TROU AUX BICHES, MAURITIUS | Perched in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the tiny island of Mauritius is a mere 38 miles long and 29 miles wide.
It would be easy to overlook and yet it quietly packs a punch.
Once a crucial safe harbour for traders sailing between Europe and Asia, its location is now driving a new wave of tourism, golf and finance because it lies on the midpoint between Africa and Asia, while historical links with Europe are retained.
The island’s golf courses tend to fall into one of two categories. The first are resort layouts that have to negotiate a landscape of volcanic rock. The second are coastal courses typically framed by tropical plants and trees, with mountainous backdrops and clear blue sea.
So many of the resorts on the island offer one type of course, but Beachcomber in the northern town of Trou aux Biches is unique in being able to offer visitors both.
The sense of there being something different about this golfing spot is first revealed on the drive from the airport. For the most part, the country’s golf courses and resorts are south of the Moka mountain range that cuts across the island in a west-to-east direction from the capital city of Port Louis.
To venture north through these dramatic peaks, which resemble enormous bat wings, requires a remarkable plunge through the middle of them on a freeway that sweeps down toward the distant sea.
The DP World Tour headed in this direction for the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in 2022 and returned there just before Christmas last year.
In theory it was the fifth start of the new season (which always gets a head start on the calendar), but in reality it also works as an opportunity for the players to experience a little end-of-year luxury.
It isn’t just the northern location that separates Trou aux Biches Beachcomber from other resorts on Mauritius. The resort feels like a more integral part of the community than others – a walk along the beach takes you to local bars, restaurants and shops rather than into a resort next door.
On the other hand, Trou aux Biches Beachcomber is also very like all Mauritian resorts in offering an immediate and welcoming embrace.
Arrival is greeted with a cooling towel, a local mocktail, and a view across restaurants and pools to the sparkling waters of the Indian Ocean that will wonderfully dominate the entire stay.
Within minutes I’m in the sea for a quick, freshening dip. After that I take lunch at La Plage, the restaurant overlooking the beach, to eat fresh fish that had been out of the water only a little longer than me.
Meals eaten with a soundtrack of gentle waves splashing on the sand would become a habit. At breakfast I’d ponder that there was no land between myself and India, the best part of 4,000 miles away. At lunch I’d choose Mauritian food barbecued on the sand. At dinner I’d pick Indian curries with a local twist, almost always fish.
So common did the water theme become (add swimming, sea kayaking and snorkelling), it was something of a surprise that I never found water in all the time I was on the golf course.
Trou aux Biches has privileged access to Mont Choisy Golf Club, the host club of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
The course designer, the respected Zimbabwean Peter Matkovich, knows the island well and is said to have been excited when he first eyed the property.
The terrain is a combination of volcanic rock and former sugar cane fields. Matkovich has produced a modern examination which offers width to accommodate the typically blustery sea breezes, and features plenty of fun risk and reward.
The back nine sneaks into a wooded grove via short par-4s that offer opportunity for those courageous enough to take the attacking line.
While the town of Trou aux Biches has grown from its fishing village origins and is typical of the golf and tourism boom, Mont Choisy is at the forefront of Mauritius’s growth as a financial bridge between Africa and Asia.
The highlight of the round is the par-3 15th with a semi-island green that has a bunker/beach and a stunning scarlet backdrop of Mauritius’ famous flame trees.
The transfer to Trou aux Biches takes a mere few minutes and Beachcomber has another course at its Paradis resort on the east coast.
It’s not a championship-level test but it completes the unique double for the resort because it has all the tropical island beauty any golfer could dream of, overlooked by high peaked mountains with the ocean literally lapping up against the course. Shot are played beside and sometimes across a lagoon.
It’s a marvellous location to play golf, the kind of spot that leaves you laughing to yourself at the sheer magic of it all.
While the town of Trou aux Biches has grown from its fishing village origins and is typical of the golf and tourism boom, Mont Choisy is at the forefront of Mauritius’s growth as a financial bridge between Africa and Asia.
Moreover, this corner of the island is known for its enterprise.
In the early 19th century it led cultivation of sugar cane and later in the century it used aloe vera in ways that transformed that plant’s value around the world. Now it is an environmentally and socially sustainable urban hub with Smart City certification.
The Middle East has been transformed by golf, tourism and business – and by its position between Europe and Asia.
So, now, Mauritius is seeing those three sectors grow, driven by its neat location between two continents hungry for expansion.
Trou aux Biches Beachcomber is a little bit of golfing luxury on an island whose past, present and future has been connecting all corners of the world.