The Rebirth of Dunedin Golf Club (Part 1): Making the Rounds – Installment 31

This column features recollections of the author’s 37 years as a golf writer. These installments stem from his many travels and experiences, which led to a gradual understanding that the game has many intriguing components, especially its people.

It seems like I’ve known Blair Kline for years even though I met him only two years ago. He was mentioned in the latest book I edited and published, “The First 100 Years of Broadmoor Golf Club.” I called to ask about photos of him and the people he cited as friends and influences.

My conversation with this fellow lifer in the golf business stretched over an hour. There’s no doubt he belongs to the people described above.

At age 12, in 1966, Kline caddied at the private club in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood. This modest start propelled the Washington native on a rich and varied journey in golf. The list of entertainment and golf luminaries he’s met, played with or worked for – including most of Broadmoor’s head professionals over its 100 years –is too extensive to itemize here.

In addition to caddying, Kline cleaned and retrieved clubs from Broadmoor’s bag room. His co-workers included: Bill Reid (a future general manager of TPC Sawgrass and TPC Scottsdale); Reid’s younger brother and future PGA/Champions Tour stalwart Mike (“Radar”) Reid; Mike Adams (inductee in the World Golf Teaching Hall of Fame); and Steve Kealy, longtime superintendent at Glendale (Bellevue, Wash.) Country Club who’s been honored with various GCSAA national awards.

After work, Kline and his fellow bag boys golfed with junior member John Bracken and his buddy, Fred Couples. Before Couples (University of Houston) – who remains one of golf’s most popular players, Bracken (Arkansas) and Kline went off to college, the youngsters would race to get in four holes of play – 1, 2, 8 and 9 – sometimes teeing off just 20 minutes before darkness settled in. “It was a wonderful place for a golf addict like me to grow up,” Kline said of Broadmoor.

“When we got together it was typical kid stuff – egging each other on, who could hit the farthest, the biggest slice or hit out of bunkers for a dime a shot,” Kline recalled. “We didn’t have any amount of money. We always tried to get Johnny to buy us Cokes by putting it on his dad’s tab. I still remember J. L. Bracken’s charge number – 38.”

Following college golf (USIU), Kline joined the PGA of America, working for legendary Broadmoor pros Bill Tindall and Duke Matthews at O’Donnell Golf Club in Palm Springs. These stops launched the erstwhile bag boy into head pro and general manager positions in California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Along the way he’s received recognition from the PGA and other organizations.

Though now 70 and 2,700 miles from his hometown, that Broadmoor experience is never far away. “I learned from the professionals at Broadmoor the right way to respect the game,” Kline said for the book. “They taught me to respect the game and the members. I’ve carried that with me wherever I’ve gone.”

Arriving at a Historic Florida Course

Following a stint as GM at Rocky Bayou Country Club in Florida’s Panhandle, Kline moved to the Tampa area in February 2023 and the job of General Manager of Golf Operations for the City of Dunedin. In addition to the usual management functions, his current position entails coordinating with the city, golfers, nearby residents, architects, and contractors on a complete renovation of the historic Donald Ross-designed course in Pinellas County, Fla.

North Carolina-based architect Kris Spence is responsible for reclaiming the authentic features of the 1926 Ross design. Like other seminal courses built during golf’s “Golden Era,” many elements were lost due to a combination of wear and tear, unintended negligence, and ill-considered remodels which greatly altered Ross’s master work. Thankfully, the original course routing has remained intact.

Following these upgrades, Dunedin Golf Club will represent an intelligent and respectful preservation of a classic, while boasting modern attributes such as improved turf, expanded greens and a new irrigation system.

Adding to the importance of Spence’s work, and that of the contractor, TDI Golf, is honoring what is truly a Sunshine State – and American – golfing landmark. That was signified in 2014 by the listing of Dunedin Isles Golf Club (its original name) in the National Register of Historic Places, Florida’s third course so designated.

After opening on New Year’s Day 1927, the City of Dunedin property rapidly assembled an astonishing number of milestones, including:

• In the early 20^th Century, the Tampa Bay area was very popular with the nation’s best golfers, with Dunedin Isles their course of choice. In 1929, eventual “Grand Slam” winner Gene Sarazen (aka “The Squire”) set the course record with a 65.

• Then in 1945, Dunedin officials signed a lease with the PGA of America to convert the course into PGA National Golf Club. The venue went on to host 18 PGA Senior Tour Championships, laying the foundation for the Senior PGA Tour and, currently, PGA Tour Champions.

• In 1946, golf’s “Big Four” – Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Harold (“Jug) McSpaden – played an exhibition match here to benefit a rehabilitation fund for returning PGA war veterans. Snead and Hogan were military vets. Before this match, each golfer was deeded a homesite in the nearby Dunedin Isles subdivision.

• In 1954, a handful of golf companies organized the country’s first-ever PGA Merchandise Show in the course’s parking lot. The show soon grew so popular that a large tent was added to display the exhibitors’ wares. That same show has morphed into a massive event at the cavernous Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. This annual golf extravaganza is attended by thousands of exhibitors, club pros and buyers from around the world.

• In 1956, the PGA of America moved its national headquarters from Chicago to Dunedin and conducted its first PGA Business Schools for members. In 1962 the association moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., as there wasn’t enough land near Dunedin’s course for a second 18 holes.

Getting Ready for its Centennial

The years following these heydays were not kind to Dunedin’s only golf course, not uncommon for layouts reaching the ripe old age of 100. The accumulated effects of its popularity while hosting 50,000 annual rounds, a lack of capital improvements, and ill-advised design alterations wore the original links course out.

With the backing of its members and Dunedin officials, the Ross original will be returned to glory with an extensive and sensitive $6.3 million restoration, to be completed in late 2024.

“All the course-wide conditions will be as good or better than any municipal operation in Florida, and will rival some of the private club offerings,” said Spence. “Dunedin will open some eyes as to what an authentic Donald Ross course plays and looks like. Its character is outstanding as Ross threw his entire toolbox at it strategically and really brought a subtle piece of land to life.”

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll delve further into the resurrection of Dunedin Golf Club into a 21^st Century masterpiece and superintendent Dennis Swander’s contributions.

[Special thanks for the photos in this story to Florida Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources and its Florida Historic Golf Trail website https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/.]

Jeff Shelley has written and published nine books as well as numerous articles for print and online media over his lengthy career. Among his titles are three editions of the book, “Golf Courses of the Pacific Northwest.” The Whidbey Island resident was editorial director of Cybergolf.com from 2000-15, co-founded the Northwest Golf Media Association and was president of the nonprofit First Green (https://www.thefirstgreen.org/). To contact Jeff: fairgreens@seanet.com.