BEDMINSTER — Donald Trump may be a proud New Yorker, but he's thinking about spending eternity in New Jersey.

The colorful real estate mogul will soon seek the blessing of a state board to build a private cemetery beside the rolling hills and silken greens of his prized Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.

The 1.5-acre site would become the exclusive final resting place for wealthy club members who pay as much as $300,000 in membership fees. And a section of the lush plot would be carved out for Trump and his next of kin, said Ed Russo, a Trump consultant.

"It’s a very personal decision, but he’s considering it," Russo said. "This is really about members, but we do plan to set something aside for Mr. Trump and his family."

While Trump owns golf courses across the country, as well as in Scotland and Puerto Rico, Bedminster holds a special place in his heart. Whenever asked — and even when he’s not — Trump insists it’s one of the top courses in the world and has lobbied unsuccessfully to have it host the U.S. Open.

This is not the first time the 65-year-old Trump, who boasts an impressive 4 handicap, has flirted with the idea of spending the afterlife nestled by his award-winning course, which opened in 2004. In 2007, he filed drawings with Somerset County township for a family mausoleum that called for a 19-foot-high, classical-style stone structure to be built alongside the first hole at Trump National Golf Club, which features two courses.

The building was to have four imposing obelisks surrounding its exterior and a small altar and six vaults inside. But he withdrew the plan after it drew criticism from local officials in this swath of New Jersey graced by horse farms and imposing mansions who said the memorial was — like Trump himself — gaudy and out of step with the town’s rural character.

"He was uncomfortable with the discussion, so he stepped back," Russo said. "Then I did some soul-searching myself and talked to members who loved the idea of a cemetery, and I was smart enough to bring it to Mr. Trump and he thought it was a great idea."

Russo would not rule out that Trump would once again seek to have some structure on the site.

Golfers, like fishermen, are so passionate — even fanatical — about their pastime that they want their ashes spread out on their field of sport, says Russo, who is thinking of having his own ashes dispersed at a golf course near his home in the Florida Keys.

But family members of golf junkies are often forced to honor loved ones’ wishes in the "dark of night" rather than during a formal service sanctioned by the golf course, Russo said, and Trump wants to change that.

"It’s one thing to be buried in a typical cemetery," Russo said, "but it’s another if you’re buried alongside the fifth fairway of Trump National, where golfers will hold memberships over many generations."

Members who have their ashes spread on the golf course can also elect to have a permanent memorial, such as a bust, at the burial site, Russo said.

Mixing golf and the afterlife — a veritable fairway to heaven — is not a new concept. Only months ago, a funeral home in Washington state opened a golf-themed cemetery featuring a putting green, fairway and sand trap.

Arne Swanson, who conceived the idea, said he was golfing with his son in Seattle two years ago when play stopped to allow a group to spread the ashes of their loved ones.

"I thought, ‘We are missing something here,’ " said Swanson, a marketing director for Dignity Memorial, a network of funeral homes. "Society is finding all kind of ways to memorialize people, but golf is not one of them. True golfers really find meaning in this kind of memorialization."

While officials in Bedminster still have reservations about Trump’s plans, they gave it their blessing in August with a resolution allowing the plan to be submitted to the state’s Cemetery Board, municipal records show.

Council members expressed concern about the size of possible structures on the site, saying they could be "overwhelming and garish," according to minutes of the meeting.

Bedminster Mayor Robert Holtaway said he feared Trump’s resting place could become a kitschy tourist stop. And according to minutes of the meeting, he even noted that "there is an issue in Austria where a Nazi war criminal was buried in a cemetery that became a cult following and tourist attraction."

Russo said Trump is aware of the concerns and would not let the cemetery intrude on the town’s genteel nature.

He said Trump is about two months from submitting the application to the state — which must approve every new cemetery — as well as to the township’s Land Use Board.

Trump has a powerful friend in Trenton in Gov. Chris Christie, and lavished praise on the governor when he was considering a presidential bid.

"Donald Trump can be buried anywhere," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the governor, "so I guess we should be honored that he’s considering New Jersey."