Bandon on the plains

Tthe first hint that a course was in the chute came in an early 2021 interview Mike Keiser gave in Links magazine.

Asked if he was still actively looking for land to develop, the septuagenarian visionary behind the Dream Golf meccas of Bandon Dunes, Cabot Links and Sand Valley responded: “My sons have been very good at finding additional sites that I never would have dreamed of — one in Texas, one in Georgia, one in Colorado. I won’t reveal more than that, but all three are sand sites and are quite exciting.”

By Jon Rizzi

That exciting Colorado sand site, as the golf world now knows, will soon spawn Rodeo Dunes, potentially the next chart-topping, multicourse masterwork in Keiser’s Dream Golf canon. Acquired from rancher and rodeo magnate Mike Cervi and his sons, the 2,000-acre property — a fraction of the vast Cervi land holdings — lies less than 50 miles northeast of Denver, due north of exit 48 (Roggen) on I-76.

“This one couldn’t have been easier to find,” says Michael

Keiser, the older of Mike Keiser’s two sons (the younger is Chris). They have been entrusted with extending the family’s legacy of creating extraordinary golf experiences.

Michael Keiser had heard such an experience existed in Colorado at the private Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club south of Holyoke on the Eastern Plains. In November of 2018, as he cooled his heels at Denver International Airport after a cancelled flight, the developer did some prospecting on Google Earth for sandy terrain between Holyoke and Denver. “It took about five minutes to see there were dunes and big blowouts west of Fort Morgan — near a town called Roggen.”

He returned the following week and drove to the site. He may have jumped a fence or two as he hiked well more than a mile between the frontage road and a sea of sandy mounds. “I was blown away when I walked up over that first dune,” he says. “I saw golf holes everywhere.”

This wasn’t Keiser’s first rodeo. He’d scouted sites for years, including six months exploring the sand dunes of Central Wisconsin to confirm Sand Valley’s golf potential. But this Rodeo was the first time he’d had “months of discovery come into focus in a single moment — it hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s not typical.”

When a ranch hand for the Cervis questioned why he was trespassing, Keiser took him aback. “I asked, “Are you a golfer? Because you’ve got a great golf course here.”

The Keisers developed a relationship with the Cervis, inviting the nongolfer patriarch to see their low-environmental-impact achievements at Bandon and Sand Valley. Cervi eventually concurred that the sandy soil, steep dunes and heaving land would better serve groups of ambulating golfers than herds of grazing cattle. He sold the Keisers the property’s existing agricultural water rights. Keiser contends the sprawling site, which could eventually feature six golf courses, would not use any more than the 1,156 acre-feet of water currently allocated.

Michael Keiser says the model for Rodeo Dunes is Sand Hills Golf Club, the bellwether for minimalist golf-course design, in Mullen, Nebraska. “This is one where the less we can do, the better,” he says. “Our priorities are always golf first, second and third. There will be no homes, so there won’t be any sacrifices for real estate. It’s golf in its rawest form, stripped of everything that’s unessential.”

And who else would the Keisers hire to accomplish this than Sand Hills architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw — the team that also delivered three golf layouts at Bandon, and one each at Cabot and Sand Valley?

“In all candor, there’s no comparison between this site and Sand Valley,” Coore says as he stands where the clubhouse will eventually perch. “This site is many, many times better. It has natural movement.”

And compared to Sand Hills? “Sand Hills was a huge property (8,000 acres). This will be easier because this is more contained. It’s an extraordinary site.”

Even in its preconstructed state, you can tell the routing will live up to its name — bucking and bouncing between colossal dunes along wide, rippled fairways bor- dered by bunkers hollowed by wind and animals, not Cats and backhoes. Each hole inspires different levels of horripilation, whether it’s the plunging left-dogleg first, the par-3 second with its huge punchbowl green and “sugar cookie bunker” — a deep, steep chasm from which sunscreened golfers will emerge sprinkled with silicate — or the double-dogleg par-5 12th with a tumbling fairway.

The granary on the quirky par-5 sixth will serve as both an aiming point and reminder you’re in ag country, not Enniscrone, and the dunes on the holes following it mirror the shapes of the distant Rockies. Framed by massive dunes and a giant blowout bunker, the green site on the par-3 ninth looks as if it’s been waiting to be played for centuries.

Like other Dream Golf properties, Rodeo Dunes will eschew carts, but the routing still provides a wild ride.

You’ll want to hold on until the end, as the 260-yard par-3 17th plays into a punchbowl green (“And Streamsong thinks they’ve got a punchbowl!” the normally reserved Coore quips, referring to a signature green he and Crenshaw crafted at the Florida resort — and a par 4 closer that will lead you over a ledge to an infinity-edge green stretching toward a skyline of snowcapped peaks.

When Rodeo Dunes opens for play in late 2024 or early 2025, the Coore-Crenshaw layout won’t be the only one on property. Rodeo Dunes will mark the solo architectural debut of Jimmy Craig, a savant who’s worked alongside Bill and Ben for 25 years and has “one of the best eyes in the business,” according to Michael Keiser, who credits Craig for finding the three courses at Sand Valley.

“Finding holes comes pretty natural to me,” Craig says in a deep Texas drawl. “A lot of people have formulas for putting courses together; I don’t pay any attention to those. I just want to get in the dunes and find something different for Michael.”

And that he’s done, coming up with at least four routings. “There’s a lot of great ground there,” Craig says. “I didn’t want to leave any behind.”

The land, he observes, lends itself more to something you’d see in the UK. So, inspired by the iconoclastic originality of North Berwick in Scotland — “the most fun course on the planet,” he says — Craig has focused on creating a course of 18 different, playful and memorable holes. “Your eyes will be on the ground, not the air,” he says. “Every little contour is going to affect your golf ball.”

So how will his first architectural byline affect him? “Making a Jimmy Craig state- ment to the world isn’t who I am,” he demurs. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled to do it, and the course is going to be very good. But ever since I showed any talent in finding golf holes, I would rather look for something for Bill and Ben or Michael than for myself. When asked why I haven’t gone out on my own, I just say, ‘Why would I ever want to compete against the best in the world? I want to be on their team.’”

That team begins building the horizontal infrastructure this summer. With virtually no earth to move, Coore and Craig both expect a quick build. Seeding should take place next spring and play begin in ’25.

There’s already pent-up demand, thanks to realistic AI-generated photos and massive media coverage. “We’ve had an overwhelming response from people all over the country,” Keiser told Golf Channel in May. Those looking to add a Rodeo Dunes bag tag won’t be staying on-property, however. “Going vertical” with onsite accommodations — which enhances the experience at Dream Golf’s other destinations — won’t happen for “at least two or three years.”

With Rodeo Dunes, he can afford to wait. Unlike Bandon and Sand Valley, both of which are in remote locations, Rodeo Dunes has the luxury of being less than an hour’s drive from a major airport and a city full of places to eat and sleep.

And you can be sure that a lack of lodging options won’t prevent Colorado golfers from cowboying up to experience what has all the makings of a gold-buckle golf destination.