Horseshoe Bay Golf Club
Egg Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin · Door County golf market
- Access
- mixed
- Holes
- 18
- Architect(s)
- Rick Robbins, Brian Lussier
- Gated
- No
Thinking About Living in Horseshoe Bay Golf Club?
Get connected with a local real-estate specialist who understands Horseshoe Bay Golf Club and the surrounding Door County golf market.
Horseshoe Bay Golf Club traces its origin to a vision Frank E. Murphy, whose family's Horseshoe Bay Farms had been Door County's largest employer as a dairy and cherry-orchard operation since 1917, held as early as 1916 for an elite private club on the property. That vision was not realized until his descendants, the Cowles family, began a second phase of development at the farm starting in 1995, building an 18-hole course designed by Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier that opened as a private club in July 2000. The golf course and the surrounding residential estate were developed together as part of the same late-1990s/2000s master plan, which called for 350+ condominium and single-family units alongside private parks, pools, and tennis facilities -- making Horseshoe Bay Farms the clearest example in Door County of a golf course built explicitly as the organizing amenity for a planned residential community, even though the historic farm itself dates to the early 20th century.
The club's ownership has changed hands more than once since opening: an outside investor group led by Glenn Timmerman bought it in 2007 for roughly $2.9 million, and on January 25, 2012 a group of resident members -- led by Tim Danis and Jim Forbes, both longtime Horseshoe Bay Farms property owners -- bought the club for about $3 million and restructured ownership around a "Founding Membership" model: each owner receives a free, perpetual membership that passes to direct descendants in perpetuity. This member-owned structure is the club's current governing model, distinct from -- and, on the evidence found, never replaced by -- any earlier developer-bundled membership tied directly to home purchase; no source found describes golf membership as ever having been included with a Horseshoe Bay Farms home purchase, at any point since the club opened in 2000. Today the club also sells four paid, non-Founding membership tiers (Golf, Sport, Young Professional, and Social), all reported at capacity with a waiting list.
Golf & Course
The championship course plays to a par 72 and roughly 7,101 yards from the back tees (course rating 74.0, slope 134) on bentgrass tees, fairways, and greens, and has been described locally as the peninsula's premier private test alongside its public-course peers like The Orchards at Egg Harbor.
Membership & Access
Does buying a home here include club membership?
Buying a home in Horseshoe Bay Farms -- whether in the Bluffs or the Golf Cottages -- does not include or require Horseshoe Bay Golf Club membership. Multiple real-estate listings for both communities explicitly describe club membership as "optional" and applied for separately, on top of the mandatory community/HOA dues that cover the shared pool, courts, parks, and roads. Ownership of the club itself is held by a small group of resident "Founding Members" (reported as 28 at the 2012 purchase, 36 in more recent club-facing copy) whose free, heritable memberships are a function of owning a stake in the club company, not of owning a home in the surrounding community. All four of the club's ordinary paid membership tiers are reported to be at capacity with waitlists.
Living in Horseshoe Bay Golf Club
Horseshoe Bay Farms comprises multiple distinct, separately governed residential associations built around the golf course and the historic farm campus over more than two decades, rather than one single flattened community -- see the linked community records for The Bluffs at Horseshoe Bay and the Golf Cottages at Horseshoe Bay for their individual structures.
Lifestyle & Amenities
The club's clubhouse offers dining and a practice facility; residential-side lifestyle amenities (pools, tennis/pickleball courts, parks, shared trails) belong to the individual homeowner associations rather than the club itself -- see the linked community records.
Location & Surrounding Area
The club sits on Horseshoe Bay Road just south of the Village of Egg Harbor on the Green Bay side of the Door County peninsula, adjacent to the separately administered, nonprofit-run historic Horseshoe Bay Farms barn campus (a National Register of Historic Places site since 2012 undergoing its own preservation master plan, unrelated to residential development).
Interested in Homes in Horseshoe Bay Golf Club?
We can connect you with a local real-estate specialist who knows the community, nearby golf communities, and the Door County market.
What Buyers Should Verify
- Confirm the current, exact number of Founding Members (sources conflict between 28 at the 2012 sale and 36 in more recent copy) and whether new Founding Memberships are ever available.
- Confirm current initiation fees and dues directly with the club -- not publicly published.
- Confirm current waitlist length/timeline for each of the four paid membership tiers directly with the Membership Director.
- Independently confirm with the specific homeowner association (Bluffs vs. Golf Cottages vs. any other Horseshoe Bay Farms parcel) whether any priority or discounted path to golf membership exists for owners, since general marketing describes membership as optional but does not rule out an owner-priority queue.
Notable
- The only private golf club in Door County.
- Opened in July 2000, designed by Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier, on land envisioned for a private club by Frank E. Murphy as early as 1916.
- Sold in 2012 to a group of resident member-owners under a "Founding Membership" model providing free, perpetual, heritable club ownership -- reported as 28 buyers at the time of sale, described elsewhere as 36 Founding Members currently.
- All four paid membership tiers (Golf, Sport, Young Professional, Social) are reported at capacity with waitlists.
Considering a Move to Horseshoe Bay Golf Club?
Whether you're comparing Horseshoe Bay Golf Club with another Door County golf community or you're ready to start looking at homes, US Golf Living can connect you with a local real-estate specialist.
US Golf Living provides independent real-estate research and can connect consumers with real-estate professionals. Golf membership, availability, fees and approval are determined independently by the applicable club.