Exploring America’s Next GREAT Golf Destination: Rodeo Dunes

Exploring America’s Next GREAT Golf Destination: Rodeo Dunes

Hi, I’m Eric and this is Adventures in Golf. For this episode, we traveled to the American Heartland to see what the future of golf in Colorado looks like. There’s only one rule here at Rodeo Dunes, and that’s no hose on turf. Take a right, girl. All right, look at that. When you land at Denver International Airport, you can choose to go west, where you’ll arrive at the capital city of Denver or the Rocky Mountains. But if you choose to go east, you’ll find yourself here. Most people traveling this way look around, see nothing, and move on. What they don’t see is the small, unincorporated town of Rocket. What they don’t see is one of the largest rodeo producers and stock contractors in the country. What they don’t see is the site of the next great American golf destination. Fortunately, someone has. which brings us here to an embarcation point, not just for our adventure, but to an adventure that started over four years ago. All right. How we doing? Good to see you, man. Yeah, you too. Welcome to the plains of Colorado. I can’t say I’ve ever visited Is this Eastern Colorado? There’s miles to go to our east, but once you pass the suburbs of Denver, you’re in the eastern plains. Yeah, we’re in Raen, Colorado, old ranching town. We’re about to go see the Survey Ranch and uh and see the rodeo business that ended up merging with golf at Rodeo Dunes. This is Tom Ferrell. You won’t recognize him, but I can almost guarantee that you’ve seen his name before. Tom has been playing and writing about golf for over 25 years. a dream job that only got better when he joined the Kaiser family at Dream Golf in 2022. And this role brought him here to Rodeo Dunes, where more than one 18hole golf course is planned on over 5,000 acres of land an hour east of Denver. I think it’s a great thing to be able to bring people to this part of Colorado and small towns. You know, this is an amazing part of the country and and an old part of the country. I mean, the spirit of the American West is real. So for four years, what has the Valero served for you? So Rodeo Dunes has been a walking exercise until the last year when we actually had equipment and we got some uh storage container offices and such. So really every time we came out here, we were buying our nutrition here. That literally is what we would take out there. I mean that’s that’s the rodeo special right there. I love it. In the winter, we’re buying stuff to keep us warm. In the summer, we’re buying stuff to keep us cool, right? So, this is uh this has kind of been the hub of commercial activity uh for the the small group of Rodeo Dunes users. While Rodeo Dunes is indeed the latest inspiration for Tom’s travels, it wasn’t always golf that he followed across the country. Jerry Garcia talked about uh the Grateful Dead being an opportunity to to ride the rails or join the circus. And for me, it was. And the beauty of that is you learn how to travel and you learn how to appreci appreciate people. And that has transferred very nicely into the rest of my career. And I think in my career in dream golf, you know, the ability to enjoy people and cultures for what they are, right? Let’s highlight that. Let’s let’s travel America together, man. Let’s do this thing. So, we’re going through downtown Ragen, Colorado. I feel like there’s probably going to be some change coming here. I think there’s some opportunities that people will see some real estate and and uh you know, we we want to be good neighbors and uh we look forward to being a part of this Eastern Plains community here. A quiet residential community, Ragen offers a laid-back lifestyle that is synonymous with farming and ranching. So, how did golf find its way here? for answers. Tom is taking us to the Servy family ranch where it all started. The Survey family is really a a legend here in particularly in the rodeo culture, but here on the eastern plains as well. Uh this is a 40,000 acre ranch, give or take. It is not their largest ranch, which is up in Stonum, Colorado. Uh they are the world’s largest producer of rodeo stock. That means bucking horses and um bulls. And they also produce rodeos. And the serve are true celebrities in in this world. So is this going to be the entrance to the golf course? This is the entry into the Servy Ranch. Chase Survey lives up here on the left. Benignyan lives on the right. Mike Servey, who uh sadly passed away in April, had the the main house. So, this is really the family compound here. This was a very much a working cattle ranch until several years ago when they sold off the the cattle. And that’s how Rodeo Dunes became a possibility, a possibility that no one could imagine until Michael Kaiser came along. The story goes that Michael and his brother Chris got to talking about potential projects while delayed for a flight to Tennessee. Could there be other sites in the country that mimic the perfect conditions of Sand Valley or their father’s abandoned dunes? Intrigued, Michael later