Back
Mid Ocean Club, the iconic Bermuda golf course originally laid out by architect C.B. Macdonald, will embark upon a restoration project helmed by Gil Hanse starting in the fall of 2027.
Originally opened in 1922, Mid Ocean Club has been known as one of the world's greatest golf courses for decades, draped across rolling terrain at the eastern end of Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean approximately 580 miles east of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Spectacular ocean views greet the golfer throughout the course, which is routed through the historic Tucker's Town community. Classic Macdonald template holes like the famous par-4 5th, "Cape," lend old-world charm and playing interest.
Hanse, who has contracted with the club since 2023 in a master-planning process, is the third major latter-day architect to work on Mid Ocean Club's golf course. In the 1950s, Robert Trent Jones, Sr. modernized aspects of the design, and in the 2000s, architect Tom Doak consulted with the club on the re-grassing of its greens and other restoration projects.
Mid Ocean Club marks the third original Macdonald design and fourth Macdonald-influenced course which Hanse and design partner Jim Wagner have been conscripted to restore, following projects at The Creek (consulting since 1997) and Sleepy Hollow Country Club (since 2006) in New York. In the spring of 2026, Hanse & Wagner finished a two-year restoration project at Yale Golf Course, on which Macdonald advised his protege, Seth Raynor.
“C.B. Macdonald is on my personal Mount Rushmore of golf architects, so it’s an honor to have the opportunity to work on another of his courses,” said Hanse, who first saw the course while honeymooning on Bermuda with his wife Tracey 40 years ago. “He only built 10 or 12 golf courses, depending on how many you credit to him. The fact that we now have a significant opportunity at Mid Ocean Club means the world to us.”
Preparations for the restoration project included research by club member Rick Skelly, who discovered what is currently thought to be the only moving image of C.B. Macdonald, captured in a 1926 film reel Skelly found in the Smithsonian Institution's archives.
In the years preceding his death in 1939, Macdonald split time between homes overlooking his design at National Golf Links of America in Southampton, New York, and a home overlooking Mid Ocean Club. In his 1928 autobiography, Macdonald linked the two courses in his memory, writing, "There are no more beautiful golfing vistas in the world than those from The National Golf [Links], unless it be those from The Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda."
Unlike the fiercely private National Golf Links, non-members visiting Bermuda can arrange to play Mid Ocean Club. The club makes tee times available for guests up to three months in advance on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after 9:00 am, with green fees set at $400. I enjoyed a round at Mid Ocean Club in February of 2017 and consider it one of my top 10 favorite golf courses out of the more than 700 I have played.
Other golf course news & notes for July, 2026
MORE LIKE 'PAIN'S VALLEY'... - A golf cart tumbled off of a scenic path above the famed 19th hole at the Tiger Woods-designed course in the Ozarks; luckily there were no serious injuries. [LINK: BroBible]
ON A LESS DANGEROUS NOTE... - Big Cedar Lodge announced the opening of a new, two-acre putting green and putting course adjacent to its 9-hole Top of the Rock par-3 layout. Johnny Morris and son J.P. are credited with the design. [LINK: Big Cedar Lodge]
BORN AGAIN IN SICILY - A 36-hole golf complex that closed in 2027 is being resurrected with the help of two great Spanish golfers. [LINK: Golf Course Architecture]
'THIS COURSE STINKS!' - The City of Honolulu helped clean up foul-smelling "organic fertilizer" deposited next to the first hole of a local golf course [LINK: Hawaii News Now]
N.Y. STATE PARK COURSE RE-OPENED - The State of New York finally found someone to run a 9-holer near the Canadian border [LINK: WWNY]
GOLF-ADJACENT - John Deere, sponsor of last week's PGA Tour event, has been involved with golf for well over a century. [LINK: WQAD]
Comments (0)