I may have come for the facial, but I stayed for the golf. And the food. And the luxe tropical vibes. It’s all part of the scene at the PGA National Resort & Spa (the setting of the Cognizant Classic PGA tour event, formerly known as the Honda Classic).

Truth be told, I’m a fair to middling golfer. But I am an avid facial enthusiast. So I traveled to South Florida’s east coast to check out the signature Repechage experience there—an all-consuming, 80-minute treatment called the Facial of Champions. And I knew PGA National Resort had undergone a $150 million renovation, finished in 2023, so I was eager to check out the wellness spaces and this innovative addition to the treatment menu.

Anchored by six championship golf courses, PGA National still offers access to 99 holes of golf, plus the Dave Pelz Scoring Game Golf School, 19 tennis courts, six pickleball courts, even croquet.

My stay this winter included playing nine gorgeous, challenging holes.

The renovation lifted PGA’s main areas up from dark and dusty to what can best be described as a serene mixture of mid-century modern-meets-Palm Beach chic. Lots of pink and green in the hallways of the main space, which features a large cocktail gathering space.

The property includes three delightful restaurants worthy of visits in and of themselves: One, by Top Chef winner Jeremy Ford, is called The Butcher’s Club and offers everything you’d expect from peeking into its glamorous, dark-wood-paneled decor, including impeccable service, a sommelier, tableside whiskey tastings and, of course, a Tomahawk steak experience. The second eatery, a light, bright spot conceived by multiple James Beard Award nominee Lindsay Autry, is called Honeybelle. That’s where I enjoyed a jeweled kale salad with the must-try fried chicken before my facial. The third restaurant, Birdie’s Diner, is a playful, sassy, 1950s diner where groups meet for breakfast, Bloody Marys, a quick lunch, or one of its signature—and Instagram-worthy—spiked milkshakes.

But ahhh, the spa, which was famously redesigned by V Starr, tennis star Venus Williams’ design firm. A soothing, expansive space, it’s 40,000 square feet of newly transformed tranquility, where I partook of the Himalayan Salt Room, then ventured outside to soak in the spa’s Waters of the World Mineral Pools. (One is filled with salts from the Dead Sea in Israel, the other with water and salts from Salies-de-Bearn, located in the Pyrenees mountains of France.)

The Facial of Champions was conceived when internationally renowned esthetician and entrepreneur Lydia Sarfati and PGA Spa Director Brian David Douglas were drinking at the Butcher’s Club, trying to find a complement to the ever-popular HydraFacial, a chemical exfoliation treatment that’s known for its pore-clearing ability and glow-y results. Sarfati is credited with having introduced seaweed-based skin treatments in the United States. In 1980, she founded Sarkli-Repêchage, a seaweed-based cosmetics company, and became known for her iconic four-layer facial, which Cosmopolitan UK famously called, “…the best facial of the century.” Consisting of layer upon layer of pure, fresh European and American seaweed, the applications and masks help tone, deep cleanse and firm the appearance of the skin. The movements, and temperatures, in the experience take on a wave-like ebb and flow.

The highlight of my visit was indeed the time spent with Belle, lead esthetician at the spa, who took me on this Facial of Champions journey: layers of fresh seaweeds plump, nourish and hydrate. Then a glycolic peel and LED therapy brighten the skin. Up next: an anti-aging hand treatment, followed by foot and leg scrubs, then an eye treatment, and finished off with scalp, neck and shoulder massages.

I felt rejuvenated, renewed, relaxed. Sort of like a champion. A champion who’d earned herself a steak. pgaresort.com