Speaker 1: The land as you're going to see as the sun
Speaker 1: bowls today, you'll see that this property dictated what the
Speaker 1: golf course is gonna be, and it needed to be big,
Speaker 1: almosts and two holes back to back. That's large, of course.
Speaker 1: Fred Funk eats up two holes in twelve yards. Put
Speaker 1: another log on the fire and nobody hears. Get the
Speaker 1: time Welcome to the fire pit. With Matt Chanella, ed
Speaker 1: C was a golf course architect responsible for almost three
Speaker 1: hundred designs and renovations, most of which were in partnership
Speaker 1: with Arnold Palmer, who see started working with in v two.
Speaker 1: Courses like Tralee and the K Club in Ireland, Avillara
Speaker 1: and Carl's bat The Tradition in Laquinta, Sawgrass Country Club
Speaker 1: in Pontevedra Beach and Bay Hill in Orlando are a
Speaker 1: few of his most notable projects. Ed C, a past
Speaker 1: president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, died
Speaker 1: in two thousand seven at the age of sixty nine.
Speaker 1: I've worked with his son, Mason C on several stories
Speaker 1: during my eight years at the Golf Channel, where Mason
Speaker 1: often freelanced as a producer on projects such as the
Speaker 1: story on Gil Hants building the Olympic Course in Rio.
Speaker 1: Mason and I share a love and passion for golf
Speaker 1: course architects and architecture and the stories behind the designs.
Speaker 1: Mason will be a regular contributor to the fire Pit Collective,
Speaker 1: and he starts with the story on rain Dance National
Speaker 1: in Windsor, Colorado, a Fred Funk and Harrison Minshew design.
Speaker 1: Funk is the winner of eight PGA Tour events, including
Speaker 1: the two thousand five Players Championship, and has won nine
Speaker 1: times on the champions Tour. This is his first opportunity
Speaker 1: design and build his own course. Minshew worked with Ed
Speaker 1: c and Arnold Palmer until he broke out on his
Speaker 1: own in two thousand eight. The course they're building is
Speaker 1: for Martin Lynde, a successful developer in northern Colorado. I
Speaker 1: met up with all of the above earlier this year
Speaker 1: to tour the land, walk the course as it was
Speaker 1: being finished, and to record this podcast on how it
Speaker 1: all came together. But before we get to that story,
Speaker 1: I just want to thank our friends at Link Soul
Speaker 1: for their support of the fire Pit. John Ashworth and
Speaker 1: Jeff Cunningham have created so much more than just a
Speaker 1: lifestyle brand that I live in both on and off
Speaker 1: the golf course. Links Soul is a lifestyle that permeates
Speaker 1: out of goad Hill Park where they've helped cultivate a course,
Speaker 1: a culture, and a community vibe that's become a blueprint
Speaker 1: for what's possible at a municipality. For discount on your
Speaker 1: next purchase at links soul dot com, use promo code
Speaker 1: fire pit And now sitting around a fire pit with
Speaker 1: Funk Minshew in Lynde overlooking what they've created. This is
Speaker 1: a story of rain Dance National. At some point in
Speaker 1: your life, you acquired this property and there was thought
Speaker 1: that there would be golf here, right, So as a kid,
Speaker 1: we would come up here and trespass and slat up
Speaker 1: and down on the hills. And then my dad, who's
Speaker 1: ninety years old and God blessing me still alive, tell
Speaker 1: stories of how he had to walk these arroyas from
Speaker 1: Windsor back to his house. So it's been part of
Speaker 1: property we've known, but we never owned it until the
Speaker 1: uh maybe two thousand two. But we really really didn't
Speaker 1: have a purpose because it's not really a place where
Speaker 1: you could graze cattle. It's pretty steep, and it has
Speaker 1: this kind of a mystique about it where it's arid
Speaker 1: and dry and crisp in the dry ears, and then
Speaker 1: it's like this in the white ears and it's just
Speaker 1: magnificent and trying to fare out what to do with it.
