Playground of the rich and famous: Exclusive Montana club where Tom Brady, Bill Gates and Justin Timberlake relax – and members must OWN a home, pay $400,000 to join and hand over $41,500 a year in dues

In the summer before this year’s football season, on a warm and sunny July day, Tom Brady reclined on a massage table in an airy room furnished with dark wood and stone, a chandelier made of antlers hanging from the ceiling and the lush Montana countryside visible through the windows. His Patriots teammates were hanging around, too, and on this particular trip together they raced ATVs through the stunning landscape and played golf, both on the course and virtually in another lavish, Western-themed room – teasing each other as a Patriots game played on a huge flatscreen TV and swiping snacks from the spread on a table underneath it.

This is the playground of the rich and famous. It’s called the Yellowstone Club, a members-only oasis on its own mountain in Montana – and, while Brady recovers from the Patriots’ devastating Super Bowl defeat on Sunday, at least he can take comfort in the fact that he’s among a select group of people who own homes here.

The Club sprawls across 15,200 acres, and Brady is far from the only famous face walking the grounds. Bill and Melinda Gates have a place here, as does Justin Timberlake and wife Jessica Biel. Google founder Eric Schmidt is another neighbor. Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews and former NHL player Jarrett Stoll got married here last June in a lavish ceremony. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is rumored to own a home in the resort. It was to Yellowstone Club that Ashton Kutcher whisked his latest squeeze after his divorce from Demi Moore; Touched by an Angel actress Roma Downey rang in the New Year here just a few weeks ago.

+24
View gallery

The Yellowstone Club, in Big Sky, Montana, bills itself as ‘the world’s only private ski, golf and adventure community’ whose ‘superior amenities, easy charm and overwhelming natural beauty present an incomparable venue for luxurious mountain living, year-round recreation, and cherished family traditions’

+24
View gallery

The members-only resort boasts 2,700 acres of ‘Private Powder’ (they’ve trademarked the phrase), as well as 18 lifts, more than 100 trails of varying difficulty, drops of 2,700 vertical feet and a terrain park for snowboarders and skiers

+24
View gallery

Yellowstone Club prides itself on the resort’s exclusivity and privacy, employing ‘a professional public safety and security staff’ as well as having its own fire department and emergency medical services team

+24
View gallery

Tom Brady, left, overlooks the ruggedly beautiful landscape surrounding Yellowstone Club with Patriots teammate Julian Edelman, center, and trainer Alex Guerrero in a scene from Facebook Watch show Tom vs. Time

+24
View gallery

+24
View gallery

Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen (left) are among the most famous of the Yellowstone Club members, as are singer Justin Timberlake and his wife, actress Jessica Biel (right)

Joining – or even visiting – the club is no small feat. Only members or members’ guests are allowed in, and the fee for entry into that elite circle is payable only by those with the deepest pockets. You must own property at the resort to be a member; options range from condominiums (they start at just under $5million) to huge, custom-built mansions (an example: a six-bedroom, nine-bathroom pile for a cool $16million) to ranches that range from 160 to 360 acres, with price tags of up to $25million.

Once you’re a committed property owner, then you can fork out $400,000 to become a Yellowstone Club member – as well as $41,500 a year in dues. The Club bills itself as ‘the world’s only private ski, golf and adventure community’ whose ‘superior amenities, easy charm and overwhelming natural beauty present an incomparable venue for luxurious mountain living, year-round recreation, and cherished family traditions.’

Tom Brady was visibly upset after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 in dramatic fashion in Minneapolis on Sunday night

To maintain its exclusivity, the Yellowstone Club has set a limit of 864 members.

Promotional materials boast: ‘Yellowstone Club is approximately one hour from Bozeman, Montana, giving Members and their guests access from major metropolitan areas throughout the country by way of commercial airline or private jet service;’ XOJET is the preferred private jet charter of the Club and offers exclusive fixed-rate pricing for members and guests. Transfers to and from the airport can be arranged by car or helicopter.

And once members and their guests have arrived, there’s more than enough to keep them entertained (members reportedly spend an average of 60 days at Yellowstone Club per year). The resort offers 2,700 acres of ‘Private Powder’ (they’ve trademarked the phrase), as well as 18 lifts, more than 100 trails of varying difficulty, drops of 2,700 vertical feet and a terrain park for snowboarders and skiers.

Off the piste, there’s an 18-hole golf course designed by British Open and Senior Open champion Tom Weiskopf (he and his wife, obviously, are also Yellowstone members.) The vibe is supposed to be relaxed and casual; the champion golfer said in one interview that he’s happy to ‘play in jeans all the time.’

‘You’re in Montana, for God’s sake,’ he said in 2016. ‘It’s still the Wild West.’

That attitude extends to dining; options range from gourmet to ‘Montana casual.’ There’s Lakeside Lobby, where members can enjoy a complimentary breakfast and all-day coffee (the breakfast buffet used to be a caviar bar.) But membership fees don’t cover the options at the Club’s myriad other eateries.

