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Kinsale Golf Club, an 18-hole, par-71 course in North Naples, Florida, is now open with a $450,000 membership fee.Designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, the course emphasizes playability over aesthetics and features challenging bunkers and strategic play.The clubhouse, approximately 28,000 square feet, offers dining and views of up to eight holes.No condos or single-family homes are planned for the Kinsale site, but the nearby Kalea Bay development is constructing its fifth and final high-rise.
In a column with multiple reader questions, we had included one from In the Know favorite subscriber Elaine Nelson, but couldn’t fit in another relevant North Naples inquiry she and her Bentley Village neighbors had off U.S. 41.
So today’s the day on that. Hit it, Nellie:
“There (are) things happening in our neighborhood that have raised common questions among my fellow residents,” she said. “We’ve noticed golfers playing at the new Kinsale Golf Club, south of Bentley Village between Vanderbilt Drive to the west and Highway 41 to the east. Is it open? What else is being built on the course? Clubhouse? Condos? Single family homes?”
Here’s what to know.
Now that SW Florida’s Kinsale Golf is open, how much to join?
Indeed, the Kinsale has been a hot topic, and among the more popular columns last year as it now has opened its greens to 250 or so moneyed members who are doling out upwards of $450,000 to join, plus the other costs that come with membership.
With a clubhouse still in the works, that would be a jump from $425,000, and preliminarily plans we saw and had reported on had originally called for $250,000 to get in the door, plus about $20,000 in annual dues not including taxes.
Kinsale Golf Club: New course off Vanderbilt Drive, Wiggins Pass
Detroit-based Soave Enterprises is behind the 174-acre Kinsale effort at Vanderbilt Drive and Wiggins Pass Road that stretches to Tamiami Trail near Old 41 Road. The endeavor had received initial backing from Collier County more than a half-dozen years ago, pre-pandemic, but work didn’t begin until 2023.
In “Southwest Florida, everybody’s trying to achieve Augusta National-like conditions where everything is green ― it’s pretty, and the guys down here do a wonderful job of that,” said Rusty Mercer, Kinsale’s head of agronomy who has been part of updates on Vimeo. “But that’s not what we’re interested in. We want to have good dense turf. But we don’t mind if it goes off color. We’re not going to be maintaining golf for aesthetics. We’re maintaining golf for playability.”
What are the Naples, Florida connections to Detroit’s Soave?
With origins tied to garbage collection in the Motor City, Soave Enterprises is also behind the Kalea Bay array of towering behemoths, west of the course. The firm’s top dog Anthony Soave and his wife purchased a $6.3 million Bay Colony Drive penthouse more than a quarter-century ago.
He’s erected various Collier complexes including Moraya Bay, The Dunes, Regatta, The Vanderbilt and multiple Pelican Bay mansions. He amassed a fortune through ventures including beer distributorships, luxury auto dealerships and Detroit’s oldest taxi cab company. Starting out as a construction contractor with a used truck, he eventually founded a waste-hauling firm he sold for $750 million in 1998, the year before buying his Naples condo.
What did it take to construct Kinsale Golf Club in a flood plain?
Prior to the start of construction, 2022’s violent Hurricane Ian sent a surge of water through the acreage. At least one boat landed about a half-mile inland, near the parcel’s southern edge on Wiggins Pass Road by Gulf Harbor Drive.
“This piece of ground sits about 800 yards from the Gulf,” Mercer said. “It was in a flood plain. It’s a swampy area. The existing material was a real fine beach sand so we made the decision early on that we were going to have to raise the site about 4 and a half feet just across the board so that’s what we did.”
Who led the Kinsale Golf Club project in North Naples, Florida?
Famed architect Gil Hanse, providing updates on Vimeo, and his partner Jim Wagner led the project. They are known for major restoration work on some of the world’s most iconic courses including New York’s Winged Foot Country Club, the host of a half-dozen U.S. Opens, and the Los Angeles Country Club, where the 2023 version of the 128-year-old event was held.
“It’s trying to create something that we feel will be a very enjoyable golf experience for the membership here but also one that will provide limitless interest,” Hanse said. “We’d hate to build something that you play at once and you come out and you figured it all out, and then you’re bored for 20 years. So we really want to build something that grabs you when you first play it, but doesn’t reveal all of its secrets.”
What is Scotland connection on Wiggins Pass in Naples, Florida?
