In addition to great beaches and the Daytona Speedway, greater Daytona features 20 golf courses. Since 1994, Daytona has been the home of the LPGA, and annually hosts the final stage of the Qualifying School each year. Its two courses were designed by two of the game’s best architects, Arthur Hills and Rees Jones. Three other courses have withstood the tests of time and are included in the 50 facilities on the Florida Historic GolfTrail. One of the oldest collection of courses in the country, it honors courses built between 1897 and 1949, that still remain open for public play today. Riviera Golf Club, in Ormond Beach, is the home of The Riviera Daytona Beach Is Not Just For Spring Break & NASCAR By Len Ziehm died in 1948 before the first nine opened in 1949. The full 18 holes were not completed until 1956 and Bobby Weed did a complete renovation in 2006. Side Note: Jim “Bones’’ McKay, the well-known caddie for Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, as well as part-time NBC television analyst, grew up on New Smyrna Golf Club. Another golf course not to be missed is Spruce Creek Country Club in Port Orange. It was an airport before it was a golf course and is part of the largest fly-in community in the country. The golf course opened in 1972 and home-building started after several retired pilots decided to live in the area. Open, the longest-standing mini-tour event in the United States. Both New Smyrna Beach and the Daytona Beach Club were designed by the legendary architect Donald Ross. Ross designed the first nine holes of Daytona Beach South in 1921 and completed the rest of the course in 1923. He re-designed the course in 1944 and in 1945 it hosted an exhibition match with Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Jug McSpaden. The next year Jimmy Demaret replaced McSpaden and he bested the other three Hall of Famers, by shooting a 63. New Smyrna is one of Ross’ last creations, and he only completed the front nine. His work began in 1947, but he Michigan Golf Journal
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