Hello,
there were a couple of golf courses before revolution in Cuba with the El Country Club de la Habana being the most famous and prestigious one.
This is one of the first pictures of the Country Club of Habana (American Golfer, April 1913):
A most interesting article about Golf in Cuba was published in the American Golfer Febr. 1932 by Gerry Swinehart (is that a real name?) mentioning Frederick Snare was the father of Golf in Cuba:
"CUBA, that merry little tropical island ninety miles off the southeastern tip of the United States, where "Nineteenth Holes" flourish three to the block and in the corner grocery as well, has a George Washington, too. Famed for his wisdom, his justice, his literature and his statesmanship, Señior Jose Marti has already found everlasting glory in the pages of history.
But we are concerned with another George Washington in Cuba—the father of his country club, as it were. We are concerned with the story of Frederick Snare of New York and Havana, father of golf in Cuba, to whom thousands of American divot-diggers will pay homage again this season as they follow the pitted pellet over the Island Republic's eight sporty courses. For golf in Cuba, unlike Topsy, did not just grow. Golfo, as the Cubans say, came to Cuba only because it was mothered, fathered, nursed and brought to maturity by the captain of the United States Golf Team.
When this month or next you step out on the No. 1 tee at the beautiful Havana Country Club, six thousand, three hundred yards of palm-fringed rolling fairway before you, you may not be thinking of Frederick Snare. When you step up to that long bar in the club house, or step to the orchestra at tea-time, you'll probably not be thinking of him. And when you fly or motor seven hundred miles down the island to the Santiago de Cuba Country Club, nestled high and nestled low in the valleys and hills of the Sierra Maestra Mountains, you'll probably not have him on your mind either. Yet you can thank him for it all...."
Country Club of Cuba 1950s (photo from my own private collection)
"... The magnificent eighteen-hole course over which you play today was designed, Mr. Snare said, by Donald Ross. Without doubt it is one of golfdom's most beautiful and inspiring layouts. With a total yardage of six thousand, three hundred, it offers a par of only 72—a number made more impressive by the fact that the course record is 70, despite the best efforts of such sharpshooters as Gene Sarazen, MacDonald Smith, Archie Compston, Alec Smith, Bobby Cruickshank, Tommy Armour, Jim Barnes, George Voigt, Oswald Kirby, and Johnny Farrell who shares the record with the young Cuban star, Tony Carillo, Jr. But four holes have ever been made in one. They are No. 3, 154 yards; No. 9, 200 yards; No, 13, 40 yards, and No. 16, 200 yards..."
By 1932 there were 7 golf courses on Cuba:
"But golfers who swing the niblick in Cuba each winter owe Frederick Snare for more than the comfort and the pleasure of only the Havana Country Club.
Today, seven other courses dot the island playground, one of which, the Santiago de Cuba Club, was built only three years ago through the direct encouragement and aid of Mr. Snare, who is its honorary president. Surrounded by the Sierra Maestra Mountains, the "Rockies of Cuba," this unusual nine-hole layout is replete with natural hazards and gorgeous scenic charm. The course lies over a rolling terrain for a distance of 2,950 yards and has a par of 34. It is said that this course is, in the matter of altitude, at least, about as close to heaven as your golfer ever gets. More than seven hundred miles from Havana, the club until this season was little known and rather inaccessible to Americans. This year, however, with the opening of the new $100,000,000 Cuban Central Highway, it is only a pleasant three-day automobile journey away. Or by 10-passenger Curtiss Airliners flying on daily schedules, you can make the trip in six and a half hours. Charles Hunter, formerly assistant pro at the Havana Country Club, is professional. A new clubhouse is under construction."
"Meantime, there are courses in Cuba today at Pinar del Rio, west of Havana; at Camaguey, on the road to Santiago; at the Central Hershey Sugar Mill, near Havana, and at other interior points, all reached by highway.
In Havana, there are also the Almendares Country Club, nine holes, par 36; the Rovers Club, a British organization having a nine-hole course with a par of 34, and last, but not least, the Jaimanitas Yacht and Country Club, formerly known as the Havana Biltmore Yacht and Country Club."
From what I know it seems that today's "Club de Golf Habana", a 9-holer that survived revolution, is the former Rovers Athletic's Club Golf Course just mentionned above.
But what happened to all these golf courses? – In 1960 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara decided to have the new Cuba’s National art school built on the premises of what was once Cuba's premier golf and country club.
Hope you find this information interesting – I will post some more photos in my next reply.
Greetings from Germany,
Christoph Meister