ROGGEN, Colorado — Turn Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and any member of the Keiser family loose on a canvas of rumpled terrain and heaving sand dunes and the result is practically inevitable — a runaway success. Based on early reviews, they’ve done it again at Rodeo Dunes.
Located 40 minutes north of Denver International Airport in this northeastern Colorado map-speck town, Rodeo Dunes opened for founding member preview play in late May. Twenty-four hours prior, invited media christened the course. To no one’s surprise, the wows erupted early and often. Yet the backstory of how the course came to be is nearly as compelling as the design itself.
In 2019, Michael Keiser Jr. landed in Denver after seeing this property on Google Earth. “I immediately zoomed in,” said Keiser in 2024. “These were big dunes, covering about 4,000 acres, just outside of Denver. I knew right away I had to see them.” The son of legendary Bandon Dunes co-founder Mike Keiser, the younger Keiser was fresh from a successful launch of Wisconsin’s Sand Valley and was scouring the Lower 48 in search of other suitable, sand-based sites to develop more golf. He found what he wanted in Roggen — in fact, more than he bargained for.
After driving out to the property, he hopped a fence and, put in legal terms, trespassed. A ranch hand confronted him, brandishing a weapon. Undeterred, Keiser Jr. de-escalated the situation and eventually talked his way into a meeting with the tract’s owner, Mike Cervi. Cervi was no ordinary landholder. His Colorado family roots dated to statehood in 1876; he was a titan in the cattle industry and he was the largest rodeo producer in America. However, his expertise embraced saddles and spurs rather than clubs and flagsticks.
Keiser’s pitch was straightforward. “This land is great for golf,” he opined. Skeptical, Cervi responded, “That land is the worst land on the whole ranch. It’s just sand.” Keiser beamed. “This is exactly what we want.”
Another individual who lights up at the prospect of working in sand is Bill Coore. “It is a blessing to work with sand,” Coore says. “A golf course built on sandy soil is going to have good drainage and firm turf. For the designer, it’s ideal — you can mold it and shape it exactly as you want. I’m a hopeless perfectionist, and sand lets me focus on the fine details, tweaking until I get it just right.”
With sand-based top 100 triumphs — Sand Hills, Bandon Trails, Streamsong (Red) and Sand Valley — already part of the Coore & Crenshaw oeuvre, Keiser knew that Coore and Crenshaw had to be the architects of the first course at Rodeo Dunes.
“The moment I set foot on this land, I knew this was the place,” Keiser says. “The dunes are perfect — tall and rolling, with unlimited possibilities for great golf holes. I also knew that Bill and Ben had to work here. Luckily, it didn’t take much to convince them.”
Crenshaw was an early convert. “It’s hard to look at this site and not think of Sand Hills,” says Crenshaw of the Nebraska course he co-designed with Coore in 1994, which ranks among the top 10 in the world by many industry publications.
Coore confirmed the comparison. “This is an amazing landscape,” he says. “It’s the first time we’ve had a site like this in America since Sand Hills. It’s the type of property that goes back to the very beginnings of golf being played by the sea in Scotland, a link to 500 years of history. Anyone in our profession would consider it an extraordinary opportunity to work on a site like this.”
After six years of deliberations, approvals and prep work, 11 holes were grassed and ready to play in the fall of 2025. Those are now holes one through four and 12 through 18 on the completed golf course, a layout that measures 6,969 yards, with a par of 72. The back Black tees seem surprisingly short, given the 4,700-foot elevation, but then Coore & Crenshaw don’t build chest-thumping beat-downs. They invariably infuse their walkable, old-school courses with maximum variety, a blend of shotmaking, strategic demands and subtle risk-reward play that invites the spirit of discovery, where the proper angle is paramount. Rodeo Dunes delivers those traits emphatically.
Coore-Crenshaw’s brand of adventure starts early, at the 445-yard, par-4 opening hole. A blind tee shot over bunkers awaits, a daunting prospect at first blush. Yet the carry from the 420-yard Blue tees is a very reasonable 180 yards, and from there, a speed slot maximizes roll, leaving a shortish approach to a green bracketed by friendly banks that help funnel any shot toward the middle of the green.
The early consensus pick for most distinctive hole goes to the 433-yard, par-4 fourth, which features a split fairway bisected by a ridge and weird peril throughout. Lay back safely and face a long second over a mound dressed in patchy rough grass that intrudes into the putting surface, effectively creating a horseshoe-shaped green. Risk driver off the tee, however, and a left-side bunker lurks, as well as a hidden, diagonal strip of rough that leaves an impossible downhill-sidehill lie to an elevated green. Beyond that nightmarish strip sits a deep bunker in the center of the fairway. The fourth is one of the quirkiest holes that Coore-Crenshaw have ever produced, but it is hauntingly memorable.
Two superb back-to-back par-3s, the 13th and 14th, and the unique, drivable par-4 17th — which sports a massive mound in the middle of the fairway — are back-nine highlights. Left unmentioned until now is the collection of greens, which roll out as much variety in shape, size, contour and surrounds as any you’ll encounter.
Make no mistake, off-course aesthetics won’t send anyone into hysterics. Surrounds are tame, if tranquil. The site is mostly vast, treeless plains composed of native sandy scrub, prairie and grasslands, with long views of the Rockies on west-facing holes. Caddies might advise, “Keep it left of the red shed,” at the long par-4 third, or “A drive at the silos and grain elevators is ideal” at the short par-5 fifth, in keeping with the ranch-flavored experience. Off one front-nine hole, I counted 20 head of cattle. An urban oasis this is not.
Nonetheless, the on-course setting dazzles to such a degree that you don’t care what’s beyond the firm, wildly undulating terrain, blowout bunkers and gigantic dunes. This isn’t southwest Ireland, but on at least a half-dozen occasions, it’s a close call.
Public golfers looking to bust out of the gate for their own romp around Rodeo Dunes will have to retreat to the corral — for now. The course won’t open to outside play until May 1, 2027. Demand is already so high that advance tee times are only available by going to the website, rodeodunes.com, and signing up as an “Insider.”
Expect Rodeo Dunes to join other Keiser-directed multi-course destinations in the pantheon of elite getaways for serious golfers. A walking-only policy and $350 green fee will dissuade tire-kickers and other dawdlers. Caddies aren’t required but are available and highly recommended, as are forecaddies. With an abundance of obscured landing areas and strategy decisions, employing a helpful bag carrier, especially for first-timers, is well worth the fee.
Keiser sums up the intrinsic value appeal of Rodeo Dunes. “These dunes are so good,” he says. “You could not ask for a better site. Rodeo Dunes gives every golfer the chance to experience the timeless joys of links golf.”
A second golf course, designed by longtime Coore & Crenshaw associate Jim Craig, has started construction, with preview play slated for 2027. Future plans call for up to four other golf courses. Also on tap for 2027 is a ginormous putting green called the Rockies, the world’s largest at 7.5 acres, created by Clyde Johnson of Cunnin' Golf Design, who has worked on a half-dozen major Tom Doak projects. Construction on a clubhouse begins later in 2026, and right behind that, Rodeo Dunes will break ground on on-site accommodations, including a lodge and privately owned residences.
So why blast the trumpets now for a golf course that won’t open to outside play for another 10 months? Plan ahead. You don’t want to miss this Rodeo.
