Mahogany Run Golf Course, Virgin Islands (USA)

Mahogany Run Golf Course is located on the northern shore of St. Thomas, offering scenic views of the ocean, hills, and even the neighbouring U.S. and British Virgin Islands. The most noteworthy part of the course is the famous ‘Devil’s Triangle’, a three-hole stretch of challenging play!

Designed by world-renowned architects George and Tom Fazio the course opened in 1980 and since then has golfers, non-golfers, celebrities, and even presidents to its challenging fairways and lush greens. Carved out of a gentle valley that rises and falls from 80 to 200 feet above sea level as it traverses up and down the valley and along a ridge overlooking the clear blue Atlantic Ocean and the mountains of St. Thomas.

Mahogany Run Golf Course is a par 70 layout that is short at 6008 yards but is deceptively challenging thanks to elevation changes, strategically placed bunkers, small greens, narrow fairways, and prevailing Caribbean trade winds.

The front nine at Mahogany Run Golf Course is regarded as the easier of the two nines, but it’s no walk in the park.  You’ll need to manage elevated tee shots, sharp dog legs, risk reward opportunities, up hill greens, narrow and tight fairways, challenging approach shots, and some small protected greens.

The back nine at Mahogany Run Golf Course has all of the above plus the infamous Devil’s Triangle, which if you survive without loosing a ball, you’ll get a “I survived the Devil’s Triangle Certificate” from the pro shop. These three holes define Mahogany Run and you’ll want to play them again as well as drive some extra balls off the towering cliffs into the Atlantic Ocean 200 feet below.

The greens are a variety of shapes and most are very small and challenging to hit and hold.  They all have some minor slope but nothing too severe, always excellent condition, soft, and ran true. The greens are all protected by mounds, hills and mountainsides, which means you will need to be comfortable playing the hills and the wind looking for a soft bounce to the green.

Most of the fairways have some slope so be prepared for lots of uneven lies and make sure you consider and manage the slope as will as the hillsides.  Some of the fairways are very tight and some are short, meaning you best pull something out of the bag that is accurate or you’ll find par to be very difficult. The bunkers at Mahogany Run are of soft thick sand and thin lips and most of them are protecting the greens.

Mahogany Run is unique and a blast to play and a must play if you are anywhere near St Thomas.