got on Google Earth to search areas of the country that already had similar sites and spotted a series of sandy blowouts near the small town of Raen. Two weeks later, Michael hopped a barbwire fence on the Servy Ranch to see its potential for himself. What he saw confirmed the visions in his mind. Sand dunes stretching out in all directions, offering incredible golf holes everywhere he looked. Eventually confronted by a ranch hand about his trespassing, Michael talked his way into a meeting with the landowner. Mike Survy was not interested when Michael Kaiser approached him with an idea for a golf course. You know, Mike Servey considered the sand dunes kind of a neat feature and the cattle would use them to stay warm in the winter, but uh Mr. Survy didn’t see that as the valuable feature of the of his land. Servy and Kaiser took a shine to one another, blossoming a friendship and a 4-year conversation that eventually led to a partnership between the two families to create Rodeo Dunes. How’s it going? Hey, Eric. So, you’re the TV star? Yeah, sure. Yeah, I’ll be the TV star. Okay. Eric. Eric. Yeah. Okay. Eric, I’m part deaf, just so you know. Okay. Wow. That’s cool. What is that? That’s coar. So, you put it on and it and it just goes Yeah. When you take it off, it’s silent. You can’t hear [ __ ] Yeah. Exactly. Sleep like a baby. This is Byan Servy. He and his brother Chase grew up in and now run the family’s rodeo business. And up until recently, rodeo’s been the only game in town. So, is this where you grew up? I grew up here. Yeah. I lived here my whole life. Wow. As a kid growing up out here, what did you do for fun on the weekend? On the weekend, you uh for fun, I mean, you would work was fun around here. You always on a horse. Did you play golf? I’ve never played golf. No, I I take that back. What did I do with Mike Michael Kaiser? did something uh on a green putting putting on the on this we did it was somewhere at Sand Valley. It was enjoyable. But rodeo is so fast-paced, right? You got to slow down for golf to a point and that’s that’s hard for me. Tell me about rodeo. Have you ever been to one? Never. Never. It is the wild west. That’s how this country was tamed. riding bucking horses and bringing horses into the workforce at Build America. So, we own a company that produces rodeos. We bring the rodeo to town and and put on the show and and there’s contestants. Y’all can’t stay through Thursday, can you? You could go to your first rodeo. It’s it’s a small one and introduce you to it slowly. And that’s Thursday night. Yes. If you could stay, we would we could host you and you get a lot you’d get a feel for what this really is. Yeah. It’s an adrenaline that’s you have to be there to to understand it. Kind of like when you went to Sand Valley. Exactly. You probably had a hard time imagining how a golf course would even fit in here. Right. Right. So, I mean, when they Michael first came to us with the idea, you know, it was I wouldn’t say laughable, but it seemed like really, you serious out here in the middle of prey? We’re going to get all these people to want to come golf. And but Michael had the vision with the layout and now when you go out there tomorrow, you’ll see like it’s come to life very quickly. Tomorrow we have the honor of being the first to play Rodeo Dunes. But today we’re going to get a sneak peek of the golf course. The only catch, it’s on horseback. I’m really only afraid of two things in life, and that’s flying and horses. And I’ve already flown today. Hey, do you want to ride Dennis? We’re going to maybe put you on Lazy. Dennis Lazy. Lazy. That one in the middle. Then we know that you’ll be safe. I would like that. We don’t want to. We want you to come back. As I’m introduced to Lazy, I get word that we were able to change my flight, which means I’m going to my first rodeo. This is an invitation you can’t pass up. Well, I um I just want you to get the full experience. Once you’re you get that in your blood, you’re going to be like, “Well, hell yeah. I’m a rodeo fan.” Yeah, we’re going to make you a rodeo fan. I’m in. I can’t wait. There he is. Josh Evenson. Good to see you. You may remember Josh from the first episode of Adventures in Golf. So, we just found out we have a tea time at the Old Course in 12 minutes back in 2014. It was a long time. And uh how are you involved in all this? Oh gosh. For about 5 years, I had been hearing that Dream Golf, the Kaiser family, Bannon Dunes was coming to Colorado. So, I called uh Mike Senior, Michael’s father, and he said, “We’re doing it, and I know Michael wants to talk to you.” And so, we talked about it for a while, and um about a year, year and a half later, I started. So, it’s been a lot of fun. So, we’re going to go see the golf course from the horse. Love it. Course from a horse. It’s kind of like a dog and you pull him. All right, there we go. That’s easier. We’ll see how you sit a horse out here. Okay, we’ll put you on the horse in the rodeo. Don’t you think I should prove myself before something like that? That’s That’s what we’re going to find