West Palm Beach Golf Course

On a recent visit to Palm Beach Florida, I played the new, old West Palm Beach Municipal Golf Course. This track was originally opened in 1947 and designed by Dick Wilson, his first solo project. It is a classic Florida track that had seen better days since Arnold Palmer won its last PGA tour event, The West Palm Beach Open in 1959. The track was closed for 6 months and reopened in November of 2009. During this time, Mark McCumber, a past PGA pro and course architect was brought in to rebuild the place. Working with old photos and Wilson’s original course drawings, McCumber set out to duplicate the original plan and look. He put in new fairways and new tiff-eagle greens. Out went 50 years of overgrown scrub areas, Brazilian pepper plants and Australian pines and in came new oaks, pine and palm trees. Also upgraded and enlarged were the white sand waste bunkers that frame every hole and move throughout the entire course. I would not say this is a picturesque course having no streams, lakes or ponds and surrounded by highways most notably I-95.
While the course is wide open, the winds whip through the place big time and can cause wood and mid-iron shots in the air to move 20 yards off target. The new fairways are terrific and have a turf feel while the greens are smooth and roll true. The course is easy to get to from I-95 (only a couple of minutes) and at $37 to $45 per round, it is a good deal. From the tips, you are looking at 7002 yards, but with the winds it is better to play from the blues at 6506 that feel a lot longer. The place really does have the style of a 50’s throw back. Even the score cards are printed in a sepia brown color. When Palmer re-opened the course on November 16th, hitting the ceremonial first drive down #1, he said “it really does have the look of an old style Florida course”.
There are certainly better and more beautiful tracks to play in and around Palm Beach when visiting, but it was fun to peg it up on a nice piece of history.

Customer Service

Very friendly

WPB GC is located off Forest Hill Blvd. next to the high school. The tract is older and once hosted a PGA event. The greens are typically in exceptional condition, especially for a public course. The facility has a driving range, chipping and putting greens. Clubhouse has restaurant and locker rooms.

The layout from the blue tees is over 6,300 yds with some challenging par 3's. This is Florida, but there is no water to contend with...none anywhere! The fairways are wide and forgiving. The holes are well protected by bunkers, so you need to have a good short iron game to score well. Greens are large, but do not slope too severely. This is an enjoyable course to play and priced reasonable.

Customer Service

More good news! Previouly, the staff had earned a bad reputation for running the course like a "geezer-club." So bad in fact, that you would never even want to return if the round were free. Much improvement with cutomer service attitudes and you won't notice too much of it now.