Biltmore Golf Course

Donald Ross's course at the Biltmore was one half of a 36-hole golf plan for the Miami-Biltmore Hotel and Country Club, the centrepiece of George Merrick's planned city of Coral Gables. Ross's plans are dated 1925; they laid out two 18-hole courses, a North and a South, and a practice area on the south side of the hotel, then under construction. Construction was under way in 1924, according to a State Archives of Florida photograph, and the courses opened on January 2, 1926, with 36 holes of exhibition play.

The South Course did not last as part of the hotel. Coral Gables Magazine, drawing on Patrick Alexander's centennial history of the city, records that it fell out of use after a September hurricane and the collapse of the local economy and was abandoned between 1936 and 1944. The North Course, the one played today, stayed with the hotel. When the Army made the hotel a hospital in World War II, the public lost the course: Golfdom reported in July 1944 that it was now the "Biltmore hospital links" under pro-manager Ned Everhart, and that the Coral Gables Country Club had taken up an option to buy the derelict south course, then 15 holes, from the Henry L. Doherty estate for $50,000. Kipp Schulties's history of Riviera Country Club says the new club organized in 1945 and bought the South Course for that price. In 1945 the City of Coral Gables leased the remaining 18 holes from the government at $1 a year, and it was run as a municipal course for decades before the hotel took over its operation.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees (7,112 yards) the course is par 35 out and 36 in, 3,390 yards and 3,722. There are four par 3s (the 2nd, 8th, 12th and 14th), eleven par 4s and three par 5s (the 1st, 15th and 18th). It opens and closes with a par 5, and three of the four par 3s play 232 to 258 yards from the Black tees.

The 350-yard 4th from the Black tees, stroke index 18, is the shortest par 4. All of its sand sits in the last 130 yards, alternating sides, with a bunker at each front corner of a green about 38 yards deep and 32 wide. Golf Club Atlas reviewer Mark Saltzman described the green as kidney-shaped, with back-right pins reachable only from the left of the fairway.

The 465-yard 13th from the Black tees, stroke index 3, swings left in its second half past six fairway bunkers, two of them in the fairway itself, to a green only about 17 yards wide.

The 167-yard 14th from the Black tees, stroke index 17, is the shortest hole, with bunkers across the front and down each side. In 2018 Silva restored a thumbprint-shaped depression at the back of the green that divides the rear into left and right sections.

The 490-yard 17th from the Black tees is stroke index 1. The canal runs down the left of the fairway and then crosses the line from about 65 to 30 yards short of the green, which sits on the far bank behind a bulkhead. Saltzman called its green the wildest on the course, with a strong back-to-front tilt and two sets of humps and hollows.

The 543-yard 18th from the Black tees, stroke index 15, bends left past bunkers and trees to the largest green on the course; GolfPass's Tim Gavrich gave it as about 10,000 square feet, with high-right and low-left sections that Silva restored in 2018.

Ross's Design Here

The site is flat, and the course's character comes from its fairway bunkers. Silva has said that Ross designed the fairways to twist and turn around the bunkers even on straight holes, and that Ross's 1925 routing plan shows more bunkers than the course had before 2018. The plan had 85 bunkers; after the 2018 additions the course has 84. Some of the restored bunkers are deep: Silva describes green-side berms 8 to 10 feet above the bunker floor. The aerials show bunkers staggered on alternate sides of the landing area, as on the 4th, and set in the fairway itself, as on the 13th.

The greens are the other Ross element the restorations went back to. Pike reports that the 2018 work returned the greens to their original sizes and shapes, adding an average of 1,200 square feet each, and restored turtleback contours, run-offs and false fronts. Saltzman noted in 2011 that the par-3 2nd and 8th have greens with a small front section and a larger back, and that a ball landing in the first third of the 5th green runs off the front.

Water is used sparingly. The Coral Gables Waterway, built in the 1920s for gondola trips from the hotel toward Biscayne Bay, comes into play mainly at the 7th, where it follows the whole left side of the fairway and must be crossed on the approach, and at the 17th. The aerials also show water down both sides of the 9th.

