WEBVTT - The Fire Pit w/ Matt Ginella: Building Bandon - Opening Day [PART 2] 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.120 It really comes back to that opening day that really 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:09.840 capitualized everything. A golf course, we think it as a 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.440 recreational playground, but I think of it in addition as 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.279 a consumer product. So when you spill your heart out 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.600 and you spend a lot of money on a product, 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.200 let's say, you don't know if it's any good until 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:27.520 people are offered it to buy and use. So that 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.000 first day in the bookings for the first year all 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.960 told me that America was ready for Links golf, even 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.760 though it was in Banded, Oregon, it's truly remote place, 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.960 and that that made me feel that I had done 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:48.440 a product, a architectural structural design that the American golfer, 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:52.160 which we number in the millions, really appreciated. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:01:10.360 That feels good. Five nobody here is getting time. Welcome 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:12.080 to the fire pit with Matt Janella. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.280 So I'm just back from my twenty fifth trip to 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.720 Bandon Dunes, which just happened to fall in between two 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.360 episodes of this podcast. On the building of Bandon, we 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.680 refer to the old course as the home of golf. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.120 Some say Pinehurst is the cradle of American golf, and 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.560 the book written about the building of Bandon Dunes is 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:41.120 dream golf. Mike Kaiser's dream has become a nightmare for 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.759 his competition. In twenty plus years of development of sand 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.280 based minimalism, the remote destination on the southwest coast of 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.080 Oregon has quickly become what some might say is the 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.520 best pure golf destination in the world, which is why 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.000 I dedicated two parts to this story as a recall 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.040 from part one. In the mid nineties, with twelve hundred 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.520 acres of gorse choked dunesland, Mike Kaiser started looking for 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.080 an architect who would do anything but what was being 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.200 done in the United States. He stumbled upon David McLay Kidd, 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.040 who was in his mid twenties, and his father, Jimmy, 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.640 who was the agronomist at Glenn Eagles in Scotland. 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.400 I gave what would be today a power point presentation, 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:24.720 but I did it with poster boards and a sharp 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.680 eat pains, and I wrote down on these poster boards, 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.000 you know, like no cart paths, and make you know 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.639 they would walk, and that the fairways would be uneven 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:39.360 and there'd be pot bunkers, and the clubhouse shouldn't be 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:41.880 on the water's edge, it should you know, the best 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:43.720 green should be on the water's edge. 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:49.480 I said to David, if we deviate any anytime from 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.000 offering Mike anything more than a true and I mean 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.079 a true Links experience, Irish Links experience here, you will 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:58.480 not hire us as architects. 0:02:58.560 --> 0:02:59.560 He will go elsewhere. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.280 Kaiser hired the kids to build it, and he hired 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.240 Kemper Sports to manage it. He tapped Josh Lesnik, also 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.800 in his twenties, to be the first general manager. Lesnick 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.239 explains why Bandon was so unique in the US. 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.480 Golf courses were being built close to people, you know, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.720 close to cities. People didn't necessarily care about the site 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.200 for golf. You could have mud and clay and rock 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.760 under the soil, but if it were close to people 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.000 and you could put houses around it, That's the kind 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.720 of golf courses people were building in the nineties, eighties, 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:34.040 nineties in America. 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:36.840 This was close to nobody. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.520 This is going back to the golden age when you'd 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.320 look for the best site for golf and you know, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.240 no bank would finance it. No, no, everybody thought it 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.600 was crazy. Mike's friends thought it was crazy. Mike thought 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:49.920 it was. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.840 Crazy against all odds and swimming into the current of trends, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.040 Kaiser kept going one hole at a time, and on 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.800 May first, nineteen ninety nine, on the eve of opening day, 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.680 he reflected on what if all the doubters were right 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:06.120 and he was wrong? 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:08.760 Yeah, you know, Josh and I discussed, you know what 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:10.880 happens if no one comes, or what happens if we 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.800 break even? Because we all had bats the first year 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.880 how many rounds we would do, and twelve thousand rounds 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.840 is break even. And most of our bats about how 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.800 many rounds we would do were less than twelve thousand rounds, 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.920 so in my group, no one thought we would break even. 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.800 And the discussion I remembered probably than the night before, Well, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.359 if it doesn't work, I'll give it three years for 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.240 it to catch on, and if it doesn't, we'll turn 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:38.120 it into a sheep ranch. