South Florida Golf Courses Scene

Emerald Dunes has been hailed as one of the most enjoyable and playable courses in Palm Beach County, an area that has been touted as the “Golf Capital of the World.”

Designed by Tom Fazio and featuring five tees on each hole, Emerald Dunes appels to players of every skill level. From the moment you arrive, you’ll find one distinctive feature after another. As a daily-fee course with a private club atmosphere, Emerald Dunes provides exceptional playability, impeccable maintenance, helpful professionals, and superior service.

Bonaventure Country Club is the golf-lovers golf course in Ft. Lauderdale. Appreciative of how important it is to play the game "right", Bonaventure's the only South Florida semi-private club to overseed its East Course greens this winter with bentgrass (Syn 96-2), rather than rye, at twice the normal rate to insure your putts will roll like they do "up north" all winter long. They've also overseeded the tees with rye and given the same conditioning care to the bunkers, which have a wetting agent applied to keep them consistent in the warm Florida sun. Golf-lovers golf course?

Every good golf club has its rules. Palm Cove Golf Club general manager Doug Moseley has an unwritten one on attire that “everyone has to come in with a smile on their face.” He applies it to his staff and hopes it rubs off on his members and even those making their first trip to Palm Cove, located on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River between US-1 and Florida’s Turnpike in Palm City. What else would you expect from a Chi Chi Rodriguez signature course? One thing is conditioning.

Acclaimed Host of the Nationwide Tour Miccosukee Championship  

Miccosukee Golf & Country Club is one of the few Florida courses that can boast it currently hosts a professional Tour event. The Miccosukee Championship, held in October, is one of the stops on the Nationwide Tour and will continue to be so through at least 2006.

The Miccosukee Championship affords guests the opportunity to see the young guns coming up through the ranks. Last year, the likes of Zack Johnson and Bo Van Pelt competed in the event, both of whom are now in the top 40 on the PGA TOUR money list. The Miccosukee Golf & Country Club, formally known as the Miami National Golf Club, has hosted LPGA and PGA events and the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer have graced the fairways.

“Aesthetically, layout, and condition-wise, and add to that the fact that it sits on the St. Lucie River, this is the most incredible place a public golfer can play in Florida,” boasts Michelle Kaplet, Ballantrae’s new head professional. “On the otherside of the wide river you can see the ultra-private Harbor Ridge and Wayne Huizenga’s own personal golf course The Floridian. Indeed, Ballantrae is one of the few places where a non-member can experience such an exclusive and wonderful setting.”

Ballantrae Golf and Yacht Club is exactly that. This Jack Nicklaus signature golf course is a Florida links course that winds its way among the wetlands and pine uplands that skirt the St. Lucie River just north of Stuart. Only in Florida can you find the unique blend of moss-hung oaks, pines and cabbage palms preserved in abundance here.

Cobblestone Golf Club features 18 holes of stunning championship golf sensitively routed through a nature preserve and protected wetlands. Rated as one of the top 10 course developments of the 1990’s, Cobblestone has matured into a friendly and challenging experience for your next golf adventure.

There is a quiet Carolinas feel to the course with many elevated tees and greens leading to fairways edged by rolling mounds and thick grasses. Beautiful pines towering over lush tropical foliage frame many of the holes but the true challenge of this gem is created by its location in and around protected wetlands. Routing of the course is unique to the area since very few holes run parallel to each other. The sandhill cranes, otters, turtles, deer, bobcats and an occasional alligator create a serene setting to test your abilities.

Want to play a course that gives you an interesting mix of all the good things Florida has to offer? Play a round at Ballantrae Golf and Yacht Club.

This Jack Nicklaus signature golf course is a Florida links course, which winds its way among tehwetlands and pine uplands that skirt the St. Lucie River just north of Stuart. Only in Florida can you find the unique blend of moss-hung oaks, pines and cabbage palms preserved in abundance here. 

On a site so lush with outstanding natural characteristics, the task facing designer Jack Nicklaus was to fit into this setting a course that is challenging yet fun to play. The result is a venue that offers an enjoyable day for a residential developments.

"Golfers will find that Ballantrae is a bit of a departure from most Florida courses," says Nicklaus. "The presence of the St. Lucie River and numerous wetlands provided us a challenge in designing the course, but it also presented us a luxury. With such variety, including pine uplands, Ballantrae should be as aesthetically pleasing as it is enjoyable to play. From the tees, this is a strong golf course. But with five sets of tees, the golf course should be playable for all levels."