We Put 10 Northern Palm Beach County Golf Clubs Head to Head. Here Is Where It Landed.
Most buyers who move here for golf tour four clubs in three days and leave more confused than when they started. The gates look alike. The clubhouses all photograph well. Everyone says their course is the best one in town.
So Erica sat down with Fat Perez and ran the whole thing as a bracket. Two clubs at a time, pick one, move on. No hedging.
The picks are his. What follows is the bracket, plus what we would tell a client sitting across the desk from us on each of those calls. Every matchup in that video is a decision a real buyer makes here, usually with a seven-figure house attached to it.
Ten clubs is a bracket, not the whole map. If you want the full picture, we wrote The Golf Club Guide to Northern Palm Beach and Martin County, which covers every private, semi-private and public club from Palm Beach to Stuart, plus how the four membership structures actually work.
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Club | Town | Golf | Designer | Membership | The thing that defines it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Palm Beach Gardens | 5 courses | Fazio, Palmer and others | Resort and members club | The Champion Course and the Bear Trap | |
Palm Beach Gardens | 3 courses | Wilson/Lee, Rees Jones, Nicklaus Design | Mandatory equity | Nearly 1,600 homes, 34 racquet courts | |
Jupiter | 1 course, 18 holes | Greg Norman | Non-equity, operated by Invited | Newer homes, easier entry | |
Jupiter | 3 courses | Welling, Fazio, Hanse/Wagner | Club membership, several tiers | Golf plus the Intracoastal, huge price range | |
Palm Beach Gardens | 2 courses | Jim Fazio, Robert Cupp | Equity, residency required | New $74M clubhouse, oceanfront beach club in Juno | |
Jupiter | 1 course | Jack Nicklaus Signature | Members club, small by design | 285 homes on 340 acres | |
North Palm Beach | 1 course | Mahannah, redone by Nicklaus | Invitation, separate from the house | Ocean to Intracoastal, private beach club | |
Jupiter | 45 holes across 4 courses | von Hagge, Schulties | Club membership, 5 categories | Marina for yachts up to 165 feet, spa, on-site hotel | |
Palm Beach Gardens | 1 course, 18 holes | Raymond Floyd | Equity | A 33-acre practice facility, not a driving range | |
Jupiter | 1 course | Jack Nicklaus | Private, by invitation | Jack's own club, 369 acres, founded 1999 |
Nine matchups. A holding club takes on each challenger in turn, so it is not a symmetric bracket. Tap any club to see homes for sale and how its membership works.
He takes BallenIsles. That tracks.
PGA National has the résumé. Five courses, the Champion, the Bear Trap, and a PGA Tour stop every February. But PGA National is a resort first. When you buy a home there, you are buying into a place where a lot of the golf is public-facing and the property runs from condos to estates across a very wide range. That is a feature if you want flexibility. It is a problem if you wanted a members-only feel.
BallenIsles is the opposite. Mandatory equity membership, three championship courses, and a club that has spent real money recently: a Nicklaus Design rebuild of the East Course unveiled in 2023, a Rees Jones redo of the South in 2020, and a $19 million racquet complex with 20 clay courts and 13 pickleball courts.
What we would add: BallenIsles has nearly 1,600 homes across 33 neighborhoods. That is a big community. If your picture of club life is knowing everyone in the dining room, BallenIsles is not that, and Loxahatchee later in this bracket is.
This is the value pick, and it is the matchup we get asked about most by families relocating.
Jupiter Country Club is newer, built by Toll Brothers starting in 2007 around a Greg Norman course. It is run by Invited, which means it is non-equity and corporate-owned. You are not buying a share of the club. Membership comes with access to Invited's national network, which matters if you travel.
BallenIsles is an equity club. You buy in, you own a piece, and the buy-in is a different order of magnitude.
What we would add: non-equity is not a downgrade, it is a different financial product. Equity clubs can return part of your buy-in when you leave, subject to the club's rules and the resale queue. Non-equity generally does not. Buyers who plan to be here fifteen years and buyers who plan to be here five should not make this call the same way.
Jonathan's Landing wins this one on range, and the golf answer is worth spelling out because most people in town cannot name the three courses.
Jonathan's Landing has three courses across two properties, all on one membership:
The Medal and The Match are at Jonathan's Landing at Old Trail, off SE Clubhouse Drive in western Jupiter. If you know the area, Old Trail is the Ranch Colony enclave that backs up to the Dye Preserve, which is how most people locate it. Worth knowing that the Dye Preserve Golf Club is its own separate private club with its own membership. Same corner of 33478, two different clubs.
What we would add: Jonathan's Landing is the only club in this bracket where you can buy a condo and where you can buy a waterfront estate. That range is the whole point. It is also on the Intracoastal, so boat access is part of the pitch, but access varies by village. Do not assume, check the specific slip.
