To travel
Various golf courses for beginners and pros in Panama City Beach
by Ilse Romahn
(11.01.2023) With three championship golf courses, award-winning course designs, and affordable green fees, Panama City Beach is one of the best places to play golf in the United States. The city on the Gulf Stream attracts with 320 hours of sunshine a year and an annual average temperature of 23 degrees even in winter, with ideal conditions for the popular lawn game.
Beginners and professionals test their skills on three well-maintained courses in the immediate vicinity of the beach, while families try their hand at smaller terrains: the mini golf courses.
Bay Point Golf Club – Hit the Jack Nicklaus championship golf course
Bay Point Golf Club is located in a conservation area just minutes from the beach and St. Andrews Bay. At 4 miles, it offers panoramic views of the bay, marshes and idyllic wetlands. The club has the only course in northwestern Florida designed by US golf legend Jack Nicklaus and is intended for all those players who are not afraid to challenge water hazards, bunkers and sand traps. It wasn’t until 2018 that the entire green was overhauled to improve year-round playability. Experienced golfers as well as ambitious beginners can perfect their swing on the driving range and work on their accuracy on the chipping green and practice putting green. Featuring 18 championship holes, Bay Point Golf Club at the Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf & Spa Resort is a favorite with Emerald Coast golfers and has hosted many regional and local events, including the USGA US Open Qualifier in 2016.
Legacy Golf Club: For dynamic tee shots in the middle
Legacy Golf Club – formerly Holiday Golf Club – is located just a mile from the beach and is one of the best maintained courses in the region with its smooth, fast and challenging greens. As its 9-hole par 3 course can be completed in an hour and is floodlit in the evening, it is ideal for a relaxed game of tee during your lunch break or after work. The 900m long course is also perfect for youngsters and beginners to practice their first strokes. If you have more time and experience, you can tackle the 18-hole championship course with its wide fairways and fend off numerous water obstacles as well as sand-filled bunkers. There’s also a driving range, as well as chipping and putting practice areas for practicing short strokes.
Signal Hill Golf Course: Tees off on time-honored ground
Opened in 1962, Signal Hill Golf Course is Panama City Beach’s oldest golf course. Five kilometers away and in close proximity to the sea, the 18-hole par 71 course offers challenging greens, precise fairways and a relaxed atmosphere in which golfers of all skill levels feel at home. However, there are also some difficult holes built into the course. The 15th hole in particular ensures that players are kept alert throughout their round – the aim here is to find the pin out of the water.
Minigolf family fun: little golfers make it big
Panama City Beach also caters to younger golfers: the “Goofy Golf” mini golf course has been around since 1959 and has hardly changed since then – a true veteran in the city on the Gulf of Mexico. Visitors immerse themselves in old Florida charm and feel fun and nostalgia at the same time. Imaginative figures such as Chinese dragons, dinosaurs and giant monkeys await on the fairways and greens, turning every shot into a little adventure. Goofy Golf was designed by American Lee Koplin, who revolutionized minigolf in the 1950s: the course was the first of its kind in the world. Panama City Beach has several other unusual miniature golf courses, such as the two 18-hole courses in the tropically inspired Coconut Creek Family Fun Park or Pirate’s Island Adventure Golf Course. In the latter, young and old dive into the past of the notorious pirates of Florida’s Emerald Coast with hidden treasures and adventurous caves.
Find out more about Panama City Beach at www.visitpanamacitybeach.de
