PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Justin Thomas is a long way from golf course design becoming the focus in his life above playing golf.
But the two-time major winner from Tequesta is curious about the business, and when offered the opportunity to work with a Hall of Fame designer and golfer, he had to accept.
That is how Thomas and Jack Nicklaus became co-designers at Panther National, an 18-hole championship course. The project, which opens to members Monday, is Palm Beach County’s first new private golf community in 20 years.
“I would love to design at some point, but I’m a long way away from doing that solo,” Thomas told The Palm Beach Post on Friday. “It’s a great introduction for me.”
The course accompanies Panther National’s Signature Estate Homes and Custom Estate Homesites, a project that will max out at 218 residences ranging from $5 million to $50 million.
And if you can afford to live on the course, you can afford the $400,000 membership. But act quickly because that price increases to $500,000 on Jan. 1.
Founder is former Swiss ski racer
The project is headed by founder and President Dominik Senn, a former Swiss ski racer who started a sports management agency in 1995 that now is headquartered in Jupiter. Senn has thought about getting into the golf course business and finally was convinced after settling in Palm Beach Gardens. He found everything in the area “dated.”
That included properties owned by Donald Trump.
“Some of the stuff they did in Dubai, or what Trump did, is too fancy and the players think looks too fake,” he said. “You could see they wanted to create the highest point, they wanted to create this. That was not the case here. We still want it to look as natural as possible.
When Nicklaus was asked what makes Panther National different, his answer was: “Did you look around?”
“Just looking at it, it immediately looks different,” Thomas said about the course with steep elevation changes up to 48 feet. “It’s open, it has a links-like look and feel. You have elevation change. You have zero elevation change anywhere in South Florida.”
Senn had other properties under contract before settling on the approximately 450 acres about 15 miles from the coast.
“He wanted to do a golf course and told us where it was,” Nicklaus said. “I said, ‘You got to be kidding, that’s in the middle of nowhere.’
“When I saw the growth in this area, it’s a natural progression…
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