Panther National: The first new golf club to be built in Palm Beach County in 20 years

A soon-to-be built new golf and country club could alleviate a limited supply of golf memberships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic when the sport experienced a resurgence.

By: Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post

And that demand will be for people who want the country club lifestyle with their homes, and are willing to pay for it.

Panther National, a new residential and golf community at Avenir in Palm Beach Gardens, is the first new golf course community to be built in the county in nearly 20 years.

Recently, the community began taking reservations for one of its 218 planned homes, which range in price from the mid-$3 million range to more than $10 million.

Within days, 55 reservations were made for the homes, said Mike Collins, chief executive of IMI Worldwide Properties, Panther National’s sales and marketing firm. Each refundable reservation requires a $10,000 deposit.

Collins said he’s not only selling the project, he’s also buying into it. He, too, wants to play golf more often, including with his family, and he is willing to buy into a residential country club to play as much as he wants.

“It’s interesting,” Collins said. “Over 30 years, we’ve done 18 projects that have had a Nicklaus-designed golf course. Five years ago, that ended. And now we’re doing golf courses in Napa, in Cabo, in the Dominican Republic, and Panther. Golf is very front and center.”

The Nicklaus-designed club community, combined with the chance to live in a new house in a growing area of Palm Beach County, were draws for Joe Mullings, too.

The Palm Beach Gardens resident, 60, has children who are on their own or about to go to college. That got Mullings and his wife thinking about where they want to live: By the beach? Near a downtown?

But then Mullings, who owns several Delray Beach-based companies, started thinking strategically.

He wanted to buy a home that would keep its investment value for his children. And he concluded that buying a place with a golf course membership at a Nicklaus course was the best plan for now and into the future.

The club also is a way to socialize in a smaller, known group, Mullings said, with like-minded people who value fitness as well as fun. There’s also the appeal of buying a new house in a new community with others who also are doing the same.

“I think high-end golf communities have become anchors for people and their lifestyle,” Mullings said, “and coming out of the pandemic, lifestyle has become more important than ever.”