The Keiser family is at it again, this time with a new resort named Wild Springs Dunes planned for East Texas. Several of the biggest names in golf course architecture will bring the project to life.
Chris and Michael Keiser, sons of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort founder Mike Keiser, have acquired a 2,400-acre site not far from Nacogdoches that eventually will be home to an announced two courses at Wild Springs Dunes. Draw a triangle from Houston up to Dallas with the third point in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the resort will sit just north of the center of that triangle.
One of the layouts will be designed by Tom Doak, who has completed his routing with construction set to begin soon. The team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have routed the second course. There also are plans for a short course, a practice center, cabins and a clubhouse. The involvement of Doak, Coore and Crenshaw is an extension of a long relationship in which they have designed world-class resort courses for the Keiser family and at other world-wide destinations that have opened with financial backing from Mike Keiser.
The site for Wild Springs Dunes in Texas (Courtesy of Dream Golf/Jeff Marsh)
Wild Springs Dunes will be part of Dream Golf, which is the collective of courses and resorts operated by the Keiser Family. The collective includes Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley and Rodeo Dunes.
Chris and Michael Keiser hit a home run on their first swing with their development of Sand Valley in Wisconsin, and the brothers announced last year their plans for Rodeo Dunes to the northeast of Denver. Wild Springs Dunes is the next in line of a continuously swirling series of speculations and rumors about the family’s future development plans. The family recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of Bandon Dunes in Oregon, which set off a trend of developers searching for remote sandy sites.
Wild Springs Dunes looks to be one more such development. The sandy terrain features considerable elevation changes in four distinct ecosystems with pines and hardwoods, steep ravines and spring-fed creeks.
“This land surprised me,” Michael Keiser said on a website announcing the development to prospective early members. “I would never have imagined this kind of property in Texas. The pine forests. The steep ravines. The big hills surrounding it. You walk the site, and it’s always changing, and you can see golf holes on every part of it.”
Chris Keiser and Michael Keiser with their dad, Mike Keiser, at Sand Valley in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
As spelled out on the website, Wild Springs Dunes has solicited early members with an initial price of $65,000 until May 31, with that price then increasing to $75,000. Early members will not receive equity but will be the recipients of various perks, including having their green fees covered at what will be a public-access resort and early access to any possible real estate developments. The model is similar to how the Keiser brothers developed the popular Sand Valley, which has continued to expand and soon will be home to four courses.
Two of the courses at Sand Valley were built by Doak: the Lido, which is a re-creation of a century-old but defunct layout on Long Island, and the new Sedge Valley that is scheduled to open in July this year. As part of the communications with prospective members, Doak said he plans to make the most of 60 feet of elevation changes for his course at Wild Springs Dunes.
“The site in East Texas is not the sort of windblown dunes land we’ve worked on in Bandon and at Sand Valley,” said Doak, who recently opened a new course at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina named No. 10. “It’s more like Pine Valley, rolling land that falls off on three sides into deep barrancas. Reminiscent of Pasatiempo or L.A. Country Club (both in California). Pine trees abound, as does a heathery ground cover.”
Coore and Crenshaw built the original and eponymous course at Sand Valley for the Keiser brothers, as well as designing two full-size courses – Bandon Trails and Sheep Ranch – and the popular Bandon Preserve par-3 course at Bandon Dunes for the brothers’ father. They also are building one of the first courses at Rodeo Dunes.
“It’s a marvelous place that feels as though it was destined for golf,” Coore said of Wild Springs Dunes in the communications with prospective members. “The site is thrilling, sandy, and the routing has come together very naturally. We can’t wait to see it come to life.”