Speaker 1: So when we got it acquired, I always felt that
Speaker 1: we should preserve it because anytimes you see homes on
Speaker 1: a hill, because we're land developers and we put homes
Speaker 1: on property, but we try to be unique. But when
Speaker 1: you see homes on the hill kind of scars the hill.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look good. So we want to preserve it
Speaker 1: and thought about putting a golf course on it. And
Speaker 1: we're really just in the conceptual stages of it when
Speaker 1: I met Fred, and how did that happened? So luckily
Speaker 1: I was going broke fast. If you're gonna go broke,
Speaker 1: go broke fast, don't. It's a painful, cancrous thing. You
Speaker 1: just want to go fast, right, But I was. It
Speaker 1: was oh eight o nine and I was going broke
Speaker 1: so fast and you couldn't borrow it, right, right, yeah?
Speaker 1: And I was. I had one of my best friends
Speaker 1: from high school was a chief pilot. We had a
Speaker 1: flight department. We had to sell the jazz because you
Speaker 1: can't get four barons agreements from banks when you have
Speaker 1: jets and boats. So were we were throwing everything off
Speaker 1: the Queen Mary, trying to keep it floating, and and
Speaker 1: uh so Craig, my my pilot, said, hey, I asked
Speaker 1: him to try to find somebody that would trade a
Speaker 1: jet for land, because I couldn't borrow anything on land,
Speaker 1: but at the time you could borrow on a jet.
Speaker 1: So I was just trying to survive. And he said,
Speaker 1: I've got this guy has a black lear and the
Speaker 1: end numbers are Foxtrot Foxtrot, so he goes he might
Speaker 1: want to trade. One ends up being Fred Fonk. And
Speaker 1: the only thing worse than having the land development going
Speaker 1: broke in the late two thousand eight nine would be
Speaker 1: trying to go hang onto a jet and go from
Speaker 1: the regular tour to the Champion tour. So yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: So now we call it the two dead dogs for
Speaker 1: a dead cat trade. So we're just trying to get
Speaker 1: rid of stuff that didn't work for us. And about
Speaker 1: two hours into this tour, Fred flew up to be
Speaker 1: with me. In about two hours into it, he really
Speaker 1: didn't see anything I had that was very attractive to him,
Speaker 1: and it just wasn't gonna workcake Ud Perkins out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but then you would have had all you would have
Speaker 1: had all the good PGA tour players over there, waitresses,
Speaker 1: Tiger would have been there. Hey, you're Mike up Fred.
Speaker 1: So so we're just having kind of a hoot, kind
Speaker 1: of like this. And I'd only known Fred an hour
Speaker 1: and we're driving around and I said, Fred, have you
Speaker 1: ever designed a course? And he goes, oh god, it
Speaker 1: talking my bucket list. I would love to do that,
Speaker 1: but that's a pedigree that I'm never going to be
Speaker 1: there and that that's kind of gone. And at this
Speaker 1: time golf courses were starting to not be developed anymore.
Speaker 1: So we drove up here, about half a mile over there,
Speaker 1: and it's a friend, look at this. This would be
Speaker 1: a great golf course, and he goes, oh, man, this
Speaker 1: would be fun. So it wasn't. It wasn't six months
Speaker 1: and he had gone back and called me and said,
Speaker 1: my next door neighbor, Harrison has been with Palmer and
Speaker 1: they're not building anymore, so I want to bring him out.
Speaker 1: And it was just a hoot and they just woom
Speaker 1: boom boom, and then of course the recession. Okay, hold on, hold,
Speaker 1: let me stop you right there, let me stop you
Speaker 1: here there, because I'm gonna go back out and get so. So, Fred,
Speaker 1: how do you remember this story where you're coming in,
Speaker 1: You're you're trading a plane what like? What? Yeah, we
Speaker 1: had a letter thirty one that we were trying to
Speaker 1: get rid of, and uh, I just wasn't making the money.
Speaker 1: I couldn't justify the cost of that thing, the annual
Speaker 1: cost of that thing. So came out here to see
Speaker 1: what he had to offer. And we're driving around everything
Speaker 1: we're I could have had a residential land, I could
Speaker 1: add industrial land. I could add a Perkin's pancake house. Uh.
