As he sat in the Salt Spray restaurant overlooking “The Playground” golf course designed by Tiger Woods at Jack’s Bay Club, Tommy Turnquest couldn’t help but smile.
“We’re bringing the magic back to South Eleuthera. And we’re already beginning to see that,” said Turnquest ,executive deputy chairman and chief executive officer of Jack’s Bay Club, a 1,200-acre property that in addition to the current Playground 10-hole short course, will be home to the first Nicklaus Heritage golf course that is slated to open in the second quarter of 2025. “Some other places in the Caribbean have two golf courses… but none have a Tiger and a Bear.”
Jack Bay Club and theNicklaus Design course will be the flagship property for Nicklaus Brands’ newest venture , which honors Jack Nicklaus’ seven decades as one of the world’s more influential course architects.
Site of the future ninth hole at Jack’s Bay Club on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas
When it’s complete, Jack’s Bay Club will offer members four miles of oceanfront property and a wide array of refined amenities, including the Atlantic Club, beach club, multiple restaurants, golf comfort stations, a golf clubhouse, golf practice facilities, sports pavilion and spa village.
Exclusive real estate offerings at Jack’s Bay will soon be available through its Founder’s Program and will include a total of 24 beachfront and ocean view homesites ranging in price from $1 million to nearly $3 million. Upon completion, Jack’s Bay will provide a new luxury living experience unlike anything else in the Bahamas.
Equally as important – if not more so – Jack’s Bay Club will be the spark that rekindles the revitalization of South Eleuthera. In the 1950s and ’60s, understand, South Eleuthera thrived as a playground for the rich and famous, with the centerpiece being the Cotton Bay Club. But over the past 30 years, North Eleuthera, featuring hotels and resorts at Spanish Wells and Harbour Island, became more popular thanks to the area’s two airports. The Rock Sound area of South Eleuthera, despite having an airport of its own, as well as some of the 100-mile island’s more stunning beaches, was an afterthought.
Jack’s Bay Club is posed to change all of that, as it is eventually expected to draw more international flights to Rock Sound airport, which has a 7,200-foot runway that can accommodate private planes and commercial aircrafts of most sizes, and has access to South Florida with Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE) via Aztec Air and Makers Air, which flies three times per week.
“We’re working on increasing the flights,” said Turnquest, a former chairman of Bahamas Air. “Once we know we have the demand, the airlines will follow.”
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Photo: Tommy Turnquest