Communist Golf: Will the Greens Reopen in Cuba?
© marko8904
Cuba has one golf course – and it's 85 miles from Havana, in the city of Varadero.
There's a story about a game of golf in 1961 between Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Guevara shot a 127, Castro a 150. The par was 70. A few months later came the Bay of Pigs. And shortly after that golf pretty much died in Cuba.
Perhaps it is about to be reborn. The Varadero Golf Club (18 holes, the country's only remaining golf course) hosted two one-day pro-am tournaments this past weekend to showcase Cuban golfers.
Golf provides Communist Cuba with a dilemma. The sport is seen there as something like the personification of decadence – leisure for the rich. On the other hand, Cuba could use golf to attract tourism dollars and to get foreign visitors out of Havana and into the countryside.
Cuba's tourism ministry says it wants to build 10 new golf courses around the country. USA Today is covering the story…