The post Rodeo Dunes preview: Coore-Crenshaw’s latest design coming to life appeared first on Golf.

The post Rodeo Dunes preview: Coore-Crenshaw’s latest design coming to life appeared first on Golf.

It wasn’t the first rodeo for Michael Keiser. But it was a first look at his latest project, on bucking-bronco land in Colorado.

If you own clubs and you like to travel, you probably know of Keiser, son of Bandon Dunes founder, Mike Keiser, and co-developer, with his brother, Chris, of Sand Valley in Wisconsin. You’ve also likely heard that he’s been busy adding to the family’s Dream Golf portfolio, in the Colorado sand hills, roughly 50 minutes northeast of Denver.

Early this week, Keiser and Co. offered a sneak peek of their destination-in-the-making with a day of preview play at Rodeo Dunes.

All 18 holes are grassed at the property’s namesake course, a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design. But with the turf too young in places to absorb wear and tear, play was limited to 11 holes: Nos. 1-4 and 12-18. That sampling, though, was a faithful taste of what’s to come: a light-on-the-land, walking-only layout stitched through the folds of a tussled, sandy canvas. Fairways bend and sweep to the lilt of the terrain, with plenty of width but an emphasis on angles.

The par-4 1st, for instance, is a friendly opener with ample leeway right, but the best line is up the left, over sizable bunkers that shroud the landing area. Fan or block your drive and you’ll see it touch down in the short grass. What you won’t see is the green on your approach. You don’t often see other players, either, as the heaving dunes hide portions of the course, which pop into view from high points on the property along with vistas that stretch to the Rockies.  

The chop hills surrounding Rodeo Dunes are reminiscent of those that ring Ballyneal, in eastern Colorado, as well as several esteemed clubs on the high plains of Nebraska, including GrayBull and Sand Hills. The most glaring difference is that those courses are private. They’re also more remote. That Rodeo Dunes will be open to the public, less than an hour’s drive of a major metropolitan area, already makes it feel like a place apart.

3 other things to know…

About those tee times

Preview play is meant to help pique public interest, but the public will still have to wait a bit. After this week’s preview play, the course shut down for the season, and in 2026, it will be open primarily for its founding members. The official public opening is scheduled for 2027. Rodeo Dunes will start accepting 2027 tee times next spring.

More golf to come

Like Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley before it, Rodeo Dunes is getting started with a single course. But there’s room for more golf, potentially six courses. A second has already been routed through the dunes by former longtime Coore & Crenshaw shaper Jim Craig, who will be stamping his name on his first solo design credit. If all goes smoothly, a Dream Golf rep told me, the second course may see preview play late next year.

In Texas, too!

A golf-nut friend recently promised me that at some point in the future, we will be able to walk across the United States, coast to coast, on a contiguous Keiser-owned golf property. He was kidding. But Dream Golf does have serious plans. Next up: Wild Spring Dunes in East Texas, where the first course — a Tom Doak design — is rounding into shape, with the possibility of preview play late next year.

The post Rodeo Dunes preview: Coore-Crenshaw’s latest design coming to life appeared first on Golf.

The post Tom Doak’s new Texas course site evokes Pinehurst, Pine Valley appeared first on Golf.

The post Tom Doak’s new Texas course site evokes Pinehurst, Pine Valley appeared first on Golf.

MOUNT ENTERPRISE, Texas — As storied architect Tom Doak canvassed one of his latest projects on a scorching day in remote East Texas earlier this summer, he couldn’t help but be excited by the landscape that sprawled out before him.

“It’s unlike any property I’ve worked on in the last 10 years,” Doak says.

That land is 2,400 rolling acres of a former Texas hunting lease that will soon become Wild Spring Dunes, the Lone Star State’s first course by Dream Golf, the powerhouse developers behind Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley Resort.

The facility, which is scheduled for a soft opening of eight holes later this fall and a full 18 by spring 2026, will ultimately house 36 holes. A second layout by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw already has been staked out with construction expected to begin later this year or early next.

The site, roughly two and a half hours southeast of Dallas, also will offer resort lodging behind the 18th green of the Doak course; private cabins and homes; a short course; and long views of the wooded surrounds.

“It will feel like Pinehurst with some elevation changes,” said general manager Mike Abbott, who previously held posts at the Tiger Woods-designed Bluejack National outside Houston and former longtime PGA Tour site TPC-Las Colinas outside Dallas.

“With all due respect, I don’t think Texas has a really great golf resort [yet],” Abbott said. “And I’ve been to most of them. This will be truly special.”

After making three trips to the site over the last four months, Doak agreed.

“The changes in the topography and transitions are what really get me excited here,” Doak said. “I certainly get some Pinehurst, even Pine Valley, vibes.”

Construction on the Doak course, which will be a par-72 that stretches to nearly 7,120 yards from the back tees, has been ongoing this year. The development of private housing, along with resort lodging and clubhouse, will begin next year.

The Doak course starts out with a gentle dogleg par-4, near the top of what locals call Mt. Baldy. There are sweeping views of the valley below with carries over brush and dry gullies, with a spring seeping up from the ground that inspired the course’s name.

Eleven bridges link the property together. Abbott said the course will be walking only (with caddies on offer) part of the year and permit riding the other half.

Dream Golf has had much success drawing golfers in droves to such remote destinations as coastal Oregon (Bandon Dunes) and central Wisconsin (Sand Valley); Rodeo Dunes, a Dream Golf facility near Denver, will open later this year. The piney woods of East Texas, where temperatures are regularly in the 90-100 degree range in the summer, follow the same if-you-build-it-they-will-come pattern.

The land for Wild Spring Dunes was discovered by Dallas businessman Brett Messerall, who first contacted Doak. Messerall and his team, inspired by a trip to Sand Valley, contacted developer Michael Keiser. Michael was already overseeing significant expansion at Sand Valley and a new build, Rodeo Dunes, in Colorado. When he visited the Texas site, he fell in love with the land and Doak’s vision for it.

Doak had already worked with Keiser on the Lido and Sedge Valley in Wisconsin, so there was a familiarity and sense of direction for both the designer and the developer.

While there is no private real estate for sale at Bandon Dunes and very little at Sand Valley, Wild Spring Dunes will break from that mold. Dream Golf already is selling “founders” lots that will be paired with the kind of top-shelf hospitality for which Discovery Land properties have become known.

“The service will be off the charts,” Abbott said.

Safe bet the whole place will be.

The post Tom Doak’s new Texas course site evokes Pinehurst, Pine Valley appeared first on Golf.