Barbados may be a compact island, but its west coast holds one of the densest collections of high-end golf in the Caribbean. The best Barbados golf courses sit within a short drive of each other in the parish of St. James, where former sugar estates and limestone quarries have been reshaped by some of the game’s best-known architects. Here is a look at the island’s leading layouts and what sets each apart.
Royal Westmoreland: Robert Trent Jones Jr. on the Platinum Coast
Royal Westmoreland is the island’s best-known golf community and, for many visitors, the first name on the list. The estate began in 1994, when Yorkshire businessman Bill Rooney bought the property and commissioned Robert Trent Jones Jr. to design a championship course on what had been sugar cane fields. The course opened in the mid-1990s, and the estate has since grown to about 750 acres, with more than 200 homes, a clubhouse, spa and racquet facilities, and beach access at Mullins Beach.
The layout climbs and falls across the hillside above the west coast, and one of its strongest selling points is the view: the sea is visible from most, if not all, of the holes. Golf Digest counts 98 bunkers on the course, along with frequent elevation changes. Former quarry walls frame holes five and six, and two of the par 3s, the 12th and 15th, stretch beyond 200 yards.
Ranking site Top 100 Golf Courses currently places Royal Westmoreland first in Barbados, while Golf Digest ranks it second on the island.
Sandy Lane: The Green Monkey and the Country Club
Sandy Lane, the landmark resort in St. James, offers 45 holes. Its original Old Nine dates to the hotel’s opening in 1961, and after a group of Irish investors including J.P. McManus, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier bought the resort in 1998, Tom Fazio was hired to design two new 18-hole courses.
The Green Monkey
Opened in 2004, the Green Monkey is Fazio’s showpiece and one of the most exclusive rounds in the Caribbean. Built inside a former limestone quarry, it features sheer rock walls and dramatic changes in elevation, and it has been reported as one of the most expensive golf courses ever built. The signature par-3 16th measures 226 yards and includes a bunker shaped like a green monkey. Play is reserved for resort guests, which adds to its mystique; Golf Digest ranks it the No. 1 course in Barbados.
The Country Club
The Country Club, which opened in 2001, is the resort’s other Fazio course. It features five lakes, sea views and water in play on both the ninth and 18th holes. It also has the island’s strongest tournament pedigree: the Country Club hosted the 2006 WGC-World Cup, won by Germany.
Apes Hill: The Highland Alternative
Set inland on high ground in St. James, Apes Hill offers something no other Barbados course can: elevation. The club sits roughly 1,000 feet above sea level and bills itself as the only elevated golf resort in the Caribbean, with long views across the island toward the coast.
The championship course was redesigned by the late Ron Kirby and reopened in 2022. It plays as a par 71 of 7,041 yards and winds past gullies, coral caves and native trees, where Barbados green monkeys are a regular sight. Golf Digest highlights the par-3 fifth, cut into a stone cliff, and a stretch from the 12th through 14th that the club likens to an Amen Corner. A bonus island-green “19th hole” is used to settle matches, and a nine-hole par-3 course called Little Apes adds a shorter option. The club says the course is Audubon certified and irrigated from a 58-million-gallon rainwater reservoir, with drought-tolerant zoysia grass, according to Apes Hill.
Barbados Golf Club: A South Coast Alternative
Not every round on the island has to be on the west coast. Barbados Golf Club in Christ Church, on the south coast, originally opened in 1974 to a design by Commander John Harris and reopened in 2000 after a redesign by Ron Kirby. It is laid out as two nine-hole loops, with water in play on several holes, and it sits about 10 minutes from the international airport, making it a convenient first or last round of a trip.
Planning a Trip Around the Barbados Golf Courses
Because the island’s premier courses are clustered on the west coast, visitors can play several in a week without long transfers. Access rules vary: the Green Monkey, for example, is reserved for Sandy Lane guests, while Royal Westmoreland is built around a private residential estate. It is worth confirming tee time policies directly with each club before traveling.
For a relatively small island, Barbados offers impressive range, from quarry drama and hilltop panoramas to classic resort golf, and Royal Westmoreland and its neighbors make a strong case for the island as one of the Caribbean’s most complete golf destinations.