The Biltmore Golf Course

Donald Ross designed two 18-hole courses for the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables in 1925; the surviving layout opened on January 2, 1926, with a 36-hole exhibition between Bobby Jones / Tommy Armour and Gene Sarazen / Leo Diegel. By the late 1990s most of Ross's original character had been grassed over by decades of routine maintenance. Brian Silva completed a $5 million restoration in 2007, working from Ross's original handwritten notes, vintage aerial photos, and the original routing plans. He recovered 71 grassed-over bunkers with their flashed faces and brought back the architectural shaping that had been lost. The course is one of only nine Donald Ross designs in the Top 100 nationally and was named the Florida Historic Golf Trail's featured course for December 2017. Public access at municipal-tier pricing makes it extraordinary value — a serious Donald Ross course in greater Miami at $-band rates is unusual in American golf.