PGA National Resort is a resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It has five championship 18-hole golf courses, the most famous of which is "The Champion", which has hosted the

1983 Ryder Cup The 25th Ryder Cup Matches were held October 14–16, 1983 at the PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The United States team won the competition by a score of 14 to 13 points, the closest Ryder Cup since the tie in 1969. In t ...

, the

1987 PGA Championship The 1987 PGA Championship was the 69th PGA Championship, held August 6–9 at the Champion Course of PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. In hot and windy conditions, Larry Nelson won his second PGA Championship in a sudden-deat ...

, the

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

for 19 consecutive years from 1982 to 2000, and the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

's Honda Classic since 2007. It has been home to the

Professional Golfers' Association of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

since the resort's establishment, but the PGA has announced that it will move to new headquarters in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in summer 2022. The resort also includes 339 hotel rooms, nine restaurants and lounges, a 34,000-square-foot conference wing, a 40,000-square-foot spa, 33,000-square-foot health and racquet club with 19 tennis courts, a golf academy, and a members club. It was sold by the developer, E. Llwyd Ecclestone Jr., to

Walton Street Capital Walton Street Capital is a private equity real estate investment firm founded in 1994 and headquartered in Chicago, with a satellite office in Mexico City. Through its affiliates, Walton Street Capital has raised over $14 billion of equity and loa ...

in 2006 for $170 million, before being sold again in 2018, to Brookfield Asset Management for $218m.

Courses

* The Champion - The Champion course opened in 1981 on November 17. It was the site of the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

(won by Larry Nelson), and the

for 19 years, from 1982–2000. The course underwent a $4 million renovation in December 2002 and became the home of

The Honda Classic The Honda Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, and prior to a schedule change in 2021 was frequently the first of the Florida events in late winter ...

on the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. The tough three hole stretch of the par-3 15th, par-4 16th, and par-3 17th holes is known as "The Bear Trap," named after

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

, who is nicknamed the Golden Bear and redesigned the course. The course was host to the 2018 Governor Cup for the first time in its history. * The Fazio - Originally the Haig Course, named for golfing great

Walter Hagen Walter Charles Hagen (December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969) was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus (18) and Tiger ...

. It was the first course opened for play at PGA National Resort, on March 4, 1980, then was renovated and renamed The Fazio upon opening in November, 2012. * The Palmer - The Palmer, named for golf legend and course designer Arnold Palmer, was the last of the original four courses built at PGA National, opening on February 28, 1984. The Palmer was previously named “The General”. * The Estates - The Estates originally opened in November 1984 as Stonewall Golf Club, and has been part of PGA National since August 28, 1988. * The Match - Borne from the old Squire Course, the Match Course opened for play in the fall of 2021 and was designed with match play in mind. It delivers a unique golf experience sure to appeal to purists, players and beginners alike. * The Staple - With holes ranging from 60–130 yards, this 9-hole course is perfect for experimenting with a variety of shots and is fun for players of all abilities.

Earlier clubs

BallenIsles

The original PGA National Golf Club (1964–1973) in Palm Beach Gardens was nearby to the east, and is now the

BallenIsles BallenIsles is a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Three golf courses and a country club are located within the BallenIsles community. Geographic area The subdivision is bordered on the north by P ...

Country Club. The Champions Course (now the East Course at BallenIsles) hosted the

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, won by Nicklaus in late February. It also was the site of eight consecutive

s (1966–1973), and the original qualifying school tournaments for the

Dunedin

An earlier PGA National Golf Club (1944–1962) was on the

western side Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

of the state at

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, northwest of

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

. Designed by noted architect

Donald Ross Donald Ross may refer to: *Donald A. Ross (1857–1937), Canadian politician * Donald Ross (golfer) (1872–1948), Scottish-born American golfer and golf course designer *Donald P. Ross (1902–1973), American horse racetrack and racing stable owner ...

it opened in 1927 as a municipal course. Acquired by the PGA of America in 1944, the course was renamed and hosted the for eighteen consecutive years (1945–1962). The PGA of America moved its national offices from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to Dunedin in 1956, then sold its holdings in the course back to the city in 1962 and relocated to eastern Florida in 1965 at Palm Beach Gardens. Now the Dunedin Golf Club, the course was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2014.

Scorecard

References

{{Ryder Cup venues , state=collapsed Golf clubs and courses in Florida Sports venues in Palm Beach County, Florida Ryder Cup venues Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 1980 establishments in Florida