Speaker 1: Like you know, I really don't want to and I
Speaker 1: really need money. I need cash and uh. And then
Speaker 1: he drives up on the hill. It was actually right
Speaker 1: off the top here, and you could see down this
Speaker 1: and not really see the the roy is the way
Speaker 1: you see him from the bottom, but I could see
Speaker 1: there was something and out of nowhere he says, Hey, Fred,
Speaker 1: I want you to design your first signature of Fred
Speaker 1: punk golf course. I go what I said. We just
Speaker 1: met like two and a half hours ago. He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know whatever, and I'm thinking he's blown smoke
Speaker 1: and two and a half hours that was only like
Speaker 1: a twelve pack into the deal. Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: So then we go and where, I mean, where are
Speaker 1: you serious? I mean, were you just messing around? No?
Speaker 1: Because because within two hours of being with Fred is
Speaker 1: about all you know you need to know about him.
Speaker 1: You just you just got this magnetic fun about him.
Speaker 1: And I said, and that's kind of what I like
Speaker 1: to have as a lot of fun in life. And
Speaker 1: so Fred, do this golf course? Just do it? Yeah.
Speaker 1: We we went down to his office and he broke
Speaker 1: out the topo map and it said rain Dance on
Speaker 1: the top and I said, what does that? He said,
Speaker 1: that's the land that we're just on. I go, no kidding,
Speaker 1: I said, well, that's the name of the golf course.
Speaker 1: We ever do this? And sure enough it is? And
Speaker 1: uh and I'm not that familiar at that time in
Speaker 1: my life of reading topos, but I could see there
Speaker 1: were some big elevation changes in these erosion ditches. And
Speaker 1: I said, we got to go back and look at
Speaker 1: it from the bottom, and we did, and that's when
Speaker 1: you can see it all that from looking up into it,
Speaker 1: and that's unbelievable. And at the time I didn't think,
Speaker 1: can you really build a golf course on it? But
Speaker 1: I went and walked the land. I went home. I
Speaker 1: came back soon after and I walked the land and
Speaker 1: this is unbelievable. And then I went back home again
Speaker 1: to Ponto Adrian. I showed Harrison the topo map and
Speaker 1: he just studied it for about ten minutes, dead silent,
Speaker 1: and he's never quiet either, and uh, and he just
Speaker 1: looks up and he goes, this is really magnificent. What
Speaker 1: did he really say? Hey said, this is fucking awesome.
Speaker 1: And so he said, So we we flew out and
Speaker 1: and uh, he saw it, and we started working on
Speaker 1: a routing and it kind of really the front nine
Speaker 1: I routed itself once we decided where we were going
Speaker 1: to start. Hold on one second, now, so what what
Speaker 1: what what's your recollection of? Like seriously, like, what's your
Speaker 1: relationship with Fred Funk? And then and then he shows
Speaker 1: you this topo map? So Fred wins what two or
Speaker 1: f tpc? Yeah, And so you know we're our office
Speaker 1: is like a mile and a half from the golf
Speaker 1: course from Sagress TPC and Players Club, and he he
Speaker 1: interested in golf architecture. So he called the office up
Speaker 1: and he wanted to have, you know, come and see
Speaker 1: what we did that year that he won the Players.
Speaker 1: That year that he won the Players, he won the
Speaker 1: players went in March, and you came there like in
Speaker 1: May or something. And actually I just had a coldon
Speaker 1: Osbie the morning speaking because you can't have fun without it,
Speaker 1: because the doctor, the doctor said you need to go
Speaker 1: home and lay down. Of course I didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Fred's coming to the office. I wanted to hear what
Speaker 1: he had to say and show him around and all that.
Speaker 1: So so I did that, and then we met again
Speaker 1: through a mutual friend and I said, Fred, I'm going
Speaker 1: out on my own. I love to work with you.
Speaker 1: And then about a year and a half later he
Speaker 1: had this deal. He said, Harrison, he called me up.
Speaker 1: He called Gary verbal or mutual friends said what was
Speaker 1: Harrison's phone number? Again, I think I got something. So
Speaker 1: he called me up and told me about the property
Speaker 1: and said we'll get a topo and so I can
Speaker 1: see what what the owner has. And Martin sent him
Speaker 1: a topo and he came by and he showed me.
Speaker 1: I go, you gotta be kidding me, because it was obvious.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I do. I do topo maps.
