Everything
old is new again in the Sunshine State, a golf peninsula that continues to
reinvent itself and renew its perennial appeal to winter-weary visitors.
Florida’s nip-and-tuck trend is especially strong around Miami, a city in which
youth and beauty are obsessions. Against this backdrop, two stalwarts from
different eras—the Biltmore Coral Gables, a glamorous icon from the Roaring
Twenties, and the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club, which twinkled
during the disco era—have reinvented themselves as destination resorts.
Excavating a Ross
The Biltmore, centerpiece of Coral Gables on the
outskirts of Miami, was long overdue for a facelift. Dating from 1926, this
brilliant evocation of the Mediterranean Revival style is a rare luxury getaway
within a major metropolitan area. In addition to the nation’s largest hotel
pool, the resort offers a spa and fitness center with more toned bodies per
square foot than any similar South Florida facility. Sunday brunch is served
in a loggia with tables set around a fountain in a courtyard, while Palme
d’Or—rated in the “extraordinary to perfection” bracket of the 2008 Zagat
Survey—offers a continental dining experience nonpareil. The hotel’s 276 guest
rooms, including the Everglades Suite once favored by Al Capone, were
refurbished in the late 1990s.
The resort then turned its attention to the
tired, worn Donald Ross-designed course. Working from original routing plans,
aerial photos and Ross’ notes, Brian Silva set about the task of rediscovering
the Biltmore Golf Course. Rather than attempt a slavish imitation of the
original, Silva adapted the layout for the modern game, describing his handiwork
as a “sympathetic restoration” of a layout that was a big hit in its day.
In
1926 Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen played an exhibition. Four years later the
Miami-Biltmore Open attracted top players including Sarazen and Walter Hagen.
However, by the time a 16-year-old Tiger Woods captured the 1991 Orange Bowl
Junior International at the resort, the course had deteriorated
badly.
Retaining the routing, Silva widened fairways to their original
dimensions to create more strategic options. The holes, flanked by palms,
live oaks and banyan trees, invite the wind from all vectors.
The open-entry
greens, which had shrunk and lost much of their character, were enlarged to
their original dimensions. Slightly above fairway level with subtle undulations,
the putting surfaces are framed by rolling mounds and gentle swales. Steep
drop-offs at a few holes will penalize careless shots.
Most impressive are
the bunkers. Silva identified long-abandoned or grassed-over bunkers, excavated
them to their original depth and created a wavy-edged, filigreed look along the
top edges.
“The fairway bunkers pull you through this golf course in a way
that’s outstanding,” Silva explains. “Ross designed the fairways to subtly twist
and turn around the bunkers, even on the straightaway holes.”
The strength
of the 6,742-yard course is its superb collection of par 4s. They range from
drive-and-pitch gems to dangerous holes like the 450-yard 17th, which calls for
a solid drive followed by an unerring approach over water to a bulk-headed
green. The 17th is one of several holes crossed by the Coral Gables Waterway, a
canal built in the 1920s to provide guests access to Biscayne Bay. (Italian
gondolas manned by gondoliers imported from Venice once plied the waterway.)
Several free-span bridges were installed prior to the layout’s reopening last
November to enable players to more easily traverse the course. They also provide
passage for the large iguanas that sun themselves on the banks of the canal,
aptly capturing the relaxed atmosphere at this South Florida getaway.
