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In very general terms, courses built during the dark age of golf
architecture (1950-1970) were long in length and short in both
character and charm. The bunkering was unimaginative, repeatedly
forcing the same kind of aerial approach shots. Monotonously
long holes resulted in the birth of the dreaded ‘7,000 yard
championship course’ phrase. As with any generalization, there
are exceptions with one of the most important being Ralph
Plummer’s design of Tryall Golf Club.

Opened in 1958, the course measured 6,324 yards. Yet, thanks in
large part to its sloping greens and the ever present trade
winds, golfers of the highest calibre have failed for over five
decades to tear it apart. Recognized early on as the Caribbean’s
first course of genuine character, Shell’s Wonderful World of
Golf staged a match here in 1962 between Dow Finsterwald and
Peter Alliss. Finsterwald won the match with a score of 72 to
Alliss’s 75. Twenty years later, a desire by the club to host
important events manifested itself and the Mazda Champions LPGA
- Senior PGA were held at Tryall from 1985-87. This event was
followed from 1988-1990 with the LPGA Jamaican Classic, which in
turn set the stage for the Johnnie Walker World Championships
from 1991 through 1995.

Just prior to the 1991 Johnnie Walker World Championship, a
sports columnist not so shrewdly predicted that one of the
professionals would break 60 as this par 71 course still
measured below 6,800 yards. That year’s winner was Fred Couples
and not only did no one break 60 but Couples was the sole person
in the field to break par for the four day event. The subsequent
winners of the Johnnie Walker (Faldo, Mize, Els, and Couples
again) were all major championship winners, which suggests a
quality course.

What then are Tryall’s attributes that promote the best to
flourish? Certainly, the course’s island setting adds much to
Tryall’s allure and inspires one to play his best. However, it
speaks little as to the lasting merits of repeated games here.
The trade winds which average 20 miles per hour pose the same
question as the winds in the United Kingdom: can the golfer
control the trajectory of his shots? The golfer with the talent
to do so shines here. Those who followed Nick Faldo during his
1992 win of the Johnnie Walker marvel to this day at his
complete ball flight control with every club in the bag.

The first six holes at Tryall are routed near the coastline, and
apart from the romance of such a location, Mother Nature didn’t
imbue this flat portion of the property with many natural
features. Thus, Ralph Plummer did what every good architect
should: he created the character but he did so in a manner that
is peaceful to the eye. The land in no way looks tortured and
the holes sit peacefully upon the property. In The Golf Course
by Ron Whitten and Geoffrey Cornish, Whitten notes that ‘Plummer
was known for the attractiveness of his layouts and for his
remarkable ability to estimates cuts and fills and shape greens
and bunkers by eye.’ The only man-made water hazards on the
course are ponds found on the first six holes, namely at the one
shot 2nd and in the landing areas for the second shots on the
par five 3rd and 6th. (Forty three years later, the Club
acquired the property to build a true coastal hole – today’s 4th
- which is also a water hole, albeit a totally natural one).
Plummer used the fill from the ponds to build up the tees and
greens a few feet, thus providing the necessary drainage on
these first six holes. With no extraneous land movement from tee
to green, Plummer’s low profile design at Tryall still enjoys a
timeless appeal. His complete absence of clutter is most
appreciated, especially relatively to other courses built after
WWII. Plummer didn’t build three bunkers when one would suffice.
Plummer didn’t follow Robert Trent Jones horrific example at
Oakland Hills six years prior in 1952 of pinching in fairways
with bunkers on either side. Instead of reducing width and
ruining playing angles by overbunkering holes off the tee, nine
of the fourteen nonpar three holes at Tryall originally had no
bunkers off the tee (the 3rd, 8th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th,
17th, and 18th). In addition, Plummer eschewed containment
mounds and framing green sites. The challenge at Tryall
intensifies the closer one gets to the greens – a tenet of
classic architecture that allows the greatest range possible of
golfers to enjoy a course (in fact, so fierce where Plummer’s
orginial green slopes that the greens on holes 7, 8, 11, 12, 13
and 16 were softened when Club switched from the old bermuda
grass greens to today’s swift tifton dwarf greens).