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.359 The Sheep Ranch opened on June first, twenty twenty, the 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.080 fifth eighteen hole golf course at Bandon Dunes. Plus there's 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.800 the Preserve, a thirteen whole Part three course, Shorties, another 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:51.479 version of a Part three course at the back of 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.760 the range, and the punch Bowl, a two and a 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.520 half acre putting course which you can play for free. 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.720 Needless to say, I'm not even sure Kaiser could have 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.080 dreamed something as big as what Bandon has become. But 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.640 for now, let's go back to the beginning. We're back 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.039 in Bandon. It's nineteen ninety seven and word is out 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.000 in the town of three thousand that there might be 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.240 a golf course coming. Meet Mick Peters, a recreational golfer 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.480 who has been barbering in Bandon for fifty four years. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.440 In the shop, we said, oh yeah, they're going to 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.479 be a world class golf course in band And who's 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.240 going to come to Bandon to play golf? 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.080 That was That was a talk right off the bat. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.600 Bob Gaspar, also known as Shoe because he looks like 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.480 Jockie Bill Shoemaker, was a customer at Mixed Hair Surgeons. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.760 As the story went on, Shoe came in and he 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.960 was getting a haircut. He said, I'm going to go out. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.680 They're looking for a caddy master. He said, I'm going 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:49.920 to go out and apply for that. I said, cool, 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.200 So he did, and of course, as a story went 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:55.560 on again he got it. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:57.640 He was in my shop again. 0:05:57.800 --> 0:05:58.720 It's gotten hiss there and. 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.039 He says, man, that first day is really filling up 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.040 I said, wow, I said, is the first tea taken yet? 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.480 He's I don't know, but I'm going back out there 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.200 and i'll check and i'll call you. So he did, 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.479 and he called me. He said, no, it's open. 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:14.760 I Nick, how would you like to be the first 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:15.320 one off? 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.280 I said yes, and he said you will have to 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.080 have a bourse him. I said, that's cool, I can 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:20.599 do that. 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.520 Mike Peters, Mick's oldest son. 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.080 Is in Dad, called and said, I got the first 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.680 tea time for Bandon Dunes. He says, you want to play. 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:31.800 I'm like sure. He's like, we need to find two 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.320 more people. I'm like, okay, we'll see if we can 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:36.279 find two more people. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:37.920 A friend of. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.919 Mine and his father in law joined us, and we 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.440 showed up that morning and it was a typical Bandon day. 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.440 It was raining, cats and dogs. We showed up in 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:54.680 our golf attire and they handed us Gortek's golf rain 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.520 stuff because it was pouring down rain. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.719 Josh Lesnik on him memorable day. 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.240 Yeah. We opened on May second, nineteen ninety nine. 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:11.080 It was rainy and I'd say fifties, maybe high forties, 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:16.680 low fifties, and we were booked from the first tea 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.080 time to the last tea time. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.120 You know, mostly Oregonians. It was kind of a regular day. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:28.320 We didn't do a big VIP invitational and invite. We 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.360 just did whoever's going to make tea times or he 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.920 let him play an opening day. Mike Kaiser's plan was 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.400 to be there and hand out the opening day coins 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:38.600 to each player. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.560 David Kidd wasn't at Opening Day, but his father Jimmy, 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.400 who was in town collaborating with the maintenance team, stood 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.800 next to Mike Kaiser and helped pass out coins to 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:49.040 everyone who played that day. 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.720 Opening Day was the most surprising thing. I've been at 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.720 a few opening days, and they were a pretty big 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.160 and pretty grand affair as well. The opening day at 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.680 Bandon was anything but grand, anything but baked. It was 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.600 a wet, miserable day if I remember rightly. It was 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.720 a typical Scottish links day. 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.720 Shoe again with more details. 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:11.440 It was a full ticket once again, I believe two 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.200 hundred and forty eight people and we didn't have any rooms, 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:16.920 so everybody had to stay in town, either stay in 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:18.320 town or just drive home again. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:19.160 Uh. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.480 Local golf, local golf for us as Eugene and Portland. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.679 Nobody around here, particularly except for our golf club members 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.440 play golf here. I had made it up bag tags 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.319 for everybody, this big stack of bag tags, and I 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:33.760 thought this would be cool. We're going to tag the 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:35.520 bags once again. We didn't know what we were doing. 