The Bears Club

DiscoverThe Bear’s Club Homes for Sale

History

The land was previously part of John D. MacArthur’s holdings, later held by the MacArthur Foundation. Jack and Barbara Nicklaus founded the club in 1999 with partners including Robert Whitley, Tucker Frederickson and Ira Fenton, and the course opened on December 31, 1999 — Jack, Barbara and their four sons played the opening round, with Barbara hitting one of the first tee shots.

Barbara Nicklaus is co-credited as founder and is consistently credited with the clubhouse interiors; the course itself is Jack’s design, executed with Nicklaus Design associates Rick Robbins and Greg Letsche.

The community’s on-site brokerage, originally The Bear’s Club Realty Co., has operated as The Bear’s Club Sotheby’s International Realty since 2008.

Homes at The Bear’s Club

The community holds fewer than 100 residences across three products.

• Estate homes — The primary product, roughly 60 to 68 residences. Homesites carry a one-acre minimum, with actual lots running from about six-tenths of an acre to more than three acres. Homes are custom-built by their owners rather than produced by a builder, and pass through a strict architectural review board — the club’s own framing is that no two homes are alike. Sizes commonly run from 9,000 to 15,000 square feet and reach beyond 26,000 at the largest.
• Golf Villas — Seventeen residences in the Bear’s Club Golf Villas, roughly 4,150 to 5,463 square feet with four or five bedrooms, built between about 2004 and 2016, with private pools and two- to three-car garages plus cart parking.
• Club Cottages — Fourteen residences near the clubhouse. Note the name: many listings call these "club villas," but the club and the Town of Jupiter both refer to them as club cottages.

Architecture skews Tuscan and Mediterranean with French provincial influence, and newer construction has introduced coastal contemporary. Homes date from roughly 2001 forward, and construction is ongoing — pre-construction and newly built estates continue to deliver into 2027, which is unusual for a community this old and this small. Worth noting for anyone picturing a typical Florida golf community: The Bear’s Club has very little water, just a few small ponds, and the setting is pine, palmetto, wetland and preserve rather than lakefront.

The Golf Course

Jack Nicklaus designed the course for himself, and it opened on the last day of 1999 — 18 holes to a par of 72. Golf Digest ranks it 13th in Florida for 2025–26, and it debuted on the magazine’s Second 100 Greatest at number 180.

The single most important recent fact about the club, and one most listings omit entirely, is that Nicklaus returned and rebuilt his own course in late 2023. The routing was left intact, but all 18 holes were modified. Bunkering went from roughly seventy or eighty bunkers to somewhere between 340 and 354, with faces lowered to a maximum of about eighteen inches and styling drawn from Royal Melbourne. Fairways and greens were reshaped for playability, several green sites were relocated, and nine greens were converted from repelling contours to collecting ones. Non-recoverable brush and wetland hazards were opened up. The course now plays to roughly 7,300 yards.

A separate nine-hole par-3 course, also a Nicklaus design, opened in 2003 and plays to a par of 27 over about 2,005 yards with holes from 100 to 180 yards. Nicklaus has recently redesigned that as well.

Practice is a serious part of the property: a driving range over 400 yards deep, two putting greens, chipping and short-game greens, a practice bunker, and the Jack Nicklaus Performance Solutions academy for instruction, club fitting and technology. Caddie service is available, and the bag room is maintained to touring-professional standards.

The club’s signature event is The Jake — the Jake Nicklaus Memorial, a two-day tournament benefiting the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, held annually at the club. The 2027 edition is set for February 21 and 22. The Bear’s Club does not host a professional tour event.

The Clubhouse and Amenities

The clubhouse is 64,000 square feet across two levels in a Tuscan-inspired design, with interiors credited to Barbara Nicklaus. Note that many published descriptions still cite 40,000 square feet — that figure dates to 2008 and is out of date.

Dining includes a main dining room, a mixed grill, a men’s grill, private dining rooms and event space, with the culinary program led by a Certified Master Chef. The lower level holds five individual locker areas with private baths, showers and Jacuzzis, along with steam and massage rooms, plus fitness facilities.

A distinctive detail: the clubhouse has four one-bedroom guest suites, each named for a course — Pebble Beach, Augusta National, St. Andrews and Muirfield.

