Michael Keiser Jr. says he isn’t bent on building remote golf courses. Like his father, Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes, he goes wherever the best land takes him. Often, that means going off the beaten path.
His latest stop sits two and a half hours from both Dallas and Houston, in the countryside of East Texas, where Wild Spring Dunes is taking shape. Of two planned 18-holers, one has just opened to public play — a Tom Doak design stitched through a tapestry of forests and meadows, its rumpled features lined with spring-fed creeks.
The par-4 1st hole plunges to the fairway from a rise known as Mount Baldy, which the routing touches on multiple occasions in a round that doubles as varied adventure. In its terrain and style of play, on firm, fast ground with ample room for creativity around the greens, the course invites lofty comparisons. Doak himself has likened it to Pinehurst, with more elevations changes, in a setting that he says also calls to mind Pine Valley. That’s a high bar. And there’s more to come, including a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw course, a short course, putting course, practice facility and private cottages and estates.
Twenty minutes away, Nacogdoches, population 30,000, is the closest thing around to a metropolis. It’s known as the oldest town in Texas but may soon have a new claim to fame: the gateway to golf’s next great destination.
Green fees are $195-$295, depending on the season, with replay rates ranging from $100 to $140.
