On November 11, 1926, Mayor A.D. Clark handed the keys to a new clubhouse on the Lake Worth waterfront to golf professional Cameron Trent. An amateur tournament followed, then an afternoon exhibition match between local pros. Playing the new nine holes cost $1 a day, or $15 for the month.
On Wednesday, November 11, that course turns 100. It is still city-owned and still runs along the Intracoastal. That is partly because voters decided this spring to keep it that way. The fairways look settled for the next few years. The real change is coming at the clubhouse, where the waterfront restaurant may be in its last full season under its current operator.
A Course Built on the Bottom of the Lake
Most of the land under the Lake Worth Beach Golf Club was once underwater. According to the Florida Historic Golf Trail guide published by the Florida Department of State, the city approved a municipal lakefront course in 1923. It hired the firm Langford and Moreau to design 18 holes: 13 north of Lake Avenue and the rest south of it.
The course needed about 400,000 cubic yards of fill, and the job went to Waldeck-Deal Dredging of Miami at 24.4 cents a cubic yard. The state's guide quotes a 1926 newspaper report predicting that "golfers will soon replace boats." The city got a permit from the US War Department to fill the lakefront. Early in 1925 it hired Captain H.H.C. Tippett, a golf architect from Miami, to supervise construction. When the first nine holes opened, the total cost had reached $400,000.
The second big chapter came after the war. City Commissioner Charles Davis started an expansion in the early 1940s. Architect Dick Wilson completely redesigned the original nine holes and added nine more. Mayor J.T. Barton hit the first tee shot on November 6, 1948, on a course that measured 5,808 yards with a par of 68.
Today the course is a par 71, with five sets of tees from 4,100 to 6,000 yards, along 1.2 miles of the Intracoastal. It has added length and three strokes of par since 1948 but stayed in roughly the same footprint. The guide credits its "vintage South Palm Beach charm" to mature banyans, doglegs and a player-friendly layout.
Why the Fairways Look Settled
The course could have reached its centennial with a very different future ahead of it. On January 16, 2025, Copperline Partners submitted an unsolicited proposal to redevelop city land at the beach and golf course. It included a Jack Nicklaus redesign of the course and Hyatt hotels.
Lake Worth Beach's charter gives voters the final say on major long-term leases of public land. In October 2025, WPTV reported that commissioners had sent two charter amendments to the ballot. Together they would have let the City Commission approve those leases on its own.
Voters rejected both on March 10, 2026. The Lake Worth Beach Independent reported that nearly 79 percent voted no on Question 2, which covered long-term commercial leases at the beach. Nearly 77 percent voted no on Question 3, which covered public land west of State Road A1A. Kim Stokes, president of the grassroots group Lake Worth For All, told the Independent:
"I think there's a clear mandate here: The residents of Lake Worth Beach care and value their public lands very much and they want to have input on its future."
Commissioner Anthony Segrich saw the result differently. He told WFLX that any revised plan would be "two or three years in the making." He also said the city would have to pay $750,000 to $1.5 million for engineering, feasibility and financial studies before a proposal could reach voters again. For now, he said, "It's going to be a lot of little wins."
So the charter is unchanged. Any major redevelopment of the golf course is likely to go back to voters before it moves forward. Even by Segrich's own estimate, that would not happen for years.
The Change That Has a Date Attached
The restaurant is different. The Beach Club sits inside the clubhouse at 1 7th Ave. N. E.R. Bradley's Lagoon Saloon has run it since October 2013. On April 21, 2026, city commissioners extended its lease, which had been set to expire August 3, through April 30, 2027. They also decided to seek proposals for a new restaurant that could open next spring or summer.
The Lake Worth Beach Independent reported that the current operator will be encouraged to submit a proposal of its own. Nothing about The Beach Club's future is decided yet. What is fixed is the deadline. The city's draft solicitation looks for a long-term operator to start May 1, 2027. That operator would handle food and beverage service, including the course's beverage cart, and would be responsible for renovations and improvements.
A June 16, 2026 city staff report asked for approval of the solicitation, ITN #26-101, so the process could begin. The draft attached to it still had blanks where the publication date and proposal deadline would go. The city has not named a new operator.
That makes the 2026–27 winter the last season under the current lease. Plenty of people who never play golf have used the room anyway. The Beach Club is open to the public without a golf membership. It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a waterfront patio, sports-bar TVs and brunch on Sundays. It also hosts private events for up to 100 guests, including birthdays, showers and corporate dinners.
A Centennial Season, in Order
The city has built a calendar around the 100th year, and it lines up with other things already happening across town:
- Friday, Nov. 6, 6 to 9 p.m. The Bonfire and Night Market returns to the Lake Worth Beach Casino & Beach Complex with live music by Hot Gritz and local vendors. Admission is free. It runs on the first and third Fridays through Feb. 19, moving to the second and fourth Fridays in January.
- Wednesday, Nov. 11. This is the course's actual 100th birthday. It falls on Veterans Day, and the city's Veterans' Day gathering takes place that evening from 5 to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 14, 5 to 11 p.m. The Golf Club Centennial Gala, described below.
- Friday, Nov. 20. The second bonfire night, with Sekond Nature.
- This winter. The engraved centennial bricks go in. Orders closed September 2, and the proceeds support the club.
The gala is a 1920s-themed evening, and 1920s attire is encouraged. According to the city's event page, it takes place at two locations:
- 5 to 6:30 p.m. Cocktail hour at The Beach Club, 1 7th Ave. N.
- 6:45 to 11 p.m. A trolley takes guests to the Casino Ballroom, 10 S. Ocean Blvd., for dinner, live entertainment and dancing.
- Tickets are $100. They include hors d'oeuvres, one drink ticket at each stop, the trolley ride and dinner. A cash bar is open during cocktail hour.
- Proceeds go to the City of Lake Worth Beach Junior Golf League.
The route connects two pieces of city-owned waterfront that were on the ballot in March. The evening begins at a restaurant whose lease ends next spring. Then it moves to the Casino building, where the city asked for proposals for the second-floor ballroom and unfinished space this past May.
Getting on the Course This Winter
The course's official site handles online tee times, memberships and event requests. The posted green-fee schedule covered May 11 through Oct. 11, 2026, and the club notes that rates are subject to change. Check current prices with the club before you book.
For newer players, Director of Golf Marty Caifano, PGA, teaches beginners, women, juniors and tour players. The club's lessons page lists a half-hour lesson at $60, an hour at $100 and a nine-hole playing lesson at $150. A playing lesson takes you onto holes that were Lake Worth lagoon until a Miami dredging crew filled them nearly a century ago. It also comes with the same Palm Beach skyline views the city promotes for the course.
If you haven't played, the clubhouse is still the easiest way in. A Sunday brunch on The Beach Club patio before the end of April is a way to see the room under the operator that has run it for 13 years.
If you're curious about the city-owned waterfront, the golf course, or how this kind of public-land history plays out on Lake Worth Beach streets, I'm happy to talk it through over coffee, in English or Spanish. Roxy Campbell has followed Palm Beach County neighborhoods since 2003. Call or text "Roxy" at (561) 714-9673, and I may see you at the gala.