He sticks with Jonathan's Landing and says straight out that he has not been back since Frenchman's Creek was redone. Fair. Here is what he would be walking into now.
Frenchman's Creek finished a $74 million, 124,000 square foot clubhouse in late 2024. Members approved it in early 2022 and the old building came down that summer. It is a genuinely different club than the one people remember.
And they are not done. A $10.48 million golf and practice renovation by Frye/Straka broke ground in May 2026, targeting late October or early November 2026. The driving range tee grows from about 40,000 to about 60,000 square feet and drops from an elevated tee to a traditional tee line. The short game area moves next to the first tees and roughly doubles. The signature 9th on the South Course is being fully reimagined.
What we would add: Frenchman's Creek is equity, residency is required, and there are just over 600 homes. It also has something almost nobody else on this list has, which is its own oceanfront beach club, six miles away at 400 Celestial Way in Juno Beach. For a lot of our buyers, the beach club is the real reason to be there, not the golf.
He picks Loxahatchee on exclusivity, location and the logo. The logo thing is a joke that is also not a joke. Nobody wears a hat from a club they are lukewarm about.
The substance behind it: 285 homes on 340 acres, with over 71 acres of freshwater lakes and 40 acres of greenbelt. That is the club's own number, and it is the smallest residential footprint of any full club in this bracket. The course is a Jack Nicklaus Signature design from the mid-1980s. Forbes put it on a 20-most-exclusive list in January 2025.
What we would add: 285 homes is the entire argument. You will know the members. Inventory is thin by definition, so if Loxahatchee is the target, you wait for the right house rather than shopping five at a time. Buyers who need to be in a house by season should know that going in.
Location on the water, and the clubhouse. Both hold up.
Lost Tree sits on about 450 acres in North Palm Beach, running from the Atlantic to the Intracoastal, with its own private beach club and an 18-hole course originally by Mark Mahannah and redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 2002. Jack and Barbara Nicklaus have been Lost Tree residents for decades, and Nicklaus Companies is headquartered a few minutes away on US-1.
What we would add: Lost Tree is the most private community on this list in terms of published information, and that is deliberate. The club website is a member login. Golf membership is by invitation and is separate from owning a home there, so buying a house does not get you the club. If the club is the goal, that conversation happens before the house search, not after.
The clubhouse, the amenities, the spa. This is where the bracket turns into a lifestyle argument instead of a golf argument.
Admiral's Cove is not really a golf club that happens to have water. It is a marina community with 45 holes attached. The club side includes Bluewater Wellness, a 32-room private boutique hotel on the upper floors of the clubhouse, nine hydro tennis courts, twelve pickleball courts, and a 4,800 square foot golf performance center with Trackman bays and force plates. The marina takes vessels up to 165 feet, sits two miles from the Jupiter Inlet, and has its own fuel dock.
Golf is an 18-hole East Course by Robert von Hagge plus the Golf Village, three separate nines redesigned by Kipp Schulties in 2015.
What we would add: the reason Admiral's Cove trades the way it does is that it solves two problems at once. Couples where one person plays golf and the other wants the beach, the spa and a boat do not have to compromise here. That is rarer than it sounds.
He goes back to the spa. We would go somewhere else on this one.
Old Palm's case is the 33-acre Golf Studio. Not a driving range. A double-tiered, double-ended range, a short game complex, and three full-length practice holes, a par 3, a par 4 and a par 5, built to replicate every shot you will face on the championship course. Add a V1 swing analysis bay that opens onto the range, TrackMan and SAM PuttLab. The course is a Raymond Floyd design, par 72 at 7,401 yards, on 650 acres split into four estate neighborhoods by lot size, from a quarter acre up to a full acre.
Old Palm also has beach club access through a membership arrangement with the Hilton on Singer Island, which is worth knowing because the community itself is inland.
What we would add: if you are a serious golfer who practices, Old Palm is the best facility in this bracket and it is not particularly close. If golf is one of six things you do, Admiral's Cove wins the way he called it.
He gives Admiral's Cove the amenities and takes The Bear's Club anyway, on the golf course. That is the right reason to pick it.
Jack and Barbara Nicklaus founded the club in 1999. Jack designed the course: 18 holes, 7,164 yards, 354 bunkers modeled on Royal Melbourne, sitting on 369 acres about a mile from the Atlantic.
What we would add: The Bear's Club is a golf club with houses, not a community with a golf course. Membership is by invitation and the club publishes almost nothing publicly. There is no scenario where you shop this the way you shop the rest of this list. It is a relationship purchase, and it moves through a small number of people who actually know what is quietly available.