Speaker 1: I've been doing it for you know, thirty years. And
Speaker 1: and then when I got I said, we gotta go
Speaker 1: look at this. I said, let me do a routing
Speaker 1: and getting mistake it, and let's go take a look
Speaker 1: at it. And we came out here and I just go, Fred,
Speaker 1: this is unbelievable. And then so we're chomping at the
Speaker 1: bit for my freaking decade. And I mean Martin kept saying,
Speaker 1: we'll do I'll do it when it's the right time.
Speaker 1: I got it's got it. It's the timing thing. And
Speaker 1: this is all based on sort of where the property,
Speaker 1: the real estate stuff is was economy, some of it
Speaker 1: was lending ability, some of it was my own portfolio.
Speaker 1: Had to get way to get a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: finished up that was just a mess. So I had
Speaker 1: to get that done. And and yeah, you know, Fred
Speaker 1: and now are chopping at the bit and we said,
Speaker 1: is he really going to do this? I think there
Speaker 1: was three years where they thought it was just not
Speaker 1: a freaking prayer. And then you've been here a bunch,
Speaker 1: you had done a routing, you'd walked to the land. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're waiting. Yeah, and then and then he then he um,
Speaker 1: Martin gets the old companies who come and and locate
Speaker 1: some drill sites. And it was a drill side on
Speaker 1: number one, and that obviously went away, but they moved
Speaker 1: it over where they original driving range was. And then
Speaker 1: he had another company and whatever, and obviously they helped
Speaker 1: fund the golf course. And so Martin said, well, they're
Speaker 1: gonna put this big pipeline through the golf course. You
Speaker 1: might want to do the grading plan for the back nine.
Speaker 1: And I said, sure, of course, I mean I wanted
Speaker 1: to do something. And we did that and they built it,
Speaker 1: and then we waited some more, and you know, and
Speaker 1: then I knew they were doing the development because you know,
Speaker 1: I saw the land plans and all the all the
Speaker 1: you know, the marketing and their concepts and that sort
Speaker 1: of thing. I said, that's cool, and so we kept
Speaker 1: going and then Fred and I said it is he
Speaker 1: really gonna do it? Fred? Because we were just so anxious,
Speaker 1: and you know, the whole market was just nothing there.
Speaker 1: And so we kind of came out here last August
Speaker 1: and we you know, he had to do he was
Speaker 1: grading these first Moore holes and they had to do
Speaker 1: put some grass on the ground and whatever. And and
Speaker 1: then I got round up with con here and we
Speaker 1: had to you know, we wanted to do part of
Speaker 1: it then, so I kind of talked him into doing
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, we could probably deal without irrigation,
Speaker 1: and Jeff or the superintendent, that better irrigated. And then
Speaker 1: and then I said, well, well, well we can put
Speaker 1: some permanent irrogation in. And then the HTP pipe was
Speaker 1: you know, all time, right down that drawer right there
Speaker 1: right now. See him, Yeah, wow, look at him. He's
Speaker 1: got about a seven foot wingspan. Uh huh. So anyway,
Speaker 1: finally it was Martin pulled the trigger. And it's been
Speaker 1: frigging balls to the wall ever since. And I wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: let's go. What happened? It was like wait, wait, wait, hurry, hurry, hurry.
