The best golf courses in Fort Lauderdale, FL are mostly a short drive from it. Golf inside the city limits is private, so the public rounds worth planning a morning around sit in Plantation, Tamarac, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs and Hollywood, roughly 20 to 30 minutes from the beach. This guide sorts them by access: the courses anyone can book, the semi-private and member clubs that still take outside play, and the private clubs you need a membership to see.
How Golf Is Laid Out Across Broward County
Broward County’s golf sits west of Federal Highway because the eastern strip has no room for it. Fort Lauderdale holds 182,760 people in about 34.6 square miles (U.S. Census Bureau), and most of the land near the water goes to beach, Intracoastal and canals. Fairways went where there was space, which means inland.
Greater Fort Lauderdale has more than 35 courses and plays year-round, according to the county tourism bureau’s golf pages. Broward is 31 municipalities packed edge to edge and the city lines are invisible from the car, so locals think in drive times. Plantation and Tamarac are 20 to 30 minutes west, Hollywood is about 20 minutes south and Pompano Beach about 25 minutes north. On a booked-out weekend, the same page lists Palm-Aire Country Club in Pompano Beach, with three championship courses, as a fallback.
Public Courses You Can Book Without a Membership
Plantation Preserve Golf Course and Club
Plantation Preserve is the easiest good round to get in this area. The City of Plantation runs it as a public municipal course with five sets of tee boxes on every hole, so a foursome holding a scratch player and a beginner can play together instead of taking turns being miserable (City of Plantation). Call the pro shop early for tee times in January and February, when winter visitors fill the sheet.
Colony West Golf Club in Tamarac
Colony West gives you two very different rounds on one property, about 30 minutes northwest. The club calls its 18-hole Championship layout one of the most challenging and rewarding rounds in South Florida, and the par-64 Glades course next door is the player-friendly option when you’ve got four hours instead of six. Book direct and there’s no booking fee, and the club states that children under 17 play free with a paying adult after 3 p.m.
Pompano Beach Golf Course
Pompano Beach Golf Course is the northern option, roughly 25 minutes up Federal Highway, and it’s the rare 36-hole public complex in this half of the county. The city owns both 18s: the Pines, the first Greg Norman Signature redesign of a municipal course, and the shorter, friendlier Palms (Pompano Beach Parks). Green fees across the area swing hard by season and tee time, so check the course’s own booking page rather than a number in an article.
Orangebrook Golf and Country Club in Hollywood
Orangebrook is the city of Hollywood’s 36-hole public facility, about 25 minutes south, with 18 holes built in 1933 and a second 18 added in 1959 (City of Hollywood). The West course has larger greens and a forward set of tees, which makes it the better pick for beginners, while the East’s smaller greens ask more of everyone. The lighted driving range stays open until 10 p.m., which is useful in a summer when the daylight hours are too hot to practice.
Hollywood Beach Golf Club
Hollywood Beach Golf Club is the newest old course in the county. The City of Hollywood reopened the 18-hole public course in April 2026, after a full renovation that added a new clubhouse, irrigation and cart paths (City of Hollywood). The course dates to the 1920s, and tee times go through the club’s own site. It’s about 25 minutes south of downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Semi-Private and Member Clubs That Still Take Visitors
Jacaranda Golf Club in Plantation
Jacaranda is the course South Florida golfers name first, and it’s semi-private rather than private, so you don’t need a member to get on. There are 36 holes across the East and West courses, both rated four stars by Golf Digest, both with five sets of tees and Paspalum turf. The longer East has hosted PGA Tour Q-School and U.S. Open qualifying, and the West trades length for strategy, though the West is closed for a renovation the club expects to finish in November 2026, so the East is the round to book until then. The pro shop opens at 6:30 a.m. daily, which is when you want to be on the first tee from June through September.
The Club at Emerald Hills in Hollywood
The Club at Emerald Hills is the round to book when your flight is the problem. The semi-private course sits less than a mile from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and tee times go through an online system or the pro shop by phone (The Club at Emerald Hills). It’s a championship layout and prices like one, so treat it as the splurge round. Play it on an arrival or departure day and a wasted half day turns into a real one.
Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs
Eagle Trace is the tournament pedigree option, about 30 minutes northwest. The Arthur Hills design hosted the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic from 1984 to 1991 and again in 1996 (Wikipedia), and Visit Lauderdale notes water on every par 3 and an island green. It’s a ClubLink member club that also sells daily fee tee times to the public. The 18th is a long par 4, so save something for the finish.
Private Clubs and the Courses You Need to Call About
Fort Lauderdale Country Club
Fort Lauderdale Country Club is the private benchmark, and it’s fair to say up front that you can’t simply book it. The club has 36 holes across two courses and describes itself as the oldest private country club in Broward County. It was founded in 1926, which makes 2026 its centennial year (PR Newswire). Membership is the only way on, and despite the name, the club sits between Fort Lauderdale and Plantation.
