Tag: Jack Nicklaus Design

Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in Hawaii

After a tight battle, there’s a new No. 1 among Hawaii’s public-access layouts.

It’s a tight race for the title of best public-access golf course in Hawaii, with the Four Seasons Resort’s Manele Course in Lanai having jumped ahead of Kapalua’s Plantation Course for the No. 1 spot on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in 2022.

Built by Jack Nicklaus atop lava outcroppings and opened in 1991, the Manele Course features three holes atop cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. Besides being No. 1 among Hawaii’s public-access layouts, it ties for No. 32 among all modern courses built since 1960 in the U.S.

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with the list of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for Hawaii is likewise included below.

MORE: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort|
Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960

Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses. Several of the private courses listed below do not qualify for those premium lists because they haven’t seen enough rater play in the past 10 years, but they are still eligible for the state-by-state lists.

* New to or returning to list

Justin Thomas partners with Jack Nicklaus to build new Panther National course in Florida

Panther National will be Justin Thomas’ first foray into course design, and he has an experienced partner.

Justin Thomas is throwing his hat into the course design ring, as the 14-time PGA Tour winner joins forces with Jack Nicklaus to build Panther National in Palm Beach County, Florida.

The new 18-hole layout will be a Jack Nicklaus Signature course, and it will be the first foray into golf architecture for Thomas, 28. It’s not dissimilar to how Nicklaus got his start: Then 28 years old, Nicklaus first worked as a course designer with Pete Dye in 1968 at Harbour Town, which opened in 1969 on South Carolina’s coast at Sea Pines Resort. Nicklaus has since designed more than 425 courses in 45 countries.

The new golf facility at the planned residential community of Panther National is slated to include a training facility with a nine-hole, par-3 course, a short-game area and hitting bays supported by technology to improve performance.

A rendering of a home to be built at Panther National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (Courtesy of Panther National)

Timelines for construction and completion were not included with a release that announced the new private course and community. An official launch announcement was planned for later Thursday (this story will be updated with any details provided). The developers said Panther National will be built on the last remaining parcel of buildable land in Palm Beach Gardens and will be the first new golf course community in the county in nearly two decades.

The Panther National community will include 218 custom homes designed by architect Max Strang and will range in size from 4,000 to 10,000 square feet. Swiss developer Dominik Senn plans to focus on minimizing environmental impact and clean energy, and will partner with Tesla Energy to power the estates and amenities.

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Jack Nicklaus to design second course at Quivira Los Cabos in Mexico

The new layout will join Jack Nicklaus’ original course at the property that offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

Jack Nicklaus will return to Mexico to build a second course at Quivira Los Cabos, where he designed Quivira Golf Club that opened in 2014.

The routing is in progress, and ground is expected to be broken by the end of 2022 for the as-yet-to-be-named new Jack Nicklaus Signature course. It will be laid out in the northwest portion of the 1,850-acre development in rolling desert foothills and valleys interlaced with arroyos, and the southern portion of the course will offer panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean.

“The first golf course at Quivira is a spectacular layout playing across a remarkable piece of property,” Nicklaus said in a media release announcing the news Tuesday. “Now, I am excited that design is well underway on the second course at Quivira, which should be stunning and equally as spectacular. I hope golfers who play the second course will enjoy the views, the quality of golf, and the challenge.”

The original course at the property, Quivira Golf Club, tied for No. 25 on Golfweek’s Best 2021 list of courses in Mexico, the Caribbean, the Atlantic islands, and Central America.

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Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player form course design alliance as Black Knight seeks to start building again

The Golden Bear and Black Knight have been friends for decades, with this design alliance further proof of that.

The course design firms of Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player announced Wednesday they have formed a strategic alliance to help Player relaunch his business building golf courses.

Player has designed more than 135 courses worldwide since starting in the 1980s, but his design business was on hold for several years during a legal dispute with his son Marc Player that was resolved in 2020. Now his marketing firm, Gary Player Enterprises, is ready to start building again.

A page announcing the two Hall of Fame players’ partnership on nicklausdesign.com said the alliance will allow Player to draw on the talents and infrastructure developed by Nicklaus Design, which has built more than 425 course in 46 countries.

“When I approached Jack, my goal was to create a relationship that would elevate my design business, and I am thrilled to have my design work supported by the most talented and thorough design firm in the world,” Player said in the release on the Nicklaus site. “… I love working with the land to develop a truly memorable, challenging and enjoyable golf experience, and working with the support of Nicklaus Design will allow me to concentrate on the unique, creative opportunities that each site presents to me.”

Nicklaus and Player were rivals on the course for decades starting in the 1960s. Nicklaus went on to win 18 professional majors among his 73 PGA tour titles, while Player won nine majors among 24 titles on the PGA Tour and more than a hundred more around the world. The Golden Bear and the Black Knight have been friends for decades, with this design alliance further example.

“When I partnered with Howard Milstein (executive chairman of the Nicklaus Companies) in June 2007, one of the goals was to institutionalize and strengthen the Nicklaus Companies to continue my personal legacy in the golf business and ensure the expertise and resources needed to develop and support the people who will design the golf courses of the future,” Nicklaus said in the announcement on his site. “Now, we’re happy to be in a position to facilitate the next phase of my dear friend Gary’s career.”

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