Claims about a golf destination's preeminence—"most courses per capita" is a current favorite—cannot always withstand empirical analysis. But it would sure be fun to try in Palm Beach County. Known as "Florida's Golf Capital," the epicenter of a state with more than 1,000 courses, Palm Beach County has earned the title the upstanding way: by having more courses rather than just fewer people, with a current total exceeding 160 tracks.
The area, home to PGA headquarters, is utterly golfcentric, with golf-equipment outlets as ubiquitous as convenience stores. Golf academies seem to exist in the same profusion as universities in Boston and Cambridge, and aspiring golf pros regard the region the way actors view Broadway. As icons among luxury golf resorts, The Breakers Palm Beach and Boca Raton Resort & Club have distinguished pedigrees; having apparently used the proceeds of the prosperous 1990s for massive doses of architectural Botox, they have never looked better.
Indeed, the area seems suffused with an energy at odds with anything like economic uncertainty, and part of its appeal is that it both is and is not your father's golf destination. Yes, the classic resort courses are still here, the best of which—at The Breakers and Boca Raton—have been splendidly refurbished. They have been joined in the past decade by instantly mandatory courses at Emerald Dunes, PGA Golf Club and PGA National. Couple that with the famous shopping and dining scene, and it's no wonder the county's appeal has become decidedly intergenerational.
Palm Beach Golf
As the largest county east of the Mississippi, Palm Beach, which covers 2,578 square miles—more than Rhode Island or Delaware—is a mighty big chunk of Florida; and golf is in turn a mighty big chunk of Palm Beach County. Virtually every distinguished course architect—from Donald Ross to the Fazios and Dyes—has worked within its borders.
EMERALD DUNES GOLF COURSE
2100 Emerald Dunes Drive, West Palm Beach; 888-650-4653, emeralddunes.com. Yardage: 7,006. Par: 72. Slope: 133. Architect: Tom Fazio, 1990. Greens Fees: $70-$175.
T&L Golf Rating: **** 1/2
Forced to identify a single golf course architect who has most influenced design in southern Florida in the recent past, Fazio would be your man. Emerald Dunes became an instant favorite—among players and even other designers—when it opened in 1990. The course's mounding and "SuperDune," a five-story-high hill with three tee boxes and three greens, presented an imposing antidote to the usual knock on Florida golf: "too flat." And the bunkering and numerous water hazards were tempered by the multiple-tee-box arrangement, relatively generous landing areas and few forced carries. It's plenty difficult without being absurd. Greens are on the large side but often include problematic pin positions. The closing sequence—a par three, par five and par four, all long holes—will give you something to think about after the fact. The 474-yard home hole starts at the crest of the aforementioned hill, with the trademark Fazio waterfall behind you, water down the right side of the fairway and sand and bushes on the left.
