For renowned golf course designer Bruce Hepner, the goals for rebuilding the 18-hole course at Miami Lakes Golf Club were straightforward and non-negotiable.
Make it look good. Make it tough enough to test good players. Make it enjoyable for not-so-good players. Make it kid friendly.
And most of all, make it elegant and fun so that anyone who plays it once will want to play it again.
In other words, it had to offer something for everyone.
Golf courses -- no matter if they’re public or private -- aren’t always built that way. Hepner insisted that the Miami Lakes Golf Course be that way, or he wasn’t going to take the job.
“I wanted to build something that’s appropriate for the game and something the game is missing,” Hepner said.
“I think we did that here,” he said. “This is the vibe we’re trying to create: accessible golf, public golf, playable golf, a course anybody can play. Good players can be challenged, high handicappers can get around, and it’s maintainable and sustainable.
“It’s just right,” Hepner said. “A lot of insiders in our game are screaming for something like this and it’s not showing up. That’s why we tried to do it here. And I couldn’t be happier.”
The course will officially reopen Nov. 1 after a year of construction and a $12.5 million investment by The Graham Companies.
The club has already hosted some junior events, a few people have played a few holes, and it won’t be long before any golfer gets to play a round at what was long considered one of the signature courses in Miami-Dade County.
Officially the work was called a “full renovation,” but it’s really a wholly different course. The layout is largely the same, though players who knew the old course will notice some changes, especially with holes 5 through 7.
Almost every blade of grass is new, thanks to 145,000 square feet of TifEagle Bermuda putting greens, 23 acres of Bimini Bermuda sod, 54 acres of Bimini Bermuda sprigs and six acres of Bahia sod.
There are 350 new native Live Oak, Mahogany, Gumbo Limbo, Bald Cypress and Sabal and Royal palm trees.
All 18 holes were reshaped and reimagined.
The greens have more contour, the fairways are undulating and bunkers were rebuilt, work Hepner did himself with either a bulldozer or a bucket loader.
New golf carts will cruise along 5.5 miles of new cart paths and will pass bright white bunkers filled with 30,000 cubic feet of fresh sand.
To address the longstanding problem after heavy rains when flooding made the back nine unplayable, 85,000 cubic yards of fill was used to lift holes 10 through 18 by about four feet.
“I really wanted to find a way to make the course something that everyone in the community can be really proud of and want to be part of again,” said Danny Martinez, construction project manager at The Graham Companies.
“I found these really cool ads from the ’60s that we used to run in the paper and the tagline was, ‘For people who have a thing about golf,’” he said. “That stuck with me.”
Martinez is a grandson of the late William A. Graham, who developed Miami Lakes from the family’s cow pastures and built the golf course, too.
He remembers playing with his grandfather and kept the elder’s voice in mind while helping to decide what needed to change.
It would have been very easy for The Graham Companies to make the course private and super-exclusive.
That notion never sat well with Martinez.
“That’s the antithesis of what I felt like my grandfather stood for,” he said.
He loves the game, though quickly points out that he isn’t a competitive player, he just likes hanging out with friends for several hours.
If he shoots 85 or 87 (scores that are well over par), he’s still happy.
In his role within the family business, it was crucial that the golf course be something that Miami Lakers would be proud of.
During the pandemic, Martinez got hooked on golf podcasts and heard Hepner lay out his vision for what golf courses should be.
He called Hepner to see if he was interested in helping out Miami Lakes.
Hepner was skeptical but agreed to visit the property, still unsure if he would take the job.
But he was quickly sold.
“Danny said all the right things,” Hepner said about the vision for what it could become for the community.
Hepner brought in companies that he’s worked with before and a plan was put together. Before long, things began taking shape.
The back nine holes were the biggest task. It took three months of dredging before the team really knew what was possible with those holes.
A new drainage system supplied more sprinklers.
Today, fish are swimming in some of the ponds and birds can be seen all over the course. There is even a ‘gator or two.
The groundskeeping staff tend to the tees, fairways and greens, while eight GPS-guided robot mowers trim the rough around the fairways and bodies of water.
Those who have seen the course universally agree: It is a stunning property.
“If we were building the ultra-private golf course, Bruce wouldn’t have responded, if I had to guess,” said Charlie DeLucca III.
His late father, Charlie DeLucca Jr., was a golf pro when the course opened in 1963 and founded First Tee Miami, a junior golf program that his son now runs.
“He came in with no drawings,” DeLucca said of Hepner. “We walk out of the first meeting, and I said to Danny, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Danny said we needed to give Bruce a day or two. And after two days, I was convinced that this was going to be the easiest renovation in the whole world.”
DeLucca raves about every aspect of the course. No detail was overlooked, and it’ll be even more of a destination when a new pro shop and other amenities are built.
Memberships have a $10,000 initiation charge and $10,000 annual fee; the initiation fee increases on Nov. 1 to $12,000.
Of 150 memberships, 103 are filled.
A membership is not required to play.
Day rates for town residents are $110, Monday – Thursday before 1 p.m.; South Florida residents are charged $125. After 1 p.m., prices drop for all to $75.
Friday -- Sunday or on holidays, before 2 p.m. is $155 for South Florida residents while Miami Lakers pay $130. After 2 p.m., everyone pays $75. The website lists cart fees and other day rates.
The driving range costs $9 for a bucket of about 50 balls and $16 for approximately 95 balls.
DeLucca estimates that around 45,000 rounds of golf will happen each year. It would be more, if not for the course’s commitment to giving access to First Tee Miami’s kids.
Hepner lived in Miami Lakes for several months during the peak of the work. He learned about the community and understands what the course means to the town.
He said he’s proud of what the team did over the last year.
“It’s appropriate in this time of golf,” Hepner said. “It’s kind of what I would want my legacy to be about. Not the schlocky, high-glitzy stuff. It’s just understatedly elegant.
“It was exactly what I wanted,” Hepner said. “And so far, so good.”
The Miami Lakes Golf Club is at 7601 Miami Lakes Drive. For information go to MiamiLakesGolf.com or on Instagram @miamilakesgolfclub.