Golf in Bermuda will be greatly enhanced with the imminent arrival of the Tucker's Point Club Golf Course for limited play some time in October.

Course design guru Roger Rulewich is nearing completion of his dramatic redesign of the former Castle Harbour course, transforming the layout into a championship calibre gem.

The human earth mover, who amazes with his ability to transform and mould simple dirt into beautifully contoured tees, lush fairways, greens and bunkers, said that everything was coming along smoothly, and that golfers should well be pleased with the final product.

"The development is coming along beautifully," said Rulewich yesterday, clutching his trademark tobacco pipe. "We had to give up one hole on this golf course, the second hole, where they decided to put some ocean front lots among the development of the property.

"So immediately that created a major problem with the layout of the property, as we had to build a new hole to replace it, which is number 18.

"This is very rugged terrain, and some of the holes on the course had blind shots, where you couldn't see where you were hitting, had a lot of side hill lies, it had some very awkward grades on some of the holes, which is the one thing we started to attack and eliminate the problem.

"The seventh hole was a blind par four, which we actually made into two holes, keeping the old green and converting it into a par three, and built a new green, dropped the tees back and made two holes where there was only one before.

"But now the hole is totally visible as you play it and probably offers one of the more spectacular views on the course, because we backed the tees way up on the hill and you can practically see the whole Island."

Much was has been done to upgrade the greens, with all the putting surfaces having been replaced with TifEagle, a new hybrid Bermuda grass known to provide a faster, truer putting surface.

"Everybody talks about stint metre number, and with a fast green you get up to eight or nine on a stint metre, which really measures how far a ball runs from the end of this device in feet on a free fall basis," explained Rulewich, "so they can actually go out and check all of the greens on a golf course to see how fast they are.

"The tool was really meant to help you get all your greens the same speed, but now it's become a tool to let you know how fast they are, because everybody seems to think that faster greens are better greens.

"I would say that if we could get these greens to eight or nine on the stint metre that would be more than fast enough on this golf course."

Questioned regarding the distance, and the assertion that at 6,361 yards it may not exactly be of championship calibre, Rulewich noted how the layout presented very real challenges, with elevated greens, strategically placed bunkers, and the contoured greens.

"As such no, but this is very deceiving on a course like this,' said Rulewich, who has also added 16 new bunkers while doubling the size of six, 10 new men's tees, and seven new ladies tees, "because of the terrain you're playing over there are times when it may not sound long, but when you're playing into a slope and your ball doesn't get much run, and there's an elevated green these distances become longer than you might think looking at the scorecard.

"There was no real opportunity to break into a lot of new ground here, there wasn't much land, and in Bermuda land is very scarce anyway, but we stretched holes out as long as we could. We haven't been able to amplify the yardage tremendously, and I don't even know what the final measurement is right now. If we are able to hold enough yardage as before, then we'll be alright."

The new course is set to contain five par three holes, three par fives and 10 par four holes, for an overall par 70.

The initial opening will see nine holes being made available, however limited outside play will be available only to those introduced and sponsored by a member or, in certain conditions, by the management of the club.

Of course, a great course needs solid maintenance, and it is this area where Rulewich rates Tucker's Point above all others, as a state of the art, Toro computerised irrigation system, and a new one-acre, four-million-gallon irrigation lake will keep the fairways and greens lush all year round.

Additional amenities will include a new driving range, clubhouse, an informal grill room and bar, pro shop and locker rooms.

General membership for the club is expected to commence this fall.