From Casamigos to Eco-Friendly Luxury: Mike Meldman’s Sustainable Real Estate Revolution

When I first met Mike Meldman more than seven years ago at Silo Ridge Field Club in New York’s Hudson Valley, he was wearing jeans and a fleece, his affable personality unmistakable. Silo Ridge was among the latest properties to open under Discovery Land Company, the ultraluxury real-estate brand he founded in 1994, and I was there for a tour.

Silo Ridge Field Club, Amenia, New York / Photo: Courtesy of Discovery Land Company

Within minutes of chatting, Meldman shared that a love of golf wasn’t the impetus to start the members-only developments. Trying to teach the game to his sons Hunter and Will was.

Meldman, a cofounder of Casamigos tequila with his close friends Rande Gerber and George Clooney, repeated the same sentiment in our recent interview. “The traditional game wasn’t fit for kids. They hated dressing up and weren’t keen on playing by the rules,” Meldman says.

With son Hunter at Atlantic Fields, Hobe Sound, Florida / Photo: Courtesy of Discovery Land Company

“With a career in real estate, I quickly realized there wasn’t one place that brought golf, beautiful destinations and impeccable amenities together. So I created Discovery Land Company.” Meldman says he was driven by a passion for fostering family connections in a setting of laid-back luxury and world-class service and amenities.

The former means members can wear jeans and a T-shirt for dinner and flip-flops and board shorts on the golf course. Oh, and there are no tee times, and members are welcome to bring their kids. Jackets are never a requirement, nor are formal clothes—the antithesis of the strict dress codes that traditional golf clubs adhere to even today.

Discovery members enjoy a lineup of perks that might be better than anything offered at some of the finest hotels worldwide. Clubs feature Tom Fazio-designed golf courses, decked-out gyms, spas, swimming pools, movie theaters, kids’ clubs, restaurants serving farm-to-table cuisine and courts for tennis, pickleball and basketball.

Mike Meldman, George Clooney and Rande Gerber at a Casamigos House of Friends dinner / Photo: Getty Images

Meldman’s instincts have yielded big results. Today, Discovery Land Company has a collection of more than 35 domestic and international private residential communities, including CostaTerra Golf & Ocean Club in Comporta, Portugal, Playa Grande Beach Club on the Dominican Republic’s North Coast, and Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club in the Texas Hill Country near Austin.

Members include industry titans and celebrities. As wealthy as they are, they’re the opposite of flashy and prefer to stay under the radar. Property prices start well into the seven figures and are hotly sought-after assets.

Meldman says that his once single-property real-estate brand may have grown tenfold, but his ethos still speaks to the company’s roots. “I take the most pride in what hasn’t changed: our commitment to our members, creating tight-knit communities, privacy and exclusivity,” he says. “This has remained the same for 30-plus years.”

But what has changed for Discovery is the company’s newfound eye on sustainability. It’s a drive with some serious backing: Meldman’s son Hunter, who graduated from the Masters of the Environment program at the University of Colorado, was appointed as its first sustainability director a few years ago. He’s the face of the brand’s green initiatives and works in collaboration with its clubs to bring them to fruition, taking each property’s destination and setting into account.

Why Go Sustainable, And Why Now?

Today, sustainability is a cornerstone of Discovery Land Company in every respect, from the layout of the clubs to their design, construction, cuisine and amenities. Discovery’s green focus may be nascent considering the more than 30 years it has been around as a company. However, Meldman says that Discovery has always had a nature-forward approach to its developments.

Photo: Silo Ridge. Courtesy of Discovery Land Company

“We have formalized our sustainability efforts in the last three years. The interest in living in a sustainable golf community is at an all-time high, and with recent technology and products in sustainability, we’re able to support our goals for environmental preservation,” he says. “Advancements in this space are part of a larger movement in golf real estate, which is allowing us to implement new systems and methods that weren’t around when we started.”

