Work on the Dunedin course began in 1926 when Ross and staff inspected the site for the developer of the Dunedin Isles subdivision; the course was substantially complete within ten months and opened on New Year’s Day 1927 as Dunedin Isles Golf Club. The city later acquired the property (by 1939), converting Ross’s work into a municipal facility. In 1944–45 the PGA of America established a winter home at the course and, under a lease with the city, rebranded it “PGA National Golf Club.” The club hosted the Senior PGA Championship annually from 1945 through 1962 and, in 1954, the inaugural PGA Merchandise Show began in the clubhouse parking area during the PGA’s winter tournament program. The PGA moved its national offices to Dunedin in 1956 and relinquished the property back to the city in 1962 when expansion to 36 holes proved infeasible; the organization later relocated to Palm Beach County. In 2014, the course—identified in its historic name as the “Dunedin Isles Golf Club Golf Course”—was added to the National Register of Historic Places. A comprehensive restoration led by architect Kris Spence, with Stantec as engineer/architect of record, began in March 2024 and reopened in late 2024/early 2025. The stated aim was to return the course to Ross’s original intent while adjusting bunkering and tee placements to suit modern distances.
Ross’s explicit design “intent” is best inferred from surviving ground forms and contemporary descriptions rather than preserved correspondence. Spence’s team documented that repeated resurfacing had buried original green surfaces beneath 12–18 inches of material; by carefully peeling back accreted layers they “excavated” the original contours, restoring perimeters to their historic edges and reclaiming pin positions “in the corners and along the sides,” as well as characteristic swales, spines, terraces and roll-offs. Routing remained intact. Where a number of Ross’s fairway bunkers had lost strategic relevance due to increased hitting distances, non-strategic forms were graded out while 24 fairway and 57 greenside bunkers were renovated in Ross style, and new back tees were added to keep the course just under 7,000 yards. Greens were rebuilt to modern standards and replanted to TifEagle; fairways, tees, and roughs were re-grassed to TifTuf. Extensive tree work reopened historic widths and restored sightlines.
Unique Design Characteristics
Dunedin’s character today is anchored by the restored green pads that sit subtly above surrounding grades. The restoration recovered the original perimeters and the “beguiling” interior slopes that had been muted by decades of sand-topdressing and overlays; this is most apparent where corner and side pin positions again alter approach angles. Spence notes that swales and plateaus re-emerged across the set; the resulting targets now ask players to access edge locations with trajectory and spin rather than sheer length.
Ross’s routing, split by Palm Boulevard, sets a demanding opening quartet of par-4/par-4/par-3/par-4; contemporary course descriptions identify this start for its doglegs into elevated green sites requiring shaped approaches under the canopy of live oaks. On the back nine, Curlew Creek and adjacent tidal water influence specific holes: the par-3 eleventh plays with the creek and a pond guarding the left, the uphill thirteenth climbs toward the clubhouse terrace, and the par-5 fifteenth brings a creek crossing (“Curlew Crossing”) into route selection. Course-specific municipal documentation also highlights persistent tidal flooding around holes fifteen and seventeen—issues addressed by new sub-surface drainage and irrigation during the 2024 works.
The clearest surviving examples of Ross’s work are the green complexes now returned to their historic footprints. Because the routing was never re-cast, holes such as 11, 13 and 15 pair that original corridor geometry with recovered green edges and roll-offs; their strategies—leftward water influence on 11, uphill carry and approach on 13, and the fifteenth’s forced-carry decision over the creek—once again pivot on where the player chooses to leave the tee shot relative to the re-established angles. Across the course, the restored bunker placements resume their traditional roles of defining preferred lines and protecting lay-up zones without over-framing greens, consistent with the mapping of 57 greenside and 24 fairway bunkers to Ross positions that still function in today’s yardages.
