Lake Oconee’s Reynolds Plantation was recently included in  the 12 Best Private Golf Communities posted by Larry Olmstead on Forbes.com.  Olmstead, is a Forbes contributor who specializes in travel and real estate topics. He cites Reynolds for it’s six golf courses, with one more course that is in the planning stage.  As we who live in this area know, the Reynolds communities exemplify exciting architecture, beautiful landscapes, and state of the art amenities.  In addition to residential golf communities, the Ritz-Carton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation offers restful lakeside get-aways for visitors in the area, and TaylorMade’s The Kingdom near the Ritz is a golf training facility that is legendary in the golf world.

 

For more information on properties for sale in Reynolds, and other Lake Oconee Golf Communites,  contact Suzie or Jim at RE/MAX Agents Realty Lake Oconee  First hand play experiences on Reynolds golf courses have been included in our series about Play Lake Oconee Golf  found at The Plantation Course, and The Landing.

Below is an summary of  Larry Olmstead’s post :

12 Best Private Golf Communities

Larry OlmstedContributor

I have been traveling the world as a journalist and passionate lover of all things fun for nearly 20 years. I have had weekly columns in USA Today and Investors Business Daily, published thousands of articles in leading magazines from Playboy to Popular Science, and am the author of Getting Into Guinness. I am the Contributing Travel Editor for Cigar Aficionado Magazine, have my own golf travel blog, larrygolfstheworld.com, and am a co-founder of TheAPosition.com, the leading golf travel website. I love every kind of travel, active, cultural and leisurely, and my special areas of expertise are luxury hotels and resorts, golf, skiing, food, wine and spirits. I tweet @TravelFoodGuy

There are thousands of golf communities across the country, but not all are created equally. If your dream is to enjoy world class golf courses with a slew of other amenities in a wonderful setting, the field gets narrowed substantially, but there are still plenty of choices.

For three years I wrote a weekly real estate column on second homes for USA Today, and have covered the topic for a host of other publications, from Robb Report to Outside to the Golf Channel’s websites. I was already one of the leading experts in the nation on golf travel and courses, and this gives me a unique and informed perspective into what makes a great golf community. I haven’t visited everyone in the nation, not by a long shot, but I have visited many of the best. So while this list is not comprehensive, and there are certainly some great golf communities not included, these are my twelve (well, actually thirteen) favorites, and each one is well worth a look.

Red Sky Ranch, Wolcott, CO
Without a doubt the premier ski country golf facility in the nation, with two excellent courses that have both been rated in the US Top 100, one by Tom Fazio and one by Greg Norman.

The Boulders, Carefree, AZ
One of the first standout luxury residential golf developments in the nation, the developers at the Boulders made a big mistake 30 years ago that has greatly benefitted homeowners. They painted themselves into a legal corner of limited master plan development, and the result is far less homes than would be the norm if this 1300-acre resort community were built today.

Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, MT
Literally one-of-a-kind, the Yellowstone Club is the only private golf community that also has a full-sized private alpine ski area. There are other developments with ski hills and lifts but this is big time skiing – bigger than Deer Valley or Beaver Creek, 2600-acres with 15 lifts, more than 60 trails, bowl and glade skiing, and a true double-black ridge full of steep chutes, none of it ever even the slightest bit crowded.

Sandestin, Destin, Florida
If value plays a role in golf community quality, then it is hard to beatSandestin, and virtually no place your vacation home dollars go further. Located on the famed 26-mile stretch of “sugar sand” beach inSouthWaltonCounty in the Panhandle, one of the best beaches in the world, the region is a far cry from crowded and heavily developed southFlorida.

Mayacama, Santa Rosa, CA
The Jack Nicklaus Signature course here is without a doubt the finest golf course in American wine country, and easily the best in the most prestigious Napa and Sonoma region. For that reason, big name vintners and well-to-do Bay Area residents – it’s less than 60-miles from the Golden Gate Bridge – have embraced the place, making it one of the most desirable private clubs in the nation – and one of the most intimate.

Shooting Star/3 Creek Ranch, Jackson, WY
One of the wealthiest and most star-studded towns in the nation, Jackson, WY is home to movie stars like Harrison Ford, Vice Presidents like Dick Cheney who lives here full-time on a golf course, so many multi-millionaires they hardly register, and billionaires like Charles Schwab.

Kiawah is most famous for its 90-hole luxury golf resort, one of the best on earth, which includes the Forbes (formerly Mobil) 5-Star Sanctuary Hotel and the Ocean Course, the best east of the Mississippi, a Ryder Cup venue and host of next year’s PGA Championship. But one side of the island is entirely devoted to a quietly prestigious private community, the Kiawah Island Club, which has two standout courses of its own, plus access to the five at the resort, and these two entities comprise all of beautifulKiawahIsland, just off the charming city ofCharleston in the heart ofSouth Carolina’s Low Country.

Village of Pinehurst, NC
Pinehurst is the most famous and historic location in American golf, home to more big events than anyplace else, including the Ryder Cup, PGA Championship, repeat US Opens and TOUR Championships, and just about every other significant USGA event for men, women and amateurs.

Martis Camp, Truckee, CA
The most successful golf course development in the Tahoe area, this 2200-acre community combines the regional best of both worlds: golf and skiing. Owners enjoy a standout Tom Fazio golf course, plus a 3-acre lake, spa, fitness center, 20-miles of running and hiking trails, and most notably, a private ski lift with direct access into the recently expanded and upgraded Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort, now home to a Ritz Carlton resort.

The Golf Club at Black Rock, Coeur d’Alene, ID
Talk about your hidden gems! The course at Black Rock is simply spectacular, a standout even among the best private club layouts in the nation, designed by stealth architect Jim Engh, not exactly a household name but the genius behind such winners as The Sanctuary, Redlands Mesa, and the Creek Club course at Reynolds Plantation. It combines drop-dead eye candy with strategic decisions at every turn, and is great fun to play.

Talisker Club, Park City, UT
The Talisker Club is a unique golf and ski hybrid community located in and around Deer Valley, one of the most desirable, expensive and prestigious ski vacation home spots on the planet. The original golf club community spans 10,000-acres adjacent to the ski resort, with an excellent Mark O’Meara designed golf course featuring 360-degree mountain views that was named one of the best new private courses in the nation by Golf Digest.

Reynolds Plantation, Lake Oconee, GA
Georgia’s second largest lake, the 20,000-acre Oconee was entirely manmade by hydroelectric efforts in the 1970s and today is a major recreational and second home destination. It is also home to one of the most impressive golf communities anywhere, Reynolds Plantation, which offers a whopping six golf courses by top designers including Jack Nicklaus, Rees Jones, Jim Engh, and Tom Fazio (with a seventh by Pete Dye in development), all of them very good, including standouts Great Water, Oconee, and Creek Club. The community is home to TaylorMade’s The Kingdom, a unique Tour player experience offering the same high-tech diagnostic testing TaylorMade’s sponsored athletes get, complete with computerized club fitting and customization unlike any you have seen. There is a Ritz Carlton Lodge on site, great restaurants throughout, and endless amenities from tennis to the lake itself. No private club inAmerica has the breadth of golf that Reynolds Plantation boasts, all just an hour fromAtlanta.

Originally posted by Larry Olmstead, Forbes.com, August 8, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kingdom offers  a process created by TaylorMade that was previously open to only the professionals, but is now open to a selected few.  The experience includes club fitting and construction of the clubs.