Golf courses dot the landscape in Collier County, Florida, located in the southwest part of the state. Most of them are strictly private, requiring an expensive membership or an invitation from a member to play.
The Naples metropolitan statistical area — representing the county — has more private golf holes per person than any other metro in the country, according to the National Golf Foundation.
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“Collier County skews heavily private; 84% of its facilities are private clubs or communities,” said Erik Matuszewski, the foundation’s editorial director.
In neighboring Lee County, he said, it’s less so, at 56% private, “but still well above the 28% national average.”
“About three-quarters of these golf facilities in the two counties are residential development or resort/real estate properties,” Matuszewski said.
Among the Top 50 U.S. marketsfor golf, he said, the average split is roughly 61% public, 39% private, based on the number of holes. In Naples, it’s only 14% public, “with its very limited public supply driven by resort pricing,” Matuszewski said.
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“So, Naples is very much an outlier when it comes to golf supply,” he said, especially considering that 72% of the roughly 16,000 golf courses in the U.S. are public.
It suggests that there’s “unquestionably a gap” in Naples.
Construction is well underway on The Gate Golf Club in Golden Gate. It will be a new public golf and entertainment venue in Collier County.
Collier is getting a new public golf course to fill the gap
Historically, Collier County hasn’t had a “muni,” or municipal course, owned by the government. Through a public-private partnership, a new community golf course and club is taking shape and set to open in December.
The club’s mission: To make golf more accessible for families and players of all skill levels.
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Sitting at the southwest corner of Golden Gate Parkway, near Collier Boulevard, the new golf and entertainment venue, known as The Gate Golf Club, will be open to all, with no membership required for golf or dining at its clubhouse.
Collier County owns the land, and a nonprofit is developing it and will operate it.
The nonprofit, named The Gate Golf Club Inc., was established by the Schmieding family (with ties to Arthrex, the highly recognized medical device manufacturer headquartered in North Naples).
The Gate golf club rendering in the Naples area. From public records research by In the Know.
More about ‘The Gate’ in Golden Gate
In addition to serving as a community golf club, “The Gate,” as it’s known for short, will be home to First Tee – Naples/Collier, offering First Tee’s global golf and character-building programs to youth.
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The club will feature a regulation-length nine-hole course totaling 3,369 yards, designed by legendary golfer Peter Jacobsen. It will also include:
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A full-length illuminated practice range
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A 48,500-square-foot putting green with an 18-hole putting course
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A multi-use clubhouse with a 175-seat restaurant
While the rates haven’t been announced, the plan is to discount the green fees for county residents by 40% in season, and by 20% in the offseason (or value) season.
Public golf course is a long time coming
The Gate is being built on part of the former site of the Golden Gate Country Club, which was privately owned, but publicly accessible and affordable.
In 2019, Collier County bought the 167-acre golf course property for $29.1 million, as it faced financial uncertainty and the threat of becoming a highly intensive commercial development. Soon after the purchase, the course closed, as the county explored its options.
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Arthrex came forward with an unsolicited plan to redevelop the golf course in December 2023, nearly six months after BigShots backed out of its plans to build a golf entertainment center on the property, following failed financing.
After nearly a year spent securing funding and permits, the project officially broke ground in February 2025.
It’s a big investment for the county.
The cost of construction has been estimated at more than $21 million, with the county contributing $6 million, and the rest coming from private donations and substantial philanthropic contributions via the Schmieding family and Arthrex.
More new courses are private and exclusive
It’s not every day that a new golf course gets built in the United States, especially a public one.
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However, the National Golf Foundation reports that new course projects have reached their highest level in more than a decade.
According to the foundation, more than 140 new courses are in planning or under construction across the country – but the majority will be private, tied to private destination clubs, high-end real estate communities and resort properties.
The growth is concentrated heavily in Sunbelt states, including Florida.
In Collier County, a plethora of private and semi-private courses have been built as part of residential developments, with more on the horizon.
On top of that, there are stand-alone private clubs with six-figure price tags.
