As generations of seekers have discovered, finding a utopia is a fruitless and futile endeavor. Never mind Utopia in the political sense, but rather, one that offers all the trappings of a life lived in bliss. Most people simply have too many divergent interests to find one location that offers them everything that they might be seeking.

A logical solution is simply another residence to call home from time to time. But a sense of community is important as well; and if you’re seeking a second home that provides great local sportfishing, or a third home with exceptional winter skiing, for example, a community of like-minded enthusiasts adds to the enjoyment of those pursuits.

To that end, a number of private residence clubs exist, all offering a variety of ownership and membership options. Whether you’re seeking an immersion in Italian culture at a Tuscan villa or a quintessential New England getaway, there’s likely a residence club ready and waiting for your application.

Links to the Past
It takes a guest only a few steps inside the men’s locker room at the Carnegie Abbey Club (www.carnegieabbeyclub.com) just outside of Newport, R.I. to see that the club does not operate exactly as one might expect. Dark mahogany wood paneling and lockers with gold-plated name placards stay true to the expectations that most would have of a private residential club touting a meticulously maintained New England golf course. However, leopard and tiger print throw rugs combined with numerous black-and-white photos of Hollywood’s most recognizable actresses from the 1940s and ’50s—as well as pinup girls from that same era—suggest that the club refuses to take itself too seriously.

As the vision of Peter de Savary, a British entrepreneur known for his international property developments, the Carnegie Abbey Club opened in 2000 and today boasts such New England pursuits as horseback riding, sailing, and championship-caliber golf. While the core amenities of the club have not changed, the club’s spirit has evolved considerably over the last decade. "Peter envisioned this as more of a gentleman’s club; it was primarily men," says Denise Eddy, the club’s president. "Ladies were given certain tee times and children were tolerated."

Now, under the ownership of Brian O’Neill, such is no longer the case. The club caters to the entire family, with special events like a "Talking Baseball" series, where current members (and former Major League Baseball players) host informal question-and-answer sessions that coincide with the World Series. "Members love bringing their friends and showing off the club," Eddy says. "We’re very social. We throw parties like you wouldn’t believe around here. Belly dancers and laser shows, funk bands and fireworks. It’s something that you’re not going to get from your city club."

Despite the variety of amenities offered, it’s the golf course that attracts the most members to the club. And while it has become commonplace within the golf world to hear praise for courses where the architect chose to let the original lay of the land dictate the shape and layout of the course, the 6,675-yard Carnegie Abbey layout may be one of the few where such praise holds merit. Built on a piece of property owned by the nearby Portsmouth Abbey School, the course meanders around a site dotted with the remnants of stone walls that date to the Revolutionary War, while cart paths meander through wooded areas that once saw musket fire during the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778. "It’s a very historic piece of land, and quite frankly, kind of like no other [course] in New England," says Steve Napoli, the club’s golf director. "It’s a difficult golf course. Like any Scottish-style course, there’s subtle sloping and contours around the greens that make being able to pitch and chip and play bunker shots a priority."

Golf memberships, which are 90 percent refundable, run $175,000, while social memberships, which offer access to all components of the club except golf (and also are 90 percent refundable) cost $87,500. Residential options include homesites, cottages, clubhouse residences, and condominiums in the club’s new 22-story Aquidneck Tower. The possibilities are many, but so are the reasons why members are attracted to the club. "The golf is the draw," says Eddy, "but it’s the other amenities that are keeping people at Carnegie Abbey."

The Lure of the Keys
The parking areas and driveways of the private residences at the Ocean Reef Club (www.oceanreefclub.com) in Key Largo, Fla., may be populated with Ferraris, Bentleys, and Aston Martins, but during the time that their owners stay at the club, those cars become nothing more than glorified lawn ornaments. That is not to say that transportation is not required at the four-square-mile club, but once inside the gates, all comings and goings are by means of personal golf carts. It’s an aspect of the club that slows things down and echoes a bygone way of life. "You think about going back in time to a more congenial time … to the 1950s," says the club’s director of sales, Richard Weinstein. "There was a certain friendliness in cities and towns where people knew each other and you could let your kids go out and ride their bikes around. We’ve retained that sense of community, and at the same time, we’ve built up the facility to take advantage of all the things offered in modern society. We’ve got today’s air-conditioning with yesterday’s values."

