Wild Spring Dunes (Mt. Enterprise, TX)

[MAROON79]

Brought to you by the guys that own Sand Valley.  Pretty impressive golf architecture team. Founding member $65k, and annual dues of $7600.  Not sure what that gets you exactly.  Will be interesting to see if it gets the needed traction to take off.

 

 

 

Coore & Crenshaw architects

 

Link to discussion with pictures

 

Wild Spring Dunes (Mt. Enterprise) | TexAgs

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2024 by MAROON79

[Adam B]

That’s awesome. No public info online so thanks for sharing. 

[ND2005]

Founders membership benefits:

-Early access to real estate opportunities

-Preview play/preview events and tours

-Early tee time/lodging access ahead of the public

-"Founders blocks" of tee times to enable shorter notice trips (i.e. don't have to plan everything a year + in advance)

-No greens fees for members or immediate family; 50% green fees for guests

-Special tournaments/events

-1 time legacy/family transfer allowed

-65K deposit is refundable after 30 years or if for any reason the project doesn't take off

[snagy2000]

https://golf.com/travel/bandon-dunes-family-texas-golf-resort-wild-spring-dunes/?amp=1

[CodyDavis]

Does anyone know exactly where this is located? Rusk County? Or is it Panola County (or elsewhere)?

[YellowV1x]

1 hour ago, CodyDavis said:

Does anyone know exactly where this is located? Rusk County? Or is it Panola County (or elsewhere)?

 

Not exactly where, but the website has a map of the general area . . .

 

[cgd2061]

website recently launched https://www.wildspringdunes.com/ 

[monty09]

too early to call epic fail?

[CMCSGolf]

On 8/9/2024 at 9:34 AM, monty09 said:

too early to call epic fail?

Please elaborate?

[Shane Cavitt]

5 hours ago, CMCSGolf said:

Please elaborate?

I agree. What is the context? 

[TexasTurf]

I have no knowledge of the project other than what I can find on the internet, but I bet it will be very successful. 

[monty09]

17 hours ago, CMCSGolf said:

Please elaborate?

 

I was early in getting the deck and on several text messages or emails... all laughed upon opening...  love the ambitious but don't see it being super successful 

[NorthTexasGlfr]

1 hour ago, monty09 said:

 

I was early in getting the deck and on several text messages or emails... all laughed upon opening...  love the ambitious but don't see it being super successful 

 

Why do you not see it being super successful?

[monty09]

1 hour ago, North Texas said:

 

Why do you not see it being super successful?

 

 

location, weather, membership costs 

 

 

[TexasTurf]

13 hours ago, monty09 said:

 

 

location, weather, membership costs 

 

 

I agree on location. Weather is golf year round so they have that covered. Membership cost is a non factor because they are marketing themselves as a public golf resort, if you join as a member the joke is on you. 

 

The $14 dollar course I used to play in the semi ghetto I live in now charges over $130 dollars per round and is still a goat track. Yet I can't get on before 4:30 pm because the tee sheet is stacked every day.

 

I think they will do just fine.

[NorthTexasGlfr]

8 hours ago, TexasTurf said:

I agree on location. Weather is golf year round so they have that covered. Membership cost is a non factor because they are marketing themselves as a public golf resort, if you join as a member the joke is on you. 

 

The $14 dollar course I used to play in the semi ghetto I live in now charges over $130 dollars per round and is still a goat track. Yet I can't get on before 4:30 pm because the tee sheet is stacked every day.

 

I think they will do just fine.

 

What people are willing to pay to play golf now is mind boggling. 

[ElGatoGrande]

How many months a year is Sand Valley actually playable? I think these people know what they are doing. 

[ND2005]

I certainly wouldn't bet against a Keiser backed, C/C and Doak designed golf resort right now. Not sure what indication there is this wouldn't succeed other than one poster's skepticism.  

[NorthTexasGlfr]

3 hours ago, ND2005 said:

I certainly wouldn't bet against a Keiser backed, C/C and Doak designed golf resort right now. Not sure what indication there is this wouldn't succeed other than one poster's skepticism.  

 

Yea, it's not like these people haven't done this before. 

 

Is anyone aware of a similar project with people like this involved in it that basically flopped?

Edited August 13, 2024 by North Texas

[ND2005]

41 minutes ago, North Texas said:

 

Yea, it's not like these people haven't done this before. 

 

Is anyone aware of a similar project with people like this involved in it that basically flopped?

also while the location is “remote” - it is also easy driving distance from Dallas/FW and Houston. That’s two of the five largest population bases in the US. 
 
They might be able to fill the whole place with just Texans. 

[TexasTurf]

To clarify my position, I think that this project will be massively successful, business wise. 