out today. That’s what this is. So So I begin to see this is less and less about golf. Yes. I kind of want you to go play in a pro. That’s what I want. Maybe one day. Never say never. To prove myself, Riley, the Servy ranch manager helps me get rodeo ready. This will keep your saddle from sliding back on you. Okay. If you’re pulling a cow or horse or whatever you rope, did he say whatever I rope? You use your finger and it’s going to be all in your wrist. So, you’re going to come around and it’s just going to be all in your wrist. There you go. See? Look at that. You’re a natural. A natural. You want to look where like if you’re looking over here, your rope’s going to go that way. So, you want to be looking where you’re throwing be looking and pointing at the same direction pretty much. There you go. Got it. Yep. Yeah. Close. Close. You want to make sure you got that last one. You’re just letting it feed. Nice. When you’re learning, you’re so focused on this hand, you forget what this one’s doing. This is not easy. Come to my side. I think that might get you. Yeah. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. It worked. Hey, that’s all that matters. That is an exciting feeling. That’s all that matters. You’re out in the pasture trying to catch a calf. It might not be pretty, but if you catch them, it works. That is like finding a fairway on a bad day. What are we looking at in here? We got We call this our rodeo room. Believe it or not, there’s a lot in here, but we are pretty bare right now. World Series 1933 Rodeo New York. We do a lot of grand entries at rodeos. So, they’ll start the rodeo and they’ll just bring in contestants. You could bring in uh committees, volunteers. Um, Houston, it is the biggest dang grand entry you’ll ever see. I mean, hundreds of people coming in on horses. Yep. And they just form like a big snake pattern working their way through the arena. They’re all horseback and then behind them, old fire trucks are coming through with committees on them. It’s Wo, it’s sweet, man. Just do a big hot lap. They fill the whole arena with all these people and then everybody leaves at once. Wow. It’s more of a rodeo than the rodeo. It is the great entry. This is one of our bull fighters. I’m Eric. Tanner. Hey, nice to meet you. This is him. All right. So, bull rider goes off. Bull fighter goes in. Whoa, dude. What? So, his whole job is to get in between the bull and the bull rider to protect the rider. Yep. So, you’re called a bull fighter cuz you fight the bull away from the rider that fallen. Okay. I’m just a distraction, dude. Speaking of distractions, I’ve kept lazy waiting long enough. Time to mount up and ride. You just put your foot in the strap here. Okay. Swing your leg over. Okay. Then whip and ride. Cool. Remember your brake. Whoa. Whoa. What? Yep. Good. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Lazy. We’re chilling. All right. Hey. Hey. Where’s your gas? He’s bar. See barely feel it. Yeah. Oh, he already knows. He want Mine’s Guy’s ready to go. Lazy doesn’t feel so lazy. Whoa. Whoa. You ready? Yeah. We’re going to go ride out in the rodeo dunes. All right, lazy. Let’s get it. When you start going, you’re going to stand in your stirrups a little bit. Okay. Whoa. I mean, I almost went over his head. Have you got to see this yet? No, I haven’t seen anything. It looks green to me. Yeah, it looks nice. Is this a hole? What is this? Nah, I think it’s just a nursery. Here we go. You’re getting the hang of it, Eric. You’re trotting now. You’re going to get steep here, boys. You want to go right at him and then you’ll just So kick him up. Kick him up, Eric. You got it, Lazy. Come on. Good boy. Good boy. Whoa. Wow. This is absolutely unbelievable. What do you think, Eric? What do you think? I mean, this is this is your land. A whole another world now. How different is it from when you were out here before there was grass and mowed greens and tees? It was just rolling hills that you would be rounding up cattle in, riding your horse in. Not really serving much of a purpose. It was the least desirable part of the ranch for a cattle rancher and farming any anything in agriculture. Yeah. So, you think you’ll play golf out here? Maybe one day. I’d like that. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe. All you need to do is make a triple bogey once. You know what that is? A triple what? A triple bogey. What’s a triple bogey? It’s like breaking the barrier and having an illegal catch. Is that a rodeo term? Breaking the barrier is not good. So, I’m guessing a bogey ain’t good either. It’s not good. Dribble bogey. Especially dribble bogey is worse. I’ve got an issue that I got to go take care of real quick. Riley, you want to go keep riding? Yeah. Is that what you call afternoon? I’m going to go take care of the crew. I’ll be in touch with you soon. Okay. Thank you. See them all. Yeah. Watching Bignyion ride is like watching a real cowboy go to work. And even though a trot is all I’m in for today, I’m actually enjoying being on horseback for the first time ever. What about that crazy