The most sophisticated private courses are engineered and built by the same specialists who create famed professional courses around the world. Huizenga’s Floridian was designed by Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player. Pascucci commissioned Tom Doak, principle of Renaissance Golf Design to co-create Sebonack with golf legend Jack Nicklaus (“We’re neighbors in Florida”).

Discounting neighborly connections, the first step most prospective course owners take in creating a signature course is to enlist a designer from the 170-member roster of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Golf course architects are like caddies—experts who guide owners through the hazards of unknown terrain. Besides their engineering skills, course architects and their teams have experience with permits and ordinances, and when they cannot find all the answers themselves, they can recommend local lawyers or environmental engineers who can shield owners from uncomfortable questions such as, “Why are you chopping down 100 trees when only a handful of people will ever play on the course?”

Tim Nugent of Nugent Design welcomes inquiries from private owners now that he is accustomed to their demanding natures. “Working with an individual is often easier than dealing with a club’s committee,” he notes. Nugent’s company designed a nine-hole course, the Dunes in New Buffalo, Mich., for Mike Keiser, cofounder of Chicago’s Recycled Paper Greetings. “On the other hand, these individuals are very successful entrepreneurs; they know what they want, and they want it sooner.”

Greens Fees
The costs for building a private course are like a 31-handicapper’s tee shots: all over the place. Beightol’s backyard course cost roughly $400,000, while Pascucci will not dispute an estimate of $90 million to build Sebanock, a figure that includes $45 million for 300 acres of prime oceanfront property between the Shinnecock and National golf clubs. Golf course architects point out that the almost innumerable variables involved at different sites—the number of holes, the lay of the land, climate, drainage, the owner’s vision and how often that vision fluctuates—make it impossible to come up with a neatly packaged price. Beware of any course designer who offers one.

After acquiring the land, a course owner’s first outlay is for the design. Fees for a full-length, professional-grade layout begin in the low six figures, but can soar into seven figures for famed designers such as Nicklaus, Player and Tom Weiskopf. Construction costs range from $100,000 to $300,000 per hole and increase in relation to the amount of earth to

TOP VIEW Custom-designed golf courses offer their owners privacy and convenience. Crafted by some of the greatest names in golf, including Jack Nicklaus, these exclusive oases can be shaped to suit the idiosyncrasies of both an owner’s game and also his property. But custom courses are not without their drawbacks: prolonged construction times, expensive maintenance fees and a dubious resale market.

be moved, the lavishness of the landscaping and the whims of owners who demand ponds, waterfalls, ravines . . . and fast results. Because many would-be owners have double-digit handicaps (the average American male golfer owns a 16 handicap), designers will adapt the course to suit the owner’s game. Huizenga, a 12 handicap, wanted roll-on greens, so he instructed architect Player to eschew lateral bunkers in front of the holes. Construction times are primarily determined by the landscape (a course bounded by hills may take longer than one laid out on the flatlands, for example) and the duration of the building season (a mere four months in cold climates such as Montana). Pascucci has had to endure three years “and 350 meetings for permits and approvals,” he says, then two additional years of construction.

Over and above construction costs, many new owners are thrown by the expense required to maintain a course in playable condition. “Even a course that gets only 10 or 12 rounds a day,” architect Bob Lohman points out, “still has to be mowed and aerated daily.” For a well-groomed, 18-hole layout, owners should budget from $500,000 to $1 million per year, every year, ad infinitum. Even a four- or five-hole backyard layout requires regular grooming and may require a full-time staff.  “Maintenance probably sets me back about 50 grand a year,” Beightol estimates.

Rather than finance this upkeep out of pocket, some owners have elected to offer memberships to friends and business associates. They maintain exclusive member rosters just large enough to cover overhead. Beightol does not have this option (“I can’t charge dues, I’d lose my property rights,” he explains). Keiser, however, had membership in mind when he first envisioned his course, because the Dunes is a short drive from his summer home. He formed a Sub S corporation to accommodate his 85 members. “They weren’t all friends when they joined,” Keiser says, “but they are now.” Pascucci has 10 founding members, including Richard Santulli, chair of NetJets, and Johann Rupert, CEO of Richemont, and is aiming for a maximum of 200 members. “International, rather than local, so that the course will never be crowded,” he says.

In the Rough
Some would-be owners seek to trim their upfront costs by designing and/or building their own courses. Forsythe brought in equipment and a crew from his nearby farm to construct the fairways for Canyata. But even with substantial savings on design and construction costs, owners will find their odds at getting a return on their investment about the same as those of beating Tiger Woods at match play. After suffering months or years of planning and construction, they often wait dozens of business cycles, or even a generation, before they can show a positive return. Huizenga’s Floridian was actually intended as the centerpiece of a resort development, but while it was still being built, his wife, Marti, suggested they ditch his other idea—buying a yacht—and instead reserve the funds to maintain the golf course exclusively for family and friends. Huizenga’s playground includes two helipads, two guest cottages, a four-story clubhouse, a deepwater marina (he now has his yacht, too) and an adjoining 1,100 acres he believes will make the property more attractive to a developer if he or his heirs someday choose to sell.

Indeed, many owners assume that the next generation will be the likely beneficiary of their courses. Keiser compares owning a golf course to owning a sports franchise. “You lose money until you sell it; the value of my land, on the other had, has gone up profusely,” he says. But because these bespoke courses are such exotic beasts, predicting their future value remains a hazy proposition. Owners should think twice before making a custom course part of their lasting legacy. Speaking hypothetically, veteran Rancho Mirage real estate broker Ron Lindemann of Coldwell Banker wonders how much Annenberg’s nine-hole Sunnylands would fetch on the market: “Impossible to tell. Only 1 percent of 1 percent of the population could afford to buy it in the first place, and out of that, you’d have to find a potential buyer who is interested in golf; otherwise, the buyer might decide to replace the course with homesites.” Even when the value of the land itself increases, owners who want to recoup part of their golf course investment in the short term should be prepared to sacrifice some of their privacy and sell homesites (see “Name Brands”).

Despite this, golf enthusiasts often seem content with the idea that their emerald landscapes may become financial white elephants. They point to the intangible lifestyle and business benefits—family bonding, camaraderie, privacy, convenience—that a private golf course offers. Owners can establish their own dress code, their own rules for cellular phone use and, most importantly, their own membership committees.
Private courses can be useful in pursuit of owners’ other passions, as well. When Dave and Gail Liniger, cofounders of Re/Max International, were building their 18-hole Sanctuary Golf Course at Sedalia, south of Denver, they resolved that their spectacular 225-acre site, surrounded by unspoiled state and county parks, would be dedicated to charities. They open their course, free of charge, to 23 tournaments every year. To date, Sanctuary events have raised more than $25 million. 

Ian Keown has written for Gourmet, the Los Angeles Times, Departures and other publications.