Golf in Miami: the back story

Miami’s oldest courses were laid out with the cities themselves in the 1920s, and most of the best are still public. Here is how a visitor gets a game.

Built with the boom

Golf arrived with the land boom of the 1920s. On Miami Beach, the developer Carl Fisher opened Bayshore Golf Course in 1923 as part of his Alton Beach subdivision, designed to lure wealthy winter residents from New York, Indianapolis and Detroit. Today it is Miami Beach Golf Club.

In Coral Gables the founders did the same: Granada opened in 1923 and is the oldest operating nine-hole course in Florida, and Donald Ross designed the Biltmore course in 1925, beneath the hotel’s famous tower.

Owned by the public

Many of these courses now belong to the cities and to Miami-Dade County. Miami Beach runs Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy Shores, Coral Gables runs the Biltmore and Granada, and the county runs Crandon on Key Biscayne and Palmetto in the south. All take tee times from visitors, and most have a restaurant and a golf school.

Private clubs

Some of the grandest clubs are private and open only to members and their guests, among them La Gorce on Miami Beach, Riviera in Coral Gables and The Links at Fisher Island.

Miami’s best-loved courses belong to the cities and the county, so a visitor can book a tee time online.

When to play

Winter and spring are the high season, when tee times go quickly. Summer is quieter, but afternoons are hot and stormy, so play early and keep an eye on the sky.

Our advice: book a morning tee time online, start with Crandon for the bay views or the Biltmore for the history, and leave time for lunch at the clubhouse.