“Traveling Golfer”
April 2014
CINNAMON HILL GOLF COURSE
MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA
From Majestic blue waters to thick lush mountains, Cinnamon Hill plays like two courses in one. Located between the verdant Jamaican mountains and the stunning Caribbean Sea, the 400 acre course sits adjacent to the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa.
The all-inclusive resort is perfect for your Cinnamon Hill visit and it offers plenty of activities with a host of restaurants, bars, grills and action stations throughout. The Soothe Spa is an ideal respite for couples or individual treatments and the evenings include excellent live entertainment. During the time of my visit Children 12 and under stay and eat free. You can unwind in tropical comfort in stylish rooms and suites that boast the rhythms and colors of the island, sumptuous bedding and many breathtaking views.
In fact, all of the rooms are situated amongst landscaped courtyards and lawns. So, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy the greenery.
The front nine holes of the course are open and rather flat with beautiful views of the Caribbean Sea. The back nine are hilly with elevated tees and greens, tree- lined fairways with undulating greens.
Above: #17 fairway
The course (previously known as Three Palms Ocean Course) is a 1969 Hank Smedley design that went through a redesign in 2001 by partners von Hagge and Baril. Hagge and Baril took full advantage of the spectacular views of the Blue Mountains which are visible on holes 10 thru 18. The elevation variations throughout also give you the sense of both a links and inland course.
A whole lot of history enthralls this course. Let me take you back a bit. Cinnamon Hill was built in 1747 and country music icon Johnny Cash once lived in a home that he purchased there.
Interesting, Cash wrote about Cinnamon Hill in Cash: The Autobiography:“For more than a century this was a sugar plantation worked by thousands of slaves who lived in clusters of shacks all over the property. All that remains of those people now, the metal hinges from their doors and nails from their walls, lies hidden in the undergrowth on the hillsides or in the soil just below the manicured sod of the golf course that loops around my house. I doubt that the vacationers playing those beautiful links have any idea, any concept, of the kind of life that once teemed where they walk—though perhaps some do, you never know.” (page 34).
On the score card, each hole has a specific and defining name. Hole #4 is a 168 yard par 3, called DEAD AND GONE.
This is in reference to the burial site of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her family. The first of twelve children, Elizabeth (1806-1861) was born to a Jamaican plantation owner and grew up to become a well-known poet and writer and she referenced anti-slavery sentiments in several family letters.
According to family archives, her mother’s parents owned Jamaican sugar plantations, ships trading between Newcastle and Jamaica, a brewery, flax spinning mills and glass works. But it was her maternal great-grandfather, Edward Barrett (1734-98), who owned Cinnamon Hill along with Cornwall, Cambridge and Oxford Estates on Jamaica’s Northside— totaling more than 10,000 acres. There were also racially mixed members of the Barrett family, from her great uncle’s quadroon children (by Elizabeth Peters) whom he freed and educated in England far beyond the color and legal distinctions of Jamaica. I thought you would find this quite interesting. But, that’s a whole other story.
Standing on the #4 tee box, I regained my focus, looking across the water hazard with sand traps in back of the green; you can see why this hole refers to a lot of golf balls as ‘dead and gone’.
Above: Hole #14 is wide open
Above, hole #5 is the signature hole call Majestic Blue. From the tee box the name is appropriate; the fairway looks as if it runs into the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. It is a dogleg left with the green sitting on the edge of the Sea. If you listen to your caddie and trust your execution, you will aim your ball toward the Sea and let the wind blow the ball toward the green.
At this course you will find a well-stocked pro shop and some really great caddies at your service. These caddies, many who have been on staff here for over a decade, are very knowledgeable about golf and the intricacies of this golf course. In fact, they are listed among “The Best In The World” by The Golfer magazine.
Dean McIntyre (L), bag room attendant/starter has been an incremental part of the course for 15 months, now age 29, he’s been playing golf for 12 years and carries a 12 handicap. Dean works closely with Seibert Walker (R), the course pro. Both gentlemen take great pride in their responsibilities and aim to satisfy all guests with their services.
Playing golf with a caddie adds a lot more pleasure to the game, saving you time overall in locating and retrieving miss-hit balls, gauging distances accurately and other tasks that take away from your game focus.
Hole 6 is a 146 yards par 3. It is an intimidating shot; balls short or right will end up in the Caribbean Sea—but, it a beautiful hole.
Hole #15 is called BOND, JAMES BOND. The back drop from this hole is in a scene of a James Bond movie. A close look at this hole and you will see a gorgeous waterfall behind the green.
Cinnamon Hill is a fine-looking and a well maintained course. Thanks to its Director of Golf Keith Stein who is dedicated to making sure it stays that way. The course has four sets of tees that will challenge the high, as well as low, handicap golfer. It measures 5208 yards from the front tees to 6828 yards from the back tees. Slope/rating (66.0/118 to 74.2/136).
If golfing in Montego Bay, Jamaica, this is a course you don’t want to miss playing.
Location:
Cinnamon Hill Rose Hall
Queen’s Highway, Rose Hall
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Talk to you again, soon.
Jessie
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