Tee Time

Golf at The Boca Raton has a rich legacy, dating from its very origins.

By Susan Gillis

The ads for the Mizner Development Corporation’s “Boca Raton” project promised Boca Raton would be “a rendezvous for sportsmen the country over.” Mizner’s Cloister Inn, now The Boca Raton, actually featured two golf courses when it opened in 1926. The Cloister Course was designed by Donald Ross and stood west of the hotel with holes 1-11, 17 and 18 adjacent to the hotel and holes 12-16 south of Camino Real.

It was reserved for hotel guests, and according to the March 1927 Boca Raton Record, was projected to be the “show course of the East Coast next season.” The Ritz-Carlton Course, so named because the Cloister Inn was under Ritz-Carlton management, was where Sugar Sand Park is now. It was designed by William Flynn, according to the Palm Beach Times. The Record reported that the latter course, “because of its sporty nature and splendid condition, is most interesting of the many courses in South Florida” and that it “is said to be the best in the state.” When Sugar Sand Park was under development in 1993, workers found evidence of the 1920s irrigation system there.

The hotel’s first golf pro at both courses was Major Claude C. Wilson, who hailed from the golfing town of Silloth, England, just south of the Scottish border. Wilson was well known in Canada and Florida, having played many tournaments in the latter during the land boom. His resume included golf course design and instructor to the British amateur female golfer Cecil Leitch.

Mizner’s Cloister Inn only opened for two seasons: February-April 1926 and January-April 1927. By late 1927, the Florida land boom bubble had burst, the Mizner Development Corporation (MDC) was bankrupt, and its as- sets were acquired by original Mizner investor Clarence Geist. This included the oceanfront and Intracoastal front property—which by 1927 no one wanted. For Geist, a serious golfing enthusiast, the major asset of MDC was the Cloister Inn with its golf courses. Geist already had a summertime golf resort at the Seaview in New Jersey, which still operates today. He felt the need for a wintertime resort for his stays at his winter residence in Palm Beach. He employed renowned hotel architects Schultze and Weaver of New York to triple the size of the hotel; the newly enlarged inn opened as the Boca Raton Club in January of 1930. Geist also commissioned William Flynn and Howard Toomey—also legendary course designers—to design two 18-hole courses, one north and one south of today’s Camino Real in what is now Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club. The old Ritz-Carlton course was abandoned at the time.

Aside from its green bean crop, Boca Raton’s principal economic engine during the Depression was the Boca Raton Club, and the beautiful golf courses were a major draw. In 1930, 1927 National Open champion Tommy Armour became the hotel’s golf pro, a position he held until 1955. With the advent of World War II, the little farm town hosted the huge Boca Raton Army Air Field—almost 6,000 acres—between 1942-1947. The military rented the beautiful Club between 1942-1944 while the airfield’s 800 buildings were constructed. Hotel staff hurried to crate the antique décor, roll up the carpets, and wrap the decorative columns in anticipation of the onslaught of servicemen. The Club was probably the most beautiful barracks in the country. However, the south golf course was abandoned in favor of bivouacs and foxholes, according to the veterans stationed there.

In 1944, hotelier J. Myer Schine purchased the Club as it slowly morphed into the Boca Raton Hotel and Club. Schine and his wife Hildegarde were local residents rooted in the little town, which numbered under 1,000 residents in 1950. The Schines also opened the exclusive private facilities—including the golf course—to the “townies” during the summertime for the first time in the hotel’s history. A photograph in the collections of the Boca Raton Historical Society shows Carl Douglas’s reaction to the hole-in-one he made on the 14th hole of the course while golfing with his buddies on Memorial Day, 1953. The Society’s collections also feature a photo of yet another interesting guest golfer on the links in February of 1953. Jackie Pung was a barrier-breaking native Hawaiian golfer who competed in the then-recently-formed LPGA’s Cross Country 144 Hole Weathervane tourney held at the hotel that year.

When Armour retired, he was replaced by arguably the most famous golfer of the day, “Slammin’ Sammy” Sam Snead, as pro. Snead was one of the top players in the world, known for his “perfect swing” and for winning events spanning six decades. He is easily regarded as one of the top players of all time. He was well known for a folksy sense of humor and his signature straw porkpie hat. In fact, the barber at the Boca Raton Hotel, Louis Adinolfi, reportedly had a heck of a time getting Snead (who was bald) to remove it in order to give him a trim. Snead continued as pro until 1969. The hotel’s course was dedicated in honor of Armour and Snead in 1987.

The Boca Raton’s “golf game” has adapted over the years. The hotel-side course was rede- signed in 1956 by Bobby Jones, by Joe Lee in 1988, and by Gene Bates in 1997, with a “refresher” in 2016 to improve its playability. Apart from the “Ritz-Carlton” course of the 1920s, The Boca Raton has also boasted several “country club” courses over the years. Boca West, now a development on Glades just east of Florida’s Turnpike, began as a golf course for the hotel in the late 1960s. The Boca Raton Country Club was built in 1985 at Congress Avenue north of Clint Moore Road. It was given to the city in 2020.

Today The Boca Raton’s historic par-7, 6,253-yard 18-hole course features 12 acres of waters, a dramatic landscape and beautiful vistas. It is proud to be an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. The course features a driving range with state-of- the-art Toptracer technology for those wanting to improve their swings, a pro shop, the course-side restaurant Mulligans, and a food and beverage cart available just for players.