Panama Country Club

Panama Country Club in Lynn Haven, Florida, occupies a distinctive place in the Donald Ross portfolio as one of his designs in the Florida Panhandle. Established in the 1920s during Ross's prolific period of American course design, the club reflects his characteristic approach to routing and strategic architecture adapted to the region's flat, sandy terrain and coastal pine landscape. The course sits just north of Panama City, in an area where golf development followed the early twentieth-century expansion of resort and residential communities along the Gulf Coast. The layout demonstrates Ross's skill in creating interest on relatively level ground through strategic bunkering, crowned greens with subtle contours, and thoughtful hole corridors carved through native vegetation. The sandy soil provides firm playing conditions typical of Florida Panhandle courses, while stands of longleaf pine and live oak frame the holes. Ross's design principles—rewarding accurate approach shots and penalizing wayward play through greenside complexity—remain evident in the routing, though the course has likely seen modifications over the decades as maintenance practices and equipment have evolved. Panama Country Club serves as a traditional private club for the Lynn Haven and greater Panama City community. The facility maintains the character of a regional Donald Ross design, offering members a course that emphasizes shot-making and course management over sheer length. For students of golf architecture, it represents Ross's work in a less-documented region of his extensive design catalog.