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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Dad is getting emotional again.
I'm chasing my daughter, Alice, around the first golf course she's ever set foot on. It's an unfamiliar experience to both of us. There's no scorecard or pencil in my pocket - no tees or even a ball marker, either. Yes, I have a wedge in my left hand, putter in my right, but I am outside of my golf comfort zone. However, there is no place in the world I would rather be in this moment than beside my not-quite-two-year-old daughter and wife at The Staple, the 9-hole par-3 course at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
In the brilliant late-spring light, Alice dashes across a pristine, undulating putting surface, drops a ball into the cup and giggles. I start to find it very difficult to keep a couple tears from welling up. It's the end of March, but this feeling will carry me well past Father's Day.
Four years ago, I never would have guessed such moments were possible at a resort like PGA National Resort, situated in the high-rent Snowbird haven of Palm Beach Gardens. Its Champion Course, which has hosted a PGA Tour event since 2007, was emblematic of the property overall: formal, pricy, lots of water, meant to impress visitors with its pedigree of hosting important people (pro golfers) doing important things (winning big golf tournaments). It did a lot of group business, and it felt that way. Common areas and guest rooms were nice, but some deferred maintenance was starting to show. Even in the late 2010s, PGA National felt like the late 1990s' idea of a very nice golf resort.
But it's remarkable what a few years and $100 million can do. In that time and with that sum, new resort ownership has totally remade PGA National, turning it from an impressive and expansive, albeit dated, sweet spot for corporate groups and straight-ahead golf trippers into a quality golf-and-relaxation hideout fit for groups, couples and even young families like mine.
Before my most recent visit, even knowing a little bit about the updates, I was somewhat skeptical on this last part. The first step in the changing of my mind was that perfect hour on The Staple with my family. A couple of other groups were out enjoying the course in their own way, while we were enjoying it in ours. Because the old PGA National previously had no type of short course, it was incompatible with this sort of casual golf scene. But The Staple's laconic, flattish figure-8 routing makes it feel like golf's answer to a lazy river, a meandering experience that practically every golf resort of note has learned to incorporate as a counterpoint to more formal, adult-oriented "championship" courses. Despite (or perhaps because of) its small acreage, The Staple has enabled PGA National to be thought of in an entirely new way, appealing to a broader swath of potential visitors than ever before.
Today was a good day. pic.twitter.com/Yb0WTFDAcB
— Tim Gavrich (@TimGavrich) March 31, 2023
The other event that won me over came later that evening, at The Butcher's Club, PGA National's flagship restaurant. A couple of hours before our reservation, the three of us paused at the restaurant's entrance to inform the maitre d' that we'd have a toddler with us, wanting to limit any distractions caused by Alice's natural rambunctiousness. Not only was the hostess accommodating and understanding, she greeted my daughter enthusiastically, as if she was a niece of hers, and showed us around the restaurant to select a table that would work for us. It was the type of kindness that makes every other experience on property just that little bit better.
To be honest, The Butcher's Club didn't need much to elevate it. It's pricey, but as splurge restaurants at golf resorts go, it is one of the best you will find - an excellent steakhouse done in full-commitment midcentury-modern style, like the rest of the resort. Thanks to Jeremy Ford, a Florida native and James Beard Award nominee who won the 13th season of Top Chef, the menu hits every carnivore's pleasure centers. The taut but varied main menu section of red meat includes the cuts you would expect at its peer restaurants, but family-style (my wife and I split a sublime Wagyu ribeye), as well as a great seafood-centric raw-bar appetizer selection and a roster of side dishes that are every bit as carefully done as the steaks. There are times when big-time hotel and resort renovations can be hard to discern, but it's clear that PGA National's new ownership got their money's worth out of The Butcher's Club.
PGA National Resort: The golf
The aforementioned Staple par-3 course is just one part of the recent overhaul on the golf side at PGA National. That routing came about because architect Andy Staples chose to devote the first and 18th holes of the old Squire course into the new 9-holer while taking the remaining 16 and completely remaking them into The Match, an audacious and sporty routing with some bold and intentionally frustrating features astride funky greens built for, well, match play. The moment it opened, it became PGA National's best golf course, with its iconoclastic concept working in tandem with its antic design. Several C.B. Macdonald/Seth Raynor-inspired template holes like the par-3 2nd ("Short") and par-3 18th ("Biarritz") compliment Staples original inventions splendidly.
Part of the fun of The Match is enjoying it with other people and letting the team that won the previous hole pick the tee box for the next. By removing some of golf's formalities, it paves the way for a bit of exploration and experimentation, which is exactly what great vacations serve up alongside relaxation. It just requires a slight bit of an open mind.
PGA National still has plenty of straight-ahead golf experiences, too. The Champion, with water in play on more than two dozen tee and approach shots throughout the round, appeals to big-game-hunting visitors. The famous Bear Trap sequence of 15-16-17 - two watery par 3s sandwiched around a fiddly par 4 - takes no prisoners. I personally find The Champ a bit overbearing at times, but worth playing once a visit overall.
To me, The Palmer is PGA National's more pleasant, medium-spice experience. Arnold Palmer Design Company's Brandon Johnson redid the bunkering and the greens in 2018, and made the course a lot more interesting in the progress. Not much could be done about the out-and-back routing, with homes just far enough to keep out-of-bounds concerns relatively low, so he concentrated on giving the putting surfaces all sorts of little gathering slopes, tiers, knobs and compartments that make approach and short shots good fun.
The Fazio (George, then Tom) Course is similar to The Palmer in its routing, but it does return to the clubhouse after nine. A quartet of stout par 3s anchor it, including the long 7th, which visitors see on the right as they drive from PGA National's entrance to the main resort complex.
About 15 minutes south of the resort proper is The Estate, a Karl Litten design favored by PGA National's large membership, but also playable by overnight guests. The housing that surrounds it is more spread out, giving holes room to breathe.
PGA National's dining, lodging and other activities
The aforementioned Butcher's Club is likely a once-per-visit splurge, so Honeybelle, PGA National's main breakfast/lunch/dinner spot, deserves attention, too. Situated in the lower floor of the hotel, looking out towards the pool complex, it's open and airy with a Southern bistro feel and matching menu. Its breakfast buffet is a nice morning option; its pizzas are a hit at lunchtime; and in the evening, the pickle-brined fried chicken is fantastic. Other dining options on-site include Birdie's Diner, whose location beside the pro shop makes it convenient for golfers wanting a couple of eggs in the morning or a hot dog and a milkshake in the afternoon; and a grab-and-go lobby spot in The MKT. The lobby bar is an impressive meeting and greeting spot for a cocktail, too.
Lodging options in PGA National's main resort hotel range from cozy guestrooms to larger suites, all of which have been completely redecorated in distinctly Floridian midcentury-modern furnishings. Private balconies overlook gardens, a pool or golf, depending on where you're situated. For larger groups, the resort also offers 21 two-bedroom cottages, while long-term and seasonal guests can even rent entire homes on the property.
Beyond the golf course or restaurants, my family and I were glad to take advantage of PGA National's wonderful pool complex, which overlooks the lake at the center of the golf property. A large main pool and smaller kids' pool, plus a cluster of comfy cabanas, provide a relaxed upscale experience for all ages. Kids 4 and older can take advantage of PGA National's Banyan Buddies Club, which has an indoor play area as well as staff on hand to lead kids in all manner of activities while Mom and Dad relax. Next time the Gavriches visit PGA National, I will make sure to task Alice with providing a full review.
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