Golfers in and around Tampa, Florida — and even those passing through — are in for a real treat.
The City of Dunedin has completed a $6 million course restoration of its municipal course that has a rich tradition dating back to 1926. What began in 1926 and opened as Dunedin Isles Golf Club on January 1, 1927, and has since dropped “Isles” from its name, is a Donald Ross original that he referred to as “his masterpiece” because of its ideal combination of rolling hills, waterways and other natural hazards that made it possible to achieve his idea of course perfection.
The city took ownership of the course in 1939, saw it listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 and took over its management in 2024. Like a lot of courses built during the golden age of architecture, Dunedin lost its way a little through the years. For example, Ross was a master at creating green complexes and each square foot had a reason and a purpose. Well-intended renovations, though, gradually reduced the green sizes by anywhere between 35 and 50%.
Today, the course plays more in line with the way Ross envisioned, down to the original greens. The complexes, bunkers, fairways and even trees were part of a restoration led by golf course architect Kris Spence, who is well versed in Donald Ross designs.
“At Dunedin, the most pleasant surprise was that I could see the old green extending out beneath those renovations and was able to measure them and compare them to his original plans and notes, and I quickly realized that the original greens had never been destroyed,” Spence says. “They were just buried under this material, so the opportunity to remove the material, excavate and expose the original greens, and restore them was possible. It’s fairly rare that they hadn’t bulldozed them away. There’s no question that by the number of bunkers and the contouring we found in the greens, Ross was clearly given a mandate or a directive to build a top shelf championship layout on that property.”
In 1945, the PGA of America moved its Senior PGA Championship to Dunedin Golf Club where it remained through 1962. Dunedin was such a hot spot that in 1956, the PGA of America moved its headquarters from Chicago to the second floor of the Dunedin First National Bank building for nearly five years.
Spence says the greens’ original contours and elevation changes are back for today’s golfers to experience firsthand.
“They’re as good as any out there with great variety,” he said. “There are some subtle greens on some of the longer holes, and some with a lot more movement, tilt, and complexity to them on some of the shorter holes. It’s what we’re used to seeing out of Ross when he was really on point. In hindsight, it was a blessing that they just buried the greens. It was sort of an archeological dig to go down and find the surface of the old greens and peel off the newer material like we’re peeling the rind off an orange – to reveal that original green. Once we did, we could see the original greens that had been buried for 75 years.”
“Players are going to experience the greens and bunkers how he envisioned it. There’s some difficulty and depth to it all, and the bunkers are very challenging. That’s the unique thing about Ross: He brought the style of golf to this country, which he grew up experiencing in Scotland. There are a lot of different shots golfers won’t experience on other courses. The little bump-and-runs on the ground and the low approaches into the greens you experience in Scotland, you can now experience at Dunedin.”
In terms of green fees, it’s a relative bargain. Rates for 18 holes range from $85 to $130, depending on the season, and there are discounted green fees for local residents.