Miami Lakes has one golf course inside town limits, Miami Lakes Golf Club, and after a full 2025 redesign it is the one a lot of Miami golfers now name first. Everything else on any honest list of the best golf courses in Miami Lakes, FL sits in a ring that starts about ten minutes away and ends at the causeway to Key Biscayne. This guide covers ten courses, sorted by drive time, with what each one asks of your game and whether a visitor can actually get on.
How Golf Around Miami Lakes Is Laid Out
Miami Lakes is a 6.51 square mile town about 16 miles north of downtown Miami (Town of Miami Lakes), which is why one course inside the limits is all the geography allows. The upside is position. The town sits roughly halfway between Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, so a golfer based here can reach four counties' worth of public golf without ever fighting downtown traffic.
Access is the part visitors get wrong. Almost every course in this guide takes public play, including the two big-name properties, so you do not need a member to get a tee time. What varies is price and pace. The county and municipal courses run friendly rates and slower rounds, the resort properties run championship conditions at the top of the market, and weekend mornings everywhere go first.
Drive times below are normal-traffic estimates from the Main Street area. Add fifteen minutes to anything south or east of the Palmetto Expressway between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m.
Miami Lakes Golf Club: The Only Course Inside Town Limits
Miami Lakes Golf Club at 7601 Miami Lakes Drive is an 18-hole, par 72 course originally laid out by Bill Watts in 1962 and completely redesigned in 2025 by architect Bruce Hepner (Miami Lakes Hotel). It reopened to the public in late 2025 with a driving range, practice area, pro shop and a 19th hole called The Deck, and it is home to the First Tee of Miami.
The course plays 6,982 yards from the back tees at a 73.9 rating and 132 slope, dropping to 6,447 from the middle. Water is in play on a lot of holes and homes line a few of them, so the tee shot decision matters more than raw length. Miami golf photographer Dwayne Tucker, writing in March 2026 about the public rotation he actually plays, calls it the best public setup in the city right now and singles out greens that are bold and undulated.
One practical note: this is a semi-private club with a collared-shirt dress code, and booking through the club is close to mandatory on weekend mornings. Rates are tiered, with separate town resident, South Florida resident and twilight pricing, so it is worth checking which one you qualify for before you book.
Courses Within a Fifteen Minute Drive
The Country Club of Miami
The Country Club of Miami sits about ten minutes from Miami Lakes and is the largest golf complex nearby, with 36 holes across two Robert Trent Jones courses. Volume is the selling point. Two courses absorb weekend demand in a way an 18-hole property cannot, so this is the call when Miami Lakes is booked solid and you still want to play before noon. Public access, mid-range pricing, and a fair test rather than a punishing one.
Flamingo Lakes Golf & Country Club
Flamingo Lakes Golf & Country Club is an 18-hole John Condon design in Miramar, roughly fifteen minutes north over the Broward County line. It is one of the more affordable rounds in the ring around Miami Lakes, which is what makes it the sensible second round for a foursome playing twice in a weekend. Crossing into Broward also means a different weekend crowd, so tee times can open up here when Miami-Dade courses are full.
Courses Within a Twenty Five Minute Drive
Miami Springs Golf & Country Club
Miami Springs Golf & Country Club is an 18-hole public course founded in 1923, about fifteen to twenty minutes south toward the airport. Recent renovations improved the greens, and the layout is fair and approachable rather than tricked up. It is also one of the few genuinely walkable courses in the area, which matters if you would rather not pay for a cart or you want the exercise. Book the early slot; the afternoon sun on an open municipal layout is punishing from May onward.
Costa Del Sol Golf Club
Costa Del Sol Golf Club is an 18-hole Robert E. Cupp design west of Miami International, about twenty minutes down the Palmetto. The layout is tighter and more strategic than the wide municipal courses closer to Miami Lakes, so it rewards a player who can shape a shot and punishes one who only has driver. Worth the drive on a weekend when the nearer courses have nothing left before noon.
Pembroke Lakes Golf & Racquet Club
Pembroke Lakes Golf & Racquet Club is an 18-hole Broward County course in Pembroke Pines, around twenty minutes from Miami Lakes, with racquet facilities on the same property. That combination solves a specific problem: half the group plays golf and half plays tennis or pickleball, and everyone finishes around the same time. Book the tee time and the court in the same call rather than assuming both will be free.
Miami Shores Country Club
Miami Shores Country Club is an 18-hole public course east of Miami Lakes, roughly twenty to twenty five minutes away, laid out by Red Lawrence and dating to 1939. Tucker describes an old-school municipal feel, subtly domed greens and heavy St. Augustine rough, with a tough par three at 17 that is easier to handle if you have banked a couple of shots. The range stays open late, which makes this the practical choice for a golfer who finishes work at six and wants to hit balls rather than play.
Trump National Doral
Trump National Doral is the marquee resort property within reach of Miami Lakes, about twenty minutes down the Palmetto, with 72 holes across multiple courses. The Blue Monster is long, exposed and full of water; the Red Tiger and Golden Palm play more balanced while still asking for real golf. Conditions are consistently excellent and the practice facility is one of the best in Miami. Public play is available but priced at the top of the market, so treat it as the one round of the trip rather than the daily rotation.
