Turnberry Isle was the brainchild of Don Soffer, a shopping-mall mogul who
bought 785 acres of swampland in Dade County north of Miami, sketched a vision
for a resort community on a napkin, and hired Robert Trent Jones Sr. to build
the South course and his son Rees for the sportier North. When the resort
debuted in 1970, the director of golf was Julius Boros, the happy-go-lucky pro
who liked to spin-cast for bass in the man-made lagoons.
Soffer sold the resort in 1993. But as if attracted to an old flame he never
got over, Soffer, 75, reacquired the property in 2005. After a $100 million
transformation, including a $30 million makeover of the two courses, the
392-room Mediterranean-themed property reopened under the Fairmont flag in
December 2006.
In his second try, Soffer did away with the dead-flat designs the pere-fils
Joneses had built. He brought in truckloads of fill to create contours and spent
more than $100,000 in landscaping for each hole of the former South (now the
Soffer course) to create a “tropical Augusta” look with tall, swaying palms.
Then there are the water touches: A brook and thundering waterfall greet
players at the 1st hole of the South. At the 18th, a 64-foot faux-rock
waterfall—one of the largest and most expensive cascades ever built—near the
green recirculates more than 20,000 gallons of water per minute.
But for all the theme-park touches, Soffer and design consultant Ray Floyd
came up with a 7,047-yard layout that is a first-class test of precision and
course management. Make no mistake: Soffer made all the major design decisions.
Jones’ routing is intact and Floyd assisted, but there isn’t a single hole that
the owner didn’t transform.
“This is not a ‘grip it and rip it’ course,” Soffer says. “John Daly would
not have a very good time here.” In addition to well-placed drives, the key is
hitting approach shots that hold the slick, undulating
greens.
Soffer exercised restraint on the North (now called
Miller), which reopened last summer. The layout has plenty of water in play,
notably at Lake Julius, where pink flamingos nest on a man-made island. The
6,417-yard layout will not give average duffers heartburn, but neither is it a
pushover.
If the courses bear little resemblance to the originals, neither does the
resort itself. The guest rooms, in shades of butterscotch, taupe and chocolate
brown, are highlighted by natural textiles, wood furnishings and oversize baths
with soaking tubs. Each room has a furnished terrace or balcony.
On the dining side, Bourbon Steak marks the first South Florida venture by
culinary star Michael Mina. Innovative regional cuisine is featured at Cascata
Grille, its outdoor seating area overlooking fairways and waterfalls.
Turnberry Isle’s new recreation area features a
lagoon-style pool, lazy
river, 180-foot waterslide and a 35-foot waterfall along with poolside dining.
Willow Stream Spa offers pampering while the Ocean Club, fronting a gorgeous
stretch of Atlantic beach, is five minutes from the hotel.
Long gone are the playboy tennis pros and disco-happy celebrities. In their
place is a family-oriented Northeast crowd, the golfers among them eager to
tackle a pair of “back to the future” courses.