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.160 Cars pulled up, but it wasn't just one car at 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.560 a time. It was like everybody pulled up. The tags 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.160 went by the window, you know. 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:44.640 Uh. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.200 It was poor and rain. MIC's up on the tee, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.280 He's huddled down. Everybody's trying to smile. All these people 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:54.680 here to play golf, pouring. 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.240 Micked, the local barber, was the first player at Bandon 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.320 Dudes that day. Mick Peters and his sons were the 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.040 first ones to play, and they since have been the 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.079 first ones to play every single opening, including the preserve, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:10.640 of every golf course in Bandon. 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.120 We're going to have a lot more on Mick Peters 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.000 and his sons and their legacy abandoned in episode ten 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.600 of The fire Pit, but for now Nick stays focused 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.920 on his first t shot of the first course. 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.200 It was just it was bigger than. 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.560 I expect that. I didn't think there would be that 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.800 many people there watching, and I was so nervous I 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.720 couldn't already put the ball on the tee. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.199 Mike Peters has been second off on every new course 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:40.080 at Bandon Dunes. 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:41.840 It was a lot of fun. 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.760 I was like, what are we doing? Why are we 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.720 doing this? You know, until we walked up onto the 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.920 tee and then you saw it over the first tea 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.079 and the whole course. It was like, you couldn't get me. 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:55.400 Out of here. 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.440 Yeah, I mean just Bandon Weather. 0:09:57.800 --> 0:09:58.600 Yeah, a big deal. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.199 And it was an absolute gorgeous golf course. And I, 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.760 like I said, I'd never seen it. I had no 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.600 idea what I was getting into until I stepped on 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:12.000 that first tee and it really was on inspiring. 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.440 As first off. Mixed tradition is to tea up a 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.120 ball and with his first swing he only hits the 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:18.319 ball a few feet. 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.720 I do that, and then I have mister Kayder sign it, 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.360 and I put it away, and I grab another ball 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:26.160 and I hit it again. 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.080 But I am at I'm the first guy that hits 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:35.640 the ball. There was only I'm not going to say 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.320 the name, although I have in the past. There was 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.320 one person that didn't show up the first day. 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.880 It was one of my friends down and he decided 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.880 it was too rainy and cold to show up. Every 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.520 other person shut up. Was just one person that didn't 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.199 show up. It was rainy and cold, no doubt, I'll 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:50.959 give him a break. 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:57.760 But everybody else played. Who is this guy? He's a local, 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:58.720 he's a friend. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.400 He's a uh, he was a friend until he didn't 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:02.839 show up. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.880 Shoe showed up. Of course, what would Bandon be without Shoe. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.160 There was a big trailer. One of our local cranberry 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:18.400 growers brought a barbecue trailer, backed it up back here, 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.480 right back to where the where the pub's at. He 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.520 was cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for everybody. The rain 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.880 finally stopped, sun came out, it turned beautiful. The cranberry 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.520 grower's name was Jack, and by the end of the day, 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.200 because he had a bottle of Jack, hamburgers and hot 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:36.600 dogs were flying everywhere. 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.040 I swear man, you wouldn't know a boom. 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:40.920 Here it goes. It was great. 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.360 It was the greatest experience because it was just it 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.199 was banded, nothing fancy, you know. The hot dogs and 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.280 hamburgers were free. Everybody had a great time. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:51.200 What's the rain stopping? 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:53.360 It was extremely. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.240 Rewarding. It was really it was a really neat day and. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.199 It was fun to see the staff all together and 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.920 really have the customers out there was great fun day. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.000 Jimmy Kidd on watching Mike Kaiser as his dream unfolded 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:09.679 in front of him. 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:15.520 Mike was relatively quiet. He was basically listening to what 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.080 everyone was saying, and everyone. 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.360 Seemed to be happy to be there, even before they 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.319 had even before they had hit a shot, they were 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.720 delighted to be there. Maybe it was the the just 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.040 the atmosphere of an opening day and a golf course. