Best Golf Courses in West Palm Beach

January 16, 2018

If you’re a golfer, the West Palm Beach and greater Palm Beaches of Florida are some of the most alluring places in the southeast. Between the warm, year-round weather and the ease of travel in and out of Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), it’s no wonder that dozens of world-class golfers are members at a local country club, where they can dial in their championship golf games at the best golf courses in West Palm Beach. Similarly, it is a tremendous spot for a golf vacation – so much so that many visitors find themselves looking for reasons to live in the area permanently.

 

The golf clubs in West Palm Beach are among the strongest in the country. The menu begins with Palm Beach National Resort & Spa (featured image), whose Champion Course plays host to the PGA Tour’s annual Honda Classic. If you love teeing it up where the pros play, the Champion, with its famed “Bear Trap” stretch on holes 15 through 17, is a must play. But don’t sleep on PGA National’s other courses as well – in recent years, the resort has spent tens of millions of dollars throughout the property, lavishing attention on all 90 holes that visitors and members can play.

 

If you’re looking for some old-time luxury, then The Breakers Golf Club is the West Palm Beach golf resort you’re looking for. With two of the best golf courses in West Palm Beach – the Ocean Course on-site and the Rees Jones Course just a few miles inland – The Breakers serves up the quintessential West Palm Beach golf course experience.

 

West Palm Beach has been in the winter spotlight as home to President Donald Trump’s Trump International Golf Club and Mar-a-Lago, and Jack Nicklaus, a North Palm Beach resident, also recently transformed Banyan Cay Golf Club, another top country club and residential development located in Boca Raton. Luckily, you do not have to be a candidate for “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” to score tee times at one of the best golf courses in West Palm Beach. In fact, Palm Beach County sports a number of fine semi-private and municipal courses well worth your attention.

 

The Matt Dusenberry-designed Sandhill Crane Golf Course, owned by the City of Palm Beach Gardens, offers a chance to see the early work of one of the game’s up-and coming designers. West Palm Beach Golf Club has a long history, as well as a compact routing that changes direction constantly, taking advantage of the ever-present winds. Nicklaus has left his mark on the public golf scene here as well, having completely redesigned the North Palm Beach Country Club (owned by the Village of North Palm Beach) in 2006.

 

Abacoa Golf Club, a traditional Joe Lee layout, is another favorite among public golfers, and Southwinds Golf Club is another favorite value pick. Finally, don’t forget the Palm Beach Par-3 Golf Course, owned by the City of Palm Beach, with 18 short holes set on both the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. Another choice for a value tee time is Okeheelee Golf Course, which has three nine-hole options.

 

If you’re willing to take a little bit of a drive north, you’ll be pleased to play any of the four courses at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, about 45 minutes north of West Palm Beach. Like PGA National Resort, PGA Village has been hard at work renovating its courses over the last few years, and now the St. Lucie Trail Course, the Wanamaker Course, the Ryder Course (both by Tom Fazio) and the Dye Course are all in terrific shape, welcoming golfers visiting from far and wide to their fairways.

 

Off the golf course, West Palm has two retail and entertainment districts, CityPlace and Clematis Street. During your golf trip here, you may find yourself looking for real estate after your tee time at one of the best golf courses in West Palm Beach.