They’re identical twins, so it only makes sense that Mitch and Mike Lee would
share a love of golf and the tropics. It also makes sense that after a trip to
Grand Abaco Island in the Bahamas two years ago, the two would fall in love with
the Abaco Club on Winding Bay, a 534-acre property managed by
Ritz-Carlton.
Mitch, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Mike, who
lives in Homedale, New York, just closed on a furnished 2,400-square-foot,
three-bedroom unit on a bluff 50 feet above Winding Bay. The brothers and their
families are looking forward to relaxing at this private community while also
taking advantage of the service and amenities offered by one of the leading
names in the hospitality industry.
“When we got here for our first
visit, the home was stocked with wine, beverages and food,” says Mitch, who was
especially impressed by the home’s furnishings, paintings and knick-knacks, all
of which they selected ahead of time. “It was like Christmas when we walked in
there and started going through all the cabinets and drawers.” While private
golf communities always have boasted a certain level of luxury and service,
hotel companies like Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and St. Regis have brought their
inimitable brands of service to property owners in recent years. This trend
began with residence clubs, which offer fractional shares and membership
benefits at resorts and city hotels.
Mike Minchin, director of planning and
residential marketing at Four Seasons, points to Punta Mita in Mexico and Troon
North in Scottsdale, Arizona, as two of the chain’s most popular resort
residences. “We have a number of owners at both properties who appreciate the
full Four Seasons lifestyle, which includes dining and room service to spa
treatments and access to the golf course,” says Minchin. “Clients have come to
expect a service-rich environment, so it’s our goal to provide that.”
The
natural extension beyond residential clubs is more traditional, individually
owned real estate communities. While properties like Four Seasons Punta Mita and
St. Regis Temenos Anguilla blend real estate and the resort, Ritz-Carlton has
made a bigger leap into this market with communities like Abaco Club,
Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, and Ritz-Carlton Golf Club
at Creighton Farms in Virginia that do not have a resort element.
Although
the chain knows plenty about service, Ritz-Carlton knows less about private golf
communities. So they rely on Juno Properties, which has an exclusive, 10-year
partnership with Ritz-Carlton to develop private golf communities. “We wanted to
work with a company that delivers high-end service that someone using a high-end
country club would expect,” says David Fenton of Juno.
The 900-acre Creighton
Farms, located 30 miles from Washington, D.C, and boasting a Jack Nicklaus
course that will open next spring, offers homesites and homes designed to be
primary residences.
In the case of the Abaco Club, Ritz-Carlton took over
management of an existing property that was the brainchild of Peter de Savary,
the English entrepreneur who was the visionary behind exclusive properties
like Scotland’s Skibo Castle, South Carolina’s Cherokee Plantation and Rhode
Island’s Carnegie Abbey.
In addition to amenities like a Donald
Steel-designed course, beach club, deep-sea fishing and an equestrian
center, Abaco owners like Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and the Lees are now
the beneficiaries of an unparalleled level of service, courtesy of Ritz-Carlton.
“If you’re coming down for a week you can fax over a list of everything you
need for your vacation, and someone will go out and buy and stock everything for
you,” communications director Sandy Gardiner says. “You get to your property and
everything is there, including all types of arrangements that go above and
beyond the norm.”
Meanwhile, you do not have to share this first-class
hospitality with crowds that often can overrun resorts and take away from the
senses of tranquility and isolation. Abaco currently has fewer than 100 owners,
which means buying a turnkey cottage on the property might be the closest most
of us might get to living on a private tropical island.
Following this
example, expect to see more private golf communities catering to owners who
would rather spend their time on the links and in the spa, rather than in the
yard, shopping for food or performing other chores upon arrival. While the
owners who opt for the high-touch, high-end approach will certainly shell
out more for their homes (and the related services), they also come away with a
truly pampered feeling that no traditional setting can match.
Just ask Bobby
and Barbara Krugman from Chicago. They could have bought any type of golf home,
but when they saw the four-bedroom, 4,300-square-foot ocean-view home at the
Four Seasons Residence Club in Punta Mita, they fell in love with it. Not only
was the home itself perfect for the couple and their children, but the service,
amenities and activities provide a low-maintenance, high-fun vacation option.
They pay a little extra, but in the end it’s worth every penny when the
family gets picked up at the airport and shuttled to their front door. While
Bobby and their oldest son head off for a few hours of golf, Barbara takes an
outdoor yoga class on a rocky slab overlooking the ocean, and their two younger
kids enjoy supervised activities by the pool.
Says Bobby: “It’s painless,
and really couldn’t be any more perfect for us.”
