NOVEMBER 2012
36 Bay Colony Golf Club represents an extraordinary lifestyle for those who live extraordinary lives. The Bay Colony course, designed by Robert von Hagge, and Southern Plantation style Clubhouse were originally built in 1996 to accommodate the demands of affluent empty nesters migrating south seeking luxury retirement lifestyle near Vanderbilt Beach. Sophisticated and often well-traveled connoisseurs convened to secure an ultra-luxury, uberprivate residency and golf membership in the exclusive Estates of Bay Colony and ultimately paid the price of Bay Colony Golf Club admission topping out at $250,000. Bay Colony Golf Club since inception offered members the exclusivity and privacy of no-tee time access to the par 72, 7114 yard championship golf course for a limited and privileged 300 Equity Golf Members. Within years, the membership filled up, and for a limited time, a wait list evolved. At one time, the only certain way to secure a Bay Colony Golf Club membership was to purchase a home in Bay Colony or one of only 75 lots in the ultra-luxury gated Estates of Bay Colony located within the Pelican Marsh community. By 2001, WCI, the developer, turned over the Club to the members of Bay Colony Golf Club and since then, Bay Colony Golf Club has maintained a full complement of the maximum 300 Equity Golf Members and offers Social Membership as well. The Club, now celebrating 11 years under private member ownership, has evolved into one of the most exclusive, private Residential Golf Clubs in all of Florida. The par 72 championship Robert von Hagge Bay Colony Course is a hidden gem in a pocket of preserve land between Vanderbilt Beach Rd and Immokalee, with Tamiami to the West and Airport Pulling Road to the East in the gated Pelican Marsh community behind the guarded gatehouse of the Estates at Bay Colony. Golf at Bay Colony is an unhurried, uncrowded shot by shot progression through pristinely maintained landscape, vast rolling fairways, meticulously manicured greens and the lush tropical natural flora of the Cocohatchee Life in Naples November 2012
Strand Nature Preserve. Course architect Robert Von Hagge is renowned for his signature rolling fairways, moguls and elevated greens which provide golfers with the exciting and challenging features thrill-seeking golfers love. Those who play Bay Colony Golf Course, whether for the first time or repeatedly, have said that Bay Colony Golf Club is one of the finest courses they have ever played. At Bay Colony Golf Club, your tee and your table are always waiting Andy Zullo, Director of Golf and PGA Member, explains that Bay Colony Golf Club s unique No Tee Time Access is a key factor in the members enjoyment of the game. Our Outside Services Manager James Hedworth and his staff do an outstanding job managing the member experience so that when they arrive is when they play. Andy adds, no tee times allows our members the opportunity to play whenever they want, spontaneously, without the hassle of advance tee times. The member experience is further enhanced by organized Men s Days, Ladies Days and toss up games managed by the professional golf staff several days during the week. Annual tournaments and cup challenges as well as mixed golf outings such as Nine and Dines provide members with multiple weekly opportunities to play amid the camaraderie of fellow members. Bay Colony Golf Club employs six certified PGA professionals on staff who are dedicated to strategically running a golf program that is equally engaging for women as it is for gentlemen. The members, after all, are here for fun and entertainment. The men s program includes Men s Days every Thursday, and men s toss up games every Tuesday and Saturday mornings. On Saturday mornings, Zullo adds, as men show up in the parking lot, we ve got a new game for them and pair them up with a foursome as they arrive Zullo explains. The ladies program, run by PGA Member Valerie Osborne who formerly competed on the LPGA Futures Tour, is particularly strong at Bay Colony Golf Club. Many of the ladies are just getting into the game and prefer non-competitive play, so Valerie runs a program which includes 18 holers, 9 holers and Golf and Giggle events and clinics.
It s about coming to play golf when you want to play golf... The Course features 18 holes and 85 acres of turf in a secluded 125 acres of natural landscape that borders the Cocohatchee Strand Nature Preserve. Josh Levitre, Course Superintendent and graduate of Rutgers University, is widely recognized among his peers as a leading industry expert in the field of Golf Course Management. He was appointed to his position at Bay Colony six years ago. His knowledge and commitment to the strategic daily and seasonal horticultural practice wins the respect of his team of 26, who are equally committed to providing members and their guests with optimal playing conditions each morning. The Bay Colony Course features Bermuda Grass, Tiff Way 419 on the collars, approaches, fairways and rough and Tiff Eagle Ultra Dwarf Bermuda on the greens. Tiff Eagle is the absolute premium turf that allows us to employ culturally aggressive agricultural practices and provide tournament quality championship conditions on a daily basis, explains LeVitre. At the helm of the Bay Colony Golf Club management team is General Manager Jerry Thirion. Jerry Thirion, veteran of the hospitality industry, was hand-selected eight years ago to lead Bay Colony Golf Club through the transition from developerowned to member ownership. Prior to his post at Bay Colony Golf Club, Thirion began his hospitality career at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key Florida. He served as General Manager of the Melrose Club off of Hilton Head, and in 1989, he joined the Registry Hotel Corporation as General Manager of the world famous Don CeSar in St. Petersburg Beach. He moved to Naples after being named Senior Managing 38 Life in Naples November 2012
