Where the billionaires tee off .......Top 5

"Golfball"
by Lotus Head via Wikimedia Commons

BILLIONAIRE.COM has compiled a guide to the planet’s most exclusive golf courses.

‘With more than 30,000 golf courses worldwide, picking the top ten most exclusive is a difficult – and sometimes controversial – task,’ said Tara Loader Wilkinson at Billionaire.com.

The courses were judged on metrics including difficulty of getting membership, price of fees, calibre of other members and former players, notoriety and fame, course scenery and condition, and the history and the design of the course.

Here’s the list:

1. Cypress Point, California, US – Located on the Monterey Peninsula between Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill on the 17-Mile Drive, it is rumoured that John F. Kennedy was once denied entry to the restaurant at Cypress Point. Designed by golf course architect Dr Alister MacKenzie in 1928, scenery is a major selling point. Fees are determined by yearly running costs, divvied up between the 250 members, many of whom are prominent political figures.

2. National Golf Links of America, New York –Originally the brainchild of architect Charles Blair Macdonald, this course is described as "perfection, figured out". Built on 250 acres of rolling landscape, membership at the club mostly stays within the family.

3. Augusta National, Georgia, US – With only 300 members including, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, Augusta National is home to the Masters tournament and was famously designed by a duo of champion golfer Bobby Johns and Dr. Alister MacKenzie. Fees are reportedly between US$25,000 and $50,000 (£14,900-£29,900) a year.

4. Golf de Morfontaine, Mortefontaine, France – This golf course was designed in the 19th century for the personal pleasure of the Duc de Guiche and his friends, and, to this day, retains much of the original design. Several years after the duke died in 1962, the club became the property of its 450 members and, as such, remains the most exclusive club in continental Europe.

5. Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire, Scotland – This remote estate was once home to Rossdhu Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots is said to have written her love letters. The breathtakingly beautiful golf course offers panoramic views of the lake and woodland beyond. With a joining fee of US$161,000 (£96,400), this has become a favourite haunt for celebrities and local billionaires.

See yesterday's post for the 6th to 10th ranked.

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