Boca Lago Country Club

Boca Lago Country Club is a 27-hole private facility in Boca Raton, Florida, featuring three distinct nines — the East, West, and South — that combine into three different 18-hole experiences. Originally designed by Bruce Devlin and Robert von Hagge in 1975 and comprehensively redesigned by Jan Bel Jan in 2018, the courses wind through tree-lined fairways and more than 50 acres of lakes, with TifEagle Bermuda greens and Latitude 36 Bermuda fairways providing year-round playing surfaces.

Boca Lago Country Club traces its origins to the early 1970s, when a planned unit development was approved in 1973 for a 546-acre parcel along Palmetto Park Road and Lyons Road in western Boca Raton. The golf courses opened in 1975 as part of a residential community developed by Frankel Homes, which eventually grew to encompass eight distinct subdivisions — Greens, Vistas, Fairways, Palms, Horizon, Glades, Pines, and Cypress — totaling approximately 1,800 residences. The original 36-hole layout was designed by the acclaimed partnership of Bruce Devlin and Robert von Hagge, two architects whose collaborative work produced hundreds of courses worldwide during the 1970s and 1980s. The Devlin and von Hagge design took full advantage of the flat South Florida terrain by incorporating extensive water features and strategic bunkering throughout the layout. Lakes were woven into the routing on nearly every hole, serving both as hazards and as visual framing for the fairways. Mature trees, including palms and tropical hardwoods, lined the corridors and added definition to the playing experience.

The courses quickly became the centerpiece of the Boca Lago community, anchoring the social and recreational life of the neighborhood. For more than four decades, the original layout served the membership, but by the mid-2010s the facility was due for modernization. In 2017, homebuilder Pulte purchased land on the western portion of the property for a new residential development called Boca Flores, which necessitated a reconfiguration of the golf courses from 36 holes to 27. Rather than simply removing nine holes, the club's ownership undertook a comprehensive $9 million redesign of the entire facility under the direction of award-winning golf course architect Jan Bel Jan. Jan Bel Jan's redesign, completed in 2018, reconfigured the property into three nines — the East, West, and South — each with its own character and strategic demands.

The project included fully redesigned greens, repositioned and re-contoured bunkers in the fairways and around the putting surfaces, and reshaped and rearranged teeing grounds.The renovation extended well beyond the playing surfaces. A new irrigation and pump system was installed to improve water management across the property, while enhanced fairway drainage addressed the challenges of South Florida's wet season. Cart paths were refreshed or removed where they interfered with the natural flow of the golf course. The practice facilities were also expanded to include a full-swing practice area, a dedicated putting green, a short-game area, and two practice holes for members to warm up before their rounds.

The turf program was a key component of the redesign. TifEagle Bermudagrass was selected for the greens, providing smooth, fast putting surfaces suited to the South Florida climate. Latitude 36 Bermudagrass was planted on the fairways, offering improved density and durability, while TifGrand Bermudagrass was used on the teeing grounds. The results of the renovation earned national recognition. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) awarded Boca Lago its "Best New Course Design" Award in 2018, recognizing the quality of the redesign under the supervision of superintendent George Redshaw, GCSAA. The award acknowledged both the design vision of Jan Bel Jan and the agronomic execution required to bring the new layout to life.

Today, Boca Lago's three nines offer members the variety that comes with a 27-hole facility. The South/East combination plays as the longest routing at par 72, while the East/West and West/South combinations each play to par 70. The courses feature multiple strategic options from every tee, with the lakes and tree-lined fairways continuing to play a central role in the character of each nine. The 61,576-square-foot clubhouse complements the golf offerings, making Boca Lago one of the anchor private clubs in the western Boca Raton corridor.