BillHornstein
The Biltmore Golf Course: Biltmore
The Biltmore Golf Course: Biltmore
1210 Anastasia Ave
Coral Gables, FL 33134-6340
United States
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Overview
This historic Biltmore resort features a par-71 championship course originally designed by Donald Ross in 1925 that underwent an extensive renovation recently by Brian Silva's team to reinvigorate this classic layout.
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Panelists
Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES
Shot Options
Character
Challenge
Layout Variety
Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“Classic Florida course with plenty of water features but with a Donald Ross flair. Greens have a ton of character"
Read More2026
Review
“Renovated by Brian Silva in 2018, this Donald Ross golf course features fantastic green complexes. It’s a municipal golf course, so it gets a tremendous amount play—but is in remarkable condition. The greens are always in excellent shape. The course is over 7100 yards from the back tees— with a set of incredible par 3’s. If you play these holes all the way back, it will be difficult to find four harder par 3’s anywhere. The Biltmore has some short par 4’s and some extremely long par 4’s which gives it great variety. Located in beautiful Coral Gables."
Read More2025
Review
“Course is mostly flat with plenty of water and sand to keep your attention. A very traditional design built next to a classic old resort hotel. Resort golf at it's best at the Biltmore. Like stepping back in time to golf's golden ages. Worth a visit if you ever get to Miami."
Read More2025
Review
“Old Biltmore Resort with spectacular hote. Course recently remodeled with every hole visible from the hotel area. Very few trees but lots of doglegs with water in play. Can be stretched to over 7000 yards. Condition not what it should be for the green fee charged."
Read More2023
Review
“The Biltmore is a grand, old hotel and has a lovely, classic golf course to go with it. The course if very flat, but Donald ross made good of the land and natural feature to create a very enjoyable golfing experience. The conditions are top notch and the course was designed with walking in mind. There is a creek that meanders through the property and comes into play on many of the holes. There are enough tee options to create challenges even for top golfers, while allowing less accomplished players manageable options as well. Overall a very enjoyable experience."
Read More2022
Review
“Shot Options - I found the layout at the Biltmore to be fairly straighforward and open. Most holes were relatively straight, flat and open in the front allowing for a high approach shot or a run up. With a handful of exceptions, there were not very many risk/reward holes that offered many options or that required you to think very much off the tee or on approach shots. While there appear to be many collection areas off the green complexes, typical of Ross greens, I did not find the green complexes to be as "rounded" as many Ross courses and not nearly as severe as some of his designs. They also do not have that many unique hole locations that would create different putting or approach challenges (with the exception on the 18th hole, which is actually quite infamous for its wild contours). Notable holes are #1 - where the golfer is tempted to cut the opening corner of a dogleg right par 5 over a large bunker complex that could shave 40-50 yards off the hole. The 5th hole is similar, but has an even more severe dogleg right with a similar risk/reward for attempting to the cut the corner over bunkers. The 9th and 10th are both dogleg lefts that offer the same risk reward as holes 1 and 5, but in the opposite direction over bunkers that guard the corner. The 15th is a long par 5 that is only reachable by longer hitters, but gives the better and longer player an option to go for the green in 2 over the creek - a very high risk/reward option. The 17th is perhaps the best hole on the course with the same creek protecting the entire left side of the hole that bends slightly from left to right. The staighter the tee shot, down the right, the better the angle into the green, but a large bunker guards the right. So the safe option is to play it to the left, but with less than driver to avoid hitting into the creek. The aggressive option is to try to hug the right side, clear the bunker and gain 30-40 yards for your approach over the creek - a very well designed hole with lots of shot options. Challenge - For the scratch golfer from the back tees, this course is relatively easy. The course is very open and generous in the landing areas, the approach shots are relatively straight forward for most of the holes, the lies are all flat and the greens do not have as much undulation nor the severe run-off that the signature Ross crowned, turtle-backed greens usually have. I found most greens to be very receptive and relatively easy to hit and hold. Some of the fairway bunkering does present some interesting challenges, since they hug the interior lines of play and force players to play it safe by going away from the interior lines or to take on more risk and try to hug or carry the more aggressive lines. Layout Variety - I feel that the layout variety is a little sub par. There are significantly more dogleg lefts than rights (6-2, with the other holes relatively straight), 3 out of the 4 par 3s are relatively the same distance (between 180-200 from member tees, the other being 140). There is a creek that meanders throughout the course that creates some interesting holes, but only really comes into play on numbers 7, 12, 15 and 17. I think the creek could have been incorporated more into the course design and routing. The bunkering on the course is perhaps the most noteworthy feature. Ross covers many of the interior lines of play with heavy bunkering on dog legs and they are clearly in play - often forcing a more conservative play away from the more direct line or taking on the risk of hugging the interior line with a higher risk factor. Another bunkering feature that is utilized on several holes is a fairway bunker well short of the hole (5, 8, 13, 16). This gives a visual impression that the bunker is close to the green and can play with the golfers mind, when in reality it should not really come into play. It's a more visual "hazard" than an actual obstacle. Overall, the nature of the property does not present as many opportunities to create more layout variety, except for the creek and some patches of trees. But given what there was to work with, Ross did as much as possible (with the exception of my creek comments) to incorporate the natural features of the land. Aesthetics - The overall aesthetics are decent, but nothing terribly noteworthy. It is a very pretty course and the aforementioned creek is woven into many holes - creating the most interesting holes on the course. The grand Biltmore Hotel is also omnipresent and the views of this landmark hotel are incorporated on many of the holes that play toward or near the hotel. It is a beautiful sight and very well included as part of the golf course setting. Conditioning - The overall conditioning of the course was quite good. The fairways were in good condition, but were a bit spongy and soft in general. This was not the result of lots of recent rain. It seems to always play that way. The greens were also in decent shape, but were also a bit soft and a tad slow. The rolls were mostly true, so I would give higher marks for the greens than fairways. Overall the playing surfaces lush and lovely, but not as firm as I would have liked. Character - The Biltmore is a classic from a bygone era of golf. The charm and character of the massive hotel casts its aura over most of the course. The course itself has stood the test of time and even the renovation in 2018 was primarily restorative in nature and brought it back to its glory days. It is a great walking course and one gets a little "transported back in time" feeling along the way. Fun - The ease of the course allows it to be fun to play. It is relatively easy to score well on this course and many golfers would say it is in good condition because of how lush it is - particularly the fairways. It is also an easy course to walk, which makes it more fun for people who prefer to do that."
Read More2022
Review
“One of those very few public venues that combines the best of design, conditioning, and history1"
Read More2022
Review
“Flat course with green complexes that are fairly flat also. Good shape but not great shape."
Read More2022
Review
“Old Donald Ross design recently renovated. Nice walk with some interesting holes, but nothing special from a golf standpoint. The hotel looks awesome from the outside -- did not have a chance to investigate further!"
Read More2021
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