Historical Significance

The opening exhibition on January 2, 1926 paired Bobby Jones and Tommy Armour against Gene Sarazen and Leo Diegel; Jones and Armour won 1 up. The Biltmore went on to host a PGA Tour event, known in the 1930s as the Miami Biltmore Open, from 1931 to 1937, won by Gene Sarazen in 1932, Horton Smith in 1935 and Ralph Guldahl in 1936, among others. The event returned as the Coral Gables Open Invitational from 1959 to 1962, with Doug Sanders winning the first and Gardner Dickinson the last.

The course hosts the Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship, which turned 50 in 2013, the Florida Historic Golf Trail notes. Its alumni include Tiger Woods, who won it in 1991 according to Links, Bubba Watson and Lexi Thompson. The 2026 edition was played at the Biltmore on January 3-6, 2026, and won by Tomás Restrepo at 270.

The hotel became a National Historic Landmark in 1996, and the Florida Historic Golf Trail made the course its featured course in December 2017.

Changes Since Ross

By the 2000s its bunkers had been grassed over and its greens had shrunk; Links reported that the course had deteriorated badly by 1991.

Silva's first restoration reopened in November 2007, after a reported $5 million project. In his own account, the greens were cored out, rebuilt to USGA specifications and restored to the sizes and shapes suggested by the original green fill pads. About a dozen and a half fairway bunkers had been lost only because bermudagrass had grown over their sand floors; the crew cut the grass out and hit sand. Links adds that the fairways were widened and free-span bridges built over the canal.

Ross's plans came afterwards. Bob Coman, the hotel's director of golf, went to the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst, where staff sent him prints of the 1925 plans and copies of Ross's handwritten notes. Silva said the plan suggested further bunkers, especially fairway bunkers, that had not been restored in 2007. The second project began on July 5, 2018: new bermudagrass throughout, 14 added bunkers, greens enlarged to their original outlines, and new back tees taking the course from 6,772 to 7,112 yards. The course reopened at the end of 2018.

The routing is Ross's, with few exceptions according to Pike. Trees are a later layer: Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Irma in 2017 both brought many down.

Uncertainties

• Attribution of the second course: the Florida Historic Golf Trail page says Merrick hired Langford & Moreau for Course No. 1 and Ross for Course No. 2. The Department of State's own 2017 release, Alexander's history, Kipp Schulties and Golfdom in 1944 credit Ross with both, and Langford & Moreau's Coral Gables course is the nearby Granada, opened in 1923. This listing follows Ross for both.

• Start of construction: the Historic Golf Trail page says 1924 and the 2017 release says 1925. This listing uses the 1924 construction photograph.

• 2007 sources: the Trail page, the 2017 release, Links and Holland say the 2007 restoration worked from Ross's plans, aerials and notes; Silva, quoted by Gavrich, says the 2007 work went by the green pads and buried sand, and the plans arrived later. This listing follows Silva.

• 2018 reopening: Pike says December 2018, Top100GolfCourses says January 2019, and Golf Course Architecture gives the budget as £1.9 million; no cost is given here.

Sources & Notes

1. Florida Department of State, Florida Historic Golf Trail, "Biltmore Golf Course," https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/courses/biltmore-golf-course - Merrick, two courses, the Langford & Moreau claim, 1924 construction photograph, January 2, 1926 opening match and result, wartime hospital, 1945 lease, 2007 restoration, the 17th, Junior Orange Bowl 50th anniversary in 2013, National Historic Landmark 1996.

2. Florida Department of State, press release, December 2017, https://dos.fl.gov/communications/press-releases/2017/biltmore-golf-course-in-coral-gables-featured-as-florida-historic-golf-trail-course-of-the-month/ - two courses designed by Ross, ground broken 1925, opening match, featured course December 2017, University of Miami women's team.

3. Jimmy Burns, "Miami Area Rediscovers Golf's Cash Value," Golfdom, July 1944, https://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/golfd/article/1944jul36.pdf - Army hospital, the Biltmore hospital links and Ned Everhart, the 15-hole Ross south course and the $50,000 Doherty estate option.

4. Coral Gables Magazine, "The Village Green," excerpted from Patrick Alexander, Coral Gables: The First Hundred Years, https://coralgablesmagazine.com/the-village-green/ - North and South courses by Ross, 1926 opening, South abandoned 1936-44 and sold to Riviera, North stayed with the hotel, public access, Granada by Langford & Moreau.

5. Kipp Schulties Golf Design, "Riviera Country Club," https://ksgolfdesign.com/portfolio/riviera-country-club/ - Ross's twin North and South layouts revealed 1925; Riviera organized 1945 and bought the South Course for $50,000.