Director of the Registry Resort in Naples, and in 1999,became Managing Director of the LaPlaya Beach and Golf Club before he was appointed to the position as General Manager of Bay Colony Golf Club. Over the past eight years, Thirion made it his mission to hand-select a management team representing the best of the best of specialists in their fields. In order to deliver the Club s vision to be one of the top golf residential courses in Florida, we had to acquire and retain the best talent to run the operations at the highest standard of excellence in hospitality not seen at our other area clubs. The team s ability to deliver a consistent first-class experience for members bespeaks the recent 96 percent overall member satisfaction rating recently reported by members in an annual independently conducted survey. To mention the merits of membership in Bay Colony Golf Club without mentioning the exquisite culinary talents of Executive Chef Wilhelm Gahabka would a terrible oversight. A native of Germany, Chef Wilhelm trained at Nuremberg s Culinary Institute, and honed his culinary skills under the direction of many lauded European Chef s in St. Moritz, Munich, Milan, and Monte Carlo before moving to Naples. For ten years he served as Executive Chef overseeing the kitchen of the four star five diamond Lafite Restaurant at The Registry Resort and opened Club at Mediterra as Executive Chef. Chef Gahabka has been featured on CNN s On the Menu series, and on The Discovery Channel s Great Chefs of the South. He has his own Chef s Garden on the Clubhouse grounds, hosts monthly Bay Colony Golf Club cooking classes that sold out each month last Season, and he s won Life in Naples November 2012 39
over three gold medals, four silver medals, and one Best in Show in national competitions, often times featuring his famous Chili. Last year, Chef Wilhelm published his first cookbook the Bay Colony Golf Club Cookbook - which received great local and national press, and his first release of the cookbook sold out within months. Director of Food and Beverage Ellen Perkins is a Princeton graduate and was Lead Instructor at the New England Culinary Institute where she both taught and managed the student-run four diamond restaurant. Ellen for two years managed the various restaurants of the Ritz Carlton Beach Resort and opened Ritz Carlton restaurants across the United States. She spent three years at Club at Mediterra working with Chef Wilhelm. It was Jerry Thirion who hand selected these talented professionals and invited them to lead the food and beverage operations at Bay Colony Golf Club, where they have both now served for years. The sophisticated culinary operations and fine wine program at Bay Colony Golf Club set the standards for fine dining in Naples. The members of Bay Colony Golf Club are - or have been in many cases - our nation s most revered CEOs, magnates of industry and entrepreneurs. Many are still working while building lasting relationships at Bay Colony Golf Club during their intermittent and often seasonal residency in Naples, and those who live here even part time are engaged at the highest level in our Naples cultural and charitable community. With the mind power and status that the members of Bay Colony Golf Club represent, one is humbled by the warm, inclusive, fraternal and unpretentious culture of Bay Colony Golf Club. All members share similar values, beliefs, lifestyles and experiences and take personal accountability to uphold the Club s highest values of ensuring a warm, inclusive friendly environment to encourage the participation of all members. One of the greatest caches of our Club is the fellowship among our members, explains Jerry Thirion. Our members golf together, eat breakfast,
lunch and dinner together, entertain together, go to church together, collaborate in business together, vacation together, run charitable organizations together and celebrate holidays and life milestones together. It is a beautiful story of lives interwoven and bound together through membership in Bay Colony Golf Club. Bay Colony Golf Club Equity Membership has been at its capacity 300 Equity Golf Members for several years now, which is almost unheard of in Southwest Florida. While many Clubs suffered from financial deficits and bankruptcy and have eliminated refundable equity and lowered or eliminated fees and dues to attract members, Bay Colony Golf Club has maintained the value of Equity Membership, and has consistently been a leader in the industry providing members with financial stability, luxury and value. The membership sales success of Bay Colony Golf Club can, in part, be attributed to a model program established for the resale of Equity Golf Memberships at a marketdriven value. The program is the brainchild of a Membership Committee comprised of members with years of experience in world commerce and market driven sales practices. While the current Club Equity Membership has retained its value from the height of the sales peak, Equity Golf Memberships are now offered at a value approved by the Board and determined by the selling member. Bay Colony Golf Club s special allure may in part due to the awe-inspiring beauty of the course, the refinement in the details of the Southern Plantation style Clubhouse, the anticipatory, intuitive service in the comfort of an environment that feels like home, but it is the fellowship that makes Bay Colony Golf Club special. This Club changed my life, claims Bay Colony Golf Club member George Franks. For a new member joining, it will change theirs too. I golf at my Club up north in the summer, but I just can t wait to get back down to the my Club in Naples. Member Don Gunther adds, This is one special place. The Club s appeal has been consistent, with recent strong interest in Social Membership and Intermediate Golf Membership, which is a plan geared to appeal to younger professionals under the age of 50. The Club has seen an average of 15 to 25 new members annually, and new members are trending younger. But while many have heard about Bay Colony Golf Club, many have not seen it or can picture where this hidden gem is located. You will never catch a glimpse of the Club or Course from the roadside, will never see an advertisement, face book page or twitter account for Bay Colony Golf Club. There are no public open houses or any major PGA tournaments played here. Consider yourself one of the fortunate few if you are invited to experience Bay Colony Golf Club. Beyond the gates of the Estates at Bay Colony, within the gated Pelican Marsh Community, is a paradise for a fortunate few and their invited guests. For those who have an interest in experiencing the course, a rare opportunity presents itself on Monday, November 12th when Bay Colony Golf Club is host to The Immokalee Foundation annual Pro Am Tournament. Bay Colony Golf Club members chair and run this event in conjunction with The Immokalee Foundation every year. Contact Bay Colony Golf Club for further information 239.592.9515. Bay Colony Golf Club is located at 9740 Bent Grass Bend, Naples, FL 34108. www.baycolonygolfclub.com. Membership Information: 239.449.4564.
www.baycolonygolfclub.com (239) 592-9515 9740 Bent Grass Bend Naples, FL 34108 Membership Information: (239) 449-4564