Apes Hill Barbados – the luxury golf resort and real-estate community – has unveiled a new state-of-the-art Performance Centre providing a world-class instruction hub that is unrivalled in Caribbean golf.
The luxury resort, which recently soft-opened its reimagined 18-hole championship golf course to its members, has undergone extensive investment since being purchased by Canadian businessman Glenn Chamandy in 2019. Following the layout’s redesign – masterminded by legendary architect Ron Kirby – the Performance Centre represents another major step in the evolution of Apes Hill Barbados.
Aided by the prowess of Tim Cutshall – the president of Iasports LLC, a global leader in designing hi-tech teaching facilities – the Performance Centre features two state-of-the-art coaching bays equipped to improve every aspect of a golfer’s game. Both bays are tailored to a different specific focus, and they combine to create one of the most comprehensive golf development experiences anywhere in the world.
Apes Hill Barbados’ Performance Centre utilises some of the most celebrated technology in the industry, including Swing Catalyst, golf’s most popular video analysis software. In one bay, coaches can blend feedback from cameras and a highly sensitive balance plate to find and correct even the smallest nuances in a golfer’s swing.
Meanwhile, the centre’s PuttView interactive putting mat is the perfect domain for players to hone their short game and scoring skills, with augmented reality projections and a tracking system to analyse every aspect of a putt. Tailor-made challenges develop core skills such as accuracy in an engaging and entertaining way. Through interactive games such as those offered by PuttView, the Performance Centre aims to make golf accessible for players of all ages without compromising the offering for more advanced golfers. The second teaching bay at the centre boasts the same analysis capabilities, as well as a bespoke fitting unit.
An extensive range of fitness equipment allows coaches to assess a player’s physical stature and condition with regards to their golf and recommends personalised training schedules to take their game to the next level. This approach highlights Apes Hill’s commitment to training every golfer individually, no matter their current ability, as they strive for improvement.
Jody Addison, Director of Golf at Apes Hill Barbados, said: “We want to tick every box when it comes to game improvement and that means for every type of player.
“Tim Cutshall has built a reputation as the best in the business when it comes to designing high-end teaching facilities and we are proud to have worked with him on the development of our new Performance Centre – which is unrivalled in the Caribbean.
“Players, whether they are just starting out on their golfing journey or play professionally on Tour, are always looking for instant and responsive feedback to help them improve – and we have all the technology needed for that to make teaching engaging and more effective.
“Until now, elite amateurs in the Caribbean would have to travel to the States to hone their game in a teaching facility like this, but now they don’t have to. Meanwhile, for novice and intermediate players, the Performance Centre will allow us to work with and tailor individual plans for more robust teaching when it comes to game improvement. It is another exciting landmark in the development and story of Apes Hill Barbados.”
Commenting on the Performance Centre, Cutshall said: “I have worked on hundreds of golf facilities all around the world, but Apes Hill sets itself apart for its location and the design of the building. I have never worked on a design like this and there is nothing like this in the Caribbean.
“Someone can come in here who is a complete novice who has never picked up a golf club, and by the end of the day have a good idea of how to play the game of golf, while a very good player can fine-tune their skill level.
“The Performance Centre would rival anything I have worked on. I would put this in my top five. There is nothing in the Caribbean that can do this. Apes Hill can.”
Standing 1,000ft above sea level, Apes Hill Barbados delivers a complete golf offering suitable for all levels of player. The redesigned course opened to acclaim last year following the completion of Kirby’s work and is beautifully crafted around the surrounding landscape and indigenous tropical forests.
Sustainability remains at the forefront of the resort’s long-term DNA to make it the most environmentally responsible golf course development in the Caribbean. Fairways and tees have been re-laid using the more drought-tolerant Zorro Zoysia grass and the greens with TifEagle. The resistance of these grasses to insects also further reduces the reliance on fertilisation and use of pesticides, with a view to Apes Hill Barbados eventually becoming ‘chemical-free’.
Complementing the championship layout is a family friendly par-3 course, a unique 19th hole to an island green and uncompromisingly high-quality practice and clubhouse facilities.
Apes Hill Barbados is also home to a developing range of accommodation options, with a portfolio of stunning real estate on site alongside golf vacation properties set to allow guests to stay and play from later this year. Visitors can enjoy amenities ranging from a fitness centre and health club to floodlit padel and tennis courts. A world-class spa is in development, creating new ways to relax in the heart of one of the world’s most beautiful and enriching island experiences.
