With two iconic national parks, the trout-rich Snake River, and many mountains, lakes and creeks beyond that, the natural beauty of Jackson Hole, Wyoming has always held a magnetic allure. While those unmatched recreational opportunities continue to attract outdoor enthusiasts from around the world, the recent rise of locally fueled arts and culinary scenes have made this tight mountain community irresistible to many real estate buyers.
Living alongside the majestic Teton mountain range also appeals just as much to the head as it does the heart. Jackson Hole real estate comes with low property taxes and low energy costs, and Wyoming has no state income, corporate, gift, estate, excise or intangibles taxes. Not to mention, the Cowboy State offers some of the strongest asset protection in the country, including dynasty trusts that are exempt from estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes for up to 1,000 years.
Jackson Hole’s combination of recreational, cultural and financial benefits has led to high real estate demand and lower home inventory, prompting many buyers to purchase and develop building sites in recent years. In 2015, vacant-land transactions in Jackson Hole rose by about 14 percent compared to the year prior. For real estate buyers looking at Jackson Hole land for sale, the three private golf clubs offer some of the most desirable building sites, and they grant their members much more than access to world-class fairways and greens.
3 Creek Ranch
Located just five miles south of Jackson’s town square, 3 Creek Ranch not only boasts a Rees Jones-designed golf course consistently ranked as one of the best in the world, but it also encompasses a private cutthroat-trout sanctuary for a singular fly-fishing experience. New members can seek fly-fishing advice from 3 Creek’s Fishing Coordinator Jim Brungardt, who accompanies first-timers and helps steward the use of the three creeks flowing through the property from the Snake River.
For other outdoor excursions, the 3 Creek Ranch Nature Center overlooks Spring Creek and serves as the meeting place for the club’s naturalist programs and activities like cycling, hiking and Nordic skiing. To cap off the day’s adventures, a 29,000-square-foot clubhouse provides everything from multiple dining options and a state-of-the-art fitness center to a 75-foot heated pool and Har-Tru tennis courts.
Most 3 Creek Ranch real estate listings are either vacant building sites or existing homes in the Cabins and the Estates neighborhoods of the club. Offering breathtaking views of the Tetons amid streams and ponds, the exclusive home sites in the Estates range from 1.5 to 4.5 acres, allowing for large-scale custom home designs. For those who would rather be centrally located near 3 Creek’s many amenities, the sites in the Cabins average more than a half-acre in size alongside fairways and streams. Land buyers in the Cabins can choose from home layouts ranging from three to five bedrooms, as well as from six architectural designs that incorporate generous use of timber, spacious decks and large windows where there are expansive mountain views.
Shooting Star
Beyond its beautifully contoured links designed by renowned course architect Tom Fazio, the private Shooting Star golf club grants easy access to the best skiing in North America at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR). With its entrance located just a few hundred yards from the ski resort’s base in Teton Village, Shooting Star is perfect for real estate buyers who want to mix golfing, fly-fishing or Nordic skiing at the club with alpine skiing, hiking or mountain biking at JHMR.
A shuttle runs to the ski resort from Shooting Star’s Alpine Barn, which houses up to 162 ski lockers, a kids-only area with board and video games, and a large projection screen for hosted movie nights. Meanwhile, the 40,000-square-foot clubhouse features a dining room and bar, locker rooms with relaxing lounges, modern fitness facilities, a 25-meter tension edge lap pool, a kid’s pool and two year-round spas.
Opened in 2007 with conservation in mind, Shooting Star maintains 1,300 acres of undeveloped land, leaving only 100 home sites and 82 cabins and lodges to be built in total on the north side of the property. With the exception of a few listings available for resale, all of the developer-built cabins and lodges have been sold, however, more than a dozen building sites and a few single-family homes are currently available alongside Shooting Star’s streams. The remaining vacant land sites average about 0.8 acres in size, and the subsequent home builds are guided by architectural and landscaping requirements that complement the natural beauty of the valley.
Snake River Sporting Club
Located south of Jackson proper and nestled between the Snake River and the vast Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Snake River Sporting Club is arguably the most rustic of Jackson Hole’s exclusive golf clubs. One of the club’s strongest selling points is that members are more likely to see moose, deer and eagles than another golfer on the course designed by 16-time PGA tournament winner Tom Weiskopf. That said, the Snake River Sporting Club is by no means lacking for other activities or amenities.
In the summer, members can fly-fish along the Snake River, ride horseback, kayak on Beaver Pond, shoot clay, practice archery, play disc golf, and hike the on-site trails or continue onward to the adjacent national forest trail access. When the snow falls, the golf course and nearby national forest trails are open for Nordic skiing and snowshoeing, while the ponds become an ice skater’s paradise.
Spread throughout 257 total acres of residential development, the current real estate listings for the Snake River Sporting Club are a mix of newly constructed homes like those in the Martin Creek Cabins and Tall Timber Cottages and a variety of building sites dispersed along the fairways, greens, ponds and forest. The center of the property is anchored by the 26,000-square-foot clubhouse, which gazes upon the Snake River and features restaurant and bar areas, locker rooms, a sport shop and a furnished outdoor dining deck.
Each of the private Jackson Hole golf clubs above were developed within the past decade or so, and the opportunity to purchase their building sites is dwindling. The amount of developable land in Jackson Hole is finite, meaning that the remaining sites in these clubs give buyers a rare chance to build a new home near the Tetons. More than 97 percent of the 2.7 million acres of property in Teton County are preserved public lands such as national parks, national forest or the National Elk Refuge, and the remaining 3 percent is limited by easements from the Jackson Hole Land Trust.
To learn more about purchasing and building on available land in Jackson Hole, contact our LintonBingle Associate Brokers team online at lintonbingle.com, by email at [email protected] or via phone at 307-732-7518.