Historical Significance
Dunedin’s importance in Ross’s corpus is twofold. First, it is a complete Gulf-Coast municipal routing from his late-boom Florida period that remained municipally accessible for most of its life; second, it became the PGA of America’s winter home and, ultimately, national headquarters course in the mid-twentieth century. From 1945–1962 the course hosted the PGA Seniors’ Championship in 18 consecutive editions, embedding Ross’s targets into the professional calendar. In January 1954, salesmen’s displays in the parking lot during the PGA’s winter schedule marked the origin of the PGA Merchandise Show, an industry event that today fills a convention center but began here at Dunedin. The headquarters moved to Dunedin in 1956 before the PGA later shifted east; the course was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 in recognition of this layered significance.
Current Condition / Integrity
The 2024–25 project materially improved the course’s historical integrity by restoring original Ross green shapes and sizes—reclaiming 35–50% of lost area in places—and by returning bunker forms and mowing lines to documented positions where they remain strategic. Stantec reports that 57 greenside and 24 fairway bunkers were rebuilt; 32 obsolete fairway bunker forms were graded out, acknowledging that the ball now flies past locations once relevant in the 1920s. Tree management reopened corridors and sightlines, and turf conversions (TifEagle greens; TifTuf on all other surfaces) and a modern irrigation system reduced inputs and improved resilience. The practice ground was rotated off the eighteenth to a safer orientation. The routing remains original; holes 15 and 17—adjacent to a tidal creek—received significant drainage improvements to address chronic flooding. Collectively, the work returned Ross’s play volumes (angles, use of edges, recovery options) while modernizing infrastructure for municipal throughput.
Yardage today is “just under 7,000” from the newest back tees, with the club listing the championship set at 6,745 yards. As a municipal course the venue is open to the public and, in 2025, the restoration was recognized by Golf Inc. as “Renovation of the Year” (public course category).
Citations and Uncertainty
Two recurring uncertainties appear in secondary literature and civic communications. First, sources disagree on the exact year the PGA of America “moved” to Dunedin: some emphasize a 1944 relocation decision, others the 1945 lease that formalized the “PGA National Golf Club” name and tournament operations. Both are cited below. Second, many modern articles—including city communications—repeat that Ross called Dunedin his “masterpiece.” That phrasing is widely quoted but a primary-source origin (letter, interview, or plan annotation) was not located here; until an original document is produced, the claim should be treated as unverified traditional lore.
Sources & Notes
Florida Historic Golf Trail, “Dunedin Golf Club” (history, opening date, PGA lease year, NRHP listing, historic images).
City of Dunedin (official club page), “Dunedin Golf Club” (public status; headline history; 6,745-yard yardage).
Golf Course Architecture, Laura Hyde, “Dunedin reopens Ross course following restoration by Kris Spence and Stantec,” Mar. 4, 2025 (scope and methods; numbers of bunkers; green excavation; routing unchanged; tree and practice-range work).
Kris Spence Golf Design, “Dunedin Golf Club” (project scope: 18 greens restored to original elevations and shapes; 87 Ross bunkers restored in total; Toro two-wire irrigation; sub-surface drainage at holes 15/17; TifTuf re-grassing; contractors).
PGA Show / Reed Exhibitions, “History of the PGA Merchandise Show” (PDFs summarizing 1954 origins in Dunedin parking lot).
City of Dunedin press release, “Dunedin Golf Club Awarded ‘Renovation of the Year’ by Golf Inc.,” June 4, 2025 (award; brief historical recap; municipal ownership and management).
Dunedin
Wikipedia, “Dunedin Isles Golf Club Golf Course” (NRHP listing; 1939 municipal acquisition; 1956 HQ move; 1962 sale—used cautiously where primary civic sources are silent).
Golf.com, Josh Sens, “This Donald Ross muni just came back to life with $6 million restoration,” June 23, 2025 (restoration timeline; “masterpiece” quotation as repeated in press; 1939 city acquisition).
On The Tee Magazine, “Dunedin Golf Club: History Abounds at This Donald Ross Design” (hole-specific descriptions citing creek influence on 11 and 15; uphill 13; early stretch difficulty; routing split by Palm Boulevard).