"We've built 'great' golf courses and we've built 'good' golf courses, and I don't want to build any more 'good' golf courses. That may not happen because even if you go to a Rembrandt and say, 'Paint me a masterpiece,' there's no guarantee that you'll get a masterpiece. But that's what we're striving for."

"When someone leaves one of our golf courses, they don't take with them a loaf of bread or a pound of bacon–they take a memory, an experience. Any employee or any circumstance can rob from that memory, but if it's done right, the experience will be seamless."

THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO, I founded Landmark Land Company with the sole mission of creating well-planned, high-quality communities in beautiful places. Thirty-six years later, Landmark is the most experienced and respected developer in the industry. Most experienced, because it has done more, and most respected, because it has done better. A company does not produce the highest quality over a long period of time and become recognized as the best without special qualities. Here are a few of Landmark's unique attributes:

Alone among its competitors, Landmark is a vertically integrated company. Within its corporate structure, it contains the various disciplines necessary to conceive, design, finance, develop, market and operate resort and lifestyle communities. We are the only company I know of that goes from 'womb to tomb,' from site selection, land planning, government approvals, golf architecture, course construction, clubhouse design and all the other elements that go into building a cohesive community.

We are not vertically integrated to save money, but the concept is based on the firm belief that different groups with different interests, backgrounds and motivations (and bottom lines) cannot develop the seamless integrated community that is necessary for quality.

What is required to create greatness is that the developers have the talent, passion and experience to work together, with no detail too small, to fulfill a mission that gives them pride of accomplishment. At Landmark, the principals have worked together for more than 25 years. They believe that what they do is who they are, and the results of their efforts match their motivation. Most of our employees are owners in everything we do, both creatively and financially.

In almost every case, Landmark is the principal. Normally, Landmark will work as a managing partner and invest alongside a financial partner to create the development. Therefore, there is both professional and financial fulfillment when we create quality.

Landmark's ambition is boundless, but it has no ambition to be the biggest or the richest. It very simply wants to be the best. Because of the intensity of passion required to focus on the thousands of details involved in the creation of a great resort community, to meet the Landmark standard, we simply must limit the number of opportunities we pursue. Sadly, this means that we will not have the capacity to pursue every good development, because we must have the focus to make each of our endeavors of the highest quality.

In a world where temporary and often mindless expedience drives the ever increasing abundance of mediocrity, in a world that thirsts for excellence and recognizes that quality is the safest investment in bad times and the most profitable investment in good times, I believe the Landmark brand has a near unlimited future.

Gerald G. Barton
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

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