What began years ago as a round of trespassing culminated Thursday in a fully legal golf event: opening day at Rodeo Dunes.
Set in the high plains of Colorado, the project is the latest from Sand Valley co-developer Michael Keiser Jr., whose name is closely linked to remote golf. But Rodeo Dunes is not remote. Not by a long shot. It just feels it, stitched through chop hills roughly 30 minutes from the Denver airport, in a setting with a sweet sense of remove.
The loneliness of the surrounds is central to the Rodeo Dunes origin story, which dates to the winter of 2019, when Keiser hopped a flight from his home in Wisconsin, then hopped a fence to explore a swath of sandy land he’d found on Google Maps. Barely had he set off through the dunes when Keiser was confronted by a ranch hand on horseback, who ushered him off property and suggested that next time, he try knocking. That was Keiser’s introduction to the Cervi family, rodeo pioneers who have plied the land for about as long as Colorado has been a state.
Negotiations were both cordial and glacial, eventually producing a partnership that gave Keiser the land and the Cervi family a stake in what would follow. He tapped Bill Coore of Coore & Crenshaw design for the routing — a natural fit for a site so naturally suited to golf. Eleven holes opened for preview play last year. On Thursday, the full layout was laid bare.
The course is in the Coore aesthetic: light on the land, wide off the tee, beautifully contoured, and ornamented with dramatic blowout bunkers. Furrowed brows and runoffs fringe the greens, complicating approaches and inviting creative recoveries. Standout holes include the split-fairway par-4 4th, where a deep fairway bunker punishes the most aggressive line off the tee; the short par-3 14th, its green tucked into a natural bowl; and the short par-4 17th, drivable to big hitters undaunted by a cavernous bunker awaiting short and left.
The scene on opening day matched the setting. The Rockies in the distance were freshly capped with snow, though the storm that brought it had cleared. The sun was out, a prairie breeze was blowing, and in the near distance, earthmovers were doing gentle grading on what will become the second course at Rodeo Dunes, designed by longtime Coore associate Jim Craig.
For now, the other infrastructure is minimal — a pro shop operating out of a trailer, with a clubhouse, restaurant and lodging still to come. Keiser isn’t apologizing for it. For now, he said, the energy is going into the golf. Most tee times in 2026 are going to founding members, whose investments are funding the build-out. The tee sheets open fully to the public next year. For more from Keiser on Rodeo Dunes, watch the video above.