Speaker 1: You know, Martin, Harry said, when he starts, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have it to finish. We're not going to just starting,
Speaker 1: not finish this thing. So when he pulled the trigger,
Speaker 1: the bullet was out and it kept on going and
Speaker 1: we'd never stopped. So and that last fall. When Randall
Speaker 1: and Harrison got together and gave me the preliminary budget,
Speaker 1: I said, okay, let's go, let's do it. And then
Speaker 1: I got their first change order and I haven't needed
Speaker 1: colonoscopy since I didn't ever say that, Garrett. So so
Speaker 1: obviously you guys bring I mean, you guys bring three
Speaker 1: different perspectives here. So you've got the grizzle, grizzled veteran
Speaker 1: who has done and seen it all and it's been
Speaker 1: waiting for this kind of opportunity for for your whole life, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is absolutely this is you know, at
Speaker 1: one point in your career you were working with a
Speaker 1: firm that had seventy courses on the books in a year,
Speaker 1: and now you're down to sort of the idea of quality,
Speaker 1: you know, one course at a time, spending your living
Speaker 1: here and running this whole project. I mean it's I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what I always wanted to do. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm from August of Golf is in my DNA, and
Speaker 1: obviously there's a good golf course there, or a couple
Speaker 1: of them anyway, or maybe more, but there's one that's
Speaker 1: on TV a lot, and you know, I thought all
Speaker 1: golf tournaments were like that until I went out someplace
Speaker 1: else to see another golf course and I got another
Speaker 1: golf tournament. But I was just it was I was
Speaker 1: just kind of force fit, and that was just the
Speaker 1: industry back then. And I always wanted to do this,
Speaker 1: and Martin said yes, and I go wow, and I
Speaker 1: said and so for me to be here every day
Speaker 1: made it possible for Rand to have a sign off
Speaker 1: so he can go to the next step, next step,
Speaker 1: next step. And from a creative standpoint, working with somebody
Speaker 1: that really knows how to build a golf course and
Speaker 1: really really great shapers to go through the process like
Speaker 1: that and to be on site is just the most
Speaker 1: exhilarating creative thing that a golf architect can do. Dream
Speaker 1: come true for you. And meanwhile, for you, this was
Speaker 1: this was a bucket list scenario. You know, you've been
Speaker 1: watching and looking and playing all these golf courses. There's
Speaker 1: been a lot of players that have gone on to
Speaker 1: do golf course architecture. This obviously was of interest to you.
Speaker 1: This is this is a dream come true for you too. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I never thought I'd have this opportunity, but to actually
Speaker 1: have input on a piece of land like this is
Speaker 1: incredible to have my first project, hopefully not my last,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it will be after we it
Speaker 1: on the map on this golf course. But this is
Speaker 1: so much fun. I had no idea how much fun
Speaker 1: it is. And I gotta say that a lot of
Speaker 1: that is the team and the attitude and the personalities
Speaker 1: that are all involved with this project, starting with Martin.
Speaker 1: Martin has created this whole area, all the people that
Speaker 1: work for Martin, all the people that live in his communities.
Speaker 1: It seems to be a super high energy, a lot
Speaker 1: of love of the land, the love of family, love
Speaker 1: of things to do, and Martin has created this. And
Speaker 1: when you go down to Pelican Lakes, which will be
Speaker 1: the sister golf course of this um that's been here
Speaker 1: since n and the the attitudes and the energy down
Speaker 1: at that golf course is incredible. It's already there and
Speaker 1: everybody is super excited about what this is going to
Speaker 1: be and and have this in their backyard as well.
Speaker 1: But the team that we brought in, UM, Harris and
Speaker 1: I are working together awesome. Uh. This whole project of
Speaker 1: going from the initial stages, the three of us have
Speaker 1: walked this property. I don't know how many times together,
Speaker 1: and we've all had all the different inputs, no egos.
Speaker 1: It's all about this wouldn't be this would be great,
Speaker 1: this doesn't work, it doesn't really matter. We just have
Speaker 1: done things, changed things. Everybody has had a lot of
Speaker 1: input and that's been great. And then we have Randall
Speaker 1: and Rocky are in here, the Shapers are I've never
Speaker 1: seen shapers do what they do with super heavy equipment
Speaker 1: and be that meticulous and that exacting with the dirt
Speaker 1: that they moved with these awesome machines, and uh, what
Speaker 1: this thing has turned into. So it's it's been not
Speaker 1: only a dream come true, but something that's way beyond
Speaker 1: I ever thought how much fun it would be to do.
Speaker 1: And every time I come out here, I can't wait
Speaker 1: to get out here, and I love being out here.
Speaker 1: It's changed dramatically every single time I've come out here,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's a amazing. It's going to be very
Speaker 1: very special. What is it about your vision and your
Speaker 1: energy and your passion that is about not just building homes.
