Almost back to normal at Royal Westmoreland

Royal Westmoreland, for those of you now acquainting yourself with the island, is a well-established and popular gated community on the West Coast of Barbados with about 300 built homes ranging from apartments to large stand-alone villas. Although membership is not mandatory, it offers golf, tennis, a gym and beach facility at Mullins as part of the amenities of the development. There are currently about 250 members.

As restrictions continue to relax in Barbados and social and sporting activities have been re-introduced into daily life over the past few months, Royal Westmoreland decided to push forward and squeeze in as many of their regular annual golf tournaments as possible before the conclusion of the membership year in January 2022. The rescheduling of the tournaments resulted in some being played only a few months apart and lots of activity in and around the clubhouse, socially distanced of course.

One of those tournaments is the West Coast Classic which my partner Joyce Bouvais and I won in November 2021. If you know how any net format works, you know I just drove the cart and kept the score while Joyce played out of her skin and brought home the prizes. We defended our title in February 2022 and decided we’d give some others a chance to share the winnings. Prize-giving type gatherings are still banned so, here we are, relishing the moment in spite of that.

Joyce Bouvais and I

Next up, The Buchanan, the most fun tournament of the year (in my opinion) was played in early March 2022 after an unusually rainy start for the end of February and play on scheduled days was washed out after 2 of 5 rounds had been completed. I thought this would be a savior for me with an extra week to work out a few kinks in my swing. Apparently not! And yes, due to my incredibly poor performance I’ve now booked a few sessions with Sean Edey who everyone raves about. I’ll be fixed in no time, right?

Now, why has this particular tournament always been my favorite? Maybe because the match play format lends itself to back-to-back days of banter between teams and I always played with the same fire-cracker of a partner, Janice Fields (member - guest invitational) until I became a member myself. Luckily for us, Janice and I won the shootout 5 years ago and took home the prizes in the last year we were able to play together. This year was special all over again as Covid has limited the numbers allowing for an only members event. The perfect storm 5 years after our big win - Janice and I were reunited again this year for the first (and maybe only) opportunity to defend our title!

Janice Fields and I

These tournaments mark an opportunity for more in-person conversations we’ve missed so much in the clubhouse. As always, it’s a pleasure to catch up with everyone on what’s going on with life inside and outside of the resort.

What’s also great about The Buchanan tournament is that it carries the name of past long standing members, Lady Naomi and Sir Robin Buchanan, who brought this format to the club and contributed towards planning and building up the social atmosphere at Royal Westmoreland from inception. This year they’ve added a prize for the memory of Tony Reid who was one of the pillars in keeping the tournaments organized and on schedule.

I’m also excited that Barbados Sotheby’s International Realty was given the opportunity to sponsor this event so look out for us for years to come!

It’s nice to be (almost) back to normal again. I won’t make all of the events, but I’m trying to get back out there. Check in with me for other updates!