The Bahamas is not a golf destination in the way the Algarve or Myrtle Beach is a golf destination. There is no concentration of 20 courses within a 30-minute drive. What the islands offer instead is a small number of genuinely excellent layouts set against scenery that no landlocked golf destination can replicate — and, at the top end, one course in Royal Blue that belongs on any serious golfer's bucket list.
I have been sending golfers to the Bahamas for over fifteen years. The mistake most people make is booking a Nassau resort expecting something like the Dominican Republic or Cancun — resort after resort with multiple courses apiece. The Bahamas is not that. It is a very good golf destination if you go in knowing what to expect: one or two exceptional courses per island, combined with some of the best beaches and fishing in the Atlantic. Build the itinerary accordingly and you will not be disappointed.
The green fees below are 2026 rack rates for the peak winter season, roughly December through April. Summer rates are typically 20–30% lower. All prices are in US dollars, the standard currency throughout the Bahamas. Most courses include cart hire in the quoted fee.
Royal Blue Golf Club at Baha Mar
The finest golf course in the Bahamas by a considerable margin. Jack Nicklaus designed Royal Blue on the western edge of Nassau, integrating native coppice woodland, natural limestone outcroppings, and glimpses of the turquoise Atlantic into what is fundamentally a demanding strategic layout. It opened in 2018 as part of the Baha Mar resort complex and immediately became the benchmark against which every other Bahamian course is measured. The par-4 fourth demands a precise drive over a rocky wasteland to a fairway that falls left toward native scrub. The closing stretch, holes 15 through 18, plays along and over a series of ponds with the ocean visible beyond. Conditioning is resort-immaculate throughout the year. The green fees are among the highest in the Caribbean basin, but the experience justifies every cent.
Best for: Serious golfers willing to pay for the best. Non-negotiable if you are staying at Baha Mar.
One & Only Ocean Club Golf Course
Tom Weiskopf redesigned this layout in 2000 on the eastern tip of Paradise Island, and the result is among the most scenic golf courses in the Atlantic. The course plays along the Nassau Harbour and the open ocean simultaneously, with water visible from almost every tee box. The signature 18th plays back toward the clubhouse along a limestone ridge with the harbour spread below. Non-guests of the One & Only Ocean Club can book tee times but availability is limited and the resort actively manages pace of play to keep the experience exclusive. Greens are Tour-quality and green fees include a complimentary golf cart. This is a genuine world-class layout that happens to sit on a Caribbean island.
Best for: Luxury golfers staying on Paradise Island. Ideal combined with a two-night stay at the One & Only.
South Ocean Golf Club
The oldest serious golf course in the Bahamas and still entirely worth playing. Joe Lee designed South Ocean on the south-western coast of New Providence in 1969, and the layout has a genuine old-school Caribbean feel that the newer resort courses lack. Several holes play directly along the shoreline with the Atlantic providing both the backdrop and the wind that makes par a genuine achievement in the afternoon. The conditioning does not match Baha Mar or Ocean Club, and the facilities are basic by comparison, but the green fees reflect this honestly. South Ocean is the course for golfers who want to play somewhere with history rather than somewhere with a spa.
Best for: Budget-conscious golfers. Couples combining a beach holiday with a round or two.
Treasure Cay Golf Club
Dick Wilson's 1971 design on Great Abaco Island is the hidden gem of Bahamian golf. Located two hours north of Nassau by ferry or a short flight to Treasure Cay airport, this course is entirely off the resort circuit and plays through native Bahamian pine forest on ground that has barely changed since Wilson laid it out. The low footprint means the fairways are tight, the rough is genuine rough, and the greens are small and heavily contoured. It rewards accurate iron play far more than the power game that suits Baha Mar. Green fees are among the lowest in the Bahamas for a full 18-hole layout. The town of Treasure Cay has excellent fishing and diving if you want more than golf.
Best for: Golfers who want solitude and a course untouched by resort development. Good choice for fishing and golf combinations.
Our Lucaya Golf & Beach Resort
Grand Bahama Island is the most accessible part of the Bahamas from the US eastern seaboard — Freeport is a 90-minute direct flight from Miami — and Our Lucaya is the island's main resort golf offering. Robert Trent Jones II designed the layout with generous fairways, well-placed water hazards, and a routing that uses Grand Bahama's flat interior terrain to maximum strategic effect. It is not as dramatic as the Nassau courses but it is well-maintained, efficiently run, and combines well with the resort's beach and watersports facilities. The green fees are fair for the quality, and the course plays fast enough to complete 18 holes comfortably before the afternoon heat builds.
