Cuba has exactly one championship golf course. One. An island of eleven million people, just ninety miles from Florida, with more unspoiled coastline than almost anywhere else in the Caribbean, yet the country's entire championship golf inventory consists of 18 holes in Varadero and a scrappy nine-hole course outside Havana. Still, 2026 might be the most interesting year Cuban golf has had in decades.
The One Course That Matters
Varadero Golf Club is the whole show, and to be fair, it is a legitimate one. Les Furber, a Robert Trent Jones protégé, designed the course in the late 1990s along a 3.5-kilometer stretch of the Hicacos Peninsula. The routing hugs the coastline, winding past the historic Xanadu Mansion, the former DuPont family estate that now serves as the clubhouse. The par-72 layout features saltwater lakes connected directly to the sea and a mix of parkland and coastal holes that will challenge golfers more than they might expect for around a hundred dollars a round.
Here's the good news: golfers who have played the course for years say it has never been in better condition. Canadian visitors returning from Varadero this spring have been praising the course conditioning, which has historically been its biggest criticism. Cuba seems to have realized that if it only has one championship course, it needs to make that one exceptional.
A Real Tournament Calendar
The bigger development is that Varadero now has a genuine tournament season. Meliá, the Spanish hotel group that operates several resorts surrounding the course, is hosting four golf events in 2026. The Meliá Las Américas Golf Cup opened the season on May 20–23. Two Golf Weeks are scheduled for June 17–24 and September 16–23, while the Meliá Cuba Golf Cup wraps up the calendar on October 14–17.
The annual Cuba-Canada Golf Cup also returns each April, attracting a loyal group of Canadian golfers who treat Varadero as their winter home course. Together, these events are creating a legitimate tournament scene.
The resort has also introduced a Girls Golf Weekend featuring clinics, mini tournaments, and wellness activities such as sunset yoga, signaling that Cuba is beginning to view golf as a serious tourism product rather than simply a niche attraction. The Grand Cuba Golf Tournament, the country's flagship international event, has recently attracted more than 140 players from over 50 countries. For a nation with roughly 120 native golfers, that is a remarkable achievement.
The Ghost Courses
Now for the part longtime Cuba watchers have heard before.
For more than a decade, the Cuban government has promoted ambitious plans for a golf development boom. The number most often mentioned is 27 new golf courses.
The headline project is Punta Colorada in western Pinar del Río, a massive 3,300-hectare development with Spanish investment that promises multiple golf courses, three hotels, a 300-slip marina, and what developers describe as the world's first golf hole located in the sea. Other proposed projects include Carbonera near Varadero, featuring a Tony Jacklin design backed by British investors, Bellomonte east of Havana with Chinese investment, and several additional developments around Cienfuegos.
Construction has officially begun at Punta Colorada, where developers describe a 25-year build-out. Still, anyone who has followed Cuban golf knows these projects have been "three to five years away" since around 2009. As one Havana caddie famously joked: "When the new courses open, show me. Then I'll believe it."
The Elephant on the First Tee
Here is the reality for American golfers.
You cannot simply book a vacation to Cuba to play golf. U.S. travel restrictions remain in effect, tourism is not a permitted travel category for Americans, and regulations continue to change depending on the administration. That is why the majority of Varadero's golf visitors come from Canada and Europe, and why nearly every future golf development is banking on eventual access to the American market.
If that day comes, Cuba could instantly become one of the most compelling golf destinations in the world. Before the Cuban Revolution, Havana featured two Donald Ross-designed courses and even hosted PGA Tour events. Legends such as Sam Snead and Ben Hogan competed there. Combine that history with Cuba's coastline and its location just 90 miles from Miami, and few destinations can match its long-term potential.
Should It Be on Your Radar?
If you are traveling with a Canadian or European passport, Varadero is a legitimate value destination today. The course is reportedly in the best condition it has ever been, green fees remain significantly lower than many Caribbean destinations, all-inclusive resorts line the fairways, and an expanding tournament calendar provides plenty of opportunities to build a golf trip around competitive play. Just keep expectations realistic beyond the golf course, as Cuba's infrastructure challenges remain very real.
For Americans, Cuba belongs in the same mental category as that classic muscle car you've always planned to restore. Not this year, probably not next year, but you keep checking on it anyway.
When the door finally opens, the golfers who move first will experience a destination that has been largely frozen in time. I plan to be among them, clubs in hand, with a box of Cuban cigars waiting for the trip home.
Until then, Cuban golf remains one outstanding championship course, a growing tournament calendar, and a long list of ambitious blueprints.
For Cuba, that still counts as momentum.