Speaker 1: You're obviously building communities, You're building this culture, You're building
Speaker 1: you know, play ground, you know what what is at
Speaker 1: at the base of your vision. So I didn't grow
Speaker 1: up golfer. I never held a club until I was thirties,
Speaker 1: so in my game pretty much reflects that. Now. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm a terrible golfer. So you want of the mansaying
Speaker 1: the other. You can't afford to lose second places, first loser, Harrison,
Speaker 1: And I'm quite a competitor too. But you know, family lifestyle,
Speaker 1: having a place where people can live, work and play
Speaker 1: all without getting back in the car, that's super important.
Speaker 1: So that's what we did at Water Valley. We manifested
Speaker 1: it up here in the rain Dance. We've got about
Speaker 1: four thousand acres now that, by the grace of God,
Speaker 1: we just kept acquiring. When we're doing good. Back in
Speaker 1: the early two thousands, I didn't go by Ferraris. I
Speaker 1: put a deposit on the next farm and we just
Speaker 1: kept We have this thing going, and we have families
Speaker 1: that are immersed about golf, and if you go down
Speaker 1: to Pelican Lkes right now, there's thousands of kids on
Speaker 1: that golf course, and so we wanted to have something
Speaker 1: up here that would make sure the families are really
Speaker 1: respected and that the golf was fun and fair. And
Speaker 1: you can't get anybody more fun or fairer than Fred right,
Speaker 1: and I thought the same Harrison and Randalls. I got
Speaker 1: that first change order, and then I'm just kidding so that.
Speaker 1: But but the kind of the thing you'll find about
Speaker 1: our golf courses that's very unique is and it helps
Speaker 1: us with what we're doing. When Fred said this is
Speaker 1: fun is there's no civil engineering down there. We don't
Speaker 1: have to We don't have to every time we make
Speaker 1: a change. We can just let the land dictate the change.
Speaker 1: We don't have to worry about a street next to it,
Speaker 1: a sewer line that's in the way. Because there's not
Speaker 1: a single home on this golf course, there's kind of
Speaker 1: a moat around it up on Holds one, two and
Speaker 1: three where there are homes. Um, there's only sixty lots
Speaker 1: on the entire golf course, but yet there's hundred lots
Speaker 1: in rainows. So it gives us the latitude to when
Speaker 1: the land says, hey do this, I mean we've we've
Speaker 1: had a green down there that we lowered fifteen feet.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of dirt. I think we've lowered about
Speaker 1: fifteen ft. We've we've flipped Part three's left or right
Speaker 1: right to left and we don't have to ask anybody
Speaker 1: but ourselves to on in the land. And it's been
Speaker 1: a really fun experience and it really has been the carbon.
Speaker 1: Moving the dirts the fun stage. For me, that's the
Speaker 1: fun part because that's when you really make the permanence
Speaker 1: in the deal. You can change grass, you can change sprinklers,
Speaker 1: but once you move the dirt, it's there, and that's
Speaker 1: it's just been a riot build with missing. Four hundred
Speaker 1: yards is a number that I that I heard at
Speaker 1: one point. What's what is the what's the goal? What's
Speaker 1: your what's your ambition to? Uh, yes, have people that
Speaker 1: obviously live, work and play here be out here, but
Speaker 1: what is the what's your ultimate dream? So obviously Fred's
Speaker 1: been on the tour long enough to where he knows,
Speaker 1: of course, all of the things that it takes to
Speaker 1: make a course tour quality. But the new pedigree of
Speaker 1: golfers like his son Taylor are hitting at a hundred
Speaker 1: yards further, and so it isn't just as easy as
Speaker 1: stretching the tea box back somewhere into the woods. That's
Speaker 1: that's not how it works. You. It has to have
Speaker 1: fairway length, that has to have all of these other things,
Speaker 1: and we were up about yards, I think, and I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened, but I was on the internet
Speaker 1: looking at the top ten longest golf courses in the world,
Speaker 1: and I go, well, there's free marketing. Let's hit at
Speaker 1: least number nine, right, So what we gotta add? And
Speaker 1: we had to add about eighty yards I think at
Speaker 1: the time. I said, surly, you can find eight yards
Speaker 1: and then it just starts playing out. It was fun
Speaker 1: because Fred was insecure about that. You were like, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: that's we're not That's not what I'm about. I'm about
Speaker 1: having the greatest golf course at you hired Fred, right,
Speaker 1: but you know Fred could play for three days and
Speaker 1: Harrison said, I'm a little bitter about these long hid Okay,
Speaker 1: you're a better little man. I'm gonna pay them back,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna run hard and fast, right right. Actually
Speaker 1: it was gonna play honestly too short at um the
Speaker 1: way we're gonna have it, with the fescue fast British
Speaker 1: style fairways, with the downhill with elevation and an example,
Speaker 1: I always looked at our fourth and fifth holes are
Speaker 1: now on the card at the longest length or nine
Speaker 1: part four's and I was thinking that these guys at
Speaker 1: that length Rory McElroy would hit an eight or nine
Speaker 1: iron into those holes under normal conditions, under calm condition,
Speaker 1: And that's just the length we eat it. If we
Speaker 1: didn't have that length and back the teas up on
Speaker 1: those two holes, they would probably not have to hit
Speaker 1: a driver to hit a wedge in because they're gonna
Speaker 1: get four plus drives on some of these downhill holes.
