Dream golf empire

If you're a golfer, odds are you know Bandon Dunes. If you're not a golfer, it's a collection of some of the best courses in world along the coast of Oregon. It was developed by Mike Keiser with the first course opening in the 90s. He's since formed Dream Golf along with his sons and they are rapidly shaping the future of golf and hospitality.

Everything they touch leaves golfers salivating -- just take one look at the pictures linked:

• Bandon Dunes in Oregon
  • Home to seven courses
  • Accolades are off the charts
• Sand Valley in Wisconsin
  • Home to five courses
  • Accolades are (again) off the charts
• Rodeo Dunes in Colorado
  • First course opening soon with potential for up to six courses
• They're also about to start development in Texas and Florida

Dream Golf isn't even the full collection of Mike Keiser's work. He's been a major contributor to top-tier projects including what's now the Cabot collection and Barnbougle down in Tasmania. The first course he built was a 9-hole private club in New Buffalo, Michigan which is also known as the coolest place ever.

I'll write more about the details of their business in other posts (I'm clearly a fan), but now I'll ask the question that could be on your mind -- is there any limit to their empire? They have a ton of developments, on top of that each development has a ton of courses, all while being in a competitive and cyclical industry.

I (unfortunately) personally don't know any of the folks at Dream Golf, but I would guess they would say they're only limited by the amount of great property they can find. They are religious about finding the perfect, sandy land to build links-style courses.

Beyond that I think there's a few aspects that signal they're only getting started:

1. Their existing demand -- It's well known that you should book your trip to either Bandon or Sand Valley at least a full year in advance. Even in January, Bandon gets moderately busy. It's on the ocean -- in Oregon -- these golfers are diehards and Dream courses are their mecca.
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2. The level they execute at is impeccable -- the simplest indicator is to look at their new courses being consistently ranked among the top #100 best public courses.
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3. Golf is hot -- 3.4M people played golf for the first time in '24 creating a pipeline of future guests. Not only are the courses ranked so highly, they're also designed to be played by a wide array of skill levels, meaning you don't need to be a pro to visit and have fun.
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4. Isolation -- Mike placed a huge bet that people would travel to remote destinations to play world-class golf which obviously paid off (he had solid comps from U.S. golfers visiting remote courses in Ireland + Scotland). Isolation creates a monopoly on lodging and F&B revenue. Their resort in Colorado is the first one to be easily reached by only being 35 minutes outside of Denver.

In the golf world, this is the group to watch, learn, and go visit.

-Dan