The almost 800-acre Doral Country Club includes 700 hotel rooms across 10 lodges; four golf courses, courses including the famous TPC Blue Monster, home of the upcoming WGC Cadillac Championship, more than 86,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 25,000-square-foot Ballroom; a 50,000-square-foot spa with 33 treatment rooms; six food and beverage outlets; extensive retail; and a private members’ clubhouse.

Also lurking in the shadows is a possible meg-casino license as the Florida legislature is considering approving three such enterprises in South Florida. The Great White golf course was spun off and will be sold as part of another adjoining development.

Considering that the former owners Paulson & Co and Winthrop Realty Trust paid $501 million for the place in 2007, Trump got a heck of a deal and somebody got a major league haircut. “It would be impossible for a developer today to replicate a property of this size in Miami at any cost,” said The Donald.

Trump announced that he plans to spend another $150 million on upgrading the resort. "When Doral first opened, it was considered the best resort in the world. The combination of the property's incredible location in the heart of Miami and our very significant investment in upgrading the resort will enable us to return Doral to its former glory if not surpass it. When completed, Doral will be the finest resort and golf club in the country."

Say what you will about Trump but he is one of the few buyers in golf these days and when he gets his hands on a property he always makes it better. The conditions and service are first class at his courses and he is now even gaining a little touch around the greens, so to speak.

In some of his earlier golf course acquisitions he would always add some sort of ostentatious features like out-place waterfalls but he has done better recently with an outstanding new course effort in Scotland, for instance. His plans for the Blue Monster bode well for him continuing in that same direction.

Trump has announced that he has hired respected golf course architect Gil Hanse to renovate the Blue Monster. The original 1961 Dick Wilson design had been hacked up over the past 10 years first by Raymond Floyd and then resident golf instructor Jim MacLean.

Golf courses, particularly those hosting golf tournaments where the best in the world compete need to be renovated these days to accommodate the advances in equipment but the work that Floyd and MacLean did only detracted from a Wilson’s original design.

It would almost seem that the understated Hanse wouldn’t be a match for Trump but this is a great move for the future of The Blue Monster, Hanse has a tremendous eye for classic design and an artist’s touch to go along with his sharp recognition of the shot values necessary to challenge today’s world class tour professionals.

His renovation work at the TPC Boston, home of the PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank Championship, has been widely applauded by the pros. This is the greatest thing to happen to Doral since Doris and Alfred Kaskel opened the place in 1962.

The Trump Hotel Collection ™, the wholly owned hotel management division of The Trump Organization, will take over the management of the property and expects to assume operations by June 2012. The property will remain fully operational throughout the renovation, which is expected to conclude in Fall 2013.