Alotian Golf Club

Billionaire investment banker, Warren Stephens, had a golf dream and his realisation, costing a cool $18m, is the Alotian Club.

In 2001, Stephens and Tom Fazio fell head over heels in love with the undulating, sometimes hilly, Arkansas property and three years later the golf course near Little Rock opened for play.

When we say opened for play, we mean opened for private play, because this is a high-end, ultra-exclusive golf club, where you’ll need to befriend a rare Alotian member to get a game. Stick to the six degrees of separation idea and you could get lucky.

Overlooking Lake Maumelle, Tom Fazio boldly routed the nattily named Alotian course over 300 acres of steep, pine-flanked ground. The earth certainly moved here. According to reports, Stephens bought an adjoining 300-acre farm simply for the topsoil. Couple this level of investment alongside underground cooling and heating systems for the bent grass greens, with fans that keep them cool during hot weather and you know this banker is deadly serious about his golf course.

The Alotian has been open for seven years, but accolades have been slow to arrive. The reason, we think, is that Tom Fazio’s designs are not in vogue with the rating aficionados. Some think his designs are rather predictable, others prefer a lighter design style. However, if you’ve played the Alotian, you might be impressed.

Measuring a hefty 7,405 yards from the back tees (there five separate teeing areas on some tees) and featuring 100-foot elevation changes, this is a course and property to rival Augusta. Ironically Stephens is a member at the famous Augusta National and we suspect Alotian is his Arkansan nod to the most famous course in America.

Little Rock is the name of the signature hole at Alotian Club. The 6th is distinctly reminiscent of Juniper (Augusta’s par three 6th). Little Rock measures 210 yards from the back plate and the tee shot must carry across a rock-strewn valley to an offset green that is cut into the hillside some 60 feet below the tee box. It’s a cracker.