Kent Arnold and brothers Bob and Ed Troutt have created a golf course-subdivision cookie cutter in Jonesboro that’s proving successful outside the state.

The three are developing Sage Meadow in northeast Jonesboro. Arnold calls it an “affordable, amenitized golf course development.”

He and the Troutts spent about $2.5 million to acquire the 500-acre tract. Ground has not been broken and no curbs have been cut, but they’ve already sold 100 lots in the $30,000-$40,000 range, recouping more than their initial investment.

In Florida, the three acquired a 500-acre tract that Arnold first became aware of in an Internet search. In the past 30 days, they’ve sold about 100 lots to three builders for $3 million.

In an understatement, Arnold says the projects have been “wildly successful.”

The pattern the three are using in Jonesboro and Bobcat Trails, Fla., between Sarasota and Fort Myers is building a master-planned community around a golf course and offering the lots at affordable prices.

“A lot of times in the golf course communities we’ve seen, people go in and build monuments to themselves,” says Arnold, a Jonesboro home builder. “They have houses that start at $250,000 and up. In our developments, we are trying to start at $250,000 and go down.”

The communities include about 10 home products, Arnold says, including patio homes, garden homes, townhomes, small single-family houses, golf course lots, lakefront lots and estate lots.