day? First of all, obviously seeing the golf course, setting eyes on it. It looked both like a lot of amazing golf courses and like nothing I’d ever seen. I can’t wait to play it tomorrow. That’s going to be incredible. But really for me, the main thing today was uh I’m now like into horses. I was never a horse guy, but I’ve been turned. Uh so see you at 7:00 in the morning. a little sore from yesterday. I gota I’ll be honest with you. I woke up today and one of the first thoughts I had was uh you know how’s Lazy doing? You know what I mean? How we feeling? Oh, I’m feeling great, man. Getting ready to go try this course out. I mean, this will be a first for all of us. First for for the course as well. Our our opponent may she lay in weight. Old man par. You told me yesterday that you had some new balls that you were going to put in rotation today. I like to to print song lyrics on on my golf balls. Okay. I generally will go with a Grateful Dead lyric. Okay. This year I went with a a passage from the wheel. Bound to cover just a little more ground. Feels like a good golf ball lyric. To me, that means you’re going to see more places. Absolutely. That’s exactly what it means. Yeah. I’m going to use that today if I ever lose a ball. Right. Exactly. So, I think the fairest thing to do today instead of, you know, putting all the responsibility for one person to hit the first shot at Rodeo Dunes. There’s never been a shot hit on this golf course. I think it’s only fitting that we do what they do at the rodeo, the grand entry. will all hit at the same time. Yeah, I like that. And that way we have a higher likelihood of uh hitting the fairway on the first shot. At least one of us. What’s the uh ceremony for the first T-shot for the for the grand entry here? Do we have to say anything? We have to burn anything or thank anybody. Well, I think we have to thank Michael Kaiser for uh uh basically six years now of work to to bring this to reality. I think we dedicate this round to his his vision and to Mike and Ben and Chase Servy for making it happen. I like that. Get set up. We’re going to go. Five, four, three, two, one. That felt great. But we’re off. We’re off. Man, that was cool. These flowers are such a feature, you know. Little blackeyed susanss. Oh, those aren’t sunflowers. Small version of them. Yeah. Wow. Look at that. This is the coolest opening fairway I’ve ever seen. It’s that huge spine running down the middle. Yeah. You got just a big bump in the middle of the fairway. You’re right. You have to be on the left side of this fairway to see the green. I got to tell you, there’s a real version of Lewis and Clark out here. You know, someone made a trail. So, on some level, we’re like a a sublevel explorer, you know, out here surveying the trail. And there’s something about hitting golf shots on the trail. Oh, Josh. Tom, you must think about the origin of golf pretty often, you know. I love it. I love the idea of shepherds playing out. Yeah. And playing in. Just sort of like, hey, if we’re walking, might as well be playing. Absolutely. Look at this green, dude. Corin Cshaw like kind of stepped it up. This feels a bit extra. It is. This this hole in general feels like a a bit extra for Corshaw. Indeed. Biggest sandy blowout on the site just behind the first green. Yeah. Probably 150 ft long, 70 80 feet deep. Beautiful. First ball mark. Oh my god, it’s the first. That beats the first gouged out divot that I got. Oh wow. The elusive bird lives another hole. Oh, first pull. All right. Well done. I’ll be honest with you. I I uh I putt on some pretty slow core crunchhaw greens back in Austin at Butler. You know, the pitch and putt. They they run at best at about a seven and a half. So, well, you seem to have a real touch for those. I have a knack for slow greens. So there’s uh no hole in ones here yet. Not yet. Got to say it. The first swing on the first par three in the first round would be pretty cool. Great ball. So, one thing I’ve experienced, I’ve never really felt this before, but in fixing a ball mark, the green is like super soft and delicate. You know, it’s a baby green, you know what I mean? It’s getting ready. Eric, you can see these bunkers are the work of John Hawker. He’s done such a good job. One of the best shapers in the business. We always had a saying, Bill, after every hole when we get to the green, we’d be like, “Is this the right next move? Are we good with this move? What it’s going to do?” Because we can’t go back once we commit to this. And to be fair, there wasn’t a lot, but Bill always said, and he said it to Michael Kaiser a lot, it’s, you know, he he said it’s like a birth building a birthday cake. It’s just layers after layers after layers, refining, refining, refining. You know, a lot of the green sites were here. We mowed out. You know, we worked on it, but you know, that’s all that’s all natural all the way around it. Wow. Another insane green. Look at that. I mean, it looks like Cory Crrenshaw got inspired by the paintings of Bud Chapman. You know what I’m talking about? I love that. Yeah. We would see