Just the Place When It Snows

The diamond-shaped sign at left notifies golfers in flight from the wintry U.S. that they are nearing their refuge—the Mid-Ocean Club in Tucker's Town, Bermuda, some 700 miles east of the Carolinas in the path of the Gulf Stream. Bermuda offers many picturesque courses, but none is more famous than Mid-Ocean. Built in 1922, it has long been a favored hideaway for English dukes and earls, although many of its 1,000 members are Americans—politicians, financiers and just plain rich folk. The course itself is charming. Mud hens and ducks run around the ponds and bramblebushes. Casuarina trees form perfect protection from occasional showers, and there are many spectacular ocean views. And best of all, perhaps, there is challenging golf, as the photographs on the following pages indicate.

Mid-Ocean caddies wait for assignments amid lush vegetation that makes course so appealing to U.S. visitors.

Caddie master Cyril Wainwright, as big as a sumo wrestler, hopes to compete in the 1969 British Amateur.

Many players arrive at Mid-Ocean on flower-powered motor scooters, Bermuda's principal transportation.

Atlantic breezes curl tree tops near the 18th green (top) as players finish their round before returning to the clubhouse, where tea and crumpets are served at 4.

ILLUSTRATION

SIX PHOTOS

WALTER JOOSS JR.