Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches: a hole-by-hole guide to PGA National Resort's Champion Course

In 2024, PGA National Resort's vexing Champion Course will host the PGA Tour for the 18th time, more than any other course in the tournament-formerly-known-as-the-Honda-Classic's half-century-plus history.

Despite typically measuring just over 7,000 yards during tournament rounds, "The Champ" is one of the more grueling tests the pros face all year. An archetypal South Florida golf course, it throws a kitchen-sink of challenges at them with the exception of raw length, although at a tournament par of 71, with the short par 5 6th converted to a demanding long par 4, distance figures can be somewhat deceiving.

If there's one way in which the course bucks stereotype, it's with a clever, walkable routing where out-of-bounds and real estate only sit at the periphery. Two generally clockwise-looping nines provide near-constant changes of direction until the 15th tee, from which golfers proceed in a northeasterly sprint back to the clubhouse and resort complex.

The Champ's main defense, for better and worse, is water. While mortals regularly pump half a dozen or more golf balls into the drink over the course of a typical round, its ever-presence does often make for compelling TV viewing and some spectacular late-round crash-and-burns interspersed with the odd heroic approach.

To varying extents, water comes into play on all but two holes: the par-4 4th and the 10th, which retains its original status as a par 5 in 2024 after years as playing as a par 4. An interconnected system of ponds, lakes and lagoons borders the greens of three of the four par 3s, including the feared 15th and 17th holes, which anchor the infamous "Bear Trap" stretch run where the inward nine turns the pressure knobs up to 11, especially when the typical winter winds blow.

Avoiding the water is only half the battle. Thick rough (usually overseeded annual rye grass but sometimes native gnarly Bermuda) chokes The Champ's narrow fairways. Deep greenside bunkers make for legitimate hazards when players are short-sided around the medium-sized greens, which play smaller because they are often elevated and/or set at vexing angles. After a gentle-handshake opening hole, there is barely any letup outside of the two par 5s, holes 3 and 18. The course is well-named: it's just about as close to boxing as golf can get.

Originally laid out in 1981 by Tom Fazio, the course has undergone significant renovations over the years, the largest of which was in 1990, when Jack Nicklaus reconfigured the routing and basic design of the course to what resort guests, club members and pros play nowadays. Nicklaus and his associates have made various smaller adjustments over the years, the most noticeable of which was the redesign of the par-4 14th hole in 2014, which moved the green closer to - what else? - the water along the right side.

At few PGA Tour venues is the light-years-wide gulf between pros and the rest of us more obvious than at The Champ. A 61 is impressive at any golf course, but here, where Brian Harman (2012) and Matt Jones (2021) share that score as a course record, it seems downright superhuman, and a testament to how a professional golfer in a groove can bring even a tight, ornery course like this one to its knees, if only for a day. The Champ typically gets her due, though; only 6 of the 17 PGA Tour events there have had a winning score of -10 or better.

View Tee Times

PGA National Resort - Champion Course

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Resort

2.8392117647

32

Write Review

As gentle a start as one can hope for, this straightaway two-shotter usually is a long iron off the tee and a short iron approach. A bunker wraps around the long but narrow green.

Birdies on the first often get given back here. The tee shot calls for a right-to-left shape, but that requires players starting the ball at the exact spot where out-of-bounds and a snaking bunker pinch the fairway to barely 25 yards across. Another right-to-left shot awaits into the tiered green.

Players who birdie the first and par the second can start getting ambitious, as this red-meat par 5 played as the easiest hole on the course in 2023's event, nearly half a stroke under par. One of the roomiest landing areas on the course invites a big drive, followed by an approach to a rare open-fronted green with little in the way of internal contour.

One of several shortish-looking holes that plays longer because of how it takes driver out of most players' hands, the first hole without water makes up for that concession with an elevated green that tends to slope away from the landing area.

The green is larger than most but sits hard against a pond, meaning players will have to choose how bold they're going to be based on wind, yardage and general mental state at this point in the round.

This converted par 5 is the first truly nerve-fraying test at The Champ, with water all down the left, a corseted fairway and a multi-level green. If there's any grace here, it's found on days when the hole is cut in a lower bowl on the green that can sometimes yield up a kick-in birdie or eagle when a ball takes the feeder-slope just right.

The water isn't in play for pros, but the long, skinny green that reminds slightly of a Biarritz, if you squint, provides plenty of clubbing challenges.

Once again, much of the field must hit 3 wood off the tee as the fairway runs out into water around the 310 yard mark. Bunkers flank a green with a slight false-front. There's opportunity here, especially after a good drive.

Once again, players have to decide whether they'll challenge a pinched fairway between a bunker and a copse of palms or lay back off the tee, adding a club and a half to an approach that plays uphill.

This hole has played as a par 4 in the past, but returning to its typical back tees will likely mean it plays as the easiest hole on the course relative to par. The 10th favors long hitters, who can bust a drive down the right side and shorten the approach some. The big green has its compartments but relatively subtle slopes. There will be plenty of eagles here, likely leading to an overall lower winning score to par than usual.

Being bunkerless doesn't stop this from being a son-of-a-gun of a par 4, as water intrudes on the right side of the fairway and crosses in front of the sizable but two-tiered green. You can't be short, but you also don't want to go long into a sunken chipping area, hitting back toward the water. There were more double-bogeys here (29) in 2023 than at any other hole.

Two left-to-right shots are the ticket here, especially the approach, which needs to clear a deep front bunker.

In certain winds, players might try to bang a drive up around this green, as the layup off the tee is no bargain. Of course, neither is being out of position when approaching the heavily bunkered putting surface.

The newest hole at The Champ is the most thoughtfully designed one - a classic switchback hole where an exciting back-right Sunday pin in a lower level of the green can invite shots that remind viewers of what can happen at Augusta in the final round of the Masters. In 2023, holes 14 through 17 played a combined half-shot over par throughout the week.

The first of the Bear Trap's two violent par 3s can be a nightmare when the wind blows, as there's nowhere to hide but on the putting surface. If you've ever dreamt of being stripped to your skivvies in front of a crowd, keep in mind that Akshay Bhatia nearly lived that nightmare in 2023 when he played a shot with his shirt off from a muddy lie behind the green.

The middle hole of the Bear Trap is another one where players must gear down off the tee, often hitting a mid-iron to the two-level green. The wind caroming off the stands around the hole can make club-selection frustrating.

Few places on tour see more action than the sunken chipping area and bunker long-left of the green on this second watery back-nine par 3; it's the obvious bailout spot from an elevated tee in front of lubricated fans. This hole used to be a club longer, but stadium-like stands cover up the back tee box.

A back tee at 600-plus yards has wisely been abandoned in recent years because this hole is much more fun when it's reachable. A big drive to a generous landing area leaves the option to hit a heroic water-carry approach that has been a highlight of many past editions of this event.

Articles

7 Min Read

Trip dispatch: One little golf course changes the complexion of Florida's PGA National Resort

June 13, 2023

PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. used to be a stiff, corporate-feeling retreat. But in the wake of $100 million in renovations, it's now not only for large groups but couples and families as well.

By Tim Gavrich

PGA National Gold Golf Experience Package

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL | Enjoy 3 nights’ accommodations at PGA National Resort & Spa and 3 rounds of golf at PGA National - Estate, Fazio, & Match Courses.