Coral Ridge Country Club
Coral Ridge Country Club answers the question people actually ask, which is whether any golf sits inside Fort Lauderdale itself. It does, on Bayview Drive in the Coral Ridge neighborhood, and it’s private, with membership by invitation. Treat it as the reason the good public options are all a drive away, not as a course to plan around.
Playing in the Heat, the Rain and the Winter High Season
In Fort Lauderdale, golf is a morning sport for half the year. The wet season runs May through October, and normal highs reach 88°F to 90°F from June through September, with May around 86°F, according to NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals. Afternoon thunderstorms are why a 6:30 a.m. pro shop opening is a feature rather than a curiosity, and a soaked afternoon is often a delay rather than a washout. If one takes the day, the things to do in Fort Lauderdale guide covers the indoor options.
Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 and peaks on September 10 (National Hurricane Center), part of why late summer into September is the quietest stretch on the tee sheets. December through April is the opposite: dry, mid-70s to low 80s, crowded and priced accordingly, with weekend morning times gone days ahead. Our guide to the best time to visit Fort Lauderdale breaks the year down month by month.
Assume you’re driving, because none of these courses is walkable from a beach hotel and I-95 crawls between 7:30 and 9 a.m. on weekdays. The Fort Lauderdale hotels guide covers which areas sit closest to the western courses. Humidity is the other tax: leather bags, gloves and grips break down fast in an unconditioned garage, which is why climate-controlled storage in Fort Lauderdale gets rented by people who own more equipment than they play with.
Junior Golf and Family Rounds
Two courses here are built for kids rather than merely tolerant of them. Plantation Preserve runs a junior golf academy for ages 6 to 14, and Colony West’s under-17 policy after 3 p.m. turns a late tee time into a cheap family afternoon. Families who golf also accumulate gear at speed, from outgrown junior sets to bikes and beach chairs, and a 5×10 storage unit, about the size of a small walk-in closet, absorbs the lot between seasons. Our things to do in Fort Lauderdale with kids guide picks up where the golf stops.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best public golf courses near Fort Lauderdale?
Plantation Preserve, Colony West in Tamarac, Pompano Beach Golf Course, Orangebrook and Hollywood Beach Golf Club are the ones you can book without a membership, and Jacaranda in Plantation is semi-private and still takes outside play. Between them you get a municipal course with five tee sets, a championship layout with an executive course beside it, two 36-hole city complexes, a freshly renovated 1920s course and a four-star pair of 18s.
Are there any golf courses inside Fort Lauderdale city limits?
Yes, but they’re private. Coral Ridge Country Club sits on Bayview Drive inside the city, and Fort Lauderdale Country Club, despite the name, sits between Fort Lauderdale and Plantation. Public golf here means driving 20 to 30 minutes west, north or south, which is normal in a county of 31 municipalities pressed together.
What’s the number one golf course in Florida?
Florida’s two most famous courses are Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, which is private, and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, which takes public tee times but is about a five-hour drive north. Neither fits a Fort Lauderdale morning. Locally, Jacaranda’s two courses carry the strongest public-access reputation, and both hold four stars from Golf Digest.
When is the best time of year to golf in Fort Lauderdale?
December through April gives you mid-70s to low-80s days, low humidity and little rain, and it’s also when tee sheets fill and rates climb. November and late April into May are the value windows, still comfortable with less competition for morning times. June through September, book the earliest time available and expect an afternoon thunderstorm.
Can a visitor play without a membership?
Yes, at most of the courses here. Plantation Preserve, Colony West, Pompano Beach, Orangebrook and Hollywood Beach Golf Club are open to the public, Jacaranda and The Club at Emerald Hills take outside play as semi-private clubs, and Eagle Trace sells daily fee tee times. Only Fort Lauderdale Country Club and Coral Ridge require a member.
Storage for Clubs, Carts and Off-Season Gear
Golf equipment outgrows a South Florida closet faster than almost anything else, and snowbirds get the sharper version of the problem. Seasonal players who fly down for three months often leave the clubs behind rather than check a bag twice a year, and a 5×5 storage locker, about the size of a small closet, takes a bag, a pull cart and a couple of bins.
Value Store It’s Fort Lauderdale facility rents month-to-month with no long-term contract. A 10×5 space handles clubs plus the beach and fishing gear, and a 5×15 unit holds the contents of two rooms. Households in transition size up to a 10×10 storage unit for a one-bedroom apartment or a 10×15 unit for a two-bedroom apartment. A 10×20 space holds a three-bedroom home, and a 10×30 unit takes a four-bedroom home. The storage size guide settles it in two minutes.
If a season of golf, boating and beach days leaves you with more gear than garage, Value Store It can hold it until the next tee time.
