An exclusive new golf property has opened in the tony town of West Palm Beach following a multimillion dollar overhaul of its Jack Nicklaus Signature Course and a complete rebrand.

And the model for Dutchman’s Pipe — named after a native vine known for attracting butterflies — is decidedly unique.

The private club will soon offer very select access to guests at the neighboring luxury hotel also owned by its developers: Witkoff and Access Industries. The Witkoff Group real estate and development firm is no stranger to high end, golf-centric projects in South Florida, having also recently unveiled Shell Bay, a private club just outside of Miami that has an initiation fee of over $1 million.

“Dutchman’s Pipe is the first new private golf club to open in West Palm Beach east of I-95 in decades,” said Alex Witkoff, the co-founder of the development group. “Land this close to Palm Beach Island is incredibly scarce, and this generational opportunity allowed us to deliver a golf experience unlike any other in the region.”

The property, previously known as Banyan Cay, has undergone far more than a name change.

Plans by the previous ownership group to turn the 119-acre site into a resort community were plagued by problems — construction delays and a bankruptcy filing among them. After a potential new buyer for the property (which prior to 2015 was President Country Club) backed out in August 2023, Witkoff and Access Real Estate stepped in to acquire it, reportedly for a price of about $100 million.

SEPARATE PROJECTS

Instead of having a single project, the new ownership group divided it into two distinct entities: the private golf club of Dutchman’s Pipe and separate hotel property operated by Marriott International called The Belgrove. The non-golf component, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, features a 150-room luxury hotel, multiple food and beverage outlets, fitness and spa facilities, two pools and outdoor patio areas, and expansive meeting and function spaces.

And notably, guests staying at The Belgrove, where room rates start at $620 per night, will have limited access to tee times at Dutchman’s Pipe. The price point is undecided, but indications are it will be among the priciest in the U.S. — likely in the neighborhood of the peak playing fees at Pebble Beach, Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course and Harbour Town, which are around $650 to $675 per round.

The course was overhauled by Nicklaus Design after the recent purchase, with comprehensive changes that range from layout and design to infrastructure and amenities. The upgrades transformed the aesthetics as well as the playability, from revamped bunkers and updated green complexes to re-grassed fairways.

“Dutchman’s Pipe Golf Club has been reimagined to embrace both beauty and challenge,” said Chris Cochran, a Senior Designer at Nicklaus Design with 72 courses in 11 countries and 19 states on his resume.

“The layout is crafted to showcase the natural elegance of the West Palm Beach landscape, with holes framed by native vegetation and water features that invite strategy and creativity,” Cochran adds. “Every detail, from bunker positioning to the interplay of native flora, was carefully planned to create a course that both inspires and tests golfers of all levels.”

A UNIQUE MODEL

Membership will be capped at 300, with members always having priority access to play the course. Make no mistake, Dutchman’s Pipe is still an exclusive private club. Simply staying at The Belgrove doesn’t guarantee a tee time.

But, depending on member play demands and the time of year, it makes it more likely that some non-members will be able to experience one of the newest and most unique courses in a state that has more golf than any other in the nation.

There’s not much in the U.S. that compares with the Dutchman’s Pipe model: a luxurious private property that offers a few tee times to guests of a neighboring resort.

The Lido at Sand Valley in Wisconsin (which recently debuted as the 30th best course in the country in the latest GOLF.com Top 100 rankings) has a national private membership, but is very much connected to the bigger public golf resort. A better comp from south of the border may be the Chileno Bay Golf & Beach Club in Cabo, Mexico, where guests at the 92-key beachfront hotel and villa resort managed by Auberge Resorts Collection can pay about $500 to get access to a beautifully-manicured — and otherwise private course — designed by Tom Fazio.

One thing is certain. At Dutchman’s Pipe, the club’s name isn’t the most unusual aspect of the property.