Construction starts at Rodeo Dunes, the next big Keiser family project

True to its billing, “modern minimalist” course design involves little earth-moving. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any heavy-lifting.

At the latest Keiser family project, in the plains of Colorado, the hands-on labor has gotten underway. Construction has begun on Rodeo Dunes.

If you’re a course junkie, you probably know that Rodeo Dunes will be a public golf resort, set on a rollicking, sandy canvas, less than an hour from the Denver International Airport. The main players behind it are Michael and Chris Keiser, sons of Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, and the co-developers and owners of Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin.

But those aren’t the only names that give the project headline heft. The site, which is a part of a ranch belonging to a prominent rodeo family, has room for up to six courses, the first conceived by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. Famed for their light-on-the-land designs, the duo made their first big mark in architecture with Sand Hills, in Mullen, Neb., a profoundly influential course (Bandon Dunes was among the many projects that drew inspiration from it) that today ranks 11th on GOLF’s list of Top 100 Courses in the World.

For Crenshaw, Rodeo Dunes feels a bit like a return to those beginnings.

“It’s hard to look at this site and not think of Sand Hills,” he says.

Marked by towering dunes, the terrain has also been likened to the linksland of the southwest coast of Ireland: Ballybunion by way of the American West, flanked by rolling grasslands, with long views of the Rocky Mountains.

“It’s an amazing landscape,” Coore says. “And the first time we’ve had a site like this in America since Sand Hills.”

Given the sandy base and the rumpled topography, much of the course will be shaped by hand and small machinery, not blasted into form by large equipment. But it won’t be too much longer. Some preview pay is slated for next year, with a grand opening expecting in 2026.