DUNEDIN, FL. – Course renovations are commonplace in golf, but the one recently completed at Dunedin Golf Club was far from the ordinary. You don’t just tinker around with one of Donald Ross’ original designs – and this one is even much more than one of those.
Ross did his work creating the course in 1927. Kris Spence, a Ross specialist, guided the $6 million renovation of the municipal course just north of Tampa in 2024.
The Scotland-born Ross was a fine player, having finished in the top 10 in four U.S. Opens and one British Open in his heyday as a competitor through 1910. After that he focused on course architecture. He’s credited with designing about 300 courses from scratch and was involved in the re-design of about 200 others in the U.S. and Canada before his death at age 75 in 1948.
From its beginning Dunedin was considered one of Ross’ best – even by the architect himself. A 1928 newspaper clipping in the club archives has Ross quoted as telling a New York businessman that “the Dunedin Isles (its original name) 18-hole course is my masterpiece.’’
Golf historians will debate that, but few of his courses have the historical significance that Dunedin does.
In 1944 the course was leased by the PGA of America and its headquarters were moved from downtown Chicago to Dunedin. The course, then dubbed PGA National, hosted 18 Senior PGA Championships. The first PGA teaching academy was held there, and the first PGA Merchandise Show was staged in the Dunedin parking lot in 1954. During those years Dunedin players included legends like Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Louis Suggs, Babe Didrickson Zaharias and Byron Nelson.
The PGA of America left Dunedin in 1962, moved to Palm Beach Gardens, FL., and made PGA National the course name of the layout there.
Through it all the course underwent several renovations that gradually changed it from the layout that Ross had created. It remained one of Florida’s top municipal courses and getting added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 preserved its legacy.
That didn’t change the fact that the old course needed revitalizing, however, and that’s when the City of Dunedin brought in Spence for the latest renovation that was designed to return the course to its roots. Spence had to literally uncover its past.
“The most pleasant surprise was that I could see the old greens extending out beneath those renovations,’’ said Spence. “They had never been destroyed – just buried. We were able to excavate, expose and restore them exactly as Ross designed them.’’
More significantly, Spence transformed the bunkering to modernize the historic layout.
Don and Grace Goodall, club members who created a comprehensive history of the facility, suggested Ross would have questioned that:
“If Ross saw the course a few decades later he would probably have said, `What did you do with my bunkers?’’
That’s a fair question. Ross’ original design had 114 bunkers. During the time the PGA operated the course that number dropped to 47. Now the course has 86. That’s more a reflection of the changes made to golf in general over the years than it is a criticism of Ross’ layout.
“If Ross saw how far the ball goes today and how fast the greens are I don’t think he’d design exactly the same course,’’ said Blair Kline, Dunedin’s general manager of golf operations. “Now we have the course that we believe he would have designed. The routing is original, but we adjusted a few bunkers for modern distances and recaptured all the original pin placements.’’
Dunedin is also designated as “Tree City USA,” which made it difficult to remove certain trees. That was another component of Spence’s renovation effort.
What we found on our first-ever visit to Dunedin was a most playable layout with big, sweeping greens and deep, challenging bunkers. The long gulley that ran through the 13th green made for a memorable putting experience.
All the holes have names, and Crossing Curlew is our favorite. Curlew is a road near the course and a distinctive water tower is located on it. This somewhat controversial hole is a sporty dogleg left par-5. It’s a strategic hole with the placement of the drive critical and a second shot over thick vegetation that seemed more demanding than it actually is.
Kline calls the renovation “an overwhelming success.’’
“People are going out of their way to come here and play it,’’ he said. From that respect it’s helping to put Dunedin in front of people who may not be aware of this community and how great it is.’’
The par-72 course tops out at 6,766 yards from the back tees and is 4,593 from the shortest markers. Fees for 18 holes range from $85 to $130. Check dunedingolfclub.com for more information.
