Two golf-anchored communities. About forty minutes of driving between them. Both served by districts that rate five stars on the state report card, both private clubs, both among Central Ohio's best-known luxury enclaves. The houses you walk through, the bill you write every January, and the covenant you sign on top of it all look nothing alike.
This is the comparison move-up buyers in the $900K to $1.6M band keep asking me about. Tartan Fields or the New Albany Country Club. Northwest of Columbus or northeast. Palmer or Nicklaus. Here is what the data says about both, where your money lands at each, what the tax bill actually looks like, and how to decide.
The two communities in one paragraph
The New Albany Country Club community sits inside the New Albany master plan east of Columbus, anchored by Jack Nicklaus's 27-hole signature course that opened in 1991-92. The dominant subdivisions are Lambton Park (about 250 estate homes), Wiveliscombe (about 30 custom homes), and Edge of Woods (about 16 gated homes), with Cotswold-inspired Georgian architecture enforced by a four-sided red brick and white horse-plank fence covenant.
Tartan Fields sits northwest of Columbus in Concord Township, Delaware County (not the City of Dublin), anchored by an Arnold Palmer 18-hole par-72 that opened in 1998. The course winds through the community, lots run larger, the architecture is varied executive product rather than covenant-locked Georgian, and the area is served by the Olentangy Local School District.
What the clubs cost
The New Albany Country Club operates as a non-equity club. Industry-aggregated data puts initiation in the $50,000 to $100,000 range and monthly dues in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. The course is Nicklaus signature with 27 holes, a large fitness center, dining, and tennis. The Club at Tartan Fields is a separate equity-style structure, with initiation reportedly near $5,000, golf dues in the $7,000 to $15,000 annual range, and a social membership near $2,500 per year. The course is Palmer signature, 18 holes par 72.
Important: the NACC initiation at the high end is more than ten times what Tartan Fields charges at the low end, though Tartan Fields golf dues run higher annually. At both clubs, ownership in the community does not automatically include club access, so confirm exactly what your purchase includes.
What $1.25 million gets you in Tartan Fields
At the $1.25M point in Tartan Fields the depth is real and recent. Three closings to anchor on:
- 9041 Tartan Fields Drive sold March 2, 2026 at $1,250,000.
- 8168 Campbell Lane sold March 17, 2026 at $1,250,000.
- 9120 Tartan Fields Drive sold August 28, 2025 at $1,525,000.
The product runs to executive ranches and contemporary craftsman homes on larger Delaware County lots, often a half acre and up, brick-front with stone accents, three- to four-car garages, finished lower levels. Course views command the premium.
What $1.5 million to $4 million gets you in the NACC community
NACC-community closings documented from Franklin County Auditor records over a recent stretch ran from roughly $2.15M to $4.2M at the upper end, with active flagship listings near $4.25M. The Wiveliscombe enclave sits more accessibly in the $900K to $1.5M band depending on lot.
The pattern is structurally different from Tartan Fields at every price point. NACC homes carry four-sided red brick as a covenant requirement, not an upgrade. Lot sizes run around three-quarters of an acre in Lambton Park with a denser landscape rhythm. Edge of Woods is the only true gated micro-enclave. The architectural language is enforced Cotswold-Georgian, white horse-plank fencing, controlled streetscape.
What the extra dollar is buying in each
In Tartan Fields, the dollar above Central Ohio median buys land, an Arnold Palmer course, an Olentangy school address, and proximity to Bridge Park, Polaris, and the Dublin tech corridor. The covenant language is light, you can build varied product, and lots are bigger. In the NACC community, the dollar buys land scarcity, a Jack Nicklaus signature course, a New Albany-Plain Local School District address, the covenant aesthetic, and proximity to Intel and the New Albany International Business Park. The covenant language is strict and the street rhythm is enforced.
The carpenter read: NACC buys you a community where four-sided brick and white plank fence are required and the streetscape is consistent because the master plan demands it. Tartan Fields buys you a community where each lot can be its own architectural statement and the lot itself is bigger. Neither is the wrong answer. They are different design philosophies.
The tax bill differential
This is where casual luxury buyers stop paying attention, and it costs them at the closing table.
The City of New Albany / Plain Township / NAPLS tax district carries an effective rate of roughly $2,421.88 per $100,000 of fair market value per a recent published calculator. On a $1,250,000 home that runs roughly $30,275 per year. The Concord Township / Olentangy district in Delaware County typically brings the total effective rate to roughly $2,000 to $2,200 per $100,000, which on a $1,250,000 home runs roughly $25,000 to $27,500 per year.
Both figures are effective rates after HB920 rollbacks, with homestead exemption on top where eligible. The honest read: at the $1.25M point you are paying roughly $3,000 to $5,000 per year more in property tax inside the NACC district than in Tartan Fields, which compounds to roughly $30,000 to $50,000 over a ten-year hold. Pull both parcels through the Franklin County Auditor and Delaware County Auditor before you sign anything. The differential is not headline-grabbing, but it is real money.
The schools are not the tiebreaker
Both communities are served by districts that have earned five stars on Ohio's state report card. Olentangy Local Schools serves Tartan Fields, and New Albany-Plain Local Schools serves the NACC community, and both rate at the top of the state on the published report card. Confirm the assigned schools for any specific address, because boundaries do not always follow community lines. The report-card data does not separate these two, so decide on the factors that actually differ: lot size, architecture, club cost, tax, and commute.
Where the two genuinely diverge: job density
This is the substantive differentiator. The NACC community sits next to the New Albany International Business Park, about 12,000 acres housing over 60 companies including Intel, Amgen, Alkermes, Aetna, Discover, and AEP, employing more than 20,000 people. Intel committed $28 billion to the New Albany campus, with Module 1 operations targeting 2030-2031. That job density and buildout tailwind is unmatched in Central Ohio.
Tartan Fields sits closer to the Polaris corridor, Dublin's tech employers, and Bridge Park. Dublin's economy is mature and diversified, but it is not on the same job-growth curve as the Intel buildout. In plain English, NACC home values have a tailwind from Intel coming online that Tartan Fields does not, and Tartan Fields trades that for larger lots, the Palmer course, established Dublin amenity density, and a lower property tax bill.
The commute read
NACC area: downtown Columbus about 23 minutes via I-670, John Glenn International about 16 minutes, Easton 7 to 10 minutes, Intel about 6 miles from the New Albany Village Center. Tartan Fields area: Polaris Fashion Place about 5 miles south, Bridge Park 10 to 15 minutes south, downtown roughly 30 minutes outside rush hour, John Glenn roughly 25 minutes.
If your job is at Intel, the business park, or the northeast side, NACC wins on commute. If your job is at Polaris, Dublin, or the northwest side, Tartan Fields wins. If you spend your time downtown, NACC is the shorter drive.
How to decide
If you want the covenant-enforced Georgian aesthetic, Intel-corridor proximity, and you will pay a roughly $3,000 to $5,000 per year tax premium and a higher club initiation, the NACC community is your answer. If you want a larger lot, the Palmer course, a more relaxed architectural language, lower property tax, lower club initiation, and proximity to Dublin and Polaris, Tartan Fields is your answer. Both are served by top-rated districts, so do not use the schools to decide.
If you want me to pull current parcels, run live tax math on the specific lot you are looking at, and walk you through the build-quality covenant differences in person, call me. I work both markets every week. If $600K rather than $1M is your number, I broke down Powell vs New Albany at $600,000, and there is more on the New Albany market here.
Adam Geuy at NextHome Experience. 937-239-2919.