Origins (1926–1927).
Local developer W.C. Sherman organized the club in 1926 under the name St. Andrews Bay Golf Course, commissioning Donald J. Ross to lay out a full championship course on the Lynn Haven site. Contemporary local histories and event chronicles—especially those of the club’s long-running W.C. Sherman Invitational (first played in 1927)—recount the public unveiling of “an 18-hole championship golf course designed by…Donald Ross,” positioning the project within Florida’s land-boom push to pair waterfront real estate with resort-caliber golf. The course opened for play in 1927.
Competitive establishment (late 1920s–1960s).
The Sherman Invitational became a regional fixture immediately after opening (1927 onward), anchoring the club’s calendar. In the 1960s the club hosted the Little Tournament of Champions (1962–66), an exhibition concept that brought touring professionals through Lynn Haven between Florida events—evidence that the course, while modest in yardage, could stage credible competitive golf.
Storm, reconstruction, and reopening (2018–2021).
Hurricane Michael (Oct. 2018) devastated Bay County and the club’s property, taking down a high percentage of trees and damaging the clubhouse. The course reopened to play roughly ten months later (Aug. 2019) as recovery progressed; the clubhouse reconstruction and campus work followed, with the rebuilt clubhouse reopening in 2021. Club leaders and regional coverage described a conscious post-storm shift toward a more open, links-like presentation—less tree-defined, with mounding and native areas shaping hole corridors—while retaining the historic routing.
Unique Design Characteristics
Routing on a peninsula site. Ross laid the course across a compact, gently undulating property that protrudes into North Bay, producing a walkable sequence with several changes of wind exposure. Later era plantings once tightened corridors; post-2018 tree loss and selective removals reopened angles in a way that suits the ground’s low-profile contours.
Small-to-medium targets emphasizing angles. Contemporary descriptions and player cards describe narrow-to-medium width fairways feeding modestly contoured greens. The strategic demand shows up in the scorecard’s rhythm more than in severe elevation: Nos. 1–2 set the tone with par-4s at 446 and 387 yards, where approach quality is rewarded; No. 8 (par-4, 400 yards) typically plays into the wind; and No. 16 (par-4, 404 yards) is a penultimate positional test before the par-3 17th (216 yards). The finisher, No. 18 (par-5, 514 yards), is reachable in conditions but asks the second shot to clear interior hazards and hold a firming surface—classic late-round risk/reward on a sub-520-yard par-5. These hole-specific yardages reflect today’s setup; they align closely with the corridors long associated with the course, though precise “as-built 1927” greensite geometry would require plan verification.
Surviving Ross character. Golf directory summaries state that “eight of the holes still reflect [Ross’s] original work,” a plausible claim given the club’s continuous use and piecemeal changes over a century. In practical terms, the medium-scale green pads and tee-shot diagonals on several mid-length par-4s (notably 8, 13, 16) remain the clearest windows into Ross’s hand: they reward finding specific halves of fairways to unlock receptive approach angles rather than simply flying hazards. A definitive hole-by-hole survival map would require overlaying original Ross drawings against current as-builts.
Historical Significance
Chronology within Ross’s Florida work. The 1927 opening placed Panama Country Club in the late-boom phase of Ross’s Florida commissions, alongside other Panhandle/West-coast efforts of the mid- to late-1920s. While the course never hosted a major professional championship, its early establishment event (Sherman Invitational, 1927-present) and mid-century exhibitions underscore how Ross’s compact, member-club routings supported durable competitive play at regional scale.
Regional golf culture. For Bay County, the course represented the area’s first private, purpose-built championship layout, tied to a waterfront development vision. Hosting the Little Tournament of Champions in the 1960s linked Lynn Haven to Florida’s pro-tour swing, boosting the club’s profile and seeding a multi-generational competitive culture that still centers on the Sherman.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and greensites. Despite storm damage and subsequent renovations, the routing—a Ross hallmark—remains fundamentally intact. The greens today are modern Bermuda surfaces on the original pads or in their immediate vicinity; precise pad-by-pad continuity is partially undocumented in public sources, but play reports emphasize subtle contours rather than extreme modern reshaping. The opened-up presentation since 2019 has enhanced wind as a defense, a sensible fit for a bayside Ross plan.
Renovations and their impact. Post-Michael work (2019) combined tree management, irrigation/greens renovation, and corridor clean-up, with the club explicitly noting a shift to a more links-like feel—mounding and native areas between holes rather than dense tree walls. The rebuilt clubhouse (reopened 2021) restored on-site amenities and tournament-hosting capacity. None of these efforts aimed to “erase Ross”; rather, they modernized infrastructure and, if anything, re-exposed the strategic angles that Ross’s routing anticipates by letting wind and short-grass transitions do more of the work.
What’s preserved vs. altered.
Preserved: Overall routing, scale of many green sites, member-club walkability, and the course’s competition cadence (Sherman Invitational).
Altered/lost: Dense mid-century tree belts (storm + removals), some bunker forms and edges (iteratively rebuilt over decades), and likely certain surround contours.
Uncertainty:
Hole-by-hole “original” status. Public sources do not enumerate exactly which eight holes retain near-original Ross features; the “eight holes” claim appears in directory prose and needs primary verification from club archives (plans, construction notes) or period aerials.
Sources & Notes
GolfPass — “Panama Country Club, Lynn Haven.” Directory description noting Ross authorship (1927), fairway widths, and that eight holes still reflect Ross’s work.
Visit Panama City Beach — “Panama Country Club.” Tourism listing attributing 1927 build to W.C. Sherman and Donald J. Ross, with yardage just under 6,700.
Fort Myers News-Press — “Florida golf courses designed by Donald Ross” (June 12, 2024). Statewide roundup listing Panama Country Club (Lynn Haven), opened 1927.
Sherman Invitational — “History of the Sherman Invitational.” Background on tournament origins, 1927 first playing, and Ross credit.
Panama City News Herald — “We not only survived, but flourished” (Jan. 23, 2017). Club history feature referencing 1926 establishment and 1962–66 Little Tournament of Champions hosted at PCC. WJHG/WECP (NBC) — “Panama Country Club in the midst of major reconstruction following damage from Michael” (Feb. 4, 2019). Interviews detailing post-storm work and intended links-like presentation. Club + Resort Business — “Panama CC Reopens Course Ten Months After Hurricane Michael’s Destruction” (Aug. 22, 2019). Notes course reopening timeline and interim access approach during recovery.
Panama City News Herald — “Lynn Haven’s country club reopens clubhouse after hurricane” (Sept. 27, 2021). Reports on rebuilt clubhouse reopening.