Park Ridge Golf Course (Lake Worth, FL)

In my mind, I’ve always been skeptical about playing courses that were built on landfills. I just never thought they could be interesting, and I figured manufactured pseudo links was the only thing the architect was going to be able to come up with. Park Ridge changed that stereotype with a thoughtful, well designed layout that proved to be a lot of fun. 

Park Ridge was designed in 2007 by Roy Case. His expertise is this niche has given him the moniker “Lord of the Landfills”. In his interview with golfclubatlas, he stated that designing on landfills is as much about engineering as it is about architecture. The land is still active, so there’s a process in capping it, monitoring the gases, hauling in dirt to create movement, and even lining the greens to prevent contamination from the methane. Also, brownfield courses bring several different agencies together to complete this task, so much of the process has little to do with golf course architecture. 

(The 439/420 yard par four eighth plays atop the hill before dropping down to the green. The putting surface is in the corner of the property. Most of it is surrounded by short grass. A four is a good score.) 

Designing on former landfills has its advantages, mainly plenty of elevation change and great views. Park Ridge has over 85 feet of elevation which gives it an “out of Florida” experience. The course rises and falls and has a good mix of uphill and downhill holes. While most of the holes play on top, the standouts are on the perimeter and drop down to the greens in the lower section of the property. Also, the vegetation added to stabilize the hill gives these holes more texture, making for some really beautiful views. 

(The 237/175 yard par three ninth plays over the corner of the property to a green with good internal contouring. Note the pin position and the swale just short of it. The ground game is in full effect here.) 

Park Ridge has the most unusual complication a par 72 can have, a 6,6,6 routing where there’s an equal amount of par threes, par fours, and par fives. In my view, the only way this works is if the par threes are all really good, and Roy Case did a nice job finding cool shots. 9,11,14,16 are all first rate. The ninth plays over the corner of the property; eleven is a wonderful downhill hole; thirteen is backdropped by the water; and the uphill sixteenth plays to a skyline green. They’re all very different and it’s enough to mask the unusual routing. 

(The 238/199 yard par three eleventh is fantastic! It’s a long downhill shot with beautiful views. A swale in the middle right makes a front and rear pin the high spots. A par is golden every time.) 

(The beautiful 524/474 yard par five twelth plays over the vegetation and alongside the lake all the way to the green. It’s reachable in two shots but the direct line will need to challenge the hazard. One may be able to hit it right of the green and let the slope work it back.) 

Par fives are usually the birdie holes on a course, and with six of them, the immediate thought is one is going to snag a couple strokes. That’s not the case here. Besides having good length, they play into the wind. (The first hole is nearly 600 yards!) The four (!) par fives on the back are a real eye opener starting with the solid tenth. The twelth next to the lake is gorgeous, and the fifteenth has a cool greensite tucked in corner. This leads to the only letdown, and that is the quality of the par fours. The long eighth with the green down in the valley is cool, and the driveable thirteenth is as fun as it gets, but the other four fit the pseudo links profile. 

(The 310/296 yard par four thirteenth plays over all the cut of the hill with varying lines offering different degrees of aggression. The long hitter can take it at the green. It’s a super fun hole.) 

Park Ridge works because it’s so different from what most people envision when they think Florida golf. Add in a reasonable price point and very good conditions, and the result is a solid course that’s going to do well. There’s a lot of short grass with just a scattering of bunkers which makes it beginner friendly too. It’s made me more receptive to seeing other brownfield courses in the future. Big props to Roy Case on this one. I give Park Ridge a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play). 

(The 134/124 yard par three fourteenth is a drop shot short iron to lovely green setting. It’s the best chance to make a deuce.)