The Cloister at Sea Island

The Cloister does not itself contain a golf course -- golf is delivered through the separately modeled Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside, Plantation, Retreat), all governed by the same Sea Island Club membership headquartered at/around The Cloister and Beach Club.

Golf, beach, and club access at Sea Island run entirely through the Sea Island Club, a single membership organization (not a separate club per course) that Sea Island's own membership page describes as having four categories: Full and Beach & Sports memberships, both of which require the prospective member to first own (or be purchasing) qualifying real estate on Sea Island or in an affiliated Sea Island community; and Invitational and Junior memberships, neither of which requires real estate ownership. Real estate ownership is a precondition for the Full/Beach & Sports path, not a guarantee -- multiple independent real-estate-advisor sources report that Sea Island states these categories also require the applicant to be recommended by a current Club member and approved, so most Sea Island homeowners hold 'application rights' to the Club rather than automatic membership at closing. Invitational membership likewise requires sponsorship/recommendation by an existing member plus a non-refundable initiation fee and its own dues -- it is not an open-enrollment alternative. Junior membership is limited to members under age 50. The one documented exception to this approval-based model is the 22-unit Cloister Ocean Residences fractional-ownership property, where full, year-round Sea Island Club membership is automatically bundled into every deeded share (initiation fee waived, dues reduced to one quarter of the standard rate) -- see the Cloister Ocean Residences community record. Reported current figures (not independently confirmed on Sea Island's own site, sourced from a private-club aggregator and repeated by several realtor blogs) are a $150,000 initiation fee and $12,000/year dues for standard membership. The Cloister Ocean Residences is the sole documented exception to the application/approval-based model described above: all 22 deeded fractional-ownership residences include full, year-round Sea Island Club membership automatically, with the standard initiation fee waived and annual dues reduced to one quarter of the standard rate -- no separate application or member sponsorship is required. See the Cloister Ocean Residences community record for full detail.

Sea Island proper (where The Cloister sits) is a privately owned, unincorporated area of Glynn County reached via causeway from St. Simons Island, comprising roughly 500 single-family residences plus The Cloister and The Lodge resorts, governed day-to-day by the Sea Island Property Owners Association (SIPOA, 600+ owner-members) -- a separate organization from the Sea Island Club membership that governs golf/beach/social access.

Amenities across the Cloister/Sea Island Club ecosystem include multiple dining venues (Colt & Alison, Tavola, Southern Tide), a Forbes Five-Star spa and fitness center, the Sea Island Golf Performance Center, the Sea Island Shooting School, an equestrian center, and the Sea Island Yacht Club with fishing access -- in addition to the three golf courses.

Sea Island proper sits across the marsh/causeway from St. Simons Island (where the golf courses are physically located), roughly 60 miles north of Jacksonville, FL and 60 miles south of Savannah, GA, within Glynn County.