Good FORE!tune
Photography Courtesy of Developments
Mark Collop can sum up in one four-letter word why the Dallas, Texas, native pulled up roots a few years ago and moved to Glenwild: golf.
“I’m a pretty avid golfer,” he says in a thick Texas drawl, “and the golf course here is nothing short of spectacular. I’ve played all over the world and this golf course is as nice as any I’ve ever played. You never get tired of playing this course. It’s tough, but it’s not ridiculous.”
Golf may have been what brought Collop to Glenwild, but the golf community’s proximity to shopping, world-class ski resorts, the Salt Lake International Airport and access to the Park City School District were what convinced his wife and two teenaged children to join him.
Glenwild is the granddaddy of the gated golf communities that have teed off along the Wasatch back in the past decade. Glenwild’s 199 residential lots began selling in 2000 and are now completely sold out. Purchase of a Glenwild lot, however, does not automatically entitle the owner to membership at the golf course that year after year has been rated the number one course in Utah by Golf Digest. That costs a little extra, says Jake Doilney, owner of Glenwild Realty. Memberships, he says, are a healthy $115,000. Annual dues are $9,600. Members have access to the 39,000-square-foot clubhouse, the spa, swimming pool and fine and casual dining.
Collop can’t say enough about the food there or, for that matter, the entertainment from the clubhouse deck. “There’s nothing more exciting than sitting on the deck at Glenwild and having a moose come walking down and take a drink of water and then swim across the lake. That gets a lot of oohs and ahhs from the spectators.”
Tuhaye in neighboring Wasatch County throws in membership to the Talisker Club with the purchase of a lot. Tuhaye is a Talisker golf community nestled among the sage-covered hills northeast of Jordanelle Reservoir. The amenity package that Talisker Club membership affords runs the gamut — from golf at what will eventually be two 18-hole courses (Tom Fazio and Mark O’Meara design) and a nine-hole short course, to activities at up to five clubhouses, including a spa and fitness facility, heated pools — and the list doesn’t stop. There’s fly-fishing at Thousand Peaks Ranch and water sport access on the Jordanelle Reservoir on a ski boat called The Talisker Toy. In the not-so-distant future, Talisker Station is slated for development at the base of Deer Valley’s Jordanelle Express Gondola.
Rochelle Broach and her husband Bill moved into their Tuhaye home a year and a half ago, becoming the first full-time residents in the community. She says they fell in love with the area while living at Deer Mountain across State Route 248 from Tuhaye. “We haven’t been dissatisfied with the decision to move. We love the great amenities and all the plans the Talisker Club has in place. We saw that it would have such a broad reach for families, older people, younger people — a little bit of everything.”
Broach says that the cost of a Talisker Club membership is $100,000, but it’s rolled into the purchase price of the lot. And the nice thing, she adds, is with the resale of a Tuhaye home or lot, the seller realizes 80 percent of the Talisker Club cost. But don’t look for the Broaches to be moving anytime soon. Rochelle Broach never held a golf club in her hands before moving to Tuhaye, but she’s now developing quite a golf habit.
Playing large among area gated golf communities is the big boy, Promontory, which is zoned for ultimately five golf courses. The 10-square-mile development has several phases in the works, with Phase 1 close to completion. There are 1,900 lots intended for platting. Promontory Director of Marketing Melissa Garland says the vision or tag line for the entire project is “A Luxury Family Community.”
“Those words were chosen quite deliberately because they refer to not only the nature of all the amenities, but also the breadth of the amenities. The opportunity to do absolutely everything that you could possibly want to do is here.” There are 50 miles of trails, club houses, a pool, spa, an equestrian center, kids cabin, “which was the first of its kind when the community was first created,” Garland says. There are even organized camps for kids — from a filmmaker’s camp to a soccer camp where REAL Salt Lake team members instruct would-be future Major League Soccer players. Promontory also arranges guest speakers for adults who want to know more about, say, paralympian Chris Waddell’s proposed ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro, or the compromised covert identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.
Garland says Promontory lot owners can buy the golf membership or a ranch membership that doesn’t include golf. Equestrian center membership comes after the purchase of either the golf or ranch membership.
Floridian Karen Thomas says her family wanted it all. They came to Park City on a vacation and were initially wowed by the close proximity of the Park City area to the international airport. They had been taking Colorado ski vacations, but it just took so long to get to Beaver Creek. The Thomases located a real estate agent here who took them to a variety of golf communities, but they landed in Promontory. “What sold us on Promontory was all the amenities for adults, as well as for children. We thought it was just a great, well-thought-out community for the entire family.”
So great, in fact, that the Thomas family plans on making Promontory their year-round home in the next few years. Until then, they store their ski equipment at Promontory members-only lodges near Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort. Their bikes and clothes stay here at their Promontory home.
Promontory filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy last spring and has now been purchased by another company — but the financial turmoil doesn’t seem to have made a ripple in the service that members of the community have come to expect. “We’ve been working hard to reinforce and expand on customer service. And we’ve gotten fantastic feedback from members on how smoothly last summer went,” Garland says.
A newer community on the Wasatch Back block of gated golf neighborhoods is Red Ledges, a nearly 2,000-acre development in Heber City. Red Ledges Vice President and Project Manager Todd Cates says sales were launched in October 2007. Between closings and lots under contract, “We’re at about 90 sales right now. Year to date we account for over 50 percent of the closings in this type of golf course community in the area.”
Cates attributes the high percentage to what Red Ledges has to offer — at maybe a little lower price point than other communities. Plans for Red Ledges include an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature course and a nine-hole short course. A Cliff Drysdale tennis academy figures into the Red Ledges plans for amenities. Renowned golf instructor Jim McClean will put in a golf school. Indoor and outdoor tennis courts are planned, as well as the attendant pro shops. There are also the expected amenities like a pool and spa, bistro, fitness center, kids’ camp, concierge service and a trading post where sundries can be purchased.
Cates says two membership levels are available to owners: the Lifestyle membership comes with the purchase of the lot and allows access to all, including an equestrian center and a lodge near Deer Valley. Golf privileges come at an additional price.
“With the current market and some of the credit issues out there, and the fact that we’ve been selling for only about 10 months [as of the writing of this story], we feel very good about the 90 sales that we do have, especially compared to what we’ve been seeing around us. I think it’s going very well for us.”
Golf communities along the Wasatch Back are offering more than a swing at a little white ball, although arguably that’s what attracts many of the buyers. Exclusive golf communities are finding they can attract three-generation families by offering it all.
Ann Johnson has been a Summit County resident since 1995. She has written for numerous publications, but for the past four years has been the business voice of local radio station KPCW.
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