Editors' Choice
Best Golf Resorts In Florida
THE BILTMORE
Coral Gables
Brian Wacker
This historic Biltmore resort features a par-71 championship course originally designed by Donald Ross in 1925 that underwent an extensive renovation over the past few years and a hotel built in 1924 that has been part of Miami's luxury lodging options for nearly 100 years.
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HAMMOCK BEACH GOLF RESORT & SPA
Palm Coast
Mark Whitright/Courtesy of Hammock Beach
Six holes on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Ocean Course skirt the Atlantic. The inland Tom Watson-designed Conservatory is boldly dotted with sod-wall bunkers.
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INNISBROOK, A SALAMANDER GOLF & SPA RESORT
Palm Harbor
Courtesy of Innisbrook
Four 18s, including the lush, hilly, tree-lined Copperhead Course, a favorite of many players on the PGA Tour. Lots of old oaks.
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JW MARRIOTT MIAMI TURNBERRY RESORT & SPA
Aventura
Two 18-hole championship courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., and renovated in 2006 by Raymond Floyd, plus luxury accommodations make the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa one of Florida's more underrated destinations. The Soffer course, the longest of the two courses, has hosted LPGA Tour events in the past.
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PGA NATIONAL RESORT
Palm Beach Gardens
Evan Schiller Photography
Though most casual golf fans know PGA National for its Champions course hosting the annual Honda Classic on the PGA Tour, the resort has new couses worth traveling to play. PGA National remodeled its old Squire Course into a unique match-play course by architect Andy Staples based on Raynor-like template holes. The theme is lots of short grass, quick rounds, pick up when out of hole—with no par on the scorecard. There's also a new nine-hole course, the Staple, as part of a long-term, $100 million renovation resort-wide.
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PONTE VEDRA INN & CLUB
LC Lambrecht/Courtesy of the club
The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club opened in 1928 and continues to carry a regal air of historical authenticity. The Ocean Course, designed by Herbert Strong, runs parallel to the Atlantic beaches and has seen several significant renovations in its lifetime. Architect Bobby Weed completed the latest in 2020, pumping contemporary attitude into the course’s old lineage and adding a new hole to compensate for the one he removed to make space for expanded practice facilities. Weed also redesigned the resort’s Lagoon Course over a decade ago, a shorter, sporty course that packs plenty of strategic golf into a small package.
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REUNION RESORT & GOLF CLUB
Kissimmee
Three courses from legends Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson are available here—all of which made Golf Digest's Top 75 courses you can play in Florida. On the Watson Course, youngsters can also play FootGolf.
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SANDESTIN GOLF & BEACH RESORT
Miramar Beach
After routing players through the pine forests and wetlands of the Emerald Coast, Rees Jones wows golfers on the back nine with views of the Choctawhatchee Bay. Much like the differing scenery on each nine, players will be required to hit a different type of approach shot into each green at Burnt Pine Golf Club at Sandestin.
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STREAMSONG RESORT
A first-class hotel and three incredible 18s, one by Tom Doak (Blue), Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (Red) and the newest, by Gil Hanse (Black) were created from towering mine spoils. All courses have been mainstays on Golf Digest's America's Second 100 Greatest courses—the only resort with three layouts on that ranking. Streamsong also announced that Coore and Crenshaw will build a fourth course—an 18-hole short course.
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THE WATERCOLOR INN
Santa Rosa Beach
The two-lane highway along coastal Northwest Florida called 30A is known for its sugar-sand beaches, emerald Gulf of Mexico water and a series of upscale New Urbanism communities that attract visitors from throughout the South and East Coast. The Watercolor Inn, a 60-room boutique hotel located at the west end and designed by New York-based architect David Rockwell, features breezy rooms that open out to the dunes and Gulf views. Guests have access to a number of area’s premier golf courses, including the Tom Fazio-designed Camp Creek with holes that play around lagoons and through vistas of sand and scrub vegetation, and Greg Norman’s Shark’s Tooth, a low, Australian-inspired design with several holes that touch aspects of Lake Powell.
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