As I enjoy lunch with Steve Witkoff and Ari Pearl, the brains behind the development and creation of Shell Bay Club in South Florida, I can’t help but be distracted.
A multi-day J.Lindeberg photoshoot continues on the nearby nine-hole par-3 course. In the distance, workers are hammering red shingles on the roof of the new 20,000-square-foot clubhouse. As Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group, and Pearl, CEO and founder of PPG Development, explain the impetus for Shell Bay Club and its seemingly endless amount of high-end amenities, members and their families stop by our table to shake their hands and chit chat.
After we eat, I’m given a tour of the adjacent 12-acre practice facility called The Bays. Equipped with a driving range with your choice of golf balls, two indoor simulators, putting studio and a club-fitting experience, this golf performance lab has all of the bells and whistles to not only perfect your swing but to help you be properly equipped to optimize it.
Spanning across 150 secluded acres in Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, Shell Bay bills itself as a world-class private club. And rightfully so. Opened in October 2023 with an initial $1 million membership fee—which has since increased to $1.35 million—the invitation-only Shell Bay Club boasts an 18-hole golf course designed by Greg Norman, a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, Grand Slam-caliber European clay tennis courts, pickleball and padel courts all set within a garden, a basketball court, batting cages, bowling alleys, a billiards room, fine dining and a 48-slip yacht club.
Shell Bay features a 60-room boutique hotel and spa in partnership with Auberge Resorts as well as a 20-story residential tower overlooking the course with 108 bespoke condominiums and penthouses. Selling for $2 million to $11 million, residences come with an automatic social club membership, though there’s an additional fee for the golf course.
Norman, a South Florida resident for more than three decades with more than 100 course designs across 34 countries to his name, was tasked with the club’s focal feature: the golf course.
“Basically, everything from Palm Beach County to the southern end of Miami has been land-constrained for many years and the economic growth in that corridor has driven the demand for high-end, private golf to a level we’ve never seen before,” Norman said. “We knew what a tremendous opportunity this was when the ownership group first shared their vision of creating an unrivaled private club, and they gave us the freedom to add to that with our golf course design.”
Playing Shell Bay Club
While a course previously existed on the property as part of the old Diplomat Golf Resort, Norman and his team “scrapped every inch” of the existing design while adding elevation changes and creating a completely new design for this course, which measures 7,254 yards.
The course’s facelift also included moving every lake on the property while planting 4,000 trees along the perimeter—along with 1,000 plant species—to create a private oasis on a prime piece of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway.
Unlike the recently opened Panther National in Palm Beach Gardens that features drastic elevation changes to make it stand above a crowded South Florida golf market full of flatter courses, Shell Bay’s highest elevation is 20 feet. Its beauty is based on multiple risk-reward shot-making options and waterfront challenges along with its contoured greens and sweeping Australian sandbelt-style bunkers.
Most fairways are pretty open, though trouble exists with plenty of water and bunkers, especially around the greens. Due to the tightness of the property, Norman utilized double greens on three occasions: holes 3 and 5, holes 11 and 15, and holes 12 and 14. Zeon Zoysia grass allows for great definition between the fairway and rough while TifGrand grass gives golfers the option to putt from off the green. While every hole on the back nine features water, holes 12 through 15 are heralded as the course’s signature stretch.
The goal of the design wasn’t just to create a high-end golf experience for members and their guests but to hopefully serve as a potential host site for a professional event. While the PGA Tour plays plenty in the Sunshine State, it’s more likely—and obvious—LIV Golf comes to Shell Bay, given Norman’s role as CEO of the Saudi-backed league. LIV golfers Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson are all members of the club.
“Our directive from Day One was to create one of the most unique, high-end golf courses in the country so we knew we had to think out of the box with everything from the course routing and earthworks to the shaping, grass selection and landscaping,” Norman said. “We aren’t always given the luxury of pressing the reset button but we had the full support of the partners at Shell Bay from the beginning and we were determined to do whatever it took to deliver.
“As a course designer I’m very big on visual cues so the placement of bunkers and their visual appeal has always been very important to me. No course designer in history has done that better than Alister MacKenzie and some of my favorite MacKenzie courses are in the Sandbelt region of Australia. … When the partners at Shell Bay asked what we could do with the course design to make it exceptional and unique, I immediately knew that a really effective Sandbelt-inspired bunkering concept would be one of the key features of the course. It’s one of many elements that contribute to the exclusive feel of the property but I hear more comments on how striking the bunkers are than anything else.”
MyGolfSpy Experiences: Final Thoughts
I’ve been beyond fortunate to have the opportunity to play a number of amazing courses because of my profession, many of which I’d never be able to step foot on otherwise. Similar to the exclusive Sensei Porcupine Creek in Palm Springs, visiting, touring and playing Shell Bay Club is no exception.
Visiting shortly after the club first opened, obviously there was still a lot of work to be done on the property but there’s a reason pro golfers, celebrities, athletes and other affluent people are bullish on joining this luxury club—it’s got it all. Shell Bay Club boasts all of the amenities (and then some) of a high-end social, sporting and leisure club, giving members no reason to leave this private South Florida gated oasis … unless they’re taking their yacht out on the Atlantic.
With a post-pandemic luxury golf arms race hitting new heights in Florida, it’s no surprise to see Shell Bay Club among the leaders of the pack.
Golf2Much
3 months ago
I was part of the Florida State Golf Association group that measured and rated Shell Bay.
It is a very challenging course from the tips. It’s a par 71. From the tips, it’s 7104 yards, rated 76.1 and has a slope of 148!
One nice thing about rating courses is that we get to play them. Our first attempt was rained out, but I’m looking forward to playing it sometime soon. I know it’s the only time I’ll ever get a chance to play it!