Our History

The story of The Country Club of Florida must begin with the story of the land. In March of 1955, Mr. Samuel M. Mitchell, attorney with the Chicago law firm of Bell, Boyd, Marshall & Lloyd, received a letter from his friend Robert Bruce Harris, a well-known golf course architect indicating that after a years-long search, he had at last found a south Florida site (a dairy farm) that satisfied all of his requirements for a new golf course.

Enter Carleton Blunt, a partner of Sam Mitchell, who saw the property and was so enthusiastic about the project that he founded The Country Club of Florida, which opened on December 1, 1956, quickly attracting a national membership. With the help of Mr. Blunt’s friend and famous amateur golfer, Chick Evans, the Club hosted three national golfing events: the Western Golf Association’s 56th Western Amateur Championship (first ever in the Southeast) in 1958, the 1960 National Mixed Foursome Championship, and the 1963 USGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship. Mr. Evans gave the Club a sterling silver milk can representing the Club's connection with the dairy farm to be used as the men's Club championship trophy. Among the celebrity guests in the early years was the Duke of Windsor, who landed his plane on the first fairway!

Fast forward to 1987, Arthur Hills was awarded the contract for remodeling the golf course. The 18-holes would maintain its creative and unique routing with both nines identical in their order of par fours, fives and threes. The design change was so dramatic in style and beauty, that upon completion, the thirteenth hole replaced number four as the club's signature hole.

Nineteen years later, in 2006, Lester George directed the second course renovation. Ponds and lakes were deepened and enlarged, bunkers were increased to a total of eighty-three, and the same routing sequence remained. His talent and imagination resulted in the creation of stunning and expansive views throughout a course surrounded by nature.

In June of 2012, The Country Club of Florida was honored to be the first Club in Florida to host the Western Junior Amateur Championship.