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.439 But when they came back in Mike Goness, the comments 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.800 and the clubhouse and the atmosphere and the clubhouse was 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:35.840 just out of this world. 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:37.560 It was an incredible day. 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.560 You could always even today, I could you can feel 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.000 it here in the back of your next standing up 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:44.640 because you knew that something had happened to you in 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.520 a place which was out in the middle of nowhere. 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:52.199 So everything until opening day was rough, and then from 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:53.840 then on the golfers took over. 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.760 Guys like you, Matt said, this is fun, Link's golf, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:58.760 what we like. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.839 Even at that we weren't sure kind of what it 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:08.000 would become. By that point though, we were quite sure 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.240 our rounds were going to, you know, exceed what our 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.280 expectations were the first year, because there was an article 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:19.040 written in December of ninety seven by Bob Robinson, and 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.600 he was a well known golf writer, and he wrote 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.200 a story about Vanda Dune's, you know, almost six months 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.880 before we opened. Came out in December. We were set 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.560 to start taking tea times January first of ninety eight. 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:34.680 The article comes out in December. The phone started ringing 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.319 that day. Shoe was in there answering him. The phone 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.320 has not stopped ringing since that day. 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.920 And I give a huge amount of credit to making 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.560 that a reality to Josh. You know, he was the 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:51.480 one that got the message out there and got people 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.400 to pay attention and come and look. 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:55.440 And it was those first few people. 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.480 I remember Brian Callen Cumming who was with Golf Magazine 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.520 at the time, and Josh and I played the back nine, 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:07.240 I think with him and his reaction was my first 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:13.640 experience of an American golf journalist seeing this and saying, wow, 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.320 this is different. And that was all as I remember it. 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.080 That was old Josh. He was the one bringing these 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:25.400 people and had those connections, and we were seeing that 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:31.600 reaction happen because of his skills delivering the message. 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.960 What Josh got to do was be fun and fun 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.120 to be with and hire people and find caddies when 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.240 everyone said you'll never find caddies, and go to the 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.080 Portland Golf Show and convince people that it's only four 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.200 and a half hour drive. So Josh was great on publicity, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.640 David was great on building the golf course, and Howard 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.880 McKee was the magical architect guy. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.960 So all systems are go. Bandon Dune's was open for business, 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.040 and we learned it part one of this podcast. Kaiser 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.520 had already bought the land that would become the second 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:08.000 course on property. So I asked Mike how soon after 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.800 opening day of Bandon did he commit the Pacific Dunes 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:11.920 a tom Dope design? 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:17.160 Almost immediately, I mean it was within within days. It 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:23.040 was overwhelming, And let's give Josh credit for We opened 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.960 in May, early May nineteen ninety nine, and then the 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.320 opening day we knew that we had bookings. 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.240 Whether people would actually show up, we didn't know. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.360 But as the days ticked by, we realized that all 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.840 the bookings we had were going to become real rounds 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.840 that people would drive and fly from who knows where. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:45.400 You made it, make it a success. So I'd say 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:46.240 within the first. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.320 Two months, if not the first couple of weeks, Josh 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.320 and I and Howard all said yeah. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:52.360 Let's go. 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.400 Because we opened open Pacific Dunes in two thousand and one, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.760 two years later, so that tells you that we did. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:04.360 Could he split on the second golf course last year? 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.960 On May second, twenty nineteen, David Kidd was on the 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.560 first tea for the twentieth anniversary of Bandon Dunes. 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:14.240 You know, it's amazing to think that in twenty years, 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:19.600 with fifty thousand approximately visitors per year, we're looking at 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:24.080 a million individuals have now visited Bandon Dunes. Sure some 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.360 of them visit every year, but the number I use 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:31.400 is a million people. A million golfers have visited Bandon 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.320 Dunes now over the first twenty years. That's pretty amazing. 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:42.000 I think it awakened in American golfers' willingness to accept nature, 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.000 that golf through nature is what golf is truly. 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:46.160 Meant to be. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:52.600 That's why we've seen golf move away from being ornate 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.200 and overly manicured and become far more natural. It speaks 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:02.280 to our current ethos that we want things to be 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:08.280 sustainable and have less inputs, less chemicals, less of everything 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.520 so that nature can take a hold. And Bandon Dunes 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:16.160 was the grind zero for that in America twenty years ago. 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.400 But his shoe explains the impact of this resort goes 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:21.880 a lot deeper than some of the natural sand bunkers 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:22.720 throughout the property. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:27.359 You know, it's really basically made the town come alive, 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.080 and not only Bandoned, but Koos County actually the entire 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:38.120 state of Oregon almost Well, no, it's true. It's true 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.400 because look how many there's so many people that would 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:45.880 never venture west of the Mississippi River that are coming here, 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.960 and they've never been to Pacific Northwest. I mean, this 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:50.920 place is this place is beautiful. 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:52.000 I mean it just is. 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:57.400 And so this has brought people here that heretofore would 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:58.560 never have come this way. 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.440 But almost almost. 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.159 Everybody in town in the county gets a check from 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:09.920 Bandon Dunes for one thing or another. Newspapers, flowers, coffee, 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.960 you know, meat, you name it, and they get a check. 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.600 And that doesn't even take into consideration a payroll for 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:23.040 six hundred and forty in staffers and then an additional 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.680 three hundred to three hundred and fifty caddies that goes 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:28.160 out into the community. 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.080 I think, Matt, you know. 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.479 For for Mike and I, the one thing we always 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.320 say to each other is we look at each other 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:39.000 and like, can you believe this? 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:39.880 You know, because we. 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.240 It's hard to say, you know, like we didn't look 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.000 at Bandon Dunes as a business every day. We didn't, 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:48.720 but we knew we were opening a business, and you 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:50.439 can't do things stupid. 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:51.560 We're doing it for. 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.200 The love of the game, but it was still a business, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:59.600 and you know, to budget to do ten thousand rounds 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.880 the first year and end up doing close to thirty thousand, 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.880 and now you know, multiply those numbers by the five 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.159 courses now and it's like, we still can't believe it. 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.800 I can't believe it. Mike can't believe it. I mean, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:17.760 there's no way you could have imagined that it would 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:22.600 become what it's become. It's, you know, thankfully to the 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:27.280 work the architects did and the site selection, and it's uh, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.160 I still have to pinch myself. 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.440 Some final reflections from several key players who have helped 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.400 make Bandon so special. We'll start with Josh Lesnik, followed 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:43.240 by David Kidd. 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.480 I've been involved with a number of other places, and 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:51.920 but Bandon is is uh yeah, it's home. 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.600 It's my home away from home. It's my happy place. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.199 I love you know, the second you step foot on 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.760 that property and breathe in that air and then get 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.560 to p hit those golf courses and Bandon Dunes being 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.960 my favorite golf course anywhere in the world, Yeah, there's 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.240 I don't know that anything could ever take over Bandon 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.040 Dunes's my favorite place in the world. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.640 I never tire of talking about Bandon Dun's. I never 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:23.040 tire of every visit I make. I especially love it 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.760 when I get to take Bandon virgins there who are 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:32.199 not Bandon East as yet to experience the place with 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:33.119 a newbie. 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.320 Is still a huge kick. And I know it's the 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:37.240 same for you guys. 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.959 I mean taking I probably take at least one or 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:44.000 two Create sms to band in a year, and in 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.239 that eight sum I try and make sure there's at 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:50.159 least one or two virgins and introduce them to the 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.800 place and know that it's just blowing their minds. 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:56.480 And that's such fun to be part of. 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.399 To see that wonder again and experience it through someone 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:02.520 else's eyes seeing it for the first time. 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:05.360 I'll never ever tire of that. 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.000 Kidd and Leslig again on what they learned from working 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:11.040 with Mike Kaiser. 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.439 You know, he is the master of cutting through the 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.359 bas and getting to the heart of the matter. He 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:25.520 simplifies things to their absolute core, really really quickly, better 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:27.119 than anybody I've ever made before. 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:31.040 I could be doing mental gymnastics trying to figure something out, 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.520