US-based Kiawah Development Partners has announced a new 18 hole golf development on the Caribbean island of St Kitts.

The course will form a cornerstone of a new 2,500 acre resort called Christophe Harbour which will include a mega-yacht harbour, marina village as well as an impressive collection of restaurants, shops, boutiques, luxury hotels, oceanfront and hillside properties and residential villas.

Ground was broken on the course, to be designed by Tom Fazio, in November. Opening is planned for 2011. The island's Prime Minster, Dr Denzil Douglas, who attended the groundbreaking, said: "Christophe Harbour will be among the finest in the world, and part of a resort that will make St Kitts and Nevis one of the most desirable destinations in the Caribbean." The course, set to be open for play in 2011, will be built atop a volcanic ridge and along a natural inland cove. Planned over 250 acres, the course will be 7,250 yards from the back tees.

Fazio said: "The striking landscape here allows us to take full advantage of both the mountain ridges and lower cliffsides. Golfers will enjoy the incredible panoramic views across the ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and over the harbour and to Basseterre and Nevis. The drama of the landscape variation and the views will make this course different from any other in the Caribbean."

This article first appeared in issue 15 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2009.