In my very short golfing life I have found that it does not hurt to have beautiful surroundings to distract you from a round that may not be going as planned. My theory on that is it's obviously the rental clubs.
I can always remember being on the fairway of the 12th hole at Four Seasons Emerald Bay in Exuma and becoming hypnotized by the almost kaleidoscopic shades of blue that you see when you look out at the ocean the entire length of the 12th. Not to mention that fact that the fairway looked like someone was out there earlier in the morning armed only with a pair of scissors and clipped each blade of grass individually. I must have been in a trance because it was the group of golfers on the tee that were 'encouraging' me, shall we say, to continue my game that brought me back to reality. Upon completing the 12th I went on to the par 3 13th which is on a point that, in my humble opinion, offers the best panoramic view of the ocean on Exuma.
For a complete 180 degrees you see nothing but stunningly beautiful waters in every shade of blue that you imagination can conjure up. Well after my experience on the fairway of the 12th I ensured that I completed the 13th in a timely fashion. After this I perched myself on the tee of the par 4 14th only to be confronted by the problem I had on the 12th, that is stunning water down the entire length of the 14th. There was a little difference with the water here as it was actually in Emerald Bay and made it calm and tranquil. If I did not know any better I would have thought that it was a pane of glass because of how flat calm it was.
When Greg Norman was designing this course he definitely took full advantage of the natural beauty all around as only three holes on the back nine are not on water; the 10th, 17th and 18th. This by no means makes these three holes undesirable to play as they are still challenging and stunningly beautiful with fantastic use of all the natural undulations of the land. It's a good thing that there are a few nice spots on this course to take your mind off the game. That is of course if you are having a less than stellar day out.
