I visited one of the best golf clubs in America in Jackson Hole. It felt like a millionaire’s playground.

Nestled beneath the Grand Tetons in one of Jackson Hole, Wyoming’s most expensive neighborhoods, PGA pros tee up at one of the most celebrated golf courses in the US, ranking no. 1 in Golf Digest’s best in Wyoming and earning a spot on the top 100 US courses in 2023 and 2024.

I’m talking about Shooting Star, a members-only club in Teton Village. You have to be invited to join, and a representative of Shooting Star told Business Insider last year that the club had an extensive waitlist.

It’s also not cheap. Shooting Star didn’t share its current membership price with BI, but when the club opened in 2009, it had 189 members and a $100,000 membership fee.

During a trip to Jackson Hole in September 2024, I got an exclusive club tour, and it felt like a millionaire’s playhouse. Take a look inside.

Welcome to the ultra-exclusive Shooting Star of Jackson Hole.

Shooting Star’s history dates back to the 1930s when the Resor family created Snake River Ranch, now known as the largest working cattle ranch in Jackson Hole.

Shooting Star owner and operator John Resor transformed a section of the ranch into an exclusive golf course, club, and residential community. It was a $130 million project.

Shooting Star is in Jackson Hole’s Teton Village neighborhood.

Roughly 22 miles from Jackson, Shooting Star is sandwiched between Snake River Ranch and Jackson Hole Resort.

The 1,300-acre space has a clubhouse, a golf course and shop, a pool deck, a barn, and residential lodges.

When I toured the property, I thought the clubhouse looked like a luxury ranch. The expansive building overlooked the golf course and a 25-meter lap pool.

The clubhouse opens to a grand foyer with a Western aesthetic.

I spotted nods to the American West when I stepped inside the clubhouse. An animal skull and realistic paintings of cattle at Snake River Ranch decorated the foyer walls.

I also noticed a range of natural textures, from the wood floors and ceiling moldings to the leather seats in front of the large stone fireplace.

Outside, the 18-hole golf course looked like a painting.

I’m no golfer, but it was instantly clear why Golf Digest ranked this a top 100 course in the US.

The 250-acre course looked dynamic, with aspen and evergreen trees dotting hills parted by 50 acres of water hazards, including ponds and streams. It was designed by Tom Fazio, who also designed Donald Trump’s golf clubs in Westchester, New York, and Pine Hill, New Jersey.

Fazio also designed multiple courses at the exclusive Vintage Club in Indian Wells, California, where Bill Gates purchased a home for $12.5 million in 1999.

The golf course blended in so seamlessly with its surroundings that I thought it was a naturally occurring landscape, but the land was actually reformed with a design goal of making each hole unique.

According to a Shooting Star brochure, the process included moving 2 million cubic yards of dirt, planting more than 2,500 trees, and carving out 50 acres of lakes.

For a handful of PGA pros, including the golf club’s director Ben Polland, Shooting Star is more than a home course — it’s a day job.

From the course, I could see the resident cabins and lodges.

According to Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty, most homes didn’t hit the market. However, the available listings include two-acre plots of land for $15.5 million and three-bedroom, four-bathroom cabins for $11.75 million.

Next to the clubhouse, the Alpine Barn is used in ski season.

In the winter, Shooting Star becomes a skier’s haven, and the Alpine Barn is the hub.

Inside, there were nearly 200 lockers. During ski season, the barn shows movies and serves complimentary food. A shuttle takes skiers to the nearby Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to hit the slopes, but there’s also a track around the course’s perimeter for a short run.

Back inside, the second floor of the clubhouse houses a fitness center.

The 2,400-square-foot facility had smart cardio equipment with large screens overlooking the swimming pool and barn. A handful of workout studios offered classes like yoga and pilates.

Outside, there were also tennis and pickleball courts.

The spa was on the same floor.

I entered one of the six treatment rooms and thought it felt serene.

Limestone and wood moldings texturized the walls. There was a fireplace, cozy seating, and two treatment beds.

Natural light poured in from the window at the back of the room. There was a gigantic stainless steel tub in front of it.

Bathing in there with a view of the course and the surrounding Tetons would be a dream.

The spa bathroom had amenities akin to a luxury hotel.

I spotted glass jars containing toothbrushes, razors, hair ties, eye drops, and over-the-counter pain and allergy medication.

Back downstairs, there was a restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining.

The dining room had a wood-burning fire pit inside. Out on the patio, members could dine right next to the golf course.

Before I headed out, I got to check out a miniature version of the property inside the clubhouse.

The property feels vast, so seeing it all planned out on one table helped me better understand the course and development.

I left with a sense of what it might be like to be a member of such an exclusive club in an epic location.

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