Doral Golf Resort and Spa

Doral is due west of Miami International Airport and is a full resort with 90 holes of golf, and home to one of the PGA Tour's perennial stops in South Florida. The Blue Monster is the classic and tournament course, designed by Dick Wilson, who did the original design for Bay Hill, Dubsdread at Cog Hill, La Costa, and on a on. The course is long, for Florida's soft fairways at 7,125 yards from the tournament tees, and features good sized, undulating greens and plenty of water hazards, bunkers and deep Bermuda rough, and includes the famous 18th finishing hole with many historic finishes. Greg Norman redesigned the Great White Course in 2000 at 7174 yards, 134 slope. They say it's the only desert course in Florida. It uses coquina, or crushed sea shells as the waste areas alongside the fairways, and actually gives it a bit of a desert feel. The course is really more parkland like, with fairways interspersed with hundreds of palm trees, literally hundreds of bunkers, and water in play on 14 holes. The Red course was also designed by Dick Wilson, and is your more typical Florida course with water on 12 holes, sand throughout, and two island greens. It's a little shorter course at 6100 yards, 121 slope. The Silver Course was redesigned by Jim McLean and re-opened in 2009, and has had mixed reviews. The Gold Course was redesigned by Raymond Floyd, and is again a typical Florida type layout with significant bunkering, ponds, palm trees and wetlands, and is fairly narrow off the tee. The entire complex is very well maintained, and they're very proud of their courses, and the greens fees are expensive, especially in season. It's always worth coming here just to play the Blue Monster if you never have, otherwise, other than the Great White, the other courses are fairly typical of Florida style of play.