Made-for-TV golf is back—and a venue new to most of us will host the players on Friday. Panther National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., will host the Skins Game on Amazon Prime with the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schaufelle, Keegan Bradley and Shane Lowry. This’ll be a rare opportunity to get a peek inside one of golf’s newest, hottest enclaves. Justin Thomas gave input to Jack Nicklaus and Nicklaus Design to design the course, created on roughly 400 acres with nearly three million cubic yards of earth moved to create a unique, modern course with luxury homesites, bordering a vast wildlife preserve where black panthers are often seen.
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Panther National opened in 2022 and has become another hub for tour players in the ever-popular Florida enclave of Palm Beach Gardens. The 18-hole championship course, “The Big Cat,” debuted at #195 in Golf Digest’s national ranking of America’s Second 100 Greatest Courses and #12 on our list of the Best Courses in Florida. Nicklaus and Thomas also designed a par-3 course, Panther9, which even has an exact replica of TPC Sawgrass’ famous 17th hole island green:
What should you know about Panther National? Take it from the experts. Here are some comments from our course-ranking panelists about Panther National:
“Panther National, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Justin Thomas, is an outstanding new course. It doesn’t look anything like other Nicklaus courses I have played. A lot of earth has been moved (or added) to manufacture a course with significant elevation change, especially in flat South Florida. Shot Options are the most outstanding feature, as nearly every shot involves choices. It’s easy to hit the fairway, but on every hole there is a better place to hit it which makes the hole easier. Fairway and green side bunkering is strategic. Green complexes are varied and interesting. Layout Variety was strong, with holes playing right and left, up and down, and playing in all directions. Conditioning was excellent, especially considering it is only one year old. It was firm and fast, even after wet summer weather. This would be a fun course to play every day. It can be as challenging as anywhere from the very long back tees, but enjoyable for all levels of golfers from shorter tees.”
“Given its youth, Panther National already presents itself extremely well. Panther National’s strength is its layout variety. All the par 3s and par 5s go in different directions to give completely different experiences relative to the Florida winds. Drivable par 4, island greens, dog legs left and right, smaller greens on par 5s and larger greens on tougher holes like #15. A really great course right on the edge of Top 100. Once the course is further developed the Aesthetics should go up. I want to think more about the Character score. The ability to utilize 3 different, 3-Hole Loops (Holes 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9) that all start and return at/near the clubhouse makes for a unique design I don’t usually see.”
“An incredible design by Nicklaus and Thomas. Extremely unique track in South Florida. No two tee shots face the exact same direction. The greens were typical of Nicklaus, very crowned, but fair. There were holes with an abundance of water, sand dune holes, uphill and downhill shots. The green size varied widely through the course. Most of the fairways were quite wide, but being on the wrong side leads to a difficult approach shot. The undulation changes from tee to green, let alone hole to hole made for a fun experience on an innovative course.”
“Course is in wonderful condition based on the youth of the turf. I thought their use of the term “links-like” was a misnomer due to the turf choice. The Bermuda against the grains was sticky and wouldn’t play anything like a links style course. Many bump and runs would really stick and hop up and stop. Thought that the holes with blind tee shots were wonderfully thought out and challenging.”
“Definitely a new look and feel for a Nicklaus design. Modern touches and look. Some of the greens were a bit overdone with undulations or runoffs. Wide fairways with well positioned bunkers that give you options and challenging lines. Some really important angles of play must be decided into the greens as well.”
“Where does Panther National rate in comparison to the some of best courses I have played? It’s a top 200 for sure and could move up higher than its current rank. It’s better than Mountain Lake, which I played a week earlier.
“Start with the greens. The are sloped, fast and difficult. If a player is out of position, it is easy to 3 putt. A player is on the defensive here for many putts, especially if on the wrong side of the hole. Proper attention to reading greens and knowing the speed is essential because putts roll out and a player can be left with 6 footers for par. If a player misses a green on the wrong side it takes a lot of skill to get up and down.
I played with the lead assistant. The have a number a PGA tour players that play there regularly. He told me the low score to date is 67. That should give you an idea of the challenge.
Is it fair? YES. When I say it’s a massive challenge it’s not because of too many forced carries or unfair greens. It’s because if you hit bad shots you often find yourself in places that are hard to recover from without taking an extra shot.”
“This isn’t Florida golf. I am a member at Innisbrook where we have up and down. JN/JT took a flat piece of land and had me thinking I was in Michigan or Tennessee.”“The bunkering is fantastic. Deep and penalizing in many cases. But the grass around the bunkers turns helps frame holes. And how Jack Nicklaus/Justin Thomas planted palms around some of the bunkers adds to the eye candy. The bunkers are just their but rather shape holes in the fairways and around the green complexes. Visually its stunning for a new course. They have placed high faced bunkers behind some of the holes to give it an Augusta feel.
“Panther National is truly unique to Florida golf because of the land they moved to make a hilly terrain. It reminded me of playing Southern Highlands in Vegas where the trees in the dessert were the uniqueness. Here it is the terrain.”
