<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Sure, you can pony up some serious dough to join the ranks at Oakmont or Baltusrol, but you&amp;#039;re still going to have to wait around for that foursome up ahead to clear the seventh hole while you ask yourself, &amp;quot;I paid what to join this place?&amp;quot; Some men aren&amp;#039;t content with just a membership. Some men need to own the grass the game is played on. Men like Willie Nelson, Wayne Huizenga, and Shaquille O&amp;#039;Neal.  While the layouts listed below may have been built solely for their owners&amp;#039; use, some do have a limited membership. Apparently, it&amp;#039;s one thing to fork over $5 million to build a golf course, but quite another to spend half a million each year to mow the grass. That said, make no mistake: If you&amp;#039;re lucky enough to play a round on one of these ten courses, don&amp;#039;t dare hold up the onesome behind you; it could well be your last visit. 1. Shadow Creek, Las Vegas. Steve Wynn, owner; Tom Fazio, architect. Shadow Creek immediately gained recognition as one of America&amp;#039;s best courses by those who could convince Wynn to let them look at it. Last year, Wynn opened it to limited play by guests of his hotels--at a cool $1,000 per round. 2. Double Eagle Golf Club, Columbus, Ohio. John McConnell, owner; Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, architects. This top-100 course is so pristine that they use a Stimpmeter to measure the speed of the tees, as well as the greens. 3. The Sanctuary, Castle Rock, Colo. Dave Liniger, owner; Jim Engh, architect. Dramatic, 100-foot elevated tees and views of the Rockies make this the most scenic of all private venues, as it should be for an owner who made his fortune in real estate. 4. Redtail Golf Club, London, Ont. Chris Goodwin and John Drake, owners; Donald Steel, architect. This is a more austere project than the others on this list--the course cost only $2 million Canadian--but it&amp;#039;s a highly regarded and challenging golf course.  5. Rich Harvest Links, Sugar Grove, Ill. Jerry Rich, owner; Jerry Rich and Greg Martin, architects. Rich set out to build a few holes for himself; then nine; and now eighteen.  6. Sunnylands Golf Course, Palm Springs, Calif. Walter Annenberg, owner; Dick Wilson, architect. The publishing magnate&amp;#039;s 200-acre estate, at the corner of Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope Drives, includes a full 6,000-yard course that has hosted four presidents. Some of Annenberg&amp;#039;s many sculptures are in play, as are thousands of trees that he personally transplanted.  7. Asherwood Golf Course, Indianapolis. Mel Simon, owner; Steve Smyers, architect. Simon&amp;#039;s estate includes a ten-green course with crisscrossing fairways so that a total of 27 dif-ferent holes can be played. 8. Pocantico Hills Golf Course, Pocantico Hills, N. Y. John D. Rockefeller, developer; William Flynn and Robert Trent Jones, architects. This 18-hole course is still maintained but seldom used now, since none of the current generation of Rockefellers are avid golfers. 9. The Dunes Golf Club, New Buffalo, Mich. Mike Keiser, owner; Dick Nugent, architect. This 60-acre course was selected last year by Sports Illustrated as the best nine-hole course in America, with sandy wastes surrounding the holes similar to those at Pine Valley.  10. Three Ponds Farm Golf Course, Bridgehampton, N. Y. Edward S. Gordon, owner; Rees Jones, architect. A five-green, nine-hole layout just across the street from Jones&amp;#039;s Atlantic Golf Club, this was built for a member who found the eight-year-old layout too crowded. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a1399/course-ones-own-0400/>