Doral:  The Blue Monster

Doral; Blue Monster: Originally land and water of the Everglades north of Miami, the course was first designed by Bob von Hagge, who worked for Dick Wilson, and opened in 1961.  Since much of the land was swamp Mr. Hagge  excavated enough land to route this water infested course as the owner Alfred L. Kaskel had requested.  The intention was to use existing water as an ever-present hazard compensating for the very flat landscape.  The course was immediately embraced by the PGA and is one of the longest standing tournament venues on Tour.  In an effort to update the course's difficulty in relation to changes in golf technology and skill, Ray Floyd was asked to modify the course in 1996. Floyd added and enlarged the already numerous bunkers narrowing many landing areas from the tee.  The course was challenging under ideal conditions, but in normal tradewinds the the alterations proved too penal and very unpopular. The knowledgeable "home" instructor and teacher Jim McLean was asked to take the edges off Floyd's modifications and apparently few disagree that this classic course retains its prestige among the Tour's most anticipated events.

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Artists' Golf is a conceptual work of art Copyright 1995 - 2008 by David B. Lewis and all original paintings, drawings and art works are Copyright by David B. Lewis. All rights reserved.  Maps of existing courses are original artistic interpretations and impressions from a variety of sources and are not intended to be accurate renderings or representations of the actual courses.  They indicate my interest and study and are intended purely for the pleasure and information of the viewers and are not for sale or profit.