WASHINGTON
Arnold Palmer recently launched his Prospector Course at the new, upscale residential development Suncadia Resort in the small town of Roslyn, 80 miles east of Seattle (http://www.suncadia.com). Among the Douglas fir and ponderosa pines against a backdrop of Mt. Baldy and the Thomas and Red mountains, this is one of three courses among home sites and a village adjacent to the Wenatchee National Forest and along the Cle Elum River. Dense woods, wildflowery meadows, streams, ponds and the river comprise the majority of the 6,300-acres on this sunny eastern slope of the Cascades. Four seasons of recreation include great trout fishing, Nordic skiing, hiking, biking, and boating.
Acre-sized home sites and Tom Doak's stunning Tumble Creek Golf Course are the lures at the Tumble Creek, where lots are going for $300,000 to $1 million, and golf memberships for about $60,000. 2006 saw the opening of the Nelson Preserve, a wooded cluster of home sites, and the Peter Jacobsen/Jim Hardy designed Rope Rider Golf Course is scheduled to open in 2007 as a family-friendly track with youth tees.
In the commercial hub of Suncadia village, over 200 elegantly outfitted condominiums at the Lodge at Suncadia also serve as hotel accommodations; and another multi-story lodge is underway, along with a full-service spa, a freshwater lake, a boat dock, and retail and restaurants (http://www.discoverthelodge.com).
Want to check out Suncadia? Stay at the intimate Inn at Suncadia in one of 14 rooms or suites, all with fireplaces, soaking tubs, and rocking chairs on the verandas (http://www.innatsuncadia.com).
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 WYOMING
Private access to fly-fishing on 6.5 miles of the Snake River and a Tom Weiskopf championship golf course are advantages of membership in the private Snake River Sporting Club, the centerpiece of a new residential community bordered by the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Besides enjoying river view fairways lined with towering ponderosa pines and fir trees, residents of just 130 homes will enjoy a hot springs spa, an equestrian center, and Nordic and heli-skiing; equity club memberships start at $150,000, and home sites starting at $1.25 million (http://www.snrsc.com). Big game hunting, drift boat and white water river trips, and overnight pack trips are among myriad recreational opportunities on the menu.
90% of the 554-acre development remains in open space and wilderness, and just seven of the golf holes have home sites. Weiskopf managed to gain Audubon International's Silver Signature designation by incorporating into the course the existing huge stands of spruce, ponderosa pines and cottonwood trees and criss-crossing streams where elk and moose come to water. Sixty bunkers and canyon, valley and river views are distracting, even to the moose.
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 BAHAMAS
Within the exclusive 500-acre Emerald Bay Resort on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas, adjacent to the Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma, are a new Greg Norman course and 72 seaside villas and penthouses at Grand Isle Villas (http://www.grandislevillas.com). Owners of the 1- to 3-bedroom villas and 2- to 4-bedroom penthouses receive golf club memberships, housekeeping and concierge services, use of the white sand beach, water sports equipment and infinity-edge pool, and access to the mega-yacht marina and to all of the Four Seasons facilities. Each unit has a Great Room with vaulted ceilings and an oceanview terrace, and a glamorous kitchen with granite countertops, stone flooring and top-of-the-line appliances.
Wind and sea spray tickle (sometimes ravage) players on a rugged oceanfront peninsula where Norman's course, which opened in 2003, is characterized by massive rocky, sandy waste bunkers, lakes, wetlands and stone outcroppings. Bump and run is the order of the day around the greens; eco-friendly paspalum grass gets filtered ocean water for irrigation.
Sailing, charter fishing for bonefish, kayaking and diving are popular on Great Exuma, 40 minutes south of Nassau and about two hours from Miami. The Marina at Emerald Bay provides dockage for yachts up to 225 feet.
In a special arrangement with Marquis Jet, purchasers of a penthouse here receive a 25-hour Marquis Jet Card for passage on a 7-passenger jet, which transports guests from New York to Great Exuma in three hours, and faster from Atlanta and Washington, D.C., avoiding connections, delays, long lines and baggage claim—it's worth the price of the penthouse!
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 CALIFORNIA
Six miles from Lake Tahoe, upscale condos, townhouses and single family homes are under construction at The Highlands, which is part of a huge expansion of the year round Northstar-at-Tahoe resort (http://www.tahoemountainresorts.com). On a spectacular site on the mountainside, development will include the 173-room Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe, an elegantly rustic ski-in, ski-out resort scheduled to open in 2009. Also in the works are full-ownership residences and fractional ownership homes at the Ritz (http://www.ritzcarlton.com). The first units available are 4-bedroom, 4-bath townhouses at pre-construction prices around $3 million—the alpine setting, the views of the Sierra Crest, and access to the Ritz make these ultra-desirable.
Owners at the Highlands may join the Tahoe Mountain Club, assuring access to several top notch courses in the Tahoe area, all part of the East West Partners gallery of residential projects, including Coyote Moon (http://www.coyotemoongolf.com); a Jack Nicklaus Signature course at Old Greenwood (http://www.oldgreenwood.com); and the Peter Jacobson course at Gray's Crossing (http://www.grayscrossing.com).
The 5-star hotel and the Highlands will be connected by a gondola from mid-mountain to the alpine village below. For those who remember the casual, family-friendly ski and summer vacation resort from years past, the new Village at Northstar replaces the old, with new medium-rise condos, restaurants, shops, galleries, a skating rink, outdoor performance venues and much more (http://www.villageatnorthstar.com). New ski runs have expanded the already fabulous ski mountain, one of the largest and most popular at Tahoe.
Home owners and resort guests love the Northstar Golf Course, a long-established alpine track designed by Robert Muir Graves in the 1970s and recently updated. The nines are entirely different: the mountain nine asks for near-perfect accuracy as it snakes through narrow, evergreen- and aspen-lined fairways and over creeks and ravines. Stretching into the Martis Valley, the meadow nine is wide open links-style with plenty of water, bunkers and Sierra views. At an altitude of 6,000 feet, your ball will fly travel 10% farther, so club up!
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