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Several golf courses connected to high-end resorts allow public play, but it’s limited. The old Naples Beach Hotel’s golf course is being refashioned and slated to open in early 2027 as part of the new upscale Naples Beach Club, Four Seasons mixed-use resort development off Gulf Shore Boulevard North.
“Naples Beach Club members and resort guests will have priority. Access for daily guests will be based on availability,” said Jay Newman, a principal and chief operating officer for The Athens Group, the project’s developer.
There are only a handful of truly public, daily-fee golf courses, all of which are privately owned. One of them is at the Hibiscus Golf Club, east of Naples, which plans to go private, converting into an exclusive, members-only club by late 2028.
Action from the 2025 Collier County Athletic Conference girls golf championship at Hibiscus Golf Club in Naples on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025.
Lee County offers more options for public play
In Lee County, there are many more choices for public play. Roughly 45 courses welcome the public, including daily-fee, semi-private and municipal ones.
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The county has three municipal courses owned by two cities: Fort Myers and Cape Coral.
The city of Fort Myers owns and operates two public 18-hole golf courses: Fort Myers Country Club and Eastwood Golf Course. How did it come to own two?
The city purchased the then-privately owned Fort Myers Country Club in 1927.
Fifty years later, the city opened Eastwood, developed on land it already owned and controlled, which had been used as a well field.
The city’s Golf Course Enterprise Fund covers the cost of day-to-day operations and maintenance, as well as upgrades or renovations, for both golf properties. The money comes directly from user fees and other revenues generated by the golf courses themselves.
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Fort Myers Country Club hosts around 64,000 rounds of golf annually, and Eastwood about 59,000.
“Both golf courses provide affordable, public access to recreational opportunities that support fitness, wellness, and quality of life for residents of all ages. We’re not in competition with other local courses; anecdotally, we have players that have frequented other local courses who also enjoy ours,” said Elgin Hicks, the city’s director of parks and recreation.
The Fort Myers Country Club is one of two municipal courses owned by the city of Fort Myers.
Cape Coral offers one of three municipal courses in Lee County
In Cape Coral, the city owns the 18-hole Coral Oaks Golf Course.
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City Council decided to build the municipal course in 1985, as the local population topped 70,000. Designed by architect Arthur Hills, it opened for play in July 1988.
In 2023, the city moved to outsource course management after facing financial losses and rising operational costs. The course sees roughly 56,000 to 63,000 rounds of golf played each year.
In August 2024, the city acquired the former 175-acre Cape Coral Golf Club property, but it will be developed into a public park.
When the city council voted unanimously to acquire the property, it had been idle since 2006 and had become an eyesore. Public opinion on reintroducing golf was mixed.
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The final master plan for the new park is expected to be completed this fall.
While there have been golf course conversions to parks and preserves in other parts of Florida and elsewhere in the U.S., they aren’t common.
According to the National Golf Foundation, hundreds of closed courses have been redeveloped into housing, commercial centers, or mixed-use developments since the start of a market correction 20 years ago.
Southwest Florida’s city of Cape Coral is looking to redevelop a large green area but still blighted and abandoned old 175-acre golf course off Palm Tree Boulevard, north of Cape Coral Parkway. From public records research of April 2026 government documents.
Golf course market has officially stabilized
After a massive building boom, U.S. golf course closures began outpacing openings in 2006, as the market reset and interest in golf temporarily waned during and after the Great Recession.
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Over nearly two decades, more than 2,000 courses closed, but the National Golf Foundation declared that the industry reached a definitive state of equilibrium this year, officially ending the long correction.
The number of U.S. golf facilities and courses has held steady for five years — at around 14,000 facilities and 16,000 courses, with most of them categorized as public.
“Public courses definitely aren’t vanishing,” Matuszewski said. “There are more than 11,500 across the nation.”
At the start of this year, the foundation reported that there were nearly 3,000 municipal golf courses at more than 2,600 facilities across the country, the highest totals on record.
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Meanwhile, its tracking data show that public-access facilities historically account for every four out of five rounds of golf played nationally every year. So, golf remains largely a public sport in the U.S.
Laura Layden is a business and government reporter. Reach her by email at laura.layden@naplesnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: This ritzy Florida zip code is finally getting a new public golf course option
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