WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It’s lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon in mid-November and the word of the day is eclectic. I’ve just finished my morning round at The Park with a par three putt on the forgiving 18th hole, and I climb into the cabana, the bar/small snacks are strategically located at the front of the property.
A foursome who were a few holes ahead of me are heading to their vehicles – while allowing for their anonymity, let’s just say they can be members wherever they want to be in the golf-rich West Palm Beach/Jupiter area. Moving on to the back nine are the brothers who want to complete their transfusions with High Noons. While they represent very different ends of the Saturday golfer spectrum, recognize both groups as what a golfer “looks like.”
But the cabin occupies a privileged position within the property, and not only due to its distance from number 10 on the main street. At the start of the par-3 course (a collection of wedge and putt holes lit at night) there are three twenty-somethings with a handful of clubs to share. And during the putting course, some children share the green complex with another group of twenty-somethings: three boys, three women and two putters.
Oh, and that building behind the putting path? This is The Path, where students from local schools, one of which is just across the driving range, come in the afternoons for free tutoring, academic enrichment and golf lessons. Everything here benefits the more than 60 kids from five local schools who come here at least a couple of days a week.
When a group of local leaders took over a failed municipal course and raised $50 million – and recruited Gil Hanse, one of the world’s most prominent working architects, to build a new course in its place – they had plans far beyond expectations. -100 golf courses.
They wanted change, to use golf to help and to be a vehicle that would support the community surrounding the course, which is nowhere near as affluent as the larger area.
“For us, success is saving two or three families,” says Dave Andrews, director of The Path. “If only we could take three or four families and give them the world. We’ve had families come to us who are homeless and struggling with things we can never fix. But we are helping.”
If it is easy to imagine a future in which someone can say they have arrived The park making putts and sipping cocktails with your friends, graduating from The Lit 9 and finally making a tee time to play on the big course, this is because it is the dream of many professionals in the golf industry. Recreational golf’s post-COVID-19 moment continues unabated, and the more courses that exist to make the 18-hole, par-72 first round not so intimidating, the better. But it won’t be everyone’s trip, and that’s okay.
“The par 3 gives you the fun and intangibles of the game. That’s great,” says The Park general manager Brian Conley. “Too many times setting these goals are the obstacles.”
But for those who do – and for those who are looking for the next cool new course – The Park is an amazing option. It stands out especially in this area, where there is a lot of golf played with a residential complex on the left and the water on the right. On the route designed by Hanse and his partner Jim Wagner, attracted by the project for its community aspect, there is absolutely no water. (The two renounced the compensation, The Fried Egg reported.)
The Park’s wide fairways are forgiving, but if you miss left on No. 1, it’s trouble.
Instead, what they’ve created is a great ballpark, with generous fairways and enough waste management areas to hold your attention. The rolling topography is also distinctly different from Florida and is used to great effect. The par-3 seventh plays slightly uphill to a reverse redan green. The dogleg par-4 12th features a blind shot into the green. The three-hole stretch from 15 to 17 is highly enjoyable, with a par 5 that the average player has a chance of reaching in two, a playable par 4, and a par 3 that features the kind of striking greenside bunkers that golf fans other works by Hanse (including Streamsong Black, another Florida property) will recognize. But it remains challenging enough: A playing partner and I watched tee shots online on the 17th pushed 10 yards right of the green by a glimpse of wind.
The Park is simply a fantastic golf course and when you consider that it is municipal, with a variable pricing model that makes it very reasonable for locals, the value is sensational.
“If you play well, you will score well,” Conley says. “If you play bad, you’ll know you play bad, but don’t feel embarrassed.”
You know they’re on to something in the fact that those who belong to the area’s many private clubs are still making the trip, as well as the possibility that The Park will host a future iteration of “The Match,” the popular made-for-TV golf special .
Everything from a piece of land to a golf course that closed in 2018 because it was losing the city too much money.
West Palm Beach has been approached several times with different opportunities about what to do with the closed West Palm Beach golf course, all centered around the idea of a private company coming in, revitalizing the land and managing it for the city.
The Park has captured attention since its opening earlier this year.
Seth Waugh, now CEO of the PGA of America, and a group of residents had the vision: “To create a first-class facility with world-class resources and provide access to the West Palm community while still operating at a very high level.” at a high level,” says Conley, and then managed to secure more than $50 million in donations to make it a reality.
The city agreed — it’s a 50-year, $1-a-year lease — and while Hanse and his team would work, so would Andrews. The Trail, which is supported by a donation and any profits from the course, was a blank slate when it arrived, and Andrews spent months in the community, trying to figure out where the need was. Over time, it became clear.
“The Path was created to be the most authentic, inviting and welcoming program to identify the next generation of leaders,” says Andrews. “Not only do we grow the game and introduce these kids to golf, but we also engage with them as mentors, coach them educationally and help them with homework.”
There are 63 students from 50 families from five local schools coming to the center, which is staffed with paid teachers who provide academic help and enrichment with art and STEM lessons. Passing prep tests is a priority for elementary school-aged children, while high school students are seeking internship opportunities in the golf industry.
There’s also golf: they spend half their time on the property every day with a club in hand. The goal is to present sport as a fun activity and let each passion develop organically. Kids asking for a new glove or bat for Christmas counts as wins.
What’s next? They do not know. Everything is still so new that anything seems possible, as long as you continue to lay the right foundations. It’s a great place to be, and that’s because The Park was bold in its origin story.
(Photo courtesy of the Park)