Starting at the 7th, Mother Nature’s natural attributes are more
profuse and Plummer took full advantage as he perfectly draped
the holes onto the rolling foothills of the property. As with
his other best west works like Preston Trail Golf Club, Great
Southwest Golf Club, and the Cypress Creek Course at Champions
Golf Club, Plummer’s routing makes intuitive sense to the golfer
as one good hole follows another with the green to tee walks
always short. The golfer’s judgement is continually taxed at
Tryall on the variety of approach shots required: the uphill
approach at the 9th, the sharply downhill one shot 10th where
one doesn’t want to be long, the uphill approach at the 11th,
the downhill one shot 12th where one wants to be long, the
uphill approach at the 13th, the downhill approach to the 14th.
The continually shifting demands keep the golfer off-balanced, a
great attribute for any architect to achieve (though few rarely
do) as it means the golfer will never tire of playing there.

Ran Morrissett is an avid golfer and host of the popular website
www.golfclubatlas.com that features course profiles highlighting
the finer virtues of golf architecture found in over 140 courses
world-wide.

**for more information visit
www.jam-boree.com, Jamaica’s visitor website, the complete
source for travel and tourism information featuring hand-picked
deals on vacation packages, hotels, villas, flights and car
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This safari is centered on the plains of Western Kilimanjaro and then moves across to the remote Southern Serengeti. Western Kilimanjaro camp is set in a private concession which means just that – it is private and not a public park. It covers 75,000 acres and borders Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. The landscapes here consist of floodplains, hills and acacia woodland. This destination is amazing as the camp is luxurious and game spotting is done against the dramatic back-drop of Mount Kilimanjaro. In the evening enjoy the stars of the southern sky and the amazing sight of Mount Kilimanjaro illuminated by moonlight.

The Southern Serengeti is an incredible place from January through to March, the wildebeest migration is in the area and during this time the hordes amass around the Kusini Camp for the birthing of their young. This is the world’s last great migration and so can be said to be unique, without any danger of exaggeration.

Day 1 & 2 – Kambi ya Tembo in the Western Kilimanjaro

Kambi ya Tembo (Elephant Camp) looks across the plains at Kilimanjaro and offers accommodation in ten tents with en suite facilities. Each luxury tent is under the shade of a massive, old acacia tree and combines the luxury and warmth with the best cultural and natural experience possible. Full board here includes tea/coffee local beers, wines, sprits and laundry service.

Day 3 – Transfer to Tarangire National Park

Travel from West Kilimanjaro and stop in Arusha for lunch in this small bustling town in Northern Tanzania.

After lunch travel for ninety minutes to the Tarangire National Park and to River Camp Lodge which is close to an old Baobab, that dominates the dry riverbed. This camp is made up of 18 Luxury Safari Tents within 25,000 hectare concession which is set aside for conservation by the local Maasai community of Minjingu.

Day 4 – After breakfast enter into Tarangire National Park for the full day, stopping for picnic lunch in the Park.

In the late afternoon drive to Ngorongoro Farm House. This is an exclusive lodge facing the Ol-deani Volcano, and is set on a huge coffee farm. Three separate and intimate camps of nine comfortable bungalows each are built in the design of an old colonial farm. They are tastefully decorated, using local materials offering an imaginary journey to days long past.

Day 5 – Ngorongoro Crater: the full day is spent exploring the world’s largest unbroken volcanic caldera. The steep sides of the crater mean that it has become a natural enclosure for wildlife, including most of the species found in East Africa. The night is spent in one of the luxury lodges perched on the rim of the crater – all rooms offering magnificent views of the crater bellow. Day 6 to 8 – Journey to the Southern Serengeti with game viewing en-route. The lodge is Kusini Camp – full board here includes tea/coffee local beers, wines, sprits and laundry service.