As of 2026 the club has a 1,604-square-foot second-floor clubhouse addition and a 1,871-square-foot three-car garage for the club cottages under construction, per Town of Jupiter records.

The Membership

The Bear’s Club is best known for the density of professional golf among its members — roughly three dozen touring professionals belong, an unusually high concentration for a club of this size and part of what made Jupiter the center of gravity for professional golf in the United States. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Shane Lowry are all documented members, and McIlroy purchased Ernie Els’ home in the community in 2017. Jack Nicklaus remains a member and a daily presence.

Schools Near The Bear’s Club

Public Schools

The community is served by the School District of Palm Beach County, and Jupiter uses a paired elementary structure: Lighthouse Elementary School covers PreK through second grade at 4750 Dakota Drive, and students move to Beacon Cove Intermediate School for grades three through five at 150 School House Road in Abacoa. The zoned middle school is Independence Middle School at 4001 Greenway Drive, and the zoned high school is William T. Dwyer High School at 13601 N. Military Trail in Palm Beach Gardens. Testing across the full footprint of the community confirms a single zone throughout — no part of The Bear’s Club falls in a different assignment.

Dwyer is one of a small number of Palm Beach County high schools offering both the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and the Cambridge AICE Diploma, along with an Academy of Finance, an early childhood teacher education academy and in-house construction and culinary academies. Independence Middle runs pre-medical sciences honors, pre-law, pre-business and information technology, pre-teacher education and SciQuest academies. Beacon Cove is consistently among the highest-rated elementary schools in the county. Attendance boundaries change, so confirm any specific address with the district’s Find My School locator.

Private and Parochial Schools

• The Benjamin School — Founded 1960, PK3–12, roughly 1,300 students, with the lower and middle school at 11000 Ellison Wilson Road, North Palm Beach, and the upper school at 4875 Grandiflora Road, Palm Beach Gardens. The region’s flagship independent day school, with 25 AP courses and world-language instruction from PK3.
• Jupiter Christian School — Founded 1963, PK–12, roughly 800 students, 700 S. Delaware Boulevard, Jupiter. ACSI accredited, recently opened a 34-classroom building with four science labs, with a second campus near I-95 and Indiantown Road targeted for 2028–29.
• All Saints Catholic School — Founded 2003, PK–8, roughly 466 students, 1759 Indian Creek Parkway, Jupiter. The closest Catholic parish school, founded jointly by six parishes of the Diocese of Palm Beach.
• The Weiss School — Founded 1989, junior pre-kindergarten through grade nine, roughly 384 students, 4176 Burns Road, Palm Beach Gardens. The only independent school in South Florida dedicated exclusively to gifted students, with a NASA-approved student CubeSat program.
• St. Mark’s Episcopal School — Founded 1979, age two through grade eight, roughly 466 students, 3395 Burns Road, Palm Beach Gardens. An eleven-acre FCIS-accredited campus welcoming students of all faiths.
• Oxbridge Academy — Founded 2011, grades 6–12, roughly 615 students, 3151 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach. A 54-acre campus with Cambridge Scholars, a Free Enterprise Institute, and aviation and artificial intelligence programs.
• Cardinal Newman High School — Founded 1961, grades 9–12, roughly 640 students, 512 Spencer Drive, West Palm Beach. The Diocese of Palm Beach’s Catholic high school for the county and an IB World School, on a 45-acre campus.

Admissions timelines at these schools generally run a year ahead of enrollment.

Location and Commute

Donald Ross Road puts the community minutes from I-95 Exit 83 at the Jupiter–Palm Beach Gardens line, and Exit 87 at Indiantown Road serves northern Jupiter. The Atlantic is roughly a mile east as the crow flies, with beach access a short drive by way of Donald Ross Road or A1A.

The Gardens Mall, Downtown Palm Beach Gardens and Legacy Place are ten to fifteen minutes south along PGA Boulevard; Alton Town Center is on Donald Ross Road itself. Harbourside Place on the Intracoastal in downtown Jupiter — with the Wyndham Grand hotel, a waterfront amphitheater, a marina and restaurants including Ruth’s Chris and The Woods Jupiter — is about fifteen minutes northeast, and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre is nearby.

