Trump National Doral Miami - Blue Monster Course

The property was grand. Staff was great! Layouts and speeds were challenging. Played both blue monster and golden palms. Anytime you pay top shelve prices, you expect a top shelf experience. We were not disappointed! 1 notch of the bucket list

I have played a few well known courses but this was the most difficult by far. Still had a great time. Many sand traps and water hazards. Greens were perfect!

I think this place has fallen apart in just the last year. There doesn’t seem to be any system to get you from your car to the 1st tee. Paying 450 bucks and then hitting off mats on driving range is ridiculous. Send some of your people out to Greyhawk and learn how to manage the experience. Horrible.

Be careful which tee box your are choosing - plays longer

It has been roughly 30 years between rounds for me at Doral. Much has changed aesthetically, both with the ownership of Donald Trump and the redesign by Gil Hanse.

Still, there is something very familiar about the Blue Monster. It is an iconic golf course that perhaps has been left behind. Since the PGA Tour eschewed backlash by moving Doral’s date on the schedule, it is stuck in the purgatory between toney 1950s Florida resort golf and the shadow cast by other Florida mega-resorts, namely Streamsong, that have passed it by.

What Doral has going for it is a brand name. Serious golfers know the label. They grew up watching men like Greg Norman, Ray Floyd, Nick Faldo and Steve Elkington win the Doral Ryder Open on CBS to the dulcet tones of Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi.

Most every course claims a signature hole. Doral, however, has a legit signature hole: the brute of a par 4 18th, the famed Blue Monster, and namesake of the course. It is a hole that every serious fan of the game ought to experience for themselves. Playing into the prevailing wind, the carry off the tee to clear the hazard that looms down the left side is weightier than it appears. That only earns you another chance to baptize a ball with an approach that played 180 yards. Remember Rory tossing a club into this penalty area the last year the tournament was played here? You will have empathy for him after you’ve holed out.

You also feel like being a guest at the resort is a big deal. The rooms are terrific. The practice areas are spacious. There is an ambiance about the place.

However, judging from a golf perspective, outside of the rush of playing the finishing hole and its’ sister hole - the adjacent par-3 ninth that is a handful, the rest of the holes are just not that memorable. Hanse did some major surgery on several holes, particularly the 15th and 16th, which don’t resemble the previous iteration in the least. And I think they were good changes. It’s just that the rest of the course is one dogleg with water down one side after another. Yawning, typical Florida resort-style golf. And the Blue is honestly not even the toughest course on the property.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed the round. I think one’s golfing resume ought to include a round on the Monster. And that, in the end, is why a round here comes with such a hefty price tag. They know most will pay for that opportunity.

Everything about the course and facilities is top notch!
However, hidden costs you don’t know about until you’re there.
$32 Valet Parking Charge.
$31 Mandatory Fore Caddy fee before noon tee times.
Also, no halfway house for food and drinks. Only drink cart with snacks.

I’ve read a few reviews about how the course doesn’t warrant the price tag and I have to disagree.

I arrived an hour early and shopped. Took in the whole scene. I hit balls at the range, chipped, then putted. Went right out to the first tee without a back up. No one was up my butt about my time or anything.

Cart girl came up to me on the third hole and three times after.

The course itself is sprawling and beautiful. There are iconic holes and plenty of views.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I had a 2:30pm tee time and teed off around 2:25 when I saw no one in front of me. Played the round in three hours and fifty minutes. I wasn’t in a hurry, but the threesome in front of me was pretty slow. I caught up to them on the fourth hole and I’m kinda glad I did. I was on vacation and was happy to enjoy the sights and being able to relax. I smoked a cigar and took it all in.

I recommend the Blue Monster to you all.

I’d like to first and foremost say that all the staff were wonderful, polite and did their job with the parameters set for them.
After paying $350 for the round plus mandatory caddie tip, it seems odd that they charge you $20 to park your car.
While the course has the name and prestige associated with it, there is no difference between that and many others courses within a few miles that charge a fraction of the price.
I could not believe that the food and beverage cart
My biggest complaint was that the food and beverage cart does not take cash ( for Covid reasons - but it’s okay if 300 people inside in the restaurant ) . If you offer a credit card in payment they write down all the info on a piece of paper and the transaction is processed at the end of the day. I cannot imagine how anyone thinks this is a secure method of paying for food and beverage while you are on the course.
Apparently The trump course hasn’t approved credit card readers or any of the other point of sale systems that exist in the market.
And good luck if you are a vegetarian. They have nothing except peanuts for you to eat…

Please update the address for the Silver Fox course at Trump National Doral. Should be the same address as the Blue Monster.

Best course in Miami. Impeccable conditions. Super friendly staff. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience!

Awesome course layout, but conditions didn’t live up to expectations for a Top 100 public track.

I approached my round with some trepidation after reading this site, specifically with respect to the parking and bag drop situation. Fortunately, these were not issues as valet parking took care of the car and delivered my clubs to the cart area. All I had to do was exit the car and walk downstairs to check in.

This is a long and difficult course with sand traps and water hazards everywhere. It is a tough but fair layout that was quite a joy to play. Conditions were hot but the course was in excellent shape, though the greens were a bit slower than you might expect.

A friend of mine had acquired passes for out foursome to play so I can't comment on the price. We did get an exceptional fore caddie (Juan) and tipped him well. Given the length of the rough, he found several balls that we were not likely to have been found.

After the round we had a fairly expensive and tasty lunch in the clubhouse,

If you ever get a chance to play the Blue Monster, take it. It is an experience I still think about fairly often.

The greens were slow and probably recently air raided...you can still see the sand. Fairways were perfect and the rough was deadly thick. Great course and well kept.

Played 9 holes so there golf course refunded half my money. Called and spoke to a customer service rep that said he would call me back and give me my refund. No call. No refund. Not sure if I'll ever get it even though the golf course did it immediately. Not sure about doing business with gn anymore either

First I had to carry my clubs from the bag drop 100 yards to the starters area. Then told to walk over a get my own cart, then loaded my bag on the cart. Then told it was cart paths only ( 85 degrees, 100 percent humidity), so you had to walk 100 yards at least every time you hit your ball. By the 10 or 11 hole I was wiped out. There was large amounts of tree trimmings around several Of the tee boxes. The after completion of the round I had to carry my clubs back to the club drop, all this fun for $250. If I could talk to President Trump ( whom I love) I would say your fired.
The only redeeming moment at Trump National is when the sales lady in the Blue Monster shop tracked me down And returned a wad of cash I dropped in the shop Shout Out to you young lady!!!!