Created: May 07, 2025 12:38 PM (Updated: May 07, 2025 12:38 PM)
Ja Rule at Port Royal Golf Course (Photograph supplied)
Rapper and musician Ja Rule arrived in Bermuda this week to tour the island’s golf courses with a Black golfers club.
The musician appeared on the social media for Gold Links Golf Club as they played at several resorts and enjoyed attractions.
David Leeks, the club’s president, said the group chose to tour Bermuda after hearing about the island’s golf courses.
He explained: “We love to play great golf courses and have high-end experiences, so we looked and thought ‘what’s a dope experience that we can go to?’
“There was no better place than the sandy shores of Bermuda.”
Members of the Gold Link Golf Club join others at Cafe Lido in Paget. Pictured, from left: Quincy Avery, the director of merchandise, Billy Jones, the director of events, David Leeks, the club president, and Patrick Peterson, the director of membership (Photograph by Akil Simmons)
Gold Links describes itself as a “golf club without a club” and aims to create a community of influential people within the sport.
The group further aims to draw focus on Black golf enthusiasts, particularly because Black people were often not associated with the sport.
Members of the Gold Links Golf Club, alongside Ja Rule, met representatives of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, at Cafe Lido in Paget yesterday.
They were joined by David Burt, the Premier, and Owen Darrell, the Minister of Tourism and Transport, Culture and Sport.
Mr Leeks said that the team was made up of people with diverse career backgrounds, including many music producers, lawyers and athletes.
He added that, by coming from different sectors, it was hoped that a positive message about the sport could be delivered to the respective fields.
Mr Leeks explained: “We’ve learnt that people love to live vicariously through other people and we’re just trying to shine a light on that and use our platform to do that.”
Gold Links’s social-media presence combines tours of golf courses with various celebrities or influencers and skits between the management team.
The group has said in the past that the skits were designed to bring levity to the game.
Patrick Peterson, a former NFL cornerback and the club’s director of membership, said that he appreciated Bermuda for its Black-focused festivals.
He added: “We’re here to not only shine more light on it, but to show people with the same skin colour as us that it’s not only feasible to be in this space but it’s also cool to be in this space.”
Billy Jones, a music industry executive and the director of events, added that it was “only right” to go to Bermuda and visit its renowned golf courses.
He said: “We have followers, so a lot of people see where we play and we just want to experience the world in golf as a whole.
“It was no better choice; we had to check this one off.”
The group was expected to be on the island until today.