If you want | Look at |
|---|---|
The best course, full stop | The Bear's Club |
Golf, boat, spa and beach in one place | Admiral's Cove |
The best practice facility in the county | Old Palm |
A small club where you know everyone | The Loxahatchee Club |
Ocean to Intracoastal with a private beach club | Lost Tree Village, Frenchman's Creek |
Three courses on one membership plus real price range | Jonathan's Landing |
Racquet sports as seriously as golf | BallenIsles |
Newer construction and an easier entry point | Jupiter Country Club |
Flexibility, a tour-level course and resort access | PGA National |
Club | Structure | Do homeowners have to join? |
|---|---|---|
BallenIsles | Mandatory equity | Yes, confirmed by the club |
Frenchman's Creek | Equity, residency required | Yes, confirmed by the club |
Old Palm | Equity | Generally yes, confirm current terms |
The Loxahatchee Club | Members club | Generally yes, confirm current terms |
Admiral's Cove | Five categories: Golf, Sports, Tennis, Social, Marina | Confirm current terms |
Jonathan's Landing | Four categories plus an Executive tier under 50 | Confirm current terms |
Jupiter Country Club | Non-equity, operated by Invited | Confirm current terms |
Lost Tree Village | By invitation, separate from home ownership | No, the house does not carry the club |
The Bear's Club | By invitation | Confirm directly |
PGA National | Resort plus a separate members club | Depends which part you buy into |
This table is the single most useful thing on this page, and it is the thing buyers find out last. Equity versus non-equity changes what you pay going in, what you might get back going out, and whether a membership even transfers with the house. Two homes at the same price in two different clubs can be very different purchases once you add the buy-in.
Club terms change. Before you write an offer anywhere on this list, we get the current membership documents in writing rather than working off what an agent remembers from last season.
The bracket picks a winner. Your budget picks a different one. Nine pages on how membership actually works here: the four structures, what it costs beyond the initiation, and the five questions to ask before you tour.
Which golf community near Jupiter is the most exclusive?
The Bear's Club. It was founded by Jack Nicklaus in 1999, membership is by invitation, and the club publishes very little publicly. The Loxahatchee Club is the next tier down on scale, with 285 homes.
What is the difference between an equity and a non-equity club?
At an equity club you buy an ownership share along with your membership, and part of that may come back to you when you leave, depending on club rules and the resale queue. At a non-equity club you are paying for access only. BallenIsles and Frenchman's Creek are equity. Jupiter Country Club is non-equity.
Do I have to join the club if I buy a house there?
It depends entirely on the club. BallenIsles and Frenchman's Creek both confirm that membership is required. Lost Tree Village is the clearest exception, where the golf club is by invitation and separate from owning the home. Everywhere else, get it in writing.
How many golf courses does Jonathan's Landing have?
Three, on one membership. The Village at the coastal Jupiter property, and The Medal and The Match at Jonathan's Landing at Old Trail in western Jupiter. Old Trail sits in Ranch Colony, backing up to the Dye Preserve, which is a separate private club with its own membership.
Which club has the best practice facility?
Old Palm Golf Club, by a wide margin. The Golf Studio covers 33 acres and includes three full-length practice holes built to mirror shots on the main course.
Which golf community has the best boating?
Admiral's Cove. The marina handles vessels up to 165 feet, it is two miles from the Jupiter Inlet, and there is a fuel dock on site. Jonathan's Landing is the other real boating option, though access varies by village.
Which communities have a private beach club?
Lost Tree Village has its own oceanfront beach club. Frenchman's Creek has one six miles away in Juno Beach. Old Palm provides beach access through an arrangement with a Singer Island resort.
Is PGA National private?
Partly. PGA National Resort and its five courses are open to the public and resort guests. The residential community has its own separate members club. They are not the same thing, and buyers mix this up constantly.
How many homes are in BallenIsles?
The club states nearly 1,600 residences across 33 neighborhoods. It is the largest community in this comparison.
Which club is the best value for a family moving here?
Jupiter Country Club comes up most often. Newer construction, a Greg Norman course, non-equity membership, and access to the wider Invited club network. It asks for less capital up front than the equity clubs on this list.
When is the PGA Tour event at PGA National?
The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches is played on the Champion Course. The 2026 edition ran February 25 to March 1. The 2027 edition is scheduled for February 24 to 28.
If you are buying: the house is the smaller half of this decision. Two identical homes in two of these clubs can carry completely different total costs once membership, dues and assessments are in. We pull the current membership documents, the dues schedule and any pending assessments before you write, not after.
If you are selling: in a mandatory-membership club, your buyer pool is limited to people who will also qualify for and fund the membership. That changes how the home should be marketed and how long the runway is. Pricing a club home like a non-club home in the same zip is the most common way sellers here leave money on the table.
We work across all ten of these communities. If you want the honest version of any single one of them, including the parts the club will not tell you, call us at (561) 247-3733.
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