Park Ridge Golf Course

A beautiful course with a unique layout located in the West Palm Beach area that offers a change from the usual Florida golfing experience. Although the facilities and clubhouse at Park Ridge are basic, the course, itself, is the real draw because it is both challenging and beautiful. Park Ridge offers a good value for any serious golfer.

The Highlights

The Details

Facilities

We have seen better and we have seen worse than Park Ridge in West Palm Beach. The golf course provides all of the necessities (driving range, chipping and putting greens, pro shop, restaurant, and on course restrooms). All were nice, but none were exceptional. Our overall impression is that the facilities at Park Ridge are comparable to the other municipal courses in the area.

Park Ridge Pro Shop

The pro shop is adequate, but small with a limited amount of items for sale. It serves its basic purpose since the booking process for us was quick and easy. On our visit, there was a bit of confusion between the pro shop and the starter because they accidentally booked 5 people to our group, but they straightened it out with only a slight delay. There is a restaurant that served snacks and course meals (hotdogs, sandwiches, etc.) and a drink cart to provide refreshments if desired on the course. There are bathrooms on the course, which is also nice.

Park Ridge Driving Range

The driving range provides multiple targets for practice, but the hitting area seems a bit cramped for an early morning tee time. We had to wait to find a spot on the range when we visited. The chipping and putting greens were sufficient for pre-round practice and resembled the feel and characteristics of greens on the course. Overall, we have seen better practice facilities in the area if you are intending to solely practice for the day, but the facilities are more than sufficient for pre-round warm-up. 

Difficulty

Overall, this course offers a significant challenge, especially if you are prone to errant drives and approach shots. First, since this course has more elevation change than many South Florida golf courses, there are some blind shots on the course where you must hit over hills and cannot see the ball land. In addition, there is a lot of well-placed knee-high brush grass lining many of the fairways and if you hit into it you will rarely find your ball. If you somehow do manage to find your ball, you will not like your shot 99 times out of 100.

What the course has in brush grass, it lacks in water and sand traps. The par-5 12^th hole is the only hole impacted by water on the course with a large retention pond lining the left side of fairway. It provides a challenge for the 12^th since there is brush grass on the right side of the fairway, but water is non-existent on the rest of the course. There are also few sand traps on the course, but they do not significantly impact course strategy or look as imposing as the brush grass.

Approach on the par-4 8th hole

There were a few notably challenging holes on the course. Specific holes include the #1 handicap par-4 8^th hole where you must hit an accurate tee shot to a pretty narrow fairway, which then leaves you a blind mid iron approach shot down hill completely over brush grass to the green. It is a pretty hole, but hit an errant drive or approach shot and you will quickly find yourself taking a double bogey. Other difficult holes include the par-5 1^st with a blind and tight second shot and the 12^th with water closely lining the left side of the fairway. The par-3’s offer a bit of relief in terms of difficulty with relatively large greens and less opportunity to land in the unforgivable waste grass. The only thing keeping this course from a 5 golf ball rating is the size of the greens, which are fairly large and easy to hit. That being said, Park Ridge offers a significant amount of difficulty and will prove to be a challenge.

Condition

First, the course is a beautiful course and there are some very aesthetically pleasing holes. In particular, the 11^th green is an oasis amongst a field of brush grass. Also, the 12^th stretching along the only lake on the course produces very nice views. Hole #8 is a beautiful especially on the approach from the elevating hitting area down to an isolated green.

Brown fringe around 6th green

View of the 11th green and 12th fairway

In terms of playability, the course was in pretty good shape and well manicured when we played it. There were some negatives, which we will discuss, but in general the course is a nice course. The fairways are cut nicely and the brush grass looked to be controlled with very distinct boundaries. Sometimes, courses can appear overrun by the brush grass, but there were clearly defined and noticeable fairways and primary roughs before giving way to the brush grass. The greens, in general, were well kept and the ball rolled true, but they were not very fast. During our round, the 6^th hole appeared to have some brown diseased patches around the green, but it appeared to only be on that hole and it wasn’t a pervasive problem on the course. The bunkers do not have white fluffy sand, but rather coarse sand (some small rocks and shells). However, there are not many bunkers that come into play on this course so you probably will not even notice.

The elevation changes are one of the positive aspects of this course in an otherwise flat South Florida landscape. However, they are also the cause of one of the challenges as it related to the condition of this course. The reason this course has elevation change is that the course was built on a former garbage dump. Before you conjure up thoughts of awful smells and piles of litter, we must stress that there are no negative physical signs of it being a dump. It looks and smells like a normal course and we wouldn’t have even noticed if not for the Solid Waste Authority logo on the scorecard and the fact that the hills just look a bit out of place compared to the surrounding landscape.

The real reason being built on an old garbage dumb is a challenge is that the course doesn’t seem to drain well in some areas. We had trouble on about six holes with noticeably wet conditions. We did play on a day after it rained decently hard, but it should be noted that it didn’t rain the day we played and we still experienced some plugged shots and a few wet fairways. We assume that if there was a week of no rain, which is common in the winter, that the course would play normally but felt it was worth commenting on.

Value

Overall, we felt the value was good for this course as you get a quality golfing experience at a reasonable price. In season rates (December-March) range from $41-$51 on weekdays and $44-$54 on weekends and holidays. Pre-season (October and November) prices are about $8-$10 cheaper than season while summer rates can normally be found in the low $30’s with decent twilight prices of $17 after 3pm. The course also sells frequent player cards, which offer discount rates and priority booking if you really like the course and plan on playing often. This course also lists select tee times on discount booking websites, which provide the opportunity to play at an even better rate if you are flexible on tee times.

Overall

Do not expect the lush country club atmosphere with an ornate clubhouse, fine dining, and Saturday bridge tournaments. However, you can expect an enjoyable experience at a course that offers a unique layout compared to other South Florida courses and provides a good challenge at a reasonable price.