Warren Miller Lodge – named for the skier and filmmaker who was a beloved member and central to Yellowstone before his death last month – functions as something of an epicenter for the Club. The building offers dining, lounge areas, shopping, concierge services, a spa, fitness center and business center. There’s the seasonal Timberline Café at the top of the Lodge Lift, as well as the Frost Bite Diner and an elegant dining room in the Rainbow Lodge, which was renovated last year, doubling its square footage. Visitors and members can also enjoy ‘sugar shacks’ dotted all over the mountain, stocked with candy and drinks for their enjoyment, along with comfort stations on the golf course.

+24
View gallery

Brady and his buddies enjoy a round of golf on the estate, which features a multitude of year-round entertainment including  fitness facilities with personal training, tennis courts, basketball courts, paddle tennis courts, an outdoor pool, spa, treatment rooms, and locker rooms

+24

A range of accommodation is available at the Club, where all members must be property owners in addition to paying a $400,000 deposit and $41,500 in annual dues

+24
View gallery

The Rainbow Lodge at Yellowstone Club was recently renovated and includes a dining room and kitchen expansion, patio, two spas, copper pool and a workout facility with men’s and women’s locker rooms

+24
View gallery

The Club is located ‘approximately one hour from Bozeman, Montana, giving Members and their guests access from major metropolitan areas throughout the country by way of commercial airline or private jet service;’ XOJET is the preferred private jet charter of the Club and offers exclusive fixed-rate pricing for members and guests. Transfers to and from the airport can be arranged by car or helicopter

+24
View gallery

The homes at Yellowstone Club – where members spend an average of 60 days a year – range in size and style, running from condominiums to custom-built houses and ranches that can reach 360 acres and $25million

+24
View gallery

Yellowstone Club features its own mountain, with the resort’s common areas and private homes offering spectacular views

+24
View gallery

+24
View gallery

Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews, left, wed former NHL player Jarrett Stoll last year in a lavish ceremony at Yellowstone Club, which counts Bill and Melinda Gates, right, as members

A major perk, for members, is the programming for children. There’s a youth center with a movie theater, rock climbing wall, indoor basketball, arts and crafts, dining and an arcade; staff also provide supervised daytime activities and day care. The Yellowstone Club also offers a ‘whimsical, kid-focused mountain play area in the trees.’

So family-focused is the Club, in fact, that Timberlake and Biel decided they should raise their son in Montana.

‘They want to raise him out of the spotlight,’ Us Weekly reported in 2015, quoting an ‘insider.’ Another source told the magazine that Biel, who spent part of her youth in Colorado, ‘is happiest when she’s in the mountains.’

But perhaps the most impressive quality of the Club for members – particularly, according to reports, Timberlake – is the privacy and security. The property employs ‘a professional public safety and security staff,’ allegedly run by a former member of the Secret Service, and has its own fire department and emergency medical services team. Unlike other hives of the rich and famous – London, Los Angeles or New York, for example – there’s basically no threat of being caught by the paparazzi or pesky fans.

+24
View gallery

Yellowstone Club was the brainchild of timber baron Tim Blixseth and his wife Edra, but the resort went bankrupt in 2008; it turned out Blixseth couldn’t repay a $375million Credit Suisse loan and had spent much of that money to fund his own lavish lifestyle

Writer Anne Helen Peterson, in a piece for Buzzfeed exploring Timberlake’s upcoming album Man of the Woods, writes: ‘As several people who’ve visited have told me, when Timberlake is in any of the club’s tony public spaces, guests are quietly asked not to “request selfies with Mr. Timberlake.”’

Many lucky non-members who have earned an invitation, however, have certainly gushed about the Club and its offerings. There are barely any reviews of the resort on Facebook or Tripadvisor, for example, given the notoriously slim chance of scoring a trip.

One Reno woman, writing on TripAdvisor in April 2014, posted: ‘Friends invited us to this insane resort – for those that can afford the kajillion dollar house on the property and the yearly dues – can enjoy private powder and fabulous amenities. Will be difficult to ski elsewhere after this week! “Cavity shacks” on the mountain stocked with candy and cookies, soup and soda, fabulous bar and food, a kid area with climbing gyms, movie theaters, video games. And a diner … 4 star spa. Overall a glimpse of how the elite live!!!’

Another less enthusiastic poster, however, derided the experience of visiting Yellowstone Club as a prospective member and  homeowner. User Cands2009, writing in June 2016, labeled the club an ‘elitist mecca.’

‘You want to go somewhere (if you can be fortunate enough to be invited) that is so over the top elitist and pretentious you can smell it down the road? This is it for you.

‘It is truly a prime example of what is starting to go wrong with the Big Sky area. Heck you have to write an essay about your family and work life to even be invited in to look at properties,’ the user wrote, adding: ‘The real locals despise the place and most of the people in it for what they have brought to the area.

‘We were looking to possibly invest in a property in here and are so glad we did some digging around before we did.

‘Yes the grounds are beautiful but it comes at a great price, literally and figuratively.’