Drivers on Collier Boulevard just south of Golden Gate Parkway have watched a row of very tall poles go up beside the road. Some of them reach 200 feet. They hold the protective netting around a 320-yard practice range at The Gate Golf Club, according to Gulfshore Business. The range is fully netted and lit for evening play.
The range sits on part of the former Golden Gate Golf Course, which closed in 2019. The nine holes will close at dusk. Most of the rest of the property is planned to stay open for hours after that. The club is targeting early December 2026, and on a weeknight it should look less like a golf course and more like a place to spend the evening.
One Property, Two Schedules
The Gate has posted its expected hours of operation, and they split the property in two.
Part of The Gate | Expected hours |
|---|---|
Nine-hole course | Monday–Sunday, dawn to dusk |
The Bays practice range and putting green | Monday–Thursday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. |
The Bays practice range and putting green | Friday–Sunday, 7 a.m. to midnight |
The club calls these expected hours, so they could change before opening. At a May 26 update to county commissioners, the general manager put the range's closing time at 10 p.m. Either way, the lights stay on long after the last group finishes the ninth hole. During winter, that leaves several hours each night when the course is closed and the rest of the property is open.
Commissioner Burt Saunders asked whether the lights would spill onto nearby homes. General Manager Scott McGregor told the board the range is being built by the company that designs Topgolf, and its lights have adjustable canopies that keep the light inside the areas in use, as Naples Press reported.
What Stays Open After the Ninth Hole Closes
Most of what is open in the evening was designed for people who are not playing a round. The Bays has 30 covered hitting bays with lounge and table seating, Trackman swing tracking and an automated ball delivery system. Another eight bays are set aside for First Tee junior golfers. McGregor told commissioners the Trackman systems also run interactive games for groups, date nights and family outings. In the club's September 30 construction update, crews were installing slat walls between the bays to create semi-private suites.
The rest of the evening property is built around food and drink:
- The Gater Putting Course. An 18-hole course on a 48,500-square-foot natural grass green, lit for night play. It was designed with Peter Jacobsen, and the layout can be changed.
- Oakwood Grill. A 175-seat restaurant serving lunch and dinner daily, with views of the ninth hole to the south and of the putting course and The Bays to the north. Patio framing and flooring were going in as of September.
- The Pavilion. An open-air bar serving lunch and dinner daily, with regional beers, large fans and TVs for watching games.
- The Gimme. Grab-and-go food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, described as lighter versions of the usual golf-course menu.
- The activity lawn. Casual seating and family games behind the hitting bays.
Oakwood Grill is described as an American-style scratch kitchen. Michael Smith is a board member of The Gate and director of operations for the D'Amico and Partners restaurant group. He told Gulfshore Business that the restaurant "will welcome all its neighbors to come and enjoy this revitalization of an iconic property." The club says its amenities are open to the public, including the hitting bays, putting green, golf shop, Pavilion Bar and The Gimme. Nobody needs a tee time to eat dinner here.
A Price Promise Made at a Public Meeting
The evening hours only make the place a neighborhood spot if the prices work for regular visits. At the May 26 county commission update, Commissioner Chris Hall compared the project with the county's private clubs and their "$8 beers and $17 glasses of wine," as Naples Press reported. He added:
"I have great hopes for this facility, that this is going to be the people's place, where they don't have to pay those kinds of prices to enjoy them."
McGregor answered that "our rates and our prices for everything that we serve or service will be very approachable."
The club has published its resident discount, but not final prices. The Gate will be a daily-fee course with no membership. Collier County residents get 40% off posted green fees in winter, November 1 to April 30, and 20% off in summer, May 1 to October 31, when base rates are lower to begin with. An early December opening falls in the winter window, so the larger discount applies from the first day.
Earlier presentations gave a peak-season price of $53.40 for nine holes for a county resident and $89 for a nonresident. Off-season prices were $31.20 and $39. The same Naples Press report said typical golf fees in Collier County run from $55 to $145 or more. As of June 2026, the club was still finalizing its budgets for golf pricing and programming. Treat those figures as early estimates until The Gate publishes its rate sheet.
How a Nonprofit Ended Up Running County Land
In 2019, Collier County paid $29.1 million for the 167-acre former Golden Gate Golf Course. The goals were to prevent overdevelopment, preserve open space and build a veterans nursing home. According to Naples Press, an earlier county agreement for the golf piece with BigShots Golf ended in June 2023. Six months later, Arthrex founder Reinhold Schmieding proposed The Gate Golf Club Inc. as a nonprofit public-private partnership.
In April 2024, commissioners unanimously approved a 40-year lease and operating agreement for the project, which costs more than $21 million. Private donations from the Schmiedings and Arthrex are helping pay for it, and the club broke ground in February 2025. Glase Golf is building the course. Matthew Kragh of Naples-based MHK Architecture designed the rest, and DeAngelis Diamond is the builder. Jacobsen and Jim Hardy designed the course itself, a regulation nine-hole, par-35 layout. Golfers can play nine holes or go around twice for 18.
First Tee–Naples/Collier will be based on the site. Its learning center rents for $1 a year and will have an indoor putting space, covered hitting bays, golf simulators and classrooms. The junior tee markers each represent one of First Tee's Nine Core Values.
The Neighbors Arriving Over the Next Few Years
The Gate is the first part of the 167-acre site to open, and it will be part of a bigger campus as other projects arrive. On July 10, 2026, state and county leaders broke ground on a 120-bed State Veterans' Nursing Home. It sits on 23.5 acres at Golden Gate Parkway and Collier Boulevard that the county donated to the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Marco Island Eagle reporting. The state VA is building and staffing it, and completion is targeted for 2028. An adult day care center is planned on the same site. Residents of the nursing home will also be able to use the golf club.
Three more pieces are planned for the site:
- A 252-unit workforce housing project, with some units set aside for seniors and veterans.
- 215 rent-restricted studio apartments in the former Golden Gate Inn and Quality Inn & Suites Golf Resort.
- A veterans community center in the long-empty J.D. Jags Ribhouse & Grille and banquet building.
The timing works in The Gate's favor this winter. The gymnasium and auditorium at the Golden Gate Community Center on Golden Gate Parkway are closed for an improvement project until early February 2027. If The Gate opens on schedule, it will have about two months as the main new public gathering place in Golden Gate City before those indoor spaces reopen.
Before an Opening Day Is Announced
The club has not set an exact opening day. Its September 30 update reports turf filling in across the course and range, landscaping around The Pavilion and the bar system being installed. The same update introduced two new staff members. Thomas Lydic has joined as director of golf, and Kiersten McGinn as event sales manager. Groups can book the activity lawn, the hitting bays and the Pavilion Bar for private events.
The club says its official street address will be announced soon. Until then, it describes the location as the site of the former Golden Gate Country Club, near Golden Gate Parkway and Collier Boulevard. Gulfshore Business places it near the southwest corner of that intersection. Monthly updates are posted at thegategolf.org.
If you want to know how a new public amenity like The Gate fits into Golden Gate City's day-to-day life, or how the rest of the former golf course site is developing, Alfred Robbins Realty Group is glad to share what we are following. Request a private consultation.
