Seminole Golf Club Fact FileLocation: Juno Beach, Florida (South of Jupiter and north of West Palm Beach)Year Established: 1930Par: 72Length (yards): 7,259Green Fees (weekdays): Never advertised as limited to members’ guestsSignature Hole: The par-3 17th will always take some beating and is part of a brilliant closing stretchWebsite: seminolegolfclub.com (equally as hard to get into as the course)
In Juno Beach, north of West Palm Beach, sits Seminole which might well be Donald Ross’ finest design. The man who laid out the first three courses at Pinehurst put together a course that plays along and between two main dune lines and continues to move in different angles. Fourteen of the original Ross design touch these dunes and the greens are what make Seminole so outstanding; the shapes vary, the pin positions are exquisite and there is a saying ‘greens visited in regulation’ that speaks volumes about the ability to stay on them.
Seminole, which opened for play in 1930, can boast all manner of famous members and it was here that Ben Hogan would practise ahead of The Masters. A fellow Green Jacket winner, Henry Picard, was the pro here for 26 years. More recently Tom Brady became a member of one of the most exclusive clubs in the States.
In 2016 Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw oversaw a renovation of the course which rebuilt over 100 bunkers and exposed the vast sandy waste areas and any photos of the course will show just that, huge swathes of bunkering that sit alongside the Atlantic Ocean.
Seminole, though home to the 2021 Walker Cup, is not a tour stop. It does however host the annual Pro-Member which has a field that any PGA Tour event would love to be able to promote.
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Seminole Golf Club Review
Ross liked to begin things with a gentle opener but the 1st at Seminole doesn’t quite fit this mould with bunkers flanking both the tee shot and the putting surface but it does let you in to the thinking that the fairways are wider than they appear from the tee but then the greens definitely narrow.
The long par-4 4th sits among the toughest 100 holes in golf, sitting on top of the sand ridge, to a domed green that is squeezed into position and that slopes right to left and back to front. Hogan’s favourite hole here, and maybe anywhere, was the 6th which sees a tee shot played over sand to another diagonal fairway before often hitting your approach from below the diagonal string of bunkers that lead to the hourglass-shaped green.
One key to tackling Seminole is to play the short holes well. Three of them are of mid length while the 8th can be stretched to as much as 265 yards with the optical illusion of a front bunker. Here Dick Harmon, whose father Claude Harmon Sr would work here as the winter professional, would suggest to ‘swing hard in case you hit it’.
The 13th is the shortest par 3 and certainly the most natural given its proximity to the ocean. This can be seen from the green but not the tee and the narrow, diagonal green is dominated and surrounded by nine bunkers which see plenty of action.
The closing stretch of holes somehow elevate Seminole to new levels. The 15th, the second of back-to-back par 5s, is a favourite of Crenshaw’s given you can cut off 100 yards by driving to the right-hand peninsula fairway – the two routes have been dubbed Highways 1 and A1A. Then comes 16, a sharp dogleg right, which Coore and Crenshaw have widened and tinkered with before the final par 3 where the green is described like a ‘crab resting on the beach’.
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And then the 18th where one more green sits on the sand dune shelf and provides a fitting finish.
Aerially Seminole is quite fascinating given its fairly rectangular shape, it almost looks a little bland from above with blocks of the usual Florida water but the bunkering, ocean-side location, angles and greens are truly spectacular. This is a top-50 course on the planet and, while the vast majority of us will never get to play it, the photos and stories do a good job of giving us the next best thing.
It’s a huge shame that we don’t get to see the likes of Seminole being tackled by the world’s best but we did get to peak inside here in May 2020 when the club hosted a charity skins game between the TaylorMade staff players Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff. It marked the first televised golf event in the States since the aborted Players Championship and the first televised event at the private club in its history.
Final Verdict
Rory McIlroy, who is a member here along with his dad, speaks fondly about the time he had a 30-foot birdie putt on one hole, his next shot would be played from a greenside bunker.
“It’s a golf course with a wonderful membership and I think it’s Donald Ross’ greatest course that he ever designed. He had a wonderful piece of land beside the Atlantic Ocean and some of the best green complexes in the world and how thoughtful you need to be on the greens and around the greens.
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I played there with Justin Thomas and Jimmy Dunne, who is the club president, and Tom Brady who is a new member, actually. I putted off the 5th green from about 30 feet.”
The locker room almost lives up to the 18 holes beyond it with history, class and the lockers themselves lining the perimeter of the walls. Dan Jenkins, writing for Sports Illustrated in 1965, described it as follows: “The décor includes thick gold rugs, cypress clothes closets with intricate designs carved on the doors, overstuffed sofas and chairs, a fireplace, a small bar and the heads of 15 wild animals, which stare down from the walls. It is quiet, pleasant and elegant — one of the better places in Florida to change your shoes.”
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ️️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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