Where We Played: Old-School South Florida Vibes at Turnberry Isle

Two golf courses rose from swampland in 1971 and have been a mainstay of the Miami golf scene ever since.

The crooner eyes you from a photo outside the pro shop of Turnberry Isle Country Club, setting the vibe. When Frank Sinatra played golf in South Florida, this was one of his regular stops.

Forget Jupiter and Palm Beach, where so many touring pros live and play. For this year’s summer vacation golf fix, Miami and a club dripping with history were the choice.

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Truth be told, the impetus for this trip was my college freshman daughter, who wanted one more relaxing family week before heading to school. The JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort and Spa was our choice, with its bustling water park and terrific rooms (and Marriott points, the North Star of every sportswriter), and the property came with a considerable bonus–access to Turnberry Isle.

Turnberry Isle’s two Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed courses opened in 1971, completing the vision of developer Donald Soffer, who saw 750 swamp acres in Aventura as the start of a golf-centric residential area. Residents indeed flocked and pro golfers soon followed; Arnold Palmer won a Senior PGA on the Soffer course (named for Donald) and Nancy Lopez was among the winners of the annual Elizabeth Arden Classic that was played at a number of Miami-area courses from 1969 through 1986.

High-rises and water hazards can steal one's focus from the task at hand at Turnberry Isle / Courtesy JW Marriott Miami Turnberry

And there may have been some “unofficial earnings” secured over the years. In Billy Walters’s book “Gambler,” which made news for detailing Phil Mickelson’s betting activity, a chapter called “The Eighteen Hole Hustle” details some of the author’s greatest golf gambling tales. In one story, he’s staying at Turnberry Isle.

If I wasn’t hustling to try to be first off on the morning I was playing (head pro Sean Olson and I were beating the heat, as much as that’s possible in July), I’d have asked starter Augie Natale if he had any wiseguy stories. No question he would; Augie is an institution at the club who said there was still swampland to navigate to get to the starter’s stand when his employment began. I looked out at the countless high-rises surrounding the property and asked Augie how many were here when he started, the answer was one.

Olson was a fine tour guide for the Miller course, a par-70 that’s the tamer of the two layouts. If you want to say you played a course from the tips, this is the place to do it at 6,142 yards from the black tees. Water abounds, which you’d expect for a Florida course, but it’s not pancake-flat thanks to contours added by Ray Floyd during renovations in 2007.

The Miller also briefly abuts the Tidal Cove water park, which opened in 2019. I can attest that the slides are only mildly terrifying.