Seminole Golf Club
The Golf Course at Seminole Golf Club first opened for play in 1929. The golf course was designed by Donald Ross.
Seminole Golf Club is consistently ranked as one of the top courses in the U.S. and the World.
The course is set on sand ridges near the Atlantic Ocean and has changed very little since Ross designed it. Dick Wilson made some changes after the Second World War and Brian Silva restored the bunkers more recently. The course is built between high dunes along the Atlantic and an inland set of dunes along the back of the property that are about forty feet high. At the time the course was built, the marshland between the dunes was drained to create a compact area for Ross to build the course. What you see is what you get at Seminole. Standing on the first tee, you can more-or-less see all eighteen holes. Ross made economical use of the small piece of land to build the golf course. There are very short walks tee to green and very few trees.
Although the course is right along the Atlantic, it only has water views in a limited number of places, which tells you something about the height of the sand dunes. You can see water off the 12th tee, 13th green, 14th tee and only in a couple of other places. The front nine is away from the water and the back nearer the water. It is a classic links layout of two loops of nine. The front nine run counter-clockwise from the clubhouse and the back nine run clockwise and finish parallel to the ocean.
Seminole Golf Club is one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. Seminole turned down Jack Nicklaus for membership, so that should tell you something.
Ben Hogan used to practice at Seminole for 30 straight days every spring to prepare for the Masters. He once said "If I were a young man going on the pro tour, I'd try to make arrangements to get on Seminole. If you can play Seminole, you can play any course in the world." Good advise, but how do you get on?
The golf course at Seminole Golf Club plays to 6,787 yards from the championship for a course rating of 73.6 and a slope rating of 139. Par for the course is 72.