6. Richard Humphreys, "Silva leads restoration of Ross course at Biltmore," Golf Course Architecture, June 28, 2018, https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/silva-leads-restoration-of-ross-course-at-biltmore - July 5, 2018 start, new bermudagrass, bunkers per the 1925 plan, 7,100 yards, budget, Silva and Coman quotes.

7. Tim Gavrich, "Renovation at Miami's Biltmore Golf Course brings Donald Ross design back to life," GolfPass, January 18, 2019, https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/articles/biltmore-golf-course-review - Silva's account of 2007 and 2018, Coman and the Tufts Archives, the 4th, 13th, 14th and 18th, rates.

8. Steve Pike, "Steve Pike Anywhere: Biltmore Golf Course," New England.Golf, https://newengland.golf/steve-pike-anywhere-biltmore-golf-course - Coman's visit to the Tufts Archives, 36-hole 1925 plan, guava farm, routing, 23 greens and +1,200 sq ft, 14 bunkers to 84 (85 in 1925), 6,772 to 7,112, practice facility, GPS carts, December reopening.

9. Links Magazine, "Biltmore and Fairmont Turnberry Isle give South Florida a facelift," via NBC Sports, 2008, https://www.nbcsports.com/golf/news/article-links-magazine-biltmore-and-fairmont-turnberry-isle-give-south-florida-facelift - routing retained, fairways widened, greens enlarged, bridges, November reopening, canal and gondolas, Tiger Woods in 1991, condition before 2007.

10. David R. Holland, "The Biltmore golf course in Florida: A Miami-area must-play for the Donald Ross devotee," GolfPass, https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/articles/the-biltmore-golf-course-in-florida-a-miami-area-must-play-for-the-donald-ross-devotee - canal along the 7th and over the 17th approach, trees on the 18th, raised greens, $5 million 2007 project.

11. Mark Saltzman, "Biltmore Resort GC (Ross/Silva) - A Brief Review," Golf Club Atlas, December 26, 2011, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50607.0.html - greens on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 17th; bunkering on the 4th and 13th; the 17th.

12. Golf Club Atlas threads, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,4227.0.html and https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,66736.0.html - the veterans' hospital beside the back nine, Hurricane Andrew; January 2019 reopening and new movement on the 14th and 18th greens.

13. Sven Nilsen, "Reunderstanding Ross," Golf Club Atlas, February 23, 2018, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,65481.msg1565650.html - Donald Ross Society date of 1926, the 1930 Ross booklet entry, the 1925 36-hole plan.

14. The Cultural Landscape Foundation, "The Biltmore Hotel," https://tclf.org/landscapes/biltmore-hotel - canal and gondolas to Biscayne Bay, 36-hole complex, 2007 restoration.

15. Wikipedia, "Coral Gables Open Invitational," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Gables_Open_Invitational - years and winners, with contemporary AP and UP citations; and "Miami Biltmore Hotel," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Biltmore_Hotel - routing retained, $5 million, November 2007 reopening.

16. Top100GolfCourses, "Biltmore," https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/biltmore-hotel - former municipal course, July 2018 closure and January 2019 completion, reviewer's recollection of the hospital era.

17. Jason Scott Deegan, "Miami Nice," GolfPass, 2017, https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/galleries/miami-nice-play-the-historic-donald-ross-course-at-the-miami-biltmore-hotel-in-coral-gables-florida - Hurricane Irma tree damage.

18. AmateurGolf.com, "Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship," https://www.amateurgolf.com/amateur-golf-tournaments/4160/junior-orange-bowl-international-golf-championship - 2026 dates, venue and winner.

19. The Biltmore Hotel, "Championship Golf Course," https://www.biltmorehotel.com/miami-golf-resort/ and City of Coral Gables, "Golf," https://coralgables.com/golf - Ross 1925, Jim McLean Golf School, University of Miami women's team, pro shop and locker rooms, public access.

20. Florida Historical Marker, "The Coral Gables Golf and Country Club," 2005, https://markers.flheritage.com/home/details/510 - Granada course by Langford & Moreau, opened January 15, 1923.

21. Greens Visited scorecard, course-tour geometry (OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and hole aerials (USDA NAIP via USGS The National Map) - all pars, yardages, stroke indexes, shapes, hazard positions and green sizes.