SoFla’s new Panther National golf club costs $500,00 to join

Travel

By Zoe Rosenberg

It’s ball or nothing at Panther National, Palm Beach County’s first new golf and lifestyle community in 20 years.

The Florida development is the brainchild of Dominik Senn, a celebrated alpine ski racer from Switzerland. Senn, with developer Centaur Group, set out to create the modern, luxury golf and lifestyle community after he visited a few others across the Sunshine State and found they didn’t rise to the caliber he was looking for.

Panther National arrives in Palm Beach Gardens at a time when golf is on the upswing. The sport is more popular than ever in the United States with the American Golf Industry Coalition reporting in 2023 that roughly one in seven Americans played the year prior. Add to that the heightened demand for luxury housing and the Panther National development is an ace in the hole.

Frank Weed, CEO of Panther National, said the team set out to create a different kind of golf community, from the course to the clubhouse to the 218 modern, single-family homes and 24 smaller residences conceived by Miami-based Strang Design.

The fresh approach will be particularly evident in the 55,000-square-foot clubhouse, Weed said. “This is not your grandfather’s golf club,” he said. “There’s no ballroom. This is intended to be a place of youth.”

Club memberships currently start at an initial $500,000 with an annual fee in the low $30,000s. Homeowners within Panther National’s gates currently receive a slight abatement, to an initial $400,000, with similar annual fees, Weed said.

The clubhouse will include a gym, a pro shop, indoor golf, spa facilities with locker rooms and spots for gathering indoors and outdoors. It will also include four dining concepts, including one inspired by Senn’s friend, Andreas Caminada of three-star Michelin restaurant Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau, Switzerland. Members, however, will have to wait until fall 2026 for the clubhouse’s anticipated debut. There will also be an additional lifestyle club with a spa, a community pool and a lap pool, and a performance center that will break ground in October 2025.

For play, there’s the 18-hole, links-style Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, which the retired golfer designed in collaboration with PGA Tour player Justin Thomas. It opened in November 2023. There’s also a nine-hole, par-3 course, a 1-acre putting course, a practice area and facilities for training and fitting.

The property was “flat as a pancake” when the team acquired it, Weed said….