is it was there. It was like and then Bill’s had 12 months to refine it and then then all of a sudden then go through the process of you know right to left, left to right, how many greens are up, how many greens are down, you know how many in bowls, you know what kind of movement, how many greens we got kind of wild, big. So that’s been great. Good to see you, sir. How you doing? So what do you think? It’s amazing. It’s a great property. Well, you’ve I’m glad you get to be the first one to see what it’s like. Yeah, it’s unbelievable. I mean to have this about to be seen by the world is incredible. Thanks to Mike Kaiser for having the vision. Yeah, it’s incredible. All right, so you ready for your first T-shot here? If you’re helping me, I I’ll help you. I’ll help you. You helped me yesterday. You walked me through every little piece of it. I felt completely confident with your uh guidance. Well, isn’t this crazy? Now you’re a golf lover. I’m a rodeo lover. And now we’re going to make each other love each other’s worlds. Our goal is to get it to that flag. Yep. Exactly. In as few shots as possible. That’s the game of golf summarized. Okay. Well, wish me luck, Eric. I wish you luck, sir. I’m more nervous than getting ready for the biggest coating in the world at Houston right now. Well, I was nervous getting on Lazy’s back yesterday, but it turned out okay. Okay. So, you’re supposed to hold like V’s right here. Yeah. Yeah. That looks great. And then like hold it like you’re holding a tray. Yeah. That wa actually that looks fantastic. What? I don’t. That’s a great golf swing. No, but you’re supposed to go really good. I don’t know. Like a tray. Yeah. Wait, what? Let’s put a tea in the ground here. Yeah. Tiger Woods all the way. And you’re going to pretend that the ball You’re just going to ignore this. And I want you to just hit the tea with your golf swing. That’s going to work. That’s going to work. So now you just do the same thing. I knew you were going to pipe it, dude. It’s going up high and it’s going to come down on the right side of the fairway. So, I’m on the fairway still. Yes. Okay. I looked up too quick. Damn it. You were fine. You natural golf swing. Beautiful. Beautiful. All right. So, here we’re going to do is chip. It’s just a real simple swing here. It’s real low, you know, and this is good for learning kind of just letting go of the club, letting the club fall into the ball. This is called a chip. Yep. You can even go a little less than that. It’ll go. All right. A little too much. All right. Now, what we’ll do is we’ll uh we’ll give you a putt. You said don’t follow through. So, well, that’s the funny thing about golf is you can say all the things and then when you go do it, it looks different, right? You know, here you go. You’re supposed to do this, right? You see the pictures of that? Yeah. Riding a horse is a lot easier than this. It is. Yes. Well, because you have uh probably what, 10,000 hours of experience. I know. I I know it’s a lot easier, Eric. All right. Now, what do you do? You go up to it and you keep going. Right. Exactly. That’s what we call great speed. Oh, I thought you were going to make that. Then you just then you got to go. You can tap it in or pick it up. Just Okay. If this is me on the screen, I would just pick it up here like this. That’s the classic way to do it. But you’re supposed to throw it in the air. That’s called That’s kind of mostly like roping, I guess. Okay. So, you kind of go Yeah. Just like that. Okay. A lot better. I love it. I love it. Do you know what the brand is? Sure. Well, the Circle Eye is the Servy brand. Okay. The second oldest brand in Colorado. Is it really? Was established in 1889. And so it’s um and see the whole thing is you know it’s the simplicity of it. So what is the brand mean the Circle Eye? I mean our slogan is do or die for the Circle Eye. And and is that is there a legend? It’s a motto just kind of for our team like everybody’s cuz you know it’s a hard lifestyle. Everybody’s got to live on the road working. Rodeo cowboy is not easy. So, it’s live or die of the circle island. Got to keep going, boys. Who came up with that? Uh, my dad. My dad was somebody that loved great ideas, but he said it, oh, nine out of 10 times it’s not going to happen. He was very skeptical and Mike Kaiser talked him into believing in the golf course and he passed on knowing that this was going to make an amazing thing for our community in the golf world. It does feel like a collaboration between two families. You know, Mike, the father has two sons. Um, and my father Mike has two sons. that it’s basically two families with great ambitions and goals to just keep getting bigger and better. Cuz if you’re not growing, you’re dying. Maybe one day I’ll be able to hit a hole in one. I don’t know what or whatever they call it. But if like golf, once you have that great game, you don’t want to let it go. You just get addicted to it. And that’s the same thing with rodeo. So, there are so many similarities in our worlds that I’m just stoked that we’re going to collide and and