The Sanctuary Golf club
It’s hard to imagine a more fitting name for the 240-acre, private golf and social club located near the north end of Sanibel Island. The Sanctuary came to life in 1992, and sits adjacent to beautiful Pine Island Sound on one side and J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge along the other. In fact, the club donated a part of the course back to the refuge, which is home to a stunning array of wildlife and native foliage. The Sanctuary is one of very few golf courses in the country whose operations are also overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior, because of its intertwining relationship with the “Ding” Darling property.
That is exactly what members like about their club, and they take great pride in their stewardship of the pristine land and surrounding waters. Sheryl Tatum, marketing and membership director at The Sanctuary, says the mix of members is what makes the club so appealing. “We purposely keep our member numbers small, and that serves to allow those who join to experience the full range of our amenities, and still g et the ultra-personalized service and attention they deserve,” she says.
The Sanctuary has 353 equity members and 100 social members. Members are mostly island residents (although there are members from around the world), and many live in The Sanctuary neighborhood. One of the most highly acclaimed residential golf course communities in the country, The Sanctuary has been honored with many awards for the club, and home and course design, as well as environmental partnerships.
A unique event at the club involves a few of the neighbors, who visit at the same time on many evenings: “At the Sanctuary Golf Club on Sanibel Island, Fla., dozens of brilliantly white ibis do a late-afternoon flyover of the clubhouse at certain times of the year with such punctuality that members plan cocktail parties around the event,” wrote The Wall Street Journal’s John Paul Newport in 2010.
Famed golf course architect Arthur Hills, who worked closely with club developers to ensure the golf didn’t interfere with the natural canvas on which they were working, created the par-72 championship layout.
“An Arthur Hills designed championship course is at the Platinum-honored Sanctuary Golf Club," says Andy Phelan, the new PGA Director of Golf at the Sanctuary. "If you are a beginner or a scratch golfer, this 18-hole, par 72 course with its meticulously maintained fairways and sculpted bunkers forces accurate approach shots and greens that deny the golfer a simple, straight putt. Arthur Hills called it his ‘island masterpiece.'"
The course’s signature, the par-3 fourth, is set right along the banks of Pine Island Sound, and the northwesterly winds coming from across the water expanse makes club selection tricky, with the hole playing 187 yards from the blues. "As the new director of golf, I am looking forward to getting to know and working with the team that received the Distinguished Club of the World by Boardroom magazine,” Phelan says.