Tag: Dream Golf

Tom Doak to design Old Shores in Florida Panhandle as newest Dream Golf project

Tom Doak has routed Old Shores on sand dunes near Panama City, Florida.

After news was reported last week that a development order had been approved by Washington County for a new course in the Florida Panhandle, Dream Golf announced Friday the name and designer for the 18-hole project.

Architect Tom Doak has routed what will become Old Shores, assuming all necessary permitting continues to be approved. The course will be built 30 miles north of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport that services Panama City.

The course will be an easy drive from the 30A region of beaches in South Walton County between Panama City and Destin, which has grown at an astonishing rate in recent years. The property is about a 30-minute drive north of Panama City Beach.

Speculation about the course has swirled in recent years, as happens with any project by Dream Golf. The collection of properties includes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon and Sand Valley in Wisconsin, with new projects on the way outside Denver and another in Texas.

Old Shores Dream Golf
The first step in planning for Old Shores has been approved by Washington County in Florida.  (Courtesy of Dream Golf)

The development order was the first step in receiving official sign-off to build Old Shores. As reported by the Washington County News, the development order was for 80 acres for the golf course amid 1,438 acres that have been acquired. No plans for further development have been announced or approved.

The name Old Shores is a reflection of the sandy dunes on the site, which used to be shoreline before the Gulf of Mexico receded to its current boundaries to the south thousands of years ago. Dream Golf said there is no set timetable for construction or completion.

“This land just makes you want to get to the next bend or over the next hill,” developer Michael Keiser said in a news release announcing the name of the course and Doak’s involvement. “There is so much variety – it’s hard to believe you could experience so many environments in one place. Every time I visit, I discover a side I had never seen before. This is an amazing and unexpected site.”

Old Shores Dream Golf
The site for Old Shores to be designed by Tom Doak for Dream Golf, assuming all permitting is eventually approved, is about 30 miles north of the Panama City, Florida, airport. (Courtesy of Dream Golf)

Micheal Keiser is the son of Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes. Michael and his brother Chris are the developers of Sand Valley, the in-progress Rodeo Dunes in Colorado and the in-progress Wild Springs Dunes in Texas.

“We are grateful for the reception we received from Washington County, and we are eager to continuing the process of presenting our plans for this extraordinary property,” Michael Keiser said in the release. “I’ve walked the routing with Tom Doak numerous times, and I know this will be world-class.”

Doak’s extensive resume includes building the Pacific Dunes course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, which is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the top public-access course in Oregon and the No. 3 modern course in the U.S. Doak recently completed the now-open Sedge Valley course at Sand Valley, and he also constructed the Lido at Sand Valley, which brought back to life a famous but lost course on Long Island.

Keiser brothers, founders of Sand Valley, to create new Wild Spring Dunes resort in East Texas

The Keiser family plans two new courses in Texas to be designed by some of the biggest names in golf architecture.

The Keiser family is at it again, this time with a new resort named Wild Spring 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 Spring 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.

Wild Springs Dunes
The site for Wild Spring Dunes in Texas (Courtesy of Dream Golf/Jeff Marsh)

Wild Spring 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 Spring 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 Spring 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.”

Sand Valley Bandon Dunes Keisers
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 Spring 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 Spring 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 Spring 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.”