Many of us know the story of Carl Fisher. Bespectacled due to a case of astigmatism, Fisher made a fortune during the dawn of the automobile industry. His passion for auto racing and travel lead him down two culturally significant paths, the development of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the creation of the Dixie Highway, a road of dreams leading from the upper Midwest to a termination just across a rickety causeway from his new vacation dreamland, Miami Beach.
Fisher started the development of Miami Beach around 1913. Formerly a swampy outlying island from the town of Miami, his work crews changed the landscape into an inhabitable beach side area. Along the way, he built hotels, housing and, of course, golf courses.
The Annual Guides list the following golf courses for Miami Beach (all associated with the Miami Beach Golf Club):
Miami Beach Golf Course:
-1916 Guide - date of 1916, 18 holes, 6,088 yards, Grass greens, Course has been under construction for two years.
-1917, 1920 and 1921 Guides - date of 1916, 18 holes, 6,088 yards, Grass greens.
-1922 and 1923 Guides - date of 1915, 18 holes, par 72, 6,028 yards, Grass greens.
-1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1931 Guides - date of 1915, 18 holes, par 72, 6,130 yards, Grass greens.
Flamingo Golf Course -
-1923 Guide - noted with no information.
-1925 and 1926 Guides - date of 1922, 9 holes, par 35, 3,144 yards, Grass greens.
Bay Shore (or Bayshore) Golf Course -
-1923 Guide - noted with no information.
1925, 1926, 1927,1928, 1929 and 1931 Guides - date of 1922, 18 holes, par 72, 6,581 yards, Grass greens.
La Gorce Course -
-1927, 1928, 1929 and 1931 Guides - date of 1927, 18 holes, par 71, 6,200 yards, Grass greens.
In addition, the 1928 list of Florida Golf Courses notes all four courses with the same names and the similar yardages. The 1930 list of Florida Golf Courses includes the Bay Shore and LaGorce courses, but not the other two.
So who did Fisher use to design these courses?
We'll start with the Miami Beach Golf Course. I've posted the following article taken from the March 25, 1925 edition of The Palm Beach Daily News elsewhere, but I think it bears repeating. According to the second to last paragraph of the piece, the answer appears to be a rather young William Langford, and its the earliest reference to Langford's design work that I've seen. How Langford and Fisher were connected is a matter of speculation at this point, but perhaps the answers lie in their Midwestern roots.