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ROGGEN, Colo. - I'm lost.
A gas station and rundown motel are the only signs of civilization off of Interstate Highway 76. This isn't the first time Google Maps has led me astray trying to find a new Dream Golf property. It happened at Wisconsin's Sand Valley in 2017.
All I see for miles is flat ranch land, the signature look of Colorado's rugged and rustic front range. Finally my golf radar kicks in ... a glimpse of dunes in the distance. The gated, narrow dirt road where I made a U-turn just a few minutes earlier ended up being the path to golf's next promised land - the blossoming Coore & Crenshaw course at Rodeo Dunes.
Only visionaries like the Keiser family, the founders of Dream Golf, could pull off something as wild and wonderful in the middle of nowhere as "The First Ride" at Rodeo Dunes, a September extravaganza celebrating the future of the land (playing golf) with a nod to its past (by hosting a real rodeo with the world's best riders). Golfers and cowboys sharing the same space? Au contraire, spurs and spikes, bogeys and bulls, get along just fine together.
It took Michael Keiser Jr. four years to convince the late Mike Cervi, a rancher, rodeo promoter and mega-land owner, to lease the property necessary to build Rodeo Dunes. By all accounts, it was dead land, too sandy to grow crops and too uneven and forlorn for livestock. Sound familiar? That's exactly the type of landscape home to the world's best links (minus the ocean views). There are 100-foot dunes waiting to frame dynamic golf holes.
"Even though at first, golf and ranching might not go well together, in our family, in our business, we think of ourselves, first and foremost, as land stewards," Keiser Jr. said at The First Ride. "We share the same land ethos (as the Cervis)."
Eventually, Rodeo Dunes could be home to six courses. Considering Coore & Crenshaw's other Dream Golf hits - Bandon Trails at Bandon Dunes or the original Sand Valley Course at Sand Valley - comparisons will be inevitable. The 12 holes I saw left me with the impression that this might be their best yet. Unfortunately, most golfers will have to wait another 14 months to decide for themselves. The first opportunity to snag a 2027 tee time when the course opens to the public will be in the first quarter of 2026.
"I've been accused of being a horrible salesperson and really understated and underselling anything, but the way I put it is, this is pretty darn good," Coore said.
What it's like to play Rodeo Dunes
My first impression of Rodeo Dunes is how accessible it will eventually be for both Denver golfers and Dream Golf chasers. It's less than 45 minutes northeast of the Denver International Airport. In theory, a Dream Golfaholic from the East Coast could fly into Denver, play Rodeo Dunes, and then continue on to Bandon Dunes since Denver is one of the only direct gateways to the remote Oregon coastal outpost that is Bandon.
C&C's Rodeo Dunes and the course designed next by architect Jimmy Craig will share a first tee complex. The terrain was remarkably more turbulent than I expected. Walking the 6,948-yard routing will be a pleasant hike with vistas for miles. We played 12 holes, nos. 1-4 and 12-18, where the dunes are pronounced. They will impact the lines of play and your choices on when to attack. Fairways and greens play peek-a-boo the whole way, hiding behind humps and hills, only visible from ideal angles.
The first green on the 442-yard opening hole is nowhere to be seen. It's up to the player to trust that a 220-yard carry over the left-side bunkers cut into a knoll leads to the fairway. Dunes block the portions of both the first and second greens (a 171-yard par 3).
A new form of cross hazard I haven't seen on a C&C design before - rough in the middle of the fairway - impacted the next three holes I played: the 491-yard third, the 426-yard fourth and 427-yard 12th. I'll be curious how it's managed moving forward.
A perfectly placed chocolate drop in front of the fourth green was, without a doubt, my favorite architectural trick (see the lead photo above). Back-to-back par 3s - the 225-yard 13th and 158-yard 14th - jump start a rousing finishing stretch. A 35-foot wall of hillside rough guards the blind punchbowl green at the 386-yard 15th. Another blind shot awaits the approach to the 347-yard 17th green for those golfers (like me) who flare tee shots to the right side of the fairway behind a ginormous hump. The bigger hitters in our group took a riskier line over a sandy pit directly toward the green. Nobody made birdie.
Loads and loads of fill was used to raise the 18th fairway to make the 511-yard climb to the final green a little less arduous.
Touring the other holes still growing has me convinced this is a Top 30-40 U.S. resort/public course right out of the starting gate (rodeo pun intended). The 2027 golf season can't get here fast enough.
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