 

But the conditions will be somewhere between mediocre and s***.

 

Pine Dunes will probably still be the better conditioned course in the area even though their budget will be much smaller and they have about 3 guys total taking care of the place. Because they actually care.

[NorthTexasGlfr]

7 hours ago, TexasTurf said:

To clarify my position, I think that this project will be massively successful, business wise. 

 

But the conditions will be somewhere between mediocre and s***.

 

Pine Dunes will probably still be the better conditioned course in the area even though their budget will be much smaller and they have about 3 guys total taking care of the place. Because they actually care.

 

Interesting take.

 

Especially the "Because they actually care" part. 

[TexasTurf]

15 hours ago, North Texas said:

 

Interesting take.

 

Especially the "Because they actually care" part. 

Long story simplified: I've been giving the Bandon Dunes fanboys a hard time because they lost several of their greens on one of their courses this year and they claimed that it's perfectly normal for that to happen despite their other courses with the same greens on the same property being just fine, and the responses were that they are the best in the world there's no way you should criticize bare dirt, still the best putting surfaces in the world, no questions allowed. While Pine Dunes has much more extreme weather and still manages to pull off some pretty awesome greens consistently. 

[dfwgolfer92]

9 hours ago, TexasTurf said:

Long story simplified: I've been giving the Bandon Dunes fanboys a hard time because they lost several of their greens on one of their courses this year and they claimed that it's perfectly normal for that to happen despite their other courses with the same greens on the same property being just fine, and the responses were that they are the best in the world there's no way you should criticize bare dirt, still the best putting surfaces in the world, no questions allowed. While Pine Dunes has much more extreme weather and still manages to pull off some pretty awesome greens consistently. 

The idea that they can keep 110+ greens on property all perfect all the time, especially in the setting and conditions Bandon sits on is hard to believe.  Those are some of the harshest conditions in North America, all the time, wind, rain, sleet, cold, hot, not to mention the amount of traffic they get.  

[TexasTurf]

14 hours ago, dfwgolfer92 said:

The idea that they can keep 110+ greens on property all perfect all the time, especially in the setting and conditions Bandon sits on is hard to believe.  Those are some of the harshest conditions in North America, all the time, wind, rain, sleet, cold, hot, not to mention the amount of traffic they get.  

I agree. It was a personal argument I was having with 1 or 2 people that I'm too proud to back down from. They obviously haven't solved the problem internally, which is fine in my opinion. But they need to reach out to universities to diagnose the problem, then to suppliers once they have identified the problem to fix it.

 

I think they will do much better here with bermuda over the fickle weed they're trying to use on the west coast. 

Edited August 16, 2024 by TexasTurf

[blev2]

On 8/15/2024 at 10:41 PM, TexasTurf said:

I agree. It was a personal argument I was having with 1 or 2 people that I'm too proud to back down from. They obviously haven't solved the problem internally, which is fine in my opinion. But they need to reach out to universities to diagnose the problem, then to suppliers once they have identified the problem to fix it.

 

I think they will do much better here with bermuda over the fickle weed they're trying to use on the west coast. 

So you think the conditions of this new venture will be somewhere between mediocre and crap? Wild take. 

[TexasTurf]

10 hours ago, blev2 said:

So you think the conditions of this new venture will be somewhere between mediocre and crap? Wild take. 

Not that wild. They will be packed with golfers and carts. Very heavy traffic and little time to work on it, and will open way too early. It will be fine but will take a few years to get conditions over the mediocre rating. It will be great in the long run, but the first year or two will be a struggle. Not their fault, that's how it is with every new course.

[CMCSGolf]

8 hours ago, TexasTurf said:

Not that wild. They will be packed with golfers and carts. Very heavy traffic and little time to work on it, and will open way too early. It will be fine but will take a few years to get conditions over the mediocre rating. It will be great in the long run, but the first year or two will be a struggle. Not their fault, that's how it is with every new course.

Have you heard they will allow carts? None of the other Keiser properties do (to my knowledge), but they also have never built anything this far south. That's an interesting point.  

[ND2005]

9 hours ago, CMCSGolf said:

Have you heard they will allow carts? None of the other Keiser properties do (to my knowledge), but they also have never built anything this far south. That's an interesting point.  

With the Texas weather I have to assume they’ll offer carts, at least during the peak summer heat. 

[TexasTurf]

10 hours ago, CMCSGolf said:

Have you heard they will allow carts? None of the other Keiser properties do (to my knowledge), but they also have never built anything this far south. That's an interesting point.  

I didn't realize that, so I very well could be wrong about that. If they don't allow carts that will help them become great much sooner!