As a starting point, Hunter notes that Discovery is working to reduce single-use plastics across its properties, “from investing in companies that develop plant-based polyresin to make straws and cutlery to working with partners that create hemp- and agave-made utensils,” he says. “Additionally, we’re in the process of developing single-use paper water bottles.” All clubs have robust landscaping and tree-planting processes, and Discovery also aims to integrate geothermal heating and cooling and water-efficiency systems across its new projects.

The Nitty-Gritty of Being Green

Beyond minimizing single-use plastics and looking to geothermal energy as a brand hallmark, every Discovery club has unique sustainability measures that are part of a larger initiative: conserving water and energy, reforesting the land, or repopulating it with native wildlife. Hunter says Discovery is “sensitive to overall water usage with its use of irrigation ponds and recapture technologies.” At Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club, for example, the Tom Fazio golf course was designed to use treated wastewater for irrigation, so it’s not reliant on municipal water.

Also, a water-harvesting system reclaims rainwater from all of Hays County, where the club is located. It collects at least 50 percent of residential roof rainwater and recharges it underground.

The Hills, East Quogue, New York / Photo: Courtesy of Discovery Land Company

Elsewhere, The Hills in the Hamptons uses renewable energy and improves area water quality through bioremediation. For those of us unfamiliar with advanced green terminology, Hunter explains that the grass acts as a biofilter, lowering the nitrogen load and allowing cleaner water to seep through the soil before entering the aquifer and ocean.

Hunter also says many of Discovery’s clubs incorporate reforestation efforts. At Silo Ridge Field Club, for one, the course is registered with the Audubon International Signature Sanctuary program for sustainable development. At Zapotal Golf & Beach Club in Costa Rica, Discovery is bringing back the landscape’s original lush tropical forest setting by replanting indigenous trees around the course and throughout the property.

Photo: Farm at Zapotal. Courtesy of John Lair / Discovery Land Company

Creating sanctuaries for local wildlife is another priority for Discovery. Barbuda Ocean Club in the Caribbean has a sea-turtle monitoring program to protect nests, crawls and hatchlings, and Playa Grande Golf & Ocean Club in the Dominican Republic built an apiary in 2021 with six hives and more than 30,000 honeybees. Hunter also references CostaTerra Golf & Ocean Club, which established a program to conserve and enhance coastal habitats.

Meldman’s Favorite Amenities and Discovery’s Future

Meldman is enthusiastic when discussing what makes his brand distinctive and what he expects its future will bring. When I asked him about the highlight amenities at every club, he said the courses themselves, which are built around natural landscapes and offer a fun, laid-back vibe.

Then there are Discovery’s legendary comfort stations. “They’re what I like to call sanctuaries—basically mini-restaurants that serve everything from candy bars to foie gras to warm pretzels where you can kick back and soak up every minute of the experience,” Meldman says.

Lastly, he calls out the brand’s Outdoor Pursuits program, specific to each destination. “Think zip-lining at Playa Grande in the Dominican Republic, clay-pigeon shooting at Taymouth Castle in Scotland, and sand surfing at Discovery Dunes in Dubai,” he says. “It’s as nonstop or as relaxed as you and your family want it to be.”

Photo: City Club Discovery Dunes in Dubai. Courtesy of Discovery Land Company

Meldman says Discovery’s members are primarily families, breaking another golf club stereotype. “There are a lot of people in their mid 30s to mid 40s enjoying the clubs with their families, and that includes young children,” he says.

And for some, their Discovery properties aren’t vacation homes—they’re primary residences. “We experienced exponential club growth during Covid and the post-pandemic era when a lot of members wanted to make their vacation home their primary home,” Meldman says. “Because our communities have their own medical staff, food and beverage services, wellness programs and children’s academic and recreational programs, our members have everything they need.”

Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club, Texas / Photo: Courtesy of Discovery Land Company

Discovery’s coming years will continue to see the company build on its green initiatives. They will also include more city locations, Meldman says. These spaces outside its residential clubs give members a base to explore urban areas, such as Driftwood Downtown in Austin and Discovery Downtown in Dubai, which are already open. “Over the next several years, we plan to grow our city-club footprint in the destinations that matter most to our members so they can continue to experience a seamless Discovery lifestyle anywhere in the world,” Meldman says.