Blue Tip Golf Course at the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman

The Blue Tip is named after the Great White, and if that's a little confusing, the golf course itself is not.

"The golf course is pretty straightforward, there aren't too many tricks to it," said Assistant Professional Adam Beange. "You can see what you've got to do. You can see around the doglegs and where the pin is."

The Blue Tip is a private course designed by Greg Norman, aka the Great White Shark, available only to guests of the Ritz-Carlton here on sunny Grand Cayman, an increasingly popular tourist destination in the eastern Caribbean, north of Jamaica, south of Cuba and east of Eden.

Since it's private, the course is untrammeled by the tourist hordes that pour out of the cruise ships that call on the island. You can scarcely find a ball mark on the pristine greens, and the course has the superb conditioning and excellent, little flourishes the Ritz-Carlton is known for.

The course only averages around 15-20 rounds a day, unless a large group takes up residence, so it's easy for the Blue Tip to keep its shine. The ultra-green paspalum grass is a beautiful contrast to the blue sky and white-sand bunkers, all framed artistically by swaying coconut palms.

The only problem: It's a nine-hole course. It is a superb nine-hole course, but a nine-hole course just the same. There is talk, officials say, of adding another nine, which would go a long way toward making this a more legitimate golf destination.

Still, nine-hole courses have a certain attraction. If the holes are memorable, you can look forward to playing them again. The Blue Tip is such a course.