Even in a region known for its rugged natural beauty and the peaceful solitude of the surrounding Rocky Mountains, Adam’s Rib Ranch stands out from other exclusive communities for many reasons beyond its remarkable setting. The residential golf club community brings new meaning to low density. It is secluded yet close to everything, debt-free with its amenities in place and is one of the area’s few private clubs.

While the ski resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek are just around the corner and the airport a mere 15-minute drive away, Adam’s Rib Ranch sits on 1,600 secluded acres in the Brush Creek Valley, just outside the historic town of Eagle, Colorado. The mountain community, with elevations from 6,700 to 7,400 feet, is also surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of protected wildlands.

In the midst of some of the world’s best skiing, golf has been the biggest draw here. The community is home to Adam’s Mountain Country Club and a private Tom Weiskopf course. While the course’s setting is in the mountains in the midst of a private residential community, it is typical of neither.

To begin with, Weiskopf was given complete free rein in his design. While developers are often quick to claim that they let the designer route the course as they see fit, the truth is that prime homesite locations often dictate the flow of a golf course. Not so at Adam’s Mountain Country Club. Here the homesites were not identified until after the course was routed. The result is a course that feels and plays quite naturally, that didn’t require a lot of dirt to be moved and is simply stunning.

For a mountain course, Adam’s is extraordinarily broad and open with generous landing areas. And at 7,250 yards, it isn’t excessively long for the mountains. The course also has two distinctly different nines. The upper nine (as the front is called here) runs along the highest elevations and features dramatic vistas of the surrounding mountains. The lower nine drops into the valley and plays through the cottonwoods along Brush Creek.

This is a members-only course. With eventual membership planned at no more than 300, there are no worries about tee times or pace of play. Even the elevation favors the club, allowing for a six-month golf season most years. (While nearby Vail gets 350 inches of snow a year, Adam’s Rib averages only 54 inches.)

Just as the land dictated the golf course, so it is with everything else at Adam’s Rib Ranch. This is one of the lowest-density private communities you will find anywhere—there are only 99 homesites. Each of the homesites ranges from four to 10 acres and has a one-acre building envelope within it, leaving generous amounts of room between houses. Prices for homesites begin at $900,000 and currently there are custom homes available from $3.7 million.

Along with such limited real estate opportunities, Adam’s Rib offers a full golf membership with another rarity for area clubs: fully refundable membership deposits. Sports and national memberships are also offered.

The brainchild of Fred Kummer, the successful businessman and founder of HBE Corporation who also played a prominent role in the Adam’s Mark Hotel chain, Adam’s Rib Ranch was envisioned as an attractive alternative to the resorts crowding Interstate 70. Instead, Kummer saw the opportunity for a community that offered tranquility, wide-open spaces and a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere, while still embracing the luxurious lifestyle of Vail.

They certainly offer that lifestyle and more. From some top-rate fly-fishing on the four miles of Brush Creek flowing through the community to luxurious member cottages to an expansive multi-recreational facility with swimming, tennis, basketball and more (a 500-plus acre equestrian center is in the works), members enjoy the best of everything, including service.

At the center of it all is a spectacular 40,471-square-foot clubhouse that not only offers the most commanding views of the surrounding mountains, but brings dining, spa, exercise and entertainment facilities together to form the perfect social center of the community. Adam’s Rib Ranch is truly Wildly Luxurious.