Rodeo Dunes opens to national acclaim

The first course of a proposed six opened for member play last week

By Jim Bebbington

After more than five years of planning, waiting and construction, the operators of Colorado’s newest destination golf resort, Rodeo Dunes, uncorked the bottle last week to applause.

The course is the latest project from Michael Keiser Jr, the son of Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser. The first 18-hole routing was unveiled to the media and club members last week in Roggen, Colo., and immediately joined the conversation as one of Colorado’s great golf experiences.

For the rest of 2026 Rodeo Dunes will be played primarily by its members, players from all around the country who paid $80,000 and more for lifetime memberships that grant access to what is expected to be a very hot tee sheet. After golf media from throughout Colorado and the nation played last Thursday, the members took over for an opening weekend of golf.

Last fall a partial unveiling was held to celebrate the course’s first playable 12 holes. This time it was all 18 of the Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw creation.

The course is the first in an ambitious plan to build up to six courses, residential cabins and other club amenities over the next 20 years. The goal for the developer is to create a worldwide destination complex that competes for visitors with other public-access remote destination resorts.

The course is a rolling experience. Played from the mid-tees it runs around 6,400 yards. It already has many touches similar to Bandon Dunes – very minimal signage, it is walking-only, and it offers tee boxes all the way down most fairways to give every level of player a chance to shoot a good round. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s hole designs make extensive use of the heaving landscape and no hole could be considered ‘flat.’ Even with a caddy the walk can be strenuous. The greens are already in good shape but with time will firm up as they mature.

Because of the density of the natural sand dunes, Coore has said that without careful planning they could have created a course in which every single shot was blind. They minimized just as many dunes as were necessary to give players an intriguing test every hole while still giving players a chance at a good score.

Time will tell what becomes the signature hole, but out of the gate No. 4 is making a strong case. The 392-yard par 4 features a large, steep natural grass slope dead center in the fairway where many players would typically want their drives to land. Choices will have to be made. Then the green featues a 20-foot tall mound in the front which could require players on the front left green to chip over it to get to the pin.

Currently the course could hardly feel more remote, despite being about a 35 minute drive north from Denver International Airport. It was built on 4,000 acres of steeply rolling sand dunes that for decades had been owned by the rodeo producing Cervi family, who raise horses and steer nearby. But the land was not suitbable for ranching and was largely idle until Michael Keiser visited the property, hopped the fence for a look, got caught, and was ultimately introduced to the scion of the Cervi family, Mike Cervi, to begin negotiations.

“The Cervi’s taking a chance with us and letting us come out and work on this property is one of the great thrills of my life,” said Tom Ferrell, Rodeo Dunes’ vice president of communications.

Demand for the course is strong. Registration for a lottery for public tee times for 2027 opened this past spring and more than 45,000 people signed up. The course is expected to begin in June letting players know if they won slots for next season. Greens fees are expected to top out at $350 per round for the first course during high season.

Construction is already underway for the complex’s second course, designed by Jim Craig. In addition work is underway on an 8-ish-acre putting course that will be part of the resort’s offerings. A similar putting course at Bandon Dunes is free to guests and frequently used for late-afternoon cocktail golf to close out the day.

Current plans also call for another 18-hole championship-level design, a par-3 course, and a short-course made up primarily of par 3 and 4 -length holes.

What the others are saying:

“The course is in the (Bill) Coore aesthetic: light on the land, wide off the tee, beautifully contoured, and ornamented with dramatic blowout bunkers” – Josh Sens, Golf Magazine

“For all its convenience, Rodeo Dunes feels worlds away” – Links Magazine

“Opening day at Rodeo Dunes was nothing but exceptional. Grateful to be part of the first group to experience such an awaited opening” Joe Lundstrom, @cashmeregolfclub

Jim Bebbington is the Editor of Colorado AvidGolfer and can be reached at [email protected]

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram