RENDEZVOUS BAY, ANGUILLA | You would think that a man who never attended college and later became a billionaire after founding one of the most successful retailers in American history would have realized all of his dreams. But 82-year-old Dick Schulze is still chasing pots of gold.
“I had always wanted to own a golf course,” he said. “I’ve also wanted to own a steakhouse for the longest time.”
Now, the native Minnesotan who transformed a handful of stereo equipment stores into the Best Buy chain has done both, thanks to his purchase more than two years ago of what is now called the Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club.
Set on the sugar sand beaches and cerulean waters of the Caribbean, the 300-acre property features 27 holes of golf, all designed by Greg Norman, as well as an expansive practice facility and a newly opened learning center. The resort also boasts 178 suites in clusters of whitewashed buildings, a sumptuous spa and fitness center, two clubhouses and seven restaurants, one of which, not surprisingly, is a classic American steakhouse called D. Richard’s.
Clearly, Schulze has a big imagination. And what he has created here likely will fulfill the dreams of those who visit Aurora Anguilla as deeply as they have satiated his.
I was smitten as soon as I checked in. Stopping in the middle of an open-sided lobby, I gazed down a long, slender pool that pointed toward the beach on the southwestern tip of this low-lying isle and the sea beyond. And as I listened to the rustling of palm fronds in the trade winds and reggae music playing from a pair of speakers, I decided I would spend the rest of the afternoon beachside, on a shaded chaise lounge. After all, I was not due to play golf until the following morning.
Suddenly, I was jarred from my daze by a hotel staffer named Sherman who smiled as he handed me a rum punch. I hesitated for a moment, because I have found welcome cocktails not to be very welcoming because they are invariably far too sweet – and too weak – for my tastes. This rendition, however, proved to be a triumph, with perfect parts dark rum and fresh fruit juices and nutmeg grated on top.
Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory with a main island a mere 16 miles long and 3½ miles wide as well as several smaller cays that are largely uninhabited.
It also boasts a permanent population of fewer than 16,000 and is run internally by a premier and a Parliament. The British also appoint a governor to represent the monarch, which these days is King Charles III.
The soil here is quite sandy and not very fertile, which means that there is limited local production of fruits and vegetables. But the seafood that teems in Anguilla’s bountiful waters makes for superb eating, whether conch or spiny lobster, mahi-mahi, red snapper or grouper.
Tourism fuels the economy, with travelers largely flocking to the territory to frolic on its singular beaches and snorkel and scuba dive around the reefs and shipwrecks that surround it. The sailing is superb, too, which is not surprising considering it also happens to be the national sport.
Aurora Anguilla has the only golf on the island, whose name is Spanish for “eel” and likely came from the Amerindians of South America who settled here centuries ago. One track is a par-72, 18-holer that can be stretched to nearly 7,200 yards but also set up to accommodate players of all ages and abilities. It opened two decades ago and was revamped by Norman not long after Schulze bought the resort in December 2020. And the other is a nine-hole short course situated on 19 acres. Composed of one par-4 and eight par-3s, it came on line last autumn.
Having visited Anguilla more than 30 years ago, I was well aware of just how good the beaches here are, to say nothing of the swimming and snorkeling. So, I made this trip mostly about golf. And after only a few days, it rocketed into my top-five favorite places to tee it up in the Caribbean.
Oddly, it was COVID-19 that brought Schulze to Anguilla for the first time.
“When the pandemic hit, I asked our real estate team to look for opportunities to acquire properties that made sense from a business standpoint,” he said. “I thought some good ones might become available with all that was going on in the world. A few months later, they came back with some ideas. One of those was the CuisinArt Resort and Spa on Anguilla. It had been created by Lee Rizzuto, who was a co-founder and chairman of Conair, which owned the Cuisinart brand. Rizzuto had passed away, and his heirs were looking to get rid of the property. So, I went down to see it.
“I played the course and liked it a lot,” Schulze said. “I had been a partner in the Pebble Beach Company and always liked the natural beauty of the Golf Links. And this course reminded me of that, especially with the great views of the Caribbean.”
Eventually, Schulze sat down with Norman to discuss the golf course and what he could do as far as remodeling it.
“Fun” was the operative word when it came to my rounds on both courses. Which made me glad that golf is now an option at this Caribbean isle.
“I asked if he could make it feel like Pebble, and he said he could, but that it would be expensive,” Schulze said. “Then, I asked about conditioning. I had played Augusta National a few times in my life by that point and was impressed with the conditioning there. He said the Anguilla course could be a whole lot better. I then asked if he could make it as good as Augusta. He said yes, but added that it would cost a lot of money to take it to that level.
“In time, he convinced me to spend the money to do those things,” Schulze said. “And after looking at everything else on the property, I said, ‘Let’s buy it.’
“Greg is opinionated,” he added. “But he certainly knows the game and how to design a golf course. He did a good job with this one, and he made it better.”
According to Schulze, Norman talked frequently during the renovation process about making the International good enough to make one of the top-100 world lists.
“We took out huge swathes of underbrush and cut down a lot of trees to open up views,” Schulze said. “We cleaned up the dunes, created a number of sandy waste areas, installed a new irrigation system and brought the fairways and greens back to their original sizes. But the routing stayed more or less the same.”
At one point, Norman suggested that Schulze build a short course, to give families and new golfers a place to play as well as to attract more serious players who liked the idea of having more golf to play. The designer also thought it might bolster Aurora’s bona fides in that quest for a spot on the top-100 lists.
Out of that conversation, Avalon Links came to be.
As for the big course, Schulze decided to call it the Aurora International Golf Club, or just the International. With regards to the property itself, it became the Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club.
“Aurora represents the dawn of a new day,” Schulze said. “My family came up with that name. Avalon refers to the earthly paradise of King Arthur lore and speaks to how we see this short course as a playground and a place to rejuvenate.”
Golf on a sun-splashed Caribbean island is a pretty good way to rejuvenate, and there was a lot about the International that perked me up, beginning with the tee shot on the par-4 first hole down to an ample fairway, with the Anguilla Channel and the island of St. Martin visible to the south. A trio of chickens pecked the ground for food behind me as I took a practice swing. And then I hit my drive high into the deep blue sky.
“In many ways, it reminds me of something you might find in the Melbourne Sand Belt, which is not surprising given that Greg designed it ... The only difference is the water views, which are spectacular ...”
Aurora PGA club pro Ron Philo Jr.
No. 10 has a similar feel – and a similar look off the tee, only this hole is a par-5 with a green backed by the channel that boasts more shades of blue than Starry Night. Pelicans coasted by, holding their awkward-looking bodies in the wind, and waves crashed against the shore, sending frothy water high into the air. The 11th tee backs up to that same channel. No. 13 stood out for the way that Norman used a rock outcropping as a sort of cross bunker.
“The shot values are so good out here,” said my playing partner, Ron Philo Jr., a PGA club professional at Aurora who is good enough to have competed in 10 major championships. “There is room off the tee, and the golf course is very accessible. But the green complexes will challenge you.
“In many ways, it reminds me of something you might find in the Melbourne Sand Belt, which is not surprising given that Greg designed it,” Philo said. “The only difference is the water views, which are spectacular here but don’t exist there. This course really fits nicely in terrain, too, and as a result feels very natural. In some places, it looks like it just spills into the sea.”
The water views are plentiful on the Avalon Links, and I was stunned at how I used almost every club in my bag on what essentially is a par-3. Part of that was because of the trade winds, which caused me to go up or down a couple of clubs on occasion. But it was also the different lengths of the holes, with some as short as 84 yards and as long as 326. I appreciated the double green on Nos. 1 and 8 and the massive sandy waste area on the most southern portion of the track. And though the Redan-like third hole was rather diminutive at 90 yards, it was so much fun to play that I played it twice in the same round.
It makes me want to come back again. Only next time, I’ll make sure that I get in plenty of beach time as well.
Top: Aurora International Golf Course
COURTESY AURORA ANGUILLA