The Serengeti would not be the same without the beautiful rock outcrops known as kopjes. The rounded shapes of these ancient granite rocks are the result of cracking and erosion from exposure to sun, wind, and rain. They provide shelter and capture water for a wealth of wildlife and plants. In fact, without such environs, lions and other large animals would be unable to survive the dry season on the plains.

Kusini Camp is perfectly sited in a cluster of kopjes, Kusini is a permanent tented camp blended seamlessly into the delicate environment of the predator-rich plains of the Serengeti. The surrounding short grass plains provide the setting for the most spectacular natural phenomenon in the continent of Africa, the wildebeest migration, during which time the hordes amass around the camp for the birthing of their young.

Day 9 – Leave the Serengeti and drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation and return to the Ngorongoro Farm House.

Day 10 – After breakfast game drive in Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara National Park is home to millions of flamingos, pelicans, storks and other plentiful bird life, as well as hippos that can be observed at close range. Pink flamingo graze by the thousands whilst yellow-billed storks swoop and corkscrew on thermal winds rising up from the escarpment, and herons flap their wings against the sun-drenched sky. This park is also famous for the tree-climbing lions. In addition to the lions, the national park is also home to the largest concentration of baboons in Tanzania.

Return to Arusha and end of safari.

October 1, 2004, 9:50 pm

So we spent our last day here today, the last day of this truly amazing 2 week vacation. Yesterday, after our little beach experience at Cala Llonga we went to the town of Sant Miquel where they have a live performance of folkloric dancing every Thursday evening at 6:15 pm.

The performance was inside the white-washed church’s inner yard and we sat down with another 40 to 50 tourists to watch a group of about 10 children and teenagers who were all dressed up in traditional Ibizan outfits. The boys wore black or white pants with vests over a shirt and red long hats, almost like nightcaps. The girls all wore headscarves and some of them wore traditional Ibizan wedding dresses with 13 layers of skirts!

They performed a number of dances, with the boys jumping and kicking their legs up high, while the girls mostly walked around them, demurely in tiny little steps. Obviously some courtship and wedding dances, the instruments were mostly a flute, a metal instrument that looked like a sword that was used for percussion, plus a little drum. Some of the flutes played were introduced by the Egyptians around stwo thousand years ago. The boys also used very large castanets. Definitely a very interesting experience, in terms of dress, music and dance, Ibiza is a very unique culture, extremely different from the typical Spanish or Andalusian stereotype of flamenco dancing.

Today we went into Sant Antoni where I took a 1.5 hour boat ride (8 Euros) on a glass bottom boat. We went around the south part of Sant Antoni bay to Cala Bassa. A diver was also on board and at one part we stopped and she dove in and brought back a few animals, 2 sea worms, a sea star and a very thorny animal who’s name I forget. We went around the islands off the Bay of Sant Antoni, beautiful area. On the way back, the ship’s crew served local champagne in a unique, curved flask that deposited the drink directly on the recipient’s tongue. Some of the boaters quite willingly partook of the ritual.

We then spent the afternoon at Platja des Comptes where we went swimming and watched a beautiful sunset in front of the little islands off the coast. It was crowded at the beginning, but it thinned out nicely around 3, 4 pm or so and we had more space on the beach. One local man came back from diving with a harpoon and he brought in an octopus which immediately drew a crowd of onlookers from the beach. Just before sunset we went to a smaller little cove where we saw a jelly fish just floating around, against a backdrop of golden rocks, which alerted us to the imminent sunset.

Many people congregated and the sun dropped slowly but surely into the water, just to the right of one of the larger islands off the coast. A fitting evening to our last night in Ibiza. All in all, it’s a beautiful place, just large enough for a week of exploration and compact enough so we never had to do much driving, the biggest distance on the island from one point to another I believe is 40 km.

A great vacation!!!