Two courses named for four legends
World Golf Village was built as the golfing destination of this region, and it was home to the World Golf Hall of Fame until the Hall moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina in 2024. Two major championship courses sit inside the community, and both are named for the players behind them.
The King and the Bear is Arnold Palmer, the King, and Jack Nicklaus, the Bear, who co designed it together. The Slammer and the Squire is named for Slammin’ Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen, the Squire, and was built with architect Bobby Weed. Between the two, the King and the Bear is the more sought after side, and it holds the larger, more luxurious homes on the bigger lots.
The quiet golf exit that became a shopping hub
World Golf Village is an exit off I-95, just south of County Road 210, and what has happened to it in the last few years is the biggest story in our county. It used to be a quiet golf area with nothing around it. Now there is a Costco, a Buc-ee’s, and a Bass Pro Shop, and more is coming. A Walmart Supercenter is under construction a couple of miles west, and Legends Landing, a new retail center, is planned right behind Costco and Buc-ee’s. Its tenants and opening dates have not been announced yet.
That matters more than it sounds. We used to drive up into Duval County for all of that. Now it is here, and it is being built out with real landscaping and real planning rather than thrown up. This is turning into a shopping hub wrapped around two championship golf communities, and I do not know anywhere else quite like it.
The traffic, and the fix in the works
Growth has a cost and I will not pretend otherwise. Coming off the highway at International Golf Parkway there has been essentially one way into the Buc-ee’s, Costco, and Bass Pro area, and it has caused real congestion. Residents were vocal about it, and rightly so, because they bought into a quiet area and got a regional destination.
The good news is that St. Johns County and the Florida Department of Transportation are working on a new ramp that would take southbound I-95 traffic straight into the shopping area instead of through the light on International Golf Parkway. It is still a proposal and it still needs funding. If you are shopping World Golf Village, ask me where that project stands, because it changes your daily drive.
Who it fits
This is a great fit for a golfer who wants a real course lifestyle without being priced into Ponte Vedra, and for anyone who wants to be able to run every errand within a few minutes of home. If you want the gated golf feel closer to the 210 corridor, compare it against the County Road 210 golf communities.
