Bear Lakes Country Club: Lakes Course

Bear Lakes Country Club's Links Course is a Jack Nicklaus-designed private layout in West Palm Beach, Florida, opened in 1987 and modeled after seaside Scottish links golf with deep bunkers, rolling greens, clusters of native grass, and intentional ground-game influences. At 7,392 yards from the tips with a course rating of 75.9 and slope of 140, it offers a fundamentally different playing experience from the club's companion Lakes Course — one that rewards links-style creativity and ground-game management.

Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, opened its Lakes Course in 1984 as a Jack Nicklaus Signature design on the western edge of Palm Beach County — one of the earlier Nicklaus Signature designs to be built in the market that would eventually become among the concentrated Nicklaus design corridors in the United States. The club expanded with the Links Course, another Nicklaus design, in 1987, creating a 36-hole private facility positioned in the established residential fabric of West Palm Beach. The Lakes Course was designed by Jack Nicklaus with Gus Grantham.

Nicklaus returned to the property in 2003 with Phil Smith and Chris Cochran to renovate the Lakes Course, updating its strategic character and playing infrastructure while preserving the fundamental routing of the original 1984 design. The renovation brought the Lakes Course into alignment with the conditioning expectations of a modern Nicklaus Signature property while honoring the design decisions that had defined the course's identity for nearly two decades. The Links Course, built in 1987 by Nicklaus and Grantham with Rick Jacobson, delivered a second distinct design voice to the Bear Lakes campus.

A renovation of the Links Course was subsequently planned by the club — an acknowledgment of the same investment philosophy that governed the Lakes Course update, applying modern conditioning standards to a design that members had valued for decades. Bear Lakes Country Club operates as a private members' club in the Village Boulevard corridor of West Palm Beach, serving the established residential neighborhoods and seasonal members who make Palm Beach County their winter base. The club's 36-hole configuration gives members variety across two meaningfully different Nicklaus designs, and the multi-decade relationship between the club and the Nicklaus Design organization reflects the depth of commitment to maintaining the original architect's vision.

The course is a member of the Florida State Golf Association, connecting Bear Lakes to the broader Palm Beach County private golf community.