The nearest commercial airport is President Donald J. Trump International Airport (code DJT, formerly Palm Beach International and PBI) in West Palm Beach, roughly twenty-five to thirty minutes south — note that descriptions placing it eight miles away are wrong. North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport handles private aircraft about fifteen minutes west. There is no Brightline station in Jupiter; the nearest is West Palm Beach.

Jupiter Medical Center at 1210 S. Old Dixie Highway is about ten minutes north, an independent not-for-profit consistently rated among the top hospitals in Palm Beach County, with a second campus in Palm Beach Gardens under construction and opening in early 2028.

Recreation Nearby

Carlin Park covers 109 acres with 3,000 feet of guarded beach, tennis, pickleball and the Seabreeze Amphitheater; Jupiter Beach Park has 1,700 feet of guarded beach and jetty fishing open around the clock; and DuBois Park has a lifeguarded snorkeling lagoon. A two-and-a-half-mile stretch of Jupiter beach between dune crossovers 26 and 57 permits dogs off-leash from sunrise to sunset with free parking.

The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, first lit in 1860 and standing 153 feet above sea level, is open for climbs Tuesday through Sunday. Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Abacoa, a few minutes west, is the only spring training facility in Florida shared by two Major League clubs — the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins — and completed a roughly $108 million renovation for the 2026 season.

Golf in the surrounding area is unusually concentrated. PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens has five courses, including the Champion Course and its Bear Trap stretch, which hosts the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Other private clubs nearby include Trump National Golf Club Jupiter, Admirals Cove, Jonathan’s Landing, The Loxahatchee Club, Jupiter Hills Club, Old Palm, BallenIsles, Frenchman’s Creek and Mirasol. Abacoa Golf Club is the closest public course.

The Bear’s Club FAQs

What types of homes are available in The Bear’s Club homes for sale?

Fewer than 100 residences in three products. Estate homes are the primary product — roughly 60 to 68 custom-built residences on homesites with a one-acre minimum, commonly 9,000 to 15,000 square feet and reaching beyond 26,000 at the largest. The Bear’s Club Golf Villas are seventeen residences of roughly 4,150 to 5,463 square feet with four or five bedrooms, built between about 2004 and 2016. Fourteen club cottages sit near the clubhouse. Homes are built to owner specification under architectural review rather than produced by a builder, and construction continues today, with new estates delivering into 2027.

Is The Bear’s Club a gated community?

Yes. The Bear’s Club is a private, gated community on roughly 370 acres inside the Town of Jupiter limits, with fewer than 100 homes on that acreage — a density far lower than most South Florida golf communities. The property is heavily wooded in pine and palmetto with preserve and wetland rather than the lake systems typical of the region.

What is the golf course at The Bear’s Club?

An 18-hole Jack Nicklaus design that opened on December 31, 1999 and plays to a par of 72 at roughly 7,300 yards. Nicklaus rebuilt his own course in late 2023, keeping the routing but modifying all 18 holes — increasing the bunker count from roughly seventy or eighty to more than 340 with Royal Melbourne-inspired styling, reshaping fairways and greens, relocating several green sites and converting nine greens from repelling to collecting contours. Golf Digest ranks it 13th in Florida for 2025–26. There is also a nine-hole par-3 Nicklaus course that opened in 2003.

What public and private schools serve The Bear’s Club?

The zoned public schools are Lighthouse Elementary for PreK through second grade, Beacon Cove Intermediate for grades three through five, Independence Middle School, and William T. Dwyer High School, which offers both IB and Cambridge AICE diplomas. The entire community falls in a single zone. Confirm any specific address with the district’s Find My School locator, as boundaries change. Nearby private options include The Benjamin School, The Weiss School and St. Mark’s Episcopal School in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter Christian School and All Saints Catholic School in Jupiter, and Oxbridge Academy and Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach.

What makes The Bear’s Club different from other Jupiter golf communities?

Scale and provenance. Fewer than 100 homes on 370 acres is among the lowest densities in South Florida, and the course is not a Nicklaus commission but the one he built for himself and rebuilt personally in 2023. Roughly three dozen touring professionals are members, which is why Jupiter is widely described as the center of professional golf in the United States. Homes are custom-built rather than builder product, so the housing stock is genuinely one-of-one rather than variations on a plan.

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