PGA National Resort is built entirely around the game it's named for, on the grounds of the golf community that shares it. Its Champion Course, redesigned by Jack Nicklaus, hosts the PGA Tour's Cognizant Classic each spring and is best known for the Bear Trap — three consecutive holes, 15 through 17, widely regarded as one of the toughest closing stretches in professional golf. Four more courses round out 79 holes in total, from Arnold Palmer's forgiving Palmer Course to Andy Staples' playful, par-3 Staple. Off the fairways, 339 recently reimagined rooms and suites and 21 Serena & Lily–designed cottages sit alongside a 40,000-square-foot spa built for recovery and a Sports & Racquet Club with a dozen pickleball courts.
339 rooms · 5 courses · North America · LXV
The closing act of the Bear Trap: a tee shot played almost entirely over water to a narrow, exposed green, with lake wind turning club selection into a guessing game.
A resort built stroke by stroke around championship golf, with recovery — spa, pool, and rest — treated as part of the round.
Holes 15 through 17 on the Champion Course make up the Bear Trap, three consecutive holes wrapped around water that have decided more than one PGA Tour Cognizant Classic. The par-3 17th, played almost entirely over water to a thin, wind-exposed green, is the stretch's final and most feared test.
A 40,000-square-foot facility built for post-round recovery as much as indulgence, with treatment suites, a salt room, and quiet lounges arranged around soft, palm-print interiors. It's as central to the resort's rhythm as any of the five courses outside its doors.
Few resorts anywhere concentrate this much golf in one place: the Champion, the Palmer, the Fazio, the Match, and the short-form Staple, laced together by lakes and Florida pine across the property. Guests can play a different course, and a different kind of round, every day of a stay.
The Butcher's Club · Honeybelle · Sushi by Boū · Birdie's Diner · The King's Club
The Spa at PGA National (40,000 sq. ft.) · Sports & Racquet Club with 12 pickleball courts · Resort pool · Banyan Buddies kids club · Boutique shopping
November – April
Cooler, drier weather and the PGA Tour rolling through for the Cognizant Classic each February make late winter into spring the resort's peak stretch.
Book the Champion Course early — South Florida's afternoon crosswinds pick up off the lakes and make the Bear Trap's back-to-back water carries noticeably tougher than the scorecard suggests.
Avenue of the Champions runs directly from PGA Boulevard to the resort's entrance.
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