Jun 29, 2026
Most golfers do everything they can to stay out of the sand, but for a small group of wealthy enthusiasts, sand is all the rage.
After the sport’s popularity surged during the pandemic, more Americans are playing golf than ever before, Great Gorge Golf Club reports. As of 2024, more than 47 million people aged six and older played the game either on a golf course or at an off-course facility like a driving range or an indoor golf simulator. That represents a 38% increase in participation from 2019.
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Those in the golf business are likely thrilled with this development, but for the affluent die-hards who play regularly, the increase in participation has made finding an available tee time trickier than ever before.
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With this in mind, some of the sport’s wealthiest players are teaming up with golf course developers to build their own exclusive clubs, replete with six-figure initiation fees, extremely tight membership and pristine courses built on sandy soil.
The sandy soil, however, is the one feature that truly gets these wealthy golfers excited.
‘That’s what makes a great course’
Golf course developers have long understood the advantages of building on sandy soil. These courses often require less landscaping, which can make them look and feel more natural. The soil also creates faster drainage while maintaining firm and bouncy turf throughout the year.
For golfers, combining this turf with the gentle slopes and undulation of a golf course creates a more enjoyable experience that could generate a lucky break or a punitive bounce on any given shot.
“That’s what makes a great course play like a great course,” Bert Guy, a golf course consultant from Alabama, told Bloomberg. “You cannot replicate it. You can truck in sand and cap a clay site, and it’ll play OK, but it’ll never play like land that’s sand all the way down.”
Sandy-soil courses also allow golfers to play a version of the sport that’s much closer to what the first golfers played on when the game was created hundreds of years ago. The Old Course at St. Andrews, for example, was built on ancient Scottish dunes in the 15th century and continues to be one of the most famous and beloved courses in the world.
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A ‘topographical treasure hunt’
This geology, however, is not easy to come by in the U.S.
“To get exactly the courses they want, hopeful developers are poring over maps from the U.S. Geological Survey’s website and choosing unglamorous spots miles from any financial hubs — or oceans,” The Business Times reports. “They’re scanning rural areas in Texas, Florida and Georgia, aiming to find bands of ancient beaches to serve as the foundation for the next great round of golf.”
Building on sandy soil is also less expensive than building on silt or clay, which requires heavy machinery in order to dig up the land and alter the terrain.
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Rod Trump — founder of High Pointe Golf Club in Michigan who has no relation to the U.S. president — spent more than $30 million building his course, according to The Business Times report. But since building on sandy soil costs about half as much as building on clay, Trump was able to create more on-sight lodging than his plans originally called for. His invitation-only club now has 195 members.
Meanwhile, the high cost for membership doesn’t seem to be an issue for the wealthy golfers who play at these clubs.
Mike Collins, CEO of IMI Worldwide Properties, is quite familiar with these luxury golf communities. And while the initiation fees often top half a million dollars, Collins believes money is no hurdle for these golfers.
“There’s a fear of loss that ‘If I don’t do this, I’m not going to be there,’” Collins told Bloomberg. “And then greed takes over, and when greed takes over, people will pay whatever.”
Moneywise reached out to Collins to learn more about these wealthy golfers but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
For now, today’s affluent golfers appear to love playing on sand, but that passion might change the next time they’re struggling to get out of a green-side bunker.
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Chase is an Associate Editor for Wise Publishing. He formerly worked at Yahoo Canada as an editor on both the News and Sports teams.
