Abaco was the last of the Donald Steel and Co. courses commissioned by Peter de Savary, a highly prized collaboration that stretched from the Scottish Highlands across the United States to the idyllic setting of Abaco in the Bahamas.

"Scottish links course in the tropics" was the marketing description of 18-holes on the shores of Winding Bay that now lives up to its billing. However, it took plenty of blood, sweat and tears to reveal its true worth.

A few years ago, the land was a dense jungle that needed patient clearing but the golfing paradise that emerged was never in doubt. Links courses rarely enjoy significant changes of level and, at Abaco, the first 14 holes are relatively flat except for the undulations on fairways that can only be found in sight of the sea. Several holes come close enough to the coral strand to cause distractions to the golf but the elevated finishing holes are classics in their own right that are likely to earn future fame.