Best for: Golfers flying into Freeport from the US. Good option for resort stays combining golf with beach and diving.
Cable Beach Golf Club
Cable Beach Golf Club operates as the most accessible and affordable golf option in central Nassau, situated adjacent to the hotel strip on New Providence's north shore. The course has undergone multiple updates over the decades and does not have the design pedigree of Royal Blue or Ocean Club, but it fills a clear gap in the market: golfers staying at the Baha Bay or adjacent properties who want a casual round without driving to the south of the island or paying Baha Mar green fees. The layout is genuinely flat, very walkable, and finishes adjacent to the beach. Green fees include cart. Not the course of your life, but perfectly decent for an afternoon round after checking in.
Best for: Casual golfers staying on Cable Beach who want a quick round without the Baha Mar price tag.
How to plan a Bahamas golf trip
Nassau is the right base for the vast majority of golfers visiting the Bahamas. The international airport on New Providence is well-served from the US (Miami, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte), the UK (direct from London Heathrow via British Airways), and Canada. Paradise Island is a ten-minute bridge crossing from downtown Nassau, and Baha Mar on Cable Beach is fifteen minutes by taxi from the airport. The two best courses — Royal Blue and One & Only Ocean Club — are both accessible from a central Nassau or Paradise Island base.
A well-structured Bahamas golf trip plays three or four rounds over five to seven days. The standard formula is two rounds at Royal Blue (the course is different enough in morning versus afternoon conditions to justify a repeat), one round at Ocean Club, and a day off the course spent on the water or at the beach. If budget is a constraint, substitute South Ocean for the second Baha Mar round and save roughly $250 without sacrificing too much in terms of quality.
When to go: The Bahamas plays year-round. The peak golf season runs from December through April, when temperatures sit between 22–28°C and humidity is manageable. The summer months from June through September are hotter and more humid, with occasional tropical weather interruptions, but green fees are lower and the islands are significantly quieter. Hurricane season officially runs June through November; most golfers visiting specifically for golf prefer the dry season to avoid any chance of a disrupted itinerary.
Combining islands: Adding Abaco to a Nassau itinerary requires either a domestic flight (Silver Airways, Western Air) or a boat transfer. The Treasure Cay course is worth the journey if your group has four or more days and wants genuine variety — but do not combine it with Grand Bahama as well. Too much island-hopping compresses the trip and turns it into logistics rather than golf. Pick Nassau plus one additional island at most.
Accommodation: The Bahamas does not have a dedicated golf hotel in the way Scotland or the Algarve does. Most golfers stay at one of the Nassau resort properties — Baha Mar (Grand Hyatt, SLS, or Rosewood on the same campus), the One & Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island, or the Atlantis resort. All offer proximity to the top courses and handles their own tee time allocation for guests. Non-guests can always book tee times independently but face tighter availability and occasional rate differences.
For groups of four or more, the Bahamas presents a straightforward value proposition: two rounds at Royal Blue, two nights at Baha Mar, a day at the beach, and a round at Ocean Club is a trip most serious golfers would rate among their best. The logistics are simple — one island, three taxi rides, no transfers between hotels — and the golf is genuinely world-class at the top end. The challenge is keeping costs under control given that Nassau's top courses are priced at a premium versus comparable Caribbean competitors.
Is the Bahamas worth it for golf?
The short answer is yes, with caveats. Royal Blue Golf Club at Baha Mar is one of the best Jack Nicklaus Signature designs in the Caribbean, full stop. If that course alone is on your list, the Bahamas earns its place as a golf destination. The One & Only Ocean Club adds a second world-class option, and the combination of those two rounds with a stay at a genuinely excellent beach resort makes for a trip most golfers would book again.
Where the Bahamas falls short of destinations like the Dominican Republic or Cancun is volume. There is no equivalent of the 25-course cluster around Punta Cana. If you want to play five or six different courses over a week, the Bahamas is the wrong destination. If you want to play two exceptional courses and spend the rest of your time on a world-class beach, it is exactly right.
Budget matters here more than in most destinations. A week in the Bahamas with two rounds each at Royal Blue and Ocean Club, accommodation at Baha Mar, and business-class flights from London will cost a family of two comfortably above £6,000. That is not unusual for a luxury golf trip, but it is more than an equivalent week in the Algarve or the Costa del Sol. The exchange is scenery, exclusivity, and Atlantic beaches that southern Europe simply cannot match.