"I played high school and junior golf at the Delray muni back in the 1970s," architect John Sanford told Golf Course Industry for its late-September feature on the renovation. His Jupiter-based firm, Sanford Ferris Golf Design, has spent the past year rebuilding that same course on Highland Avenue, just west of I-95 and south of Atlantic.
The city's project page describes the goal as a renovation that will "restore and preserve" the course. Very little from Donald Ross or Dick Wilson survived to be preserved, so the designers built two deliberately different nines in two architects' styles and tied them together with a landscape South Florida golf hasn't really seen. Golfers who play the city course every week will also be the ones paying it off, because the financing runs through the first tee.
Nothing Original Was Left to Save
The course is nearly 100 years old, but its lineage has more breaks in it than the name suggests. Golf Course Industry's history, together with the city's own account, runs like this:
- 1923: The City of Delray Beach buys the land.
- 1924 to 1926: Ross gets the commission, and the first city-owned nine opens in 1926. The second nine never gets built, mainly because of the Great Depression. Through many of those lean years, the golf pro and "greenkeeper" is Dick Wilson.
- 1950: Wilson's own nine, one of his first solo designs, opens north of the clubhouse after the course had closed during World War II.
- 1962: Red Lawrence expands the facility to 27 holes. Soon afterward the family of Robert Bruce Harris buys the property, and Harris remakes all three nines, which effectively erases Ross, Wilson and Lawrence.
- 1979 to the 1990s: The city buys the course back. Two years later the Lawrence nine is sold to commercial developers, and Karl Litton renovates the remaining 18 in the 1990s.
When NMP Golf Construction broke ground on December 1, 2025, the builders and architects agreed there were no Ross or Wilson features left to save. They went looking anyway. Crews peeled back layers left by earlier green rebuilds, hunting for the black moisture-holding layer Ross used under his putting surfaces. Sanford said what they found was "incomplete as a historic reference," because earlier renovations had removed or altered the original Ross green pad.
What the team did have was paper. Ross drew a routing plan in 1925, and his surviving site notes guided the holes south of the clubhouse. Wilson left nothing behind, so the designers worked from aerial photography taken in 1953. The magazine's verdict is that the project amounts to "an original design, an interpretive tribute."
One Nine Ross, One Nine Wilson
Most classic renovations choose one architect's style and carry it through all 18 holes. Here, the article says, one nine is all Ross and the other is entirely Wilson. The two architects designed their nines about 25 years apart, and golfers will feel that gap on the course.
| Ross nine, south of the clubhouse | Wilson nine, north of the clubhouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Bunkers | Low sand lines, little movement in floors and edges, grass faces | Irregular lines, small capes and bays, flashed sand, big clusters |
| How bunkers read | Placed strategically but often randomly | A "road map" to each hole |
| Greens | Micro undulations, more convex movement, crowns set independently | Contours tied to high points around the perimeter, three to four exit points between bunkers |
| Signature hole | Volcano-style par-3 8th across the canal | Opening par 5 framed by bunker clusters |
The Wilson side announces itself right away. Sanford described the first hole as a par 5 where the bunker clusters define both the landing areas and the green. On the Ross side, a canal runs north to south through the middle of the nine. Its banks used to be overgrown with exotic vegetation and have been cleared. The par-3 8th, which Sanford remembers best from his junior golf days, still plays across that canal as Ross's routing plan laid it out.
Under the two styles, almost everything is new. According to the article, all 18 greens will be cored and rebuilt to USGA specifications. WPTV listed new irrigation and drainage systems, new restrooms, a driving range, new practice and teaching areas, a new maintenance facility, and a new parking lot with upgraded lighting. The city's project page also includes a replacement golf cart bridge on the south nine. Boca Magazine mentions new cart paths. The clubhouse is being modernized as well.
