Rodeo Dunes is golf’s next great destination ✈️

Rodeo Dunes is golf’s next great destination ✈️

What if I told you golf’s next great destination is in a ranching town in Colorado with less than 500 people? I was one of the first people to play Rodeo Dunes last week. And here’s everything you need to know. Rodeo Dunes started with Michael Kaiser jumping the fence of one of the largest ranches in Colorado, the son of Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley founder Mike Kaiser. Michael now runs Dream Golf. And he had been searching for the next great golf site to build a worldclass destination. And after some Google Earth sleuththing, he found these chop dunes 30 minutes from the Denver airport. Michael had to be escorted off the land in his first visit, but it confirmed what Google Earth had revealed. This was perfect land for golf. Fast forward 8 years later after some long negotiations for the land, and the first course designed by Bill Core and Ben Krenshaw is now ready. This is some of the boldest work we’ve seen from Corin Crenshaw. It’s certainly a product of the dramatic sandscapes and the designers found a routing that maximized some of the best features of this land. The T-shot on the first hole kind of sets the tone. The ideal line is taking your driver over the fairway bunkers on the left, but there’s room to bail out right, but if you do, now your second shot is obscured by a massive sand dune that guards the green. That’s the case so often at rodeo dunes. There’s a number of obscured fairways and wellprotected greens. And so being on the proper side of the fairway is key. This is the first of six planned golf courses at Rodeo Dunes, a massive resort on 2,000 acres. Jim Craig, who has been a shaper for Corn Krenshaw and got his first opportunity with the Commons course at Sand Valley, will design the second course at Rodeo Dunes. And Clyde Johnston, a Tom Duke associate who just opened the new old petty course in Scotland, will build a 7acre putting course. Play on Corn Krenshaw’s new course will begin in spring of 2026, but only for Rodeo Dunes founders and VIPs. Average golfers could start planning it for 2027, and Dream Golf will make tea times available come February of 2026.