The current tourism season in Anguilla is expected to see more visitors travelling to the island with the reopening of the Flag/Temenos Golf Course following its long and controversial closure. The other portions of the vast property, comprising the unfinished residences and the hotel, as well as the club house, remain closed pending the possibility of public acquisition or arrangements with a new investor which would also involve the golf course.

Mr. Banks congratulating Mr. Adam Aron

At present the Greg Norman Championship 18-hole Golf Course, described as one of the best in the Caribbean, has been taken over by Cap Juluca under an arrangement with the Flag/Temenos developers who closed the project in the wake of the recession. Adam Aron, who rescued Cap Juluca itself from near failure and restored it to its once world-renowned status, told the gathering at the reopening of the golf course on Thursday, December 17, that he and his two partners had taken it over for at least one year. They have provided another five million dollars needed to run the golf course.
“When Cap Juluca got involved five months ago, there was not a live blade of grass on the golf course,” Mr. Aron told the small gathering. “All the tees were gone, all the greens were gone…and little trees had grown up because the course had fallen to such neglect. Our golf team has brought the course back and it is amazing what a million gallons of water a day and the Anguillian sun could do to bring the golf course back.”
He revealed that he and his partners had spent 40 million dollars two years ago in restoring Cap Juluca which was now in great shape. “We then started to take over the golf course as an added challenge and we knew we would need additional funding,” he went on. “When I told them about the opportunity for Cap Juluca to bring the golf course back, one of my partners said this is going to be sensational. If you are going to be selling real estate, to have a golf course as an amenity for home-owners is very important.” He made the point that with the golf course, Cap Juluca was now financially strong.

Mr. Aron introduced the two persons responsible for the golf course. On of them is Erin Stevens, the Golf Superintendent, whose duties include growing the grass and who was employed after a consultant from California said the course could be restored before Christmas. “It is not a perfect golf course yet, but it is surely a very beautiful, scenic, wonderfully-designed course and it is green enough,” he said. The other significant person at the course is Paul Veneziano, a member of the PGA, who has operated golf courses in the Caribbean and Central America and who gave up a full-time job with TRoon Golf in the United States to come to Anguilla.

Golf carts and players

Mr. Aron acknowledged that the golf course would not have opened if it had not been for the work of the Government of Anguilla, generally, and specifically Victor Banks, Minister of Tourism. He said not only did they put Cap Juluca in a position to be brought back as a jewel of Anguilla’s tourism industry, but had helped to bring Flag and Cap Juluca to the table to get the golf course restored and opened. Mr. Aron was of the view that the golf course was very good for Anguilla in two ways, the main one being that tourism should be much stronger and healthier with benefits to everyone including the island’s general economy.

“Ours is the only hotel that is funding the golf course operation, but this is not a Cap Juluca exclusive golf course,” he stressed. “We dearly embrace the guests at all the hotels. We have asked all the hotels on Anguilla to actively market Anguilla as a golf destination so that their hotels and the island are stronger…and we hope they will send over all their guests.”

Mr. Banks told Mr. Aron that it was unbelievable what he had achieved since he came to Anguilla in January 2008. The Minister thought the developer was courageous to get involved in Cap Juluca when he was up against so much litigation surrounding a very stressed property, and having to find a lot of capital to restore the resort to its former glory. “Everything that you said you were going to do, you did; so it was not really very much doubt in our mind when you decided to take on the opening of the golf course,” Mr. Banks addressed Mr. Aron. “You are one of the greatest marketers I have come across for a long time, perhaps in my entire life. You have done an excellent job in selling Cap Juluca in a very short space of time. We are now approaching two years since you came on board and what you have done is tremendous. A lot of it could not be done without the great staff you have at Cap Juluca; and there is evidence you have done everything to make the staff happy and your management team have also supported that as well.”

Mr. Banks said that all stakeholders in Anguilla, and the Government, were happy with the reopening of the golf course. He pointed out that the island’s tourism marketing representatives in North America had reported that their website had received over four thousand hits on the first day of the news that the golf course opened.

Extended view of a section of the golf course

“There is a lot of work still to be done. We are not sure of the way it will end up, but we hope that after your first year of managing the golf course… we will be able to enter a longer lease arrangement with whoever is the ultimate owner of the property. The Government has to be very responsible and cautious going forward. There is a lot of frustration in the wider community as a lot of Anguillian resources have been put into it. I think that we, as usual, will be able to survive this and make it work.”

Other Government officials at the opening ceremony were Acting Governor, Stanley Reid, Attorney General, Wilhelm Bourne, and Tourism Adviser, Donna Banks. In addition to Mr. Aron of Cap Juluca, were Director of Finance, Ricardo Perez, and former Manager, Hans Maissen, who now works part time for the company as Assets Manager based in Miami. Others present included Nigel Roydon, Manager of Malliouhana Hotel and Spa, and Val Banks, CEO of National Bank, who were largely there as local golfers.

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