Bandon Dunes family announces new 36-hole Texas golf resort

The new facility marks the fourth property in the family’s burgeoning golf empire, following in the footsteps of the wildly successful Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley properties. Wild Spring Dunes will be part of the Keiser family’s second “phase” of golf resorts, announced a year after the heavily anticipated (and still-under-construction) Rodeo Dunes property on the outskirts of Denver.

Like the remainder of the resorts in the Keiser family portfolio, Wild Spring Dunes will be a full-service, publicly accessible golf resort with luxury on-site accommodations and food options. But as always, the golf will be the main attraction — and at Wild Spring Dunes, there’s lots to be excited about. The Keisers have already received a routing from revered course architect Tom Doak for one 18-hole routing on the property, and legendary tandem Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are nearing completion on a second. A third short course is also expected on the property, though design details about that have yet to be released. You could forgive the Keisers for being overeager about the property, but they say the 2,400-acre site has echoes of Pine Valley, Pinehurst and Shoreacres (not bad company!).

“This land surprised me,” Michael Keiser, namesake and oldest son of the family’s elder statesman, said in a release. “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. Founders are going to be surprised and excited by Wild Spring Dunes the same way I was.”

The excitement surrounding the property comes in large part from the four “distinct” ecosystems Keiser notes: forest, meadows, hills and ravines. But some of it should also come from location. Texas has been less fertile ground for golf development over the last few decades, even as course designs have boomed in more remote corners of the United States, and the Keiser family’s investment represents the first true competitor to the esteemed Omni Barton Creek facility in the state’s resort golf scene. The new property rests on a relatively remote plot of land roughly two hours from Dallas, Houston and Shreveport, but its proximity to those cities (and their large international travel hubs) means travel to the new site will pale in comparison to the epic journeys required of, say, Bandon Dunes.

As the Keisers have done in other resort developments, a “Founders Membership” program will exist with Wild Spring Dunes, granting a slew of benefits to those who wish to contribute a $65,000 refundable deposit. Among the headliners: Early access to the property, preferred real estate selections and exclusive rights to golf privileges like tee times, tournaments and lodging.

For the rest of us, though, the excitement will be limited mostly to online photos and updates via the resort’s official website and the social media accounts of its parent company, Dream Golf. An opening date for the site has not yet been announced, but it’s safe to say that Wild Spring Dunes will open well after the Keiser family’s next project, Rodeo Dunes, which is expected to debut by early 2025.

BY: JAMES COLGAN