Jupiter Island Is Where Golf's Old Guard Quietly Retired

Jupiter Island is a slender barrier island roughly 30 kilometres long and rarely more than a few hundred metres wide, running along Florida's Atlantic coast north of Palm Beach. Its year-round population numbers only in the hundreds, and zoning has deliberately kept it that way, low-rise, heavily hedged and largely invisible from the coastal highway, in a state not otherwise known for restraint in beachfront development.

A golf dynasty took root here first

Jack Nicklaus and his wife Barbara settled in the area in the 1960s, and in 1999 Nicklaus opened the Bear's Club, a private golf community in nearby Jupiter designed to give touring professionals the seclusion and practice facilities that a public club couldn't offer. That founding move drew a steady stream of professional golfers to the wider Jupiter area in the decades since, turning what was once a quiet stretch of coast into one of the sport's most concentrated off-course gathering points.

Neighbours old and new

The island's roll of past and present residents spans golf, tennis and music: Tiger Woods has long kept a home there, while Serena Williams and the singer Celine Dion have also owned property on or near the island at various points. Jupiter Island's older establishment names go back further still, to Gilded Age and mid-century industrial fortunes that first built estates along this stretch of coast decades before professional sport discovered it.

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Privacy by design

A federally protected wildlife refuge covers a significant stretch of the island's dune system, which has had the practical effect of limiting development alongside its stated conservation purpose. Combined with strict local zoning and a lack of hotels or public attractions, Jupiter Island has stayed almost entirely residential, a place its residents visit rather than a place outsiders pass through.

Traveller tips

• Jupiter Island is almost entirely private residential land with no public hotels; visitors typically stay in nearby Jupiter or Palm Beach and view the island from the coast road or public beach access points.
• Blowing Rocks Preserve, on the island's northern end, is one of the few sections with public beach access and is worth the stop for its limestone outcrops.
• Palm Beach International Airport is the nearest major airport, roughly 40 minutes south by car.
• The Bear's Club and other golf communities in the area remain private and members-only; there is no public access to the courses.