Across the manicured fairways of the world’s grandest estates, golf has long outgrown its modest beginnings. What began as a windswept pastime played with driftwood clubs on Scottish shores has become a pursuit favoured by monarchs and members of the upper echelons of society.
In Britain, the game’s true spiritual home, exclusivity takes on a subtler form. Behind unmarked gates and centuries-old oaks lie courses whose beauty, though composed, has been shaped and mellowed by the passing of time. At Queenwood, Wentworth, or Beaverbrook, members play their rounds in surroundings where every blade of grass and every brick of the clubhouse tells a story of legacy.
Beyond the United Kingdom, new bastions of luxury golf have risen – from the cliffs of Hainan to the sunlit enclaves of Florida. Their initiation fees now reach into seven figures, and they represent private worlds built on the customs and etiquette that define elite golf culture.
Shell Bay Club – Hallandale Beach, Florida, USA
Sculpted by Greg Norman along the Intracoastal Waterway, Shell Bay is South Florida’s newest enclave of walking length, no tee-times – members can arrive and play whenever they wish –, and a world-class caddy programme. When the club opened, its joining fee was said to be around one million dollars – a figure that has since climbed, according to later reports, to well over that mark. Precise numbers are seldom confirmed, but estimates now place initiation at roughly $970,000 – $1.73 million, reflecting the rarity of access rather than any publicised tariff.
Beyond the figure, the experience is crafted – a 20,000 sq ft clubhouse, 12-acre practice facility, private 48-slip marina, and racquet club with all four Grand-Slam surfaces. The structure – membership tightly linked to property ownership and governed by an invitation-only model – is a clear signal that this is as much a lifestyle as it is a game of golf.
CITIC Shanqin Bay Golf Club – Wanning (Hainan), China
Carved into cliffs above the South China Sea, Shanqin Bay is widely touted as “perhaps the most exclusive golf club on earth.” Located in Bo’ao, Wanning, Hainan Province, it occupies a visually dramatic and remote site accessible only to members and their guests. Design by Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw exploits the volcanic topography for dramatic elevation changes, sea-cliff holes, and breathtaking views.
The initiation fee is reported to exceed $1 million, while membership is believed to number somewhere between 20 and 50 individuals – a figure impossible to verify, given the club’s remarkable discretion and near-mythic level of exclusivity. Members arrive by private jet or chauffeur, and the setting feels part sanctuary, part stage – with the fee serving merely as the threshold to a world few ever glimpse.
Cherokee Plantation – Yemassee, South Carolina, USA
In the Lowcountry of South Carolina, Cherokee Plantation offers a 7,000-acre estate, Donald Steel-designed golf, and a membership model so limited as to feel more like an ownership syndicate than a club. Publicly documented annual dues near $85,000, with a joining fee reportedly at $1 million, though exact numbers are seldom published. The emphasis is on privacy, sport and nature – quail covers, live-oak canopy, steam-powered pace of life. Membership remains strictly by invitation and tightly held – luxury in its most discreet form: the privilege of remaining unseen.
Sebonack Golf Club – Southampton, New York, USA
Between Shinnecock Hills and National Golf Links, Sebonack sits along Peconic Bay – commanding one of the most coveted stretches of Hamptons shoreline. Designed in a rare collaboration between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, it blends precision with a natural, wind-shaped rhythm. The course hosted the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open and remains a benchmark of modern course architecture.
Membership here is by invitation only – capped at around two hundred. Initiation fees are reported to start near $650,000, with some early founder memberships exceeding the million-dollar mark. The club does not publish its figures – fitting for a place where privacy is part of the experience – yet those who join do so for more than the golf. The dunes, the light over the bay, and the unspoken rhythm of play at Sebonack offer a discreet expression of the Hamptons’ enduring allure.
Liberty National Golf Club – Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
A skyline-backdrop course across from Manhattan, Liberty National Golf Club is as much theatre as golf. Opened with a multi-hundred-million-dollar build, the club boasts yacht access, a heliport, and high-end hospitality. Recent reporting places initiation fees in the region of $450,000–$500,000, confirming its enduring status as one of the costliest memberships in the sport.
Its roster has drawn top-tier names in fashion and sport – for example, Vera Wang and Justin Timberlake have been cited among its members – underscoring how lifestyle and golf converge at this address.
The Madison Club – La Quinta, California, USA
The emphasis here is on comfort and discretion as much as sport – a setting defined by its resort-style amenities, spa and wellness facilities, and the architectural scale of its estate homes. Membership is linked to property ownership within the enclave, ensuring privacy and a shared ethos among residents. For those admitted, The Madison Club represents more than a place to play – it is an introduction to a distinct social tier within the Californian desert.
Sentosa Golf Club – Sentosa Island, Singapore
Set on Singapore’s premier resort island, Sentosa combines championship pedigree with market-driven exclusivity. The club continues to host LIV Golf events, reinforcing its place among Asia’s elite golfing venues. Memberships trade on the secondary market rather than through direct application, with recent listings placing foreign individual memberships around $585,000 – a reflection of how resale value determines cost in one of the region’s most tightly held clubs.
Its twin courses – The Serapong and The Tanjong – are ranked among Asia’s finest, framed by sea breezes and tropical landscaping. In essence, Sentosa epitomises the resort-style approach to golf in Southeast Asia – combining championship play with the ease and atmosphere of island leisure. – where the game, the island setting, and the social fabric are inseparable.
Real Club Valderrama – Sotogrande, Spain
On the sun-drenched coast of Andalusia, Valderrama remains Europe’s benchmark for exclusivity and heritage. Host of the 1997 Ryder Cup and countless European Tour events, it retains a sense of composure and heritage honed over decades of championship golf. Membership is by invitation only, with reported initiation fees around $200,000 – a figure that reflects not only its championship pedigree but also its standing as continental Europe’s most revered private club. For many, Valderrama stands as the truest expression of European golf – steeped in heritage and discretion.
Notable and legacy clubs – Britain’s enduring symbols of exclusivity
Queenwood Golf Club – Near Ottershaw, Surrey, England
In the United Kingdom, Queenwood stands apart for its high-end membership model built on privacy, performance, and a culture of discretion. Golf Monthly reports figures around $224,000 for a membership share, a $61,000 one-off playing right, and annual subscriptions near $19,400. Its roster includes major champions and Hollywood names – among them Ernie Els and Michael Douglas – yet the club remains largely invisible to the public eye. The course itself is heathland-fast, sandy-soiled, and immaculately maintained – a modern classic hidden behind the pines of Surrey.
Wentworth Club – Virginia Water, Surrey, England
A historic estate that continues to define British golf’s old-world prestige, Wentworth hosts the BMW PGA Championship and serves as the headquarters of the DP World Tour. Following its 2014 transition to a debenture membership model, entry costs have risen – early debentures were around $128,000, with current estimates between $256,000 and $320,000, plus annual fees of roughly $26,000. Founded in 1926, the club combines heritage and polish across three championship courses and a members-only culture that still embodies the poise of traditional English exclusivity.
Conclusion
From the wind-blasted cliffs of Hainan to Florida’s newly minted million-dollar enclaves, entry costs may reach seven figures, but the true currency lies in the fairways shared with a select few and the steady rhythm of play. Notably, Citic Shanqin Bay in Hainan is said to have fewer than twenty members, its fairways reserved for those invited personally to play a course as secretive as it is spectacular. Whereas across the globe, Shell Bay Club in South Florida represents the opposite extreme of modern luxury, the first new private course built in the Miami area in a quarter of a century, with initiation reportedly exceeding US $1 million.