The club has far more than that. Equipped with a 175-slip marina, two golf courses that offer distinct playing experiences, 35 tennis courts, and a private airstrip complete with a flying club, Ocean Reef provides its members with easy access to all those activities as well as all of the comforts that you’d expect from a sophisticated town. However, the club, which began in 1945 as a fishing camp with a modest, 26-room lodge, might best be known for its proximity to ideal sportfishing waters. "Because of the location, we’ve got the ability to pull out of the marina, come off the channel, and within a couple hundred yards, you’re on the shallow water flats where you can fish for bonefish," Weinstein says. "Three miles out, you’re on the shallow reefs of the Florida Keys where you can catch snapper and grouper. You go five miles out and you’re on the edge of blue water where you catch sailfish and kingfish. You go six to 10 miles out and you’ve got mahimahi, wahoo, and the occasional marlin."

Despite the club’s expansive marina, members need not own a vessel to take advantage of the fishing prospects nearby. A well-appointed fishing village offers a variety of fishing charters, all of which offer competitive rates. Similarly, members need not own a residence at the club; a 141-room inn and vacation rentals allow those with social memberships to enjoy all of the same perks that the club offers to home-owning members. That membership (both home-owning and social) is $215,000 with an additional $3,000 in annual dues, and for prospective members interested in building a home, a limited number of undeveloped homesites still exist. Prospective members also have the opportunity to visit the club ahead of time, allowing them to, as Weinstein describes, "take a test-drive."

It’s an active community and one still governed by the principles and morality that defined the era during which the club was founded. But Weinstein adds that southern Florida’s pristine weather and the area’s exotic feel don’t hurt, either. "You’re surrounded by water on three sides," he says, "so you get the feel of a tropical island but you don’t need a passport."

Fresh Powder and Passports
Members of the Timbers Club at Snowmass (www.timbersclub.com), a 288-membership residence club at the base of Snowmass mountain in Aspen, Colo., do need their passports. As the original property in what has become a suite of 10 Timbers Resorts–owned residential developments around the world, the Timbers Club at Snowmass offers its members a chance to trade their weeks of fractional ownership at the club for weeks at any of the nine other residential communities, including the Residences at Esperanza in Cabo San Lucas, Castello di Casole in Tuscany, and the Links Cottages at Doonbeg in Ireland. Launched in 2002 by David Burden, the Timbers Club was not designed with a multi-club exchange program in mind; that simply grew out of the company’s expansion. "It wasn’t the initial vision when we were preselling the Timbers Club," Keith Marlow, the director of sales, says of that exchange program. "But when we started looking at taking over the Cabo property and as we started getting involved in that property, that’s when David conceived of the idea of the exchange."

For members, the freedom and flexibility to spend any of their guaranteed six weeks at other locations is a nice perk, but many view their membership as an invitation to spend the majority of their time in Aspen. Some, like Pat McFeeley of Charlotte, N.C., even have added additional memberships to maximize their time at the club. "We love Snowmass mountain," he says. "It’s an enormous mountain for one thing; it’s very diverse in its terrain; and it’s not crowded. It’s pretty rare that you wait in a lift line longer than six minutes."

Memberships that are on the resale market (there were nine available at the time this issue went to press) can vary in price, since, much like the real estate market, owners can choose to list their memberships for as much or as little as they want. On average, a Timbers Club membership is selling for between $350,000 and $400,000.

With its ski-in/ski-out location and proximity to downtown Aspen (the club provides a shuttle service in and out of the city every hour), the property is well situated. "It’s a great family environment," McFeeley says, "and it’s a great place to take an adults-only trip because of the access to Snowmass mountain and the convenience to get in and out of Aspen." In fact, McFeeley, a lifelong skier, initially was attracted to the club for its snow-covered slopes, but the city’s dining scene, music festivals, golf courses, hiking, and mountain biking in the summer led him to appreciate the club year-round.

"They come for the winter year after year," Amy Feldman, the club’s ownership representative, says of its members, "but it’s the summers that make them want to buy and stay."