If you want to avoid gridlock on the freeway and don’t mind a making a dramatic entrance in your Gulfstream G650, perhaps a fly-in golf community or resort is for you. Fasten your seatbelts: Here are seven North American golf properties with their own airstrips.
Mountain Air Country Club
Burnsville, N.C.
Runway length: 2,875 feet
Mountain Air has the highest private landing strip east of the Rockies at a field elevation of 4,432 feet. Its Scott Pool-designed course is routed among natural settings and offers a 360-degree view of the Blue Ridge Mountains with sightlines of up to 100 miles. The on-site Outdoor Discovery Center is a big hit with kids, and serious hikers enjoy access to portions of the Appalachian Trail.
Ocean Reef Club
Key Largo, Fla.
Runway length: 4,456 feet
There’s plenty to gawk at as you fly into Ocean Reef, which is surrounded by gorgeous azure waters. The club has a pair of challenging but not backbreaking Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge courses, plus a 175-slip marina that is stocked with charter boats for deep-sea fishing.
Lajitas Golf Resort
Lajitas, Tex.
Runway length: 6,850 feet
Tucked away in Big Bend National Park, Lajitas was built on land with a rich history in the Wild West. Its course, Black Jack’s Crossing, is among the best in the state and a handful of elevated tee boxes serve up 50-mile views. If you’re feeling courageous, the resort’s newly built zip line offers the best views of all.
Pauma Valley Country Club
Pauma Valley, Calif.
Runway length: 2,700 feet
This SoCal gated-community is conveniently located an hour’s drive north of San Diego and two hours south of Los Angeles but removed from the buildings, highways and distractions of the metro areas. If you’re flying in, you can park your jet in one of airport’s 20 hangars. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. course hosted Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf and is surrounded by mountains and avocado and citrus groves.
Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa
Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada
Runway length: 4,885 feet
Fox Harb’r, in the continent’s outlying northeast corner, is a golf community that’s worth the haul—especially when you can fly over long back-ups at the border. The Graham Cooke-designed layout is a blend of natural beauty and testing holes. Enjoy more of Canada’s splendor with the resort’s thrilling sport shooting facility, and carve out time for a day trip to Cabot Links, a four-hour drive east.
Nemacolin Woodlands Resort
Farmington, Pa.
Runway length: 3,845 feet
Set in the lush Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, the resort has 36 holes of championship golf with Pete Dye’s Mystic Rock (the former site of a PGA Tour event) and the traditional Links Course. Should you feel like getting your hands dirty, Nemacolin offers 70-plus adventure activities, including a 3000-foot zip line and a Jeep off-road driving academy.
Horseshoe Bay Resort
Horseshoe Bay, Tex.
Runway length: 6,000 feet
Horseshoe Bay, 45 minutes west of Austin on the shore of Lake LBJ, has three stellar courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.: Ram Rock, Apple Rock and Slick Rock. Water-sports lovers will appreciate the full-service marina, which rents out a 90-foot yacht for private charters.
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