West Bay Club: The Beauty Never Fades

West Bay Club’s website promises “360-degrees of inspiration” and it is easy to see why. To the south less than a half-hour away is Naples, to the north just 30 minutes away is Fort Myers. Above is the gorgeous Florida sky that creates the unbelievable Gulf sunsets. Beneath your feet are 18 great holes of Pete and son P.B. Dye-designed golf course and all around you is nature.

More than half of West Bay Club’s development has been set aside and will not be built on, but will be preserved as home for hundreds of species of wildlife, away from the wilder life in the bigger cities of Florida. Nestled in this natural setting are the signs of home, and the sites of homes ranging from estates and villas to carriage homes and high-rises.

Golf is obviously the centerpiece of the West Bay Club community. The Dye’s designed the par-72 championship course in 1998 as also part nature tour, including water on 12 of the 18 holes with the fairway landing areas defined by the natural preserves that border them. Successfully negotiate those fairways and you still have demanding shots to many elevated greens.

Number one is called the “D’ye Opener” and from that first tee shot, your skills will be tested under the watchful eye of the occasional red-shouldered hawk, river otter or gopher tortoise. While most of the course meanders through the woods and across Halfway Creek, the 10th, 14th and 15th give you the feel of links-land as they spread out on a unique sand ridge. Sixteen is the course’s signature hole, a potentially 459-yard par 4 with a green elevated 26 feet above the fairway and a forced carry to get there. Though only 6,400-yards from the championship tees, the 138 slope rating attests to its difficulty. You’re likely to get all the golf you want from the 5,900-yard “back” tees that still carry a 130 slope rating. In an effort to maintain the privacy of residents and golfers, preservation areas separate homes from the golf course and cart paths have been designed to travel on the opposite side of the fairway from homesites whenever possible.

The course has been designated an Audubon International Signature Sanctuary Course, meaning the area has passed a certification process covering environmental planning, wildlife and habitat, resource conservation, waste reduction, outreach and education.

This spring’s completion of the new Golf House can only enhance the golf experience at West Bay Club. Over 30,000 square feet in size and over-looking the spectacular 18th hole, the Golf House includes the usual pro shop with all of the golf accessories and fashions you’ll need, a spacious restaurant and bar and private dining facilities on the first floor. Post-round camaraderie can also be found a short walk away at the 19th hole, known as The Niblick. A wide veranda provides sweeping views of the golf course.

Even the most golf-crazy of us understand that one cannot live by golf alone. Besides the Golf House, West Bay Club is also home for the Bay House, a multi-purpose community center with an airy, inviting foyer on the upper level that leads to a library and card room. The Bay House also has a grill and bar for indoor and outdoor casual dining overlooking a Junior Olympic-sized pool with spa located under a covered cabana near the children’s pool. The lower level of the Bay House offers fitness areas with the latest in workout equipment, separate massage rooms and a personal training room. Nearby, the tennis complex includes six lighted Har-Tru tennis courts.

West Bay Club’s Golf House and Bay House have a counterpart right down at the edge of Little Hickory Island. The Beach House is a Key West-style haven boasting an 85-seat indoor-outdoor restaurant and bar offering views of the Gulf of Mexico past the gulf’s famed white-sand beaches whose umbrellas, beach chairs, hammocks, cabanas and even a couple of tiki huts are a delightful retreat.

The Estero Bay can also be reached from the River Park’s boat launch. The River Park also features canoe and kayak racks, a fishing pier, a large children’s playground, lighted basketball courts, a 12-station Vita course and all-purpose sports fields.

Always in view of the many activities at West Bay Club is nature. Besides the River Park’s organic butterfly and hummingbird garden, the community is alive with native areas of old growth cypress and oak trees, wild orchids and dozens of species of exotic birds and plant life.

Elegance without pretense is the dominant theme in this 868-acre site. Over 500 of those acres have been set aside as untouchable woodlands and wetlands. The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (C.R.O.W.) has taken advantage of this opportunity to introduce, or in some cases re-introduce a number of species of wild animals to the area. From bobcats and foxes to raccoons, owls and hawks, CROW is confident those animals will thrive in the protected preserve.

As for the 360 acres of developable land, the golf course is the front or back door of many homes in the nine distinct neighborhoods that make up West Bay Club. Riverbrooke features estate homes; Nature’s Cove offers grand villas; Sunset Trace, Chapel Ridge, Laurel Oaks and Turtle Pointe Cove offer single-family homes. Indigo Shores and Turtle Pointe feature carriage homes and the newest high-rise community in the area, Jasmine Bay, features two buildings with each containing over 100 residences. Homes and homesites range from the $200-thousands to over $2-million.

The beautiful homes, the spectacular golf course, even the numerous activity-stimulating amenities always feel in unusually intimate harmony with the great natural setting nestled next to the Estero Bay and the Estero River. Sure you can test your golf or tennis game, exercise in the fitness center or swim laps in the pool, but West Bay Club is also about walks in the woods, canoe rides, or even a day of lazy fishing in an environment that refreshes, invigorates and inspires. West Bay Club has been called a “sanctuary by the sea”, for its natural beauty, as an environmental safe-haven to hundreds of species of plants and animals, and as an equally eco-friendly habitat for its human visitors and residents as well. 360-degrees around, 365-days a year.