scotland New Life for Tim Blixseth's Scottish Dream?

The supremely chic Yellowstone Club World project in St. Andrews still has a heartbeat, with a new set of developers who say their goal is “to create a truly private international golf course and club resort.”

Yellowstone Club World -– essentially a time-share concept for 150 of the world’s richest people –- was arguably the most ambitious development idea of the early 21st century. It was conceived by Tim Blixseth, a Rancho Mirage, California-based developer who’d made a name for himself by opening Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, a private ski community featuring a Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course. At one time or another Yellowstone Club attracted such residents as Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates; Frank McCourt, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Annika Sorenstam, the former LPGA star and golf course designer; Dan Quayle, a former vice president of the United States; Greg LeMond, a former champion cyclist; and Bill Frist, a former U.S. senator.

Yellowstone Club showed such promise that Blixseth super-sized it and took it global. It morphed into Yellowstone Club World, a private destination club that was to offer its members vacation opportunities in some of the planet’s most desirable locales. The members, who were to pay initiation fees of $3 million to $10 million, would have entrée to a 14th century chateau outside Paris, a castle in Ireland, a villa in Tuscany, a stretch of private beach in Mexico, a fishing lodge in Alaska, even a dude ranch in Wyoming. They could also use the club’s yachts and private jets to get from place to place in style.

One of the YCW properties was to be built on Feddinch Farm in St. Andrews, a site that reportedly offers views of both the historic village and St. Andrews Bay. The plan was to build a lodge with 40 suites for members and, like a few other YCW properties, a private golf course designed by Weiskopf.

The project was approved but nothing came of it, mostly because Blixseth’s marriage collapsed and took his budding empire down with it. As part of his divorce settlement, Blixseth was forced to give Yellowstone Club and the property in St. Andrews to his wife, Edra, and before long both properties were suffocated by their debt and went bankrupt. The farm in St. Andrews is now controlled by receivers.

The receivers have agreed to sell the 260-acre property to a London-based development firm, Scotia Investments, which is reportedly at work on a development plan that will satisfy the British courts and local planning authorities.

Scotia is affiliated with Jirehouse Capital Trustees, which aims to assemble an international investment group to fund the project. Stephen David Jones, the principal of Jirehouse, is a director of Scotia.

Weiskopf, who’s based in Scottsdale, Arizona, recently confirmed that he’s still involved with the project. If the course is ever built, it would be his second in Scotland. Years ago, he and Jay Morrish co-designed Loch Lomond Golf Club in Luss.

Jirehouse.com