The 18-hole, par-71 course draws its inspiration from spots like the Old Course at the five-century-old St. Andrews in Scotland, which some say features the toughest challenge in the sport, the 17th Road Hole that Hanse worked to replicate.
As we first reported, the plan calls for the course to be open early October through early June, with maintenance on tap for the summer on the 6,555 yards. As a comparison, on the PGA Tour, the average course in 2023 was a shade under 7,300 yards, according to Golf Digest.
What’s biggest challenge with Kinsale in Collier County, Florida?
“Our biggest challenge with Kinsale is with the size of the property,” Hanse said. “Everyone knows it’s a compact site, but if we didn’t think we could build a really great 18 holes out here, we wouldn’t have done the job. I’m 100% confident in our abilities to move the earth and create interesting golf holes.
“We (had) talked about, ‘How do we create a little bit more separation actually in the field? How do we align features? How will we align landscape materials? (You) are rarely gonna feel like you’re boxed in out here. I think that’ll be one of our greatest accomplishments: That we’ve been able to find a little bit more wiggle room on the site in order to create the experience.”
How large is the Kinsale Golf clubhouse in Southwest Florida?
What you’re now seeing rise on the south side of the property is the multi-story clubhouse, which public records show is targeted at about 28,000 square feet.
The plans called for daily dining service for breakfast, lunch and beverages for members but not anticipated for use as dinner. Spectators should be able to see as many as eight holes from the perch.
What was the thinking behind Kinsale Golf clubhouse in SWFL?
“The clubhouse location gave us the opportunity to radiate holes out from the clubhouse,” Hanse said. “Obviously, one and 18 are always gonna leave from there, but we have other opportunities in the golf holes to come back and forth to the clubhouse. It made a lot of sense from a practical standpoint to have it there, and the banter and the hootin’ and the hollering and sort of the peanut gallery in the clubhouse letting you know how good your shot was.
“I think that that’s fun. I think that’s a fun part of the game of golf, and this clubhouse from the elevation standpoint, not only are the vistas gonna be amazing, but the interaction with golf will be really strong as well.”
What is Golfweek magazine’s take on new SW Florida course?
“Clearly, what they wanted at Kinsale was to challenge golfers on every shot, to create interest on a site that didn’t start as much, and to thrill the club’s members for every round with a wide variety of interesting shots and incredible greens inspired by templates that have stood the test of time,” said Golfweek’s Jason Lusk, my USA TODAY Network colleague penning a piece last month after a visit. “It’s old-school strategy at its finest. No reward is granted without a fair bit of risk. It’s the best type of golf.
“It makes Kinsale stand out in a state where, on too many courses, strategy is dictated as a game of avoiding water. (The) strategy is dictated mostly by sand ― lots of sand. Wherever you might want to land a tee ball, there’s often a steep-faced, relatively flat-bottomed bunker in the way. Players must steer their balls around all the hazards, often playing toward the edges of wide fairways to set up the best line for an approach shot. Heading into the greens, plenty more bunkers await.”
What about condos and single-family homes on Kinsale golf site?
No condos or single-family homes are slated for the Soave site, but across Vanderbilt Drive, it’s banging away at the fifth and final high-rise of Kalea Bay known as Tower 500.
With more than half sold, it just passed $290 million in sales for the 22 stories and its 120 units, according to Inga Lodge, Kalea’s vice-president of sales and marketing: “We are thrilled with the overwhelming interest in Tower 500 and the success we’ve seen thus far.”
What artists from Moody Blues, AC/DC, YES played at Kalea Bay?
With prices starting at $3.5 million, amenities include three pools, a Wellness Center, tennis and pickleball courts, a children’s activity center and a variety of dining options. There’s also an expansive clubhouse, and we’ve written before how one of its residents, Moody Blues bassist John Lodge, was part of a benefit concert on the property.
Lodge was joined by, among others at the time, AC/DC’s Cliff Williams, YES frontman Jon Davison, singer Joe Best of the local Smokin’ Aces and DefMedia Studios drummer Darrell Nutt, who shared a YouTube video of the “Highway to Hell” performance at the event.
Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) grew up in Southwest Florida and has led Pulitzer Prize-winning efforts. He writes In the Know, one of USA TODAY Network’s most read local news columns in the state. Support democracy. Subscribe to a newspaper.
