Brad,
Vineyard Golf Club is ultra high end for this neck of the woods.
The initiation fee is up to 300K and I believe that the membership is full.So supply and demand certainly was in balance during conception and construction.It really is the only game in town for that genre'. Farm Neck G.C., caters to the merely comfortable,rather than the truly wealthy, and its semi-private operations should continue to thrive as The Vineyard Golf Club will be strickly play with a member or stay home,(at least initially) so I guess one could say that the market is covered on the island now.
It will open for play in May, it had a full year of grow in,so they are taking it slow and all indications are the turf is healthy and ready.The club also retained the "grow-in" super, so this has been his "baby" from the get go,that's always encouraging.He worked closely with Steele and his crew during construction,so there is a real potential for the proper maintenence meld. I will play it in June and post my impressions here.
One of my close friends is one of the founders and judging by the membership roster,fiscal responsibility and operating budgets are not going to be a big issue, this may lend itself to a severe case of the Augusta Syndrome however, we'll see!
There is a substantial contingent of members that belong to clubs where they "get it", so we'll have to wait and see which faction wins the initial power struggle that will decide the clubs direction and identity.