do them both together. After you left yesterday, we stayed on the horses for hours and I kind of like developed a connection with Lazy and I didn’t want to get off. Well, we we’ll bring him to your rodeo tomorrow in Sterling. But that’s what I was going to ask. What happens tomorrow at the rodeo? What do I What’s What do I need to do to help out? We’ll get you mounted up on Lazy and we got to do the preparation for the whole rodeo. Just It’s It’s hard to describe. You You got to be there in person and then you’ll you’ll become part of our world. I do have one request though. All I have is uh city clothes. City clothes. Okay. You we need to get you some boots and a cowboy hat. I thought we said we weren’t allowed to wear shoes. You’re wearing shoes? Well, I didn’t know I was going to run into Eric. Eric, how you guys doing? Good to see you. Hey, you’re here. Yeah, we made it. We got him some boots found. Bring him a crew shirt. We got him a hat found. But he’s going to find some jeans. Are you ready for this? Here we go. One of the interesting things for me about being here is like I’ve never really been exposed to rodeo or even really horse culture at all. And I feel like I’m in a movie now more than I ever have. anything we’ve filmed. It’s so beautiful with the like the clouds and the light and everyone’s just not acting, you know? Everyone’s just really doing it, including me. But unfortunately, Lazy didn’t make the trip. So, Bingan has me on a new horse temporarily as the rodeo gets underway. Oh, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time now to meet our radio chairman, Mr. John Corey, joined by the man that continues to live wild in the west down in Stonem. That is the do or die circle line leader opinion survey. I’ve been a part of rodeo my whole life. It’s been a wonderful lifestyle. I’m raising my family in it. It’s it’s a job that I love. So it’s not really a job. What’s really cool is the people that you meet through rodeo cuz you’re traveling the country cuz it’s all about our business is about entertainment. Hey Ben, this horse is a little different than Lazy. Well, you got it. They all got their own personality. It is a sport, America’s original sport, but at the same time, it’s entertainment. This boy is quick. This boy is quick. He ain’t caught lazy. I think let’s just start with lazy. This one ain’t called lazy. That was close right there. We’ll be back. We’re going to let the lightning die down and we’ll be back. A little wet outside. Sorry about that. I mean, that was extra, dude. It just it couple rough terrain and then the wind just picked up to like 40 m an hour. The one rule, they won’t let you rodeo when it’s lightning. Fair enough. It’s common sense. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, this is cool, man. This is You just can’t have this experience. You I you know how I said you don’t you can’t explain it until you’re in it. Yeah. The feeling you know. Yeah. Well, cuz for me going to rodeo would be sitting in the sands, right? This is being in a rodeo. We’ll get we got you hooked hopefully. Yeah. Well, we’re not done yet. We got We got some bulls to buck. Got to see some saddle bronx. Hell, we ain’t even close to done yet. All right, here we go. Cody Lane, we’re rodeoing. Guys, a little money over at NS Park. America’s extreme sport. My favorite part of the job would be the animals. Just the fact that we have seen them born on our ranch, grow up, and to perform at the peak of the business is the best feeling in the world cuz you’ve nurtured that animal all the way to being an adult and then to have it put on a show just like your kids at a soccer game or baseball game. Same feeling. Basically, I I get to live a highlight reel in life because every time we come to town, it there’s a lot of hype, excitement, um engagement, you know, with the community. And so my wife has to bring me to reality. She’s like, “We got to get off the highlight reel when we get home cuz that’s not real life.” These are the real stars of our show. That was a good show. Be safe. Good night. In more ways than one. Finally got my first rodeo in the books. Thanks. Thank you. That was awesome, Van. That was the experience of a lifetime. Well, good. Houston snacks. I’ll be there in March.

Welcome to Rodeo Dunes, a new Michael Keiser-developed course that sits on 4,000 acres of a family-owned ranch in Colorado. Surrounded by rodeo culture, this new golf destination feels more like a western film set than golf course, but as Erik Anders Lang finds out, it’s also what makes it so special. Join him as the very first person to tee it up on the new track before saddling up for his *actual* first rodeo.

The intersection of golf and culture.

Behind every drained putt or hosel rocket into the stands is a human being with complex emotions—among them, an insatiable appetite for golf. That’s what we’re after. Golf’s humanity is what makes it so special to us. There have never been more reasons to love this game, and we’re endeavoring to explore them all.

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