The Sugar Sand That Ties It Together
Two nines in two styles still need to play like one golf course. The design team mostly used turf to make that happen: TifEagle on the greens, Bimini on the fairways, and Pensacola Bahiagrass in the outlying areas that won't be irrigated.
Then came the sand. The 1953 aerials showed Wilson leaving a lot of bare sand between holes on the north side, and the crew began experimenting with that idea. Sanford told Golf Course Industry:
"The sand here is white as sugar; the locals call it 'sugar sand.' The NMP shapers came up with some awesome, scoured-out, windswept blowouts. We all loved the way they looked. So we carried them through the entire golf course, about 25 acres worth, as a unifying element."
The Bahia matters more than its reputation as a pasture grass would suggest. Darryl Bartlett, NMP's chief development officer, told the magazine that it is very drought tolerant and needs much less irrigation and fertilizer than many Southern turf varieties. The designers are using it almost like a Southern fescue to frame holes and influence decisions off the tee. Its seed heads give the course a rugged look that Bartlett called very different from the usual manicured South Florida presentation. The irrigation designer, The Pignato Group, worked to keep water off those areas, because Sanford says dry Bahia stays more open and playable.
The old muni had nothing like 25 acres of native-looking sand and meadow grass framing its holes.
The Golfers Who Kept It Public Are Financing It
How the course got rebuilt matters as much as what got built. As Boca Magazine recounted, an earlier proposal before the City Commission would have created a public-private partnership: a developer would redevelop the course in exchange for part of the land. Six developers submitted proposals. The commission at the time rejected them after backlash from residents and golfers.
The city then took a city consultant's suggestion for a revenue bond backed by usage fees, so taxpayers wouldn't carry the cost. The renovation was approved in October 2025, and the bond will be repaid over time from user fees. On October 14, 2025, the commission passed Resolution 247-25, awarding the construction contract to NMP Golf Construction Corp. for $28,560,667.14. Boca Magazine puts the full renovation at $33 million.
That makes the green fee the repayment plan. The consultant's proposal, as Boca Magazine reported it in September 2026, would set 18-hole rates like this:
| Season | Resident | Non-resident | Resident savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak, November through April | $80 | $105 | $25 |
| Off-season | $39 | $47 | $8 |
Under that proposal, residents would save the most during peak season. Boca Magazine presented these figures as the consultant's proposal, not as rates the commission had adopted. The rate and loyalty-card pages still on the club's website date from before the renovation and may not carry over.
Day-to-day operations are also new. In January 2026 the commission passed Resolution 24-26, selecting Bobby Jones Links to manage both the Delray Beach Golf Club and the city's Lakeview Golf Club. The same company has been overseeing the grow-in.
Where Things Stand in Mid-October
Construction moved quickly. A typical Florida course renovation breaks ground in April. This one mobilized in December, and the course was mostly grassed by midsummer. The city posted drone footage dated July 28, 2026, on its renovation site. Some pieces are still open:
- Opening date: Not announced. The city's December 2025 release targeted November 2026. WPTV reported in June that the city was still aiming for November. Boca Magazine estimated late November. The renovation site now says "late fall/early winter." Bobby Jones Links left room for late 2026 or early 2027.
- Who decides: The city will set the grand reopening and the return of public play.
- Remaining construction: Bartlett said the maintenance building, Lake Worth Canal work and clubhouse should be finished by December.
- Golf in the meantime: The city describes Lakeview Golf Course at 1200 Dover Rd. as a par-60, 18-hole executive course open to the public. Its website offers online tee-time booking.
When the Highland Avenue course does reopen, the opening par 5 will be the first look at the Wilson nine and its bunker clusters. "I hope those who experience the new course had a chance to play the old one, especially the junior golfers," Sanford told Golf Course Industry.
We'll be watching for the city's opening date and the final rate schedule. If you'd like to talk through how places like the renovated Delray Beach Golf Club fit into your plans west of I-95, Erik Ginsberg is here to help. Lean On Me: schedule your personalized consultation.
