JOHN Steinbreder, a writer for the golf magazine Golfweek, has praised the PGA of America for picking Bermuda — and Mid Ocean Club — as the host of this year’s Grand Slam of Golf.Steinbreder, who is an occasional visitor to Bermuda, said awarding Bermuda as the site of the 36-hole tournament was an “inspired decision”.

Under the headline ‘Mid Ocean magic’ Steinbreder writes in Golfweek’s latest issue: “Its stature among the golfing cognoscenti is even further enhanced by the regular sightings of celebrities on its links — whether actor Michael Douglas or New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, both of whom have homes on the island — and the tales still told of notable visitors who played there in the past, such as a slew of former US Presidents, Dwight Eisenhower and George HW Bush among them, as well as Winston Churchill and the Duke of Windsor.”

***TUCKER’S TOWN, Bermuda — The PGA of America gets it right when it comes to picking venues for its tournaments. Choosing Whistling Straits for the 2004 PGA Championship, Baltusrol in 2005, Medinah in 2006 and Southern Hills for the 2007 edition, speaks to that. So does the association’s selection of sites for its lesser events. Such as the inspired decision to hold the next two PGA Grand Slams of Golf at the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda.The first of those two-day competitions featuring the year’s four major championship winners takes place in October, and Mid Ocean offers a compelling place to hold what is not a very compelling competition. And hosting that tournament gives the British colony — just 600 miles off the coast of North Carolina, and only a two-hour flight from New York — the chance to highlight what a great golfing destination it is.

After all, this is a place where there are more courses (eight) per capita (total population of 60,000) than any other spot in the world. It also boasts mostly sunny skies year-round, with temperatures rarely dipping below 60 degrees. Plus, visitors staying at the island’s major hotels can access even the most private layout.There is no disputing that the best layout in Bermuda is Mid Ocean. Designed by Charles Blair Macdonald, who is going into the World Golf Hall of Fame this year, and constructed by his frequent partner, the equally noteworthy architect Seth Raynor, it was built on the northeast portion of this fishhook-shaped isle only 22 square miles in size.

Much of its acclaim, of course, is rooted in Macdonald laying it out the way he did his other masterpieces, such as the National Golf Links of America on Long Island and Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois. Which was using the design concepts of many of the great holes of Europe and the British Isles as the basis for his work.

There is a magnificent Cape hole at Mid Ocean, for example, and a superb Redan as well as an intriguing Eden and a classic Biarritz. There is also the extraordinary setting among the coral cliffs and verdant valleys between Harrington Sound and Castle Harbour, with stunning water views; gorgeous stands of palms as well as hibiscus, all-spice, oleander and rubber trees; and strong winds that often make the par-70, 6,500-yard layout play much longer than the numbers on the card would otherwise indicate.

Those factors are among the primary reasons why Mid Ocean, which opened for play in 1924, is regularly ranked among the best courses in the world.

But its stature among the golfing cognoscenti is even further enhanced by the regular sightings of celebrities on its links — whether actor Michael Douglas or New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, both of whom have homes on the island — and the tales still told of notable visitors who played there in the past, such as a slew of former US Presidents, Dwight Eisenhower and George HW Bush among them, as well as Winston Churchill and the Duke of Windsor. Even baseball great Babe Ruth teed it up at Mid Ocean, and he famously lost 11 balls there one day trying to drive the green on the par-four 5th.

I also like the story of how Mid Ocean came to be. Essentially, Macdonald turned his eye there because he and his golfing buddies at the National began looking for another place to play regularly when the 18th amendment, which established Prohibition in the US, went into effect in 1920.

In other words, they needed a spot where they could drink after they had finished their rounds, which shed new light on the importance of the 19th hole.

Around the same time, one of the owners of the Furness, Withy Steamship Company, Sir Frederick Lewis, began looking into developing the island colony and asked Macdonald to accompany him on a trip there to see about building a golf course. In time, according to George Bahto in his superb biography of Macdonald, ‘The Evangelist of Golf’, the developers found suitable land, and Macdonald and Raynor drew up a routing after travelling to the island together.

Raynor oversaw construction, and it took about two years to build. The firm of Warren and Wetmore designed the splendid clubhouse. Olmstead Brothers — the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead, who layed out New York’s Central Park before passing away in 1903 — was the landscape architect.

While Mid Ocean will be getting all the attention when the Grand Slam takes place next fall, golfers should be aware that it is only the best of a very good bunch. Neighbouring Tucker’s Point, for example, which former Robert Trent Jones associate Roger Rulewich recently redesigned, is nearly the equal of that track, and Port Royal, a public layout on the South Shore laid out some years ago by Trent Jones himself, is regarded by some as even better.

Another must-play is Riddell’s Bay in Warwick, a deceiving gem as the par-70 measures a mere 5,710 yards. But wait until those island winds blow. And believe me, they do.

So, celebrate the wisdom of the PGA to take its Grand Slam of Golf to such a wonderful and historic course as Mid Ocean.

And consider all the layouts on that island the next time you think about a golf trip, for there are few destinations better.

Mid Ocean Club gets thumbs up from US<\p>mag