Best in Every Country

The best golf courses in Jamaica

By Stephen Hennessey and Derek Duncan

September 19, 2024

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Fort Worth designer Ralph Plummer created one of the Caribbean's most important courses at The Tryall Club in the late 1950s, helping put Montego Bay on the map as a destination before it had paved roads.

Courtesy of the club

Odds are, if you’re reading this, you’re headed to Jamaica on a family or couples vacation and hoping to squeeze in a little golf. Jamaica isn’t the type of popular buddies golf destination like other Caribbean options like the Dominican Republic or Bermuda, though we’re not sure why.

Jamaican golf deserves more attention. It has the legacy—with historically significant designs from the so-called dark ages of course design such as The Tryall Club and Half Moon—to more modern designs such as the White Witch. Stunning views and incredible weather are givens; why isn’t Jamaica golf on the same level as its Caribbean neighbors? We’re here to change that.

Scroll down to discover the best golf courses in Jamaica.

We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and expanded reviews. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher.

Editor's Note: Our Best Courses in Jamaica ranking is the first in our rollout of the Best Courses in Every Country. Check back over the next few weeks for more of our rankings of the best golf around the world.

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5. Sandals Jamaica: Upton Estate Golf and Country Club

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5. Sandals Jamaica: Upton Estate Golf and Country Club

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

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On Jamaica’s north shore, the Upton Estate Golf and Country Club, part of the Sandals Jamaica resort, is one of the country’s oldest golf courses, first established as a nine-hole course before it became an 18-hole course years later. The course suits 700 feet above sea level in the lush hills of Ocho Rios with sweeping views of the mountains and the Caribbean Sea.

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4. Half Moon Golf Club

Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica

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If the White Witch is the splashy, expensive special-occasion restaurant you visit once or twice a year, Half Moon is the reliable corner place where the food is good and the owner knows your name. It doesn't have the waterfront location or spectacular views of its counterparts, but the Robert Trent Jones design is still a stimulating test. Jones took a relatively flat piece of land and molded some challenging green complexes, including the nastiest collection of bunkers on the island. Half Moon's straightforward design is Pinehurst-like in its accessibility for the first-time visitor. And like No. 2, it won't be easy for you to score, but you'll almost always be able to find your ball. --Matthew Rudy

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3. Cinnamon Hill Golf Club

Montego Bay, Jamaica

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Just east of Montego Bay, you’ll find the Cinnamon Hill Golf Course at Rose Hall St. James, Jamaica. Part of the 36 hole Rose Hall Golf facility, sits right next to the White Witch course. Although it shares much of the terrain as its neighbor, Cinnamon Hill features holes that embrace the shoreline of the Caribbean Sea with elements of both coastal links and elevated terrain, designed by Robert Von Hagge. Truly built with the resort player in mind, the golf courses’ enchanting panoramas, ruins such as stone walls, gravesites, and monuments are scattered throughout. Most impressive, an ancient aqueduct that brought water to the 18th-century English sugar plantation. Cinnamon Hill Great House, built in 1747 is the original home of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s family. Majestic Blue, the powerful Hole #5, with the green out into the ocean is both breathtaking and inspiring. Cinnamon Hill is both enjoyable and a culturally significant experience.

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2. White Witch Golf Club

Montego Bay, Jamaica

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The White Witch Golf Course, just outside of Montego Bay, allows golfers to experience exceptional golf while winding through Jamaica’s historic 17,000-acre Rose Hall Plantation. The 18-hole course is carved out of 600 acres of lush greenery and rolling countryside. This par 71, 6,859-yard golf course is characterized by mountainous terrain, cool trade winds, colorful foliage and all but two of its fairways offering stunning views of the Caribbean Sea. Interestingly, the layout is named after the “White Witch of Rose Hall”, Annee Palmer, who was an early 19th century mistress on the former sugar plantation, reputed to have practiced obeah, abused her slaves and murdered three husbands. The course opened in 2000, designed by Robert von Hagge. Each hole is laid out on an untamed, rocky part of the Estate with intimidating carries and tumbling fairways. Don’t blame the ghost of Annee Palmer, which is said to roam the Estate. The golf experience here is first class. Recognized as one of the Caribbean’s top golf courses, The White Witch Golf Course seamlessly combines beauty and brawn for the ultimate golf challenge.

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1. The Tryall Club

Montego Bay, Jamaica

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One of the Caribbean’s first intrepid golf projects remains one of the region’s best courses almost 70 years later. Fort Worth designer Ralph Plummer—whose other notable projects include Champions Golf Club in Houston and Preston Trail Golf Club in Dallas—built his only international course on the site of an old sugar and rum plantation at The Tryall Club in the late 1950s, which instantly gained acclaim when it hosted an episode of the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf in 1962 between Dow Finsterwald and Peter Alliss. Plummer utilized an incredible piece of land—digging a few ponds to create intrigue on the opening six-hole loop that’s mostly flat before golfers head toward the Caribbean Sea for the heart of the round. Renovations were made ahead of the old Johnnie Walker Championship in the 1990s, then Andrew Green did significant restoration and reconstruction over the course of four years, wrapping up in 2018, to help ensure Tryall remains a world-class destination for many years to come.

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