Panther National Preps To Pounce On The Palm Beach County Golf Scene This Fall

Mike Dojc | Forbes Contributor

While the Sunshine state is dotted with rock solid golf options, many Florida communities built around courses suffer from a dated feel with pancake flat fairways choked by cookie-cutter homes and umpteen holes that feel like clones of each other. Panther National, set to open this fall in Palm Beach Gardens, was born out of the same disdain for the status quo that gave us the Mosaic phosphate mine turned destination golf dreamscape that is Streamsong.

Dominik Senn, founder and president of 4Sports & Entertainment, the management agency that represents Max Homa, Russell Henley and Webb Simpson among other golfers, had a vision for a high-end contemporary development that would be very unique to the market.

“Honestly, I got really bored with all these Florida golf courses that I was bouncing between that are flat back and forth. The only difference is who has a little bit better design and who manicures the fairways and greens better. It was time to create something different,” Senn said.

A former professional ski racer, Senn has a unique perspective on land forms, seeing them as pistes, plateaus, bowls and chutes. This may explain why his golf course unfolds in dramatic fashion with abundant elevation changes and rollicking drop zones. There is a par-5 measuring over 600 yards where striped tee balls can reach almost 400 yards on the roll. If you were to place a stretch of holes from Panther National on the downslope of St. Moritz, the new sections of black diamond runs would almost seamlessly blend in.

To ensure his alpine dreams remained grounded in the reality of championship golf, he enlisted an all-star course design duo. The goal was to avoid creating a course that prioritizes aesthetics over playability, as Senn stated, ‘we are not building a Disney Land,’ a course that may be an aesthetic tour de force but is ‘unplayable’. Panther National National pairs golf legend Jack Nicklaus, who has designed over 300 courses worldwide along with Justin Thomas, a current star player, to bring a modern millennial sensibility to the project.

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