DUNEDIN, Florida – Dunedin Golf Club, the historic Donald Ross-designed course owned by the City of Dunedin (just north of Tampa), has been awarded “Renovation of the Year” by Golf Inc. in the public course category.
Through the guidance of golf course architect Kris Spence, a leading Donald Ross expert, and a $6 million course restoration, the course has been restored to its roots of the Golden Age of Architecture.
“Being recognized by Golf Inc. as the top public golf course renovation is very exciting, especially for a municipal course,” said Blair Kline, General Manager of Golf Operations.
“This recognition is a testament to the support we have received from the City of Dunedin, which had the vision of how a restoration of this magnitude can impact the local community, along with the work that Kris Spence did in bringing back the greens and bunker complexes that Donald Ross originally intended.”
Dunedin Golf Club was built in 1926 and opened for play on January 1, 1927, under the name Dunedin Isles Golf Club. At the time, Ross referred to it as “his masterpiece” and attributed it to its ideal combination of rolling hills, waterways, and other natural hazards that made it possible to achieve his idea of course perfection. In 1939, the City of Dunedin took ownership of the course, and in 2024, it took over the management operations.
Over the years, several renovations took the course further away from what Ross had created. This included the green complexes shrinking 35-to-50 percent, taking away from the strategy Ross intended. In 2014, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now, thanks to this latest and meticulous restoration of the green complexes, bunkers, fairways, and tees, every golfer can experience the course as Ross intended – right down to the actual greens Ross originally created.
“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,” says Spence. “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.”
In 1944, the PGA of America moved its headquarters to Dunedin from Chicago and renamed the course PGA National Golf Club – leasing it from the city. Eventually, the PGA moved out, but the site hosted 18 consecutive Senior PGA Championships – as well as the original PGA Merchandise Show in 1954.
Dunedin Golf Club is now widely considered one of Florida’s top municipal courses, along with the Winter Park Golf Course in Orlando and The Park at West Palm Beach. Rates for 18 holes range from $85 to $130, depending on the season, and there are discounted green fees for local residents.
Golf Inc. annually recognizes the Best New Golf Course Developments and Renovations. This year’s winners focused on restoring original designs and making old things new again.
“Sometimes the theme of a particular crop of competition winners is difficult to pinpoint, but this year’s is a no-brainer: What’s old is new again,” said Golf Inc. “The common thread was the desire to go back to how things used to be. Obviously, any golf course renovation is trying to change things up, but this year, most of the winning venues also sought out the original designs of their courses and followed them as closely as possible. Sometimes the old ways really are better.”
