.

Early Golf Instructor in St. George’s

The interest in golf had blossomed in Bermuda to the extent that one of the earliest known Golf Professionals, J. M. Bennetts, was advertising in 1916 to learn golf by taking lessons, also emphasizing fitness.

St. George’s Island: A Golf Community by 1927

As we reflect on the impact of golf on the growth of tourism in Bermuda over the past 125 years, we must go to the 1890s where it began—thanks to the British Military in St. George’s and Prospect for two garrison golf links.

The St. George’s Garrison Links was uniquely positioned within a vibrant historic seaport with a vibrant commercial and residential township. That strategic proximity, not so dissimilar to the present golf course within the Township, presented an opportunity the business community of that time seized.

The St. George Hotel, located on the hilltop where the St. George’s Club is located today, was opened in 1907, and golf was marketed using the Garrison Golf Links, which was located nearby.

At the turn of the century, in the early 1900s, golf was definitely growing in the USA.

St. George’s Hotel Golf Course at Rose Hill was a 9-hole golf course built in 1924 to provide the St. George Hotel with its own golf course on its doorstep.

It’s worth noting that the St. George’s Golf Course at Rose Hill was located east of Cemetery Hill, north of Harbour Radio to Hidden Valley, just east of Wellington Hill. This is not to be confused with the Garrison [Million Dollar] Golf Links, located north of Gun Powder Tavern on either side of what is now Naval Tanks Road near Tobacco Bay.

Shore Hills Hotel & Golf Course at Ferry Reach

The tranquil and beautiful area of Ferry Reach was an absolute sanctuary of unspoiled Bermuda. Legendary golf course architect Devereux Emmett—who designed both the new St. George’s Golf Course at Rose Hill, Riddell’s Bay, Franscati, and Belmont—also lent his eye to Shore Hills. Today, while no longer a golf resort, the area that encompassed the course and the immediate areas are institutions that are vital to Bermuda.

1970–1981 St. George’s Hotel [Castle Inn]

By the mid-1970s, an aging St. George’s Hotel closed and entered a period of uncertainty. While the ownership and management of the property were under Bermuda Properties Limited, the golf course was on crown lands, a spillover from the colonial and war years. The golf course was run in conjunction with Castle Harbour Hotel, with both properties/golf courses operated under the auspices of Bermuda Properties Limited until both the Hotel and later the Rose Hill Golf Course eventually closed, which paved the way for a new era.

Transition to Modern Day St. George

The Timeshare Act of 1981 set the stage for a collaborative initiative between government and the private sector with the formation of the St. George’s Club [A York Hannover Development], which began construction in the early 1980s. A clubhouse at the entrance of Rose Hill above the former Prison [Senior Training School] was initially earmarked to be a tennis facility in future phases [some phases were never realized], with a first phase of two-bedroom units in a circle surrounding a lovely centerpiece pool.

1970: Holiday Inn Hotel

Ironically, the opening of the newly built Holiday’s Inn Hotel, high on the hill at Fort Victoria, came at a time when the original St. George’s Hotel [opened in 1907] was aging. Its construction created jobs—top comet sailor Gladwin Lambert, then a teenager, recalls traveling to St. George’s from Somerset to accept a job in his trade as a plumber working for Bermuda Mechanical.

Gladwin Lambert said, “I went to St. George’s to work as a 19-year-old teenager—working some days 7 days a week—with the intention of buying a piece of land. Thankfully, after three years working 60–70 hours a week when overtime was available, I successfully purchased a property overlooking the ocean. It was a worthwhile sacrifice, but I was up to the task, as a serious athlete playing football for Somerset Trojans at that time, and we trained to work extra hard and sacrifice.”

The Holiday Inn Golf Course in the 1970s

Meanwhile, attention in St. George had switched easterly to the development of a new hotel. There remained the outline of the original golf course from the 1890s. Allan Lindo, Golf Professional who came out of Castle Harbour Hotel & Golf Club, is to be credited for formulating a golf course around the Holiday Inn Hotel, utilizing the remnants of the Garrison [Million Dollar] Golf Links.

Former top amateur golfer Noel Van Putten Sr., who grew up in St. George as a young boy, remembers both Garrison Golf Links and St. George Hotel [Rose Hill] Golf Course. Mr. Van Putten recalls the Garrison golf course as being “a rough/rugged course.” He even remembered watching the legendary Louis Rafael Kid Corbin practice on the St. George’s [Rose Hill] Golf Course.

Bermuda Government Develops the 18-Hole St. George’s Golf Club

In December of 1980, the Government of Bermuda introduced the St. George’s Golf Course Advisory Committee, which in 1985 would become the Trustee of St. George’s Golf Club. Robert Trent Jones Sr., who designed Port Royal, was chosen from among the bids to design an 18-hole Golf Course using government property between Fort St. Catherine and Wellington, joining the areas forming the two golf courses that existed in 1924 when the golf course at Rose Hill joined the Garrison Links that existed in the 1890s.

St. Regis Hotel & Five Forts Golf Course and The St. George’s Club

Today, the areas that were cultivated into a golf resort more than a half-century ago have seen significant reinvestment, modernization, and the addition of a five-star quality hotel property and amenities that represent the global St. Regis brand.

An outstanding restoration of the 18-hole golf course meticulously produced the most consistent greens all year round in Bermuda on a testy Robert Trent Jones Sr. design.