Courses Worth a Longer Drive
Granada Golf Course
Granada Golf Course in Coral Gables is a historic nine-hole course that opened in 1923 on a Donald Ross design, about thirty to thirty five minutes from Miami Lakes. Strategy matters more than power, and the walkable nine-hole loop makes it the right call for a beginner, a junior, or anyone with two hours instead of five. Turn up as a single and you will usually get paired with regulars, which is half the reason locals keep going back.
Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne
Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne is the toughest public course on this list, forty five to fifty five minutes away across the tolled Rickenbacker Causeway. Wind, heat and exposure do most of the damage before the layout even gets involved. Recent green and bunker work has helped, though fairways can still be inconsistent where saltwater is a constant fight, and king tides occasionally affect holes. The skyline view from 18 is the photograph, so take it and keep moving; pace is enforced here.
Tee Times, Heat, and Playing Through the Wet Season
Book weekend mornings several days out and treat afternoons in summer as a different sport. Miami runs about 89 degrees in August with the rain arriving as a heavy late-afternoon thunderstorm rather than all-day drizzle, and June averages 9.33 inches (U.S. News Travel, citing National Climatic Data Center normals). A 7 a.m. tee time in July is pleasant. A 2 p.m. one in July usually ends with a horn and a sprint to the cart barn.
December through April is the season worth planning around, and it is also when tee sheets fill with visitors, so book further ahead in those months than you would in September. If you are timing a trip, the best time to visit Miami Lakes breaks the calendar down month by month.
Humidity is the quieter problem. Leather grips, gloves and bags that sit in a hot Florida garage from June to October go tacky and then go moldy, which is why some local players keep a spare set and the off-season gear in a climate controlled storage unit in Miami Lakes instead. Seasonal residents who only play here from November to April do the same thing with a 5×5 storage unit, which holds a bag, a push cart and a couple of bins so the clubs never get checked onto a plane again.
Charity and corporate tournaments run all season on these courses, and Miami Lakes Golf Club hosts outings regularly. Organizers who run the same event every year need somewhere to keep banners, tee signs, tents and prize stock between editions, and a 10×10 unit is the usual size for that kind of inventory.
Where to Stay for a Golf Weekend in Miami Lakes
Miami Lakes Hotel on Main at 6842 Main Street is the obvious base, because it runs stay-and-play packages with the golf club and sits inside the walkable Main Street district. Guests also get complimentary access to the 45,000 square foot Miami Lakes Athletic Club, and there are 300 free self-parking spaces, so the car stays put between the course and dinner. Other options across the surrounding corridor are covered in the guide to hotels in Miami Lakes.
Non-golfers in the group are well served here. Main Street holds roughly two dozen restaurants, a 13-screen cinema and a theater company within a few blocks, which the wider guide to things to do in Miami Lakes covers properly. If half the group would rather see the Everglades or Key Biscayne while the other half plays, the day trips from Miami Lakes guide has the drive times.
Golfers relocating to the area often land in a rental or a townhouse before they buy, and the clubs, bikes and boxes rarely fit at once. A 5×10 unit covers that gap without renting a second garage.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to play at Miami Lakes Golf Club?
Miami Lakes Golf Club uses tiered pricing rather than one green fee. There are separate rates for members, Town of Miami Lakes residents, South Florida residents and general public play, plus lower twilight rates in the afternoon and reduced military and frontline pricing. Weekend and holiday rates run higher than Monday through Thursday. Because the course reopened after a 2025 redesign, check the club's current rate sheet before you book.
What are some golf courses located in Miami Lakes?
Miami Lakes Golf Club at 7601 Miami Lakes Drive is the only golf course inside the town limits. Search results that list several courses "in Miami Lakes" are really listing the surrounding area: The Country Club of Miami is about ten minutes away, Flamingo Lakes is about fifteen, and Miami Springs, Costa Del Sol, Pembroke Lakes, Miami Shores and Trump National Doral all fall inside a twenty five minute drive.
What is the nicest golf course in Miami?
For conditioning and prestige, Trump National Doral is the answer most golfers give, with 72 holes kept in championship shape and a practice facility to match. For the best public experience you can book without a resort budget, Tucker's March 2026 local guide names the redesigned Miami Lakes Golf Club, and for pure difficulty Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne is the sternest public test in the city.
What changed in the Miami Lakes Golf Club renovation?
Bruce Hepner completely redesigned the course in 2025, working from the Bill Watts routing that opened in 1962, and it reopened to the public late that year. The greens came back bolder and more undulated than the old surfaces, and turf conditions across the property improved noticeably. A number of staff from the closed Melreese course moved over, which is why the club feels busier and more social than a typical municipal.
Which courses near Miami Lakes are walkable?
Miami Springs Golf & Country Club and Granada Golf Course in Coral Gables are the two genuine walks. Miami Springs is a flat, fair 18 that a reasonably fit player can carry, and Granada is nine holes on a compact Donald Ross footprint. Most other courses in this ring are built around cart paths and South Florida heat, so walking is either discouraged or simply unwise from May through September.
Storing Clubs and Gear Near the Course
Golf gear multiplies faster than closet space, and Miami Lakes homes were not built with a second garage bay for it. Value Store It in Miami Lakes rents month to month with no long-term contract, which suits a seasonal player or anyone waiting on a closing date. Beyond the sizes already mentioned, the lineup runs through a 5×15 for long, narrow loads and a 10×5 for a smaller version of the same idea, then up through 10×15 and 10×20 units that hold a full household, with a 10×30 at the top for a business or a genuinely large move. If you are not sure which one you need, the storage unit size guide walks through what fits where.