Speaker 1: So we were trying to protect that and at the
Speaker 1: same time not ruin the holes by going that length.
Speaker 1: And also it's only for the best of the best.
Speaker 1: If we ever have a tournament here, we have the
Speaker 1: length to test those guys. Now that we have four
Speaker 1: four other sets of teas and the women's teas are
Speaker 1: all the way up to what Harrison. Uh, they're probably
Speaker 1: five thousand yards at the elevation, which is you know,
Speaker 1: it might even be a little bit shorter, to tell
Speaker 1: the truth. I mean, somebody say it's gonna be long
Speaker 1: for somebody, I mean it really would be. I mean
Speaker 1: for a kid, or for a woman, or or or
Speaker 1: a senior or whatever. I mean, you want to have
Speaker 1: an event here, I do. Yeah, Yeah, that's part of
Speaker 1: the that's part of the vision. I I don't think
Speaker 1: there's any reason in the world that would stop us
Speaker 1: from having an event here. I can't think of one.
Speaker 1: This in the Denver metro market. I mean, they traditionally
Speaker 1: have had huge events here, like the US Open. This
Speaker 1: is crazy, but we're sitting on a fire pad and
Speaker 1: you literally cannot see a house from overset. You can
Speaker 1: see one a couple of miles down in the valley
Speaker 1: down there, but you might as well be in the
Speaker 1: middle of a prairie in the middle of Nebraska. Right
Speaker 1: It's but there's one million people live within thirty five
Speaker 1: minutes of right here. So even though we're in the
Speaker 1: donut hole of calmness and serenity right here, there's a
Speaker 1: million people that live within a thirty minute draft. There's
Speaker 1: no question that we can't get the sponsorship to bring
Speaker 1: a major here. There's no question, And if we have to,
Speaker 1: we'll just have red funded. We're talking about getting a
Speaker 1: Champions Store event here as early as twenty three, maybe
Speaker 1: twenty four if we have to go that late. But
Speaker 1: do you know against spell fund without fund, Yeah, it's true,
Speaker 1: you can, but I would I would personally like to
Speaker 1: see the Colorado Golf Association if you're out there listening,
Speaker 1: this would be a great venue for the Colorado Open
Speaker 1: for having an annual event. And I think it would
Speaker 1: be fantastic. You set the course up properly and allow
Speaker 1: allow him to have a good tournament. But still the
Speaker 1: number one goal, and I said this earlier with you
Speaker 1: during the day that I want. I want the guys
Speaker 1: that the men and women that come and play this
Speaker 1: golf course and the families that come out when they
Speaker 1: walk off eighteen, they can't wait to do it again.
Speaker 1: So they just said that was a blast, unbelievable experience.
Speaker 1: I gotta do it again. And if we can create
Speaker 1: that when they walk off this golf course, we want,
Speaker 1: we want a job. We've done the job we want.
Speaker 1: I don't want to beat him up. The golf course
Speaker 1: is going to be difficult, but I think fair, um
Speaker 1: so and beautiful. It'll be a good test for the
Speaker 1: best and fun for the average is what my goal
Speaker 1: and and dream would be. Everybody can enjoy this golf course,
Speaker 1: good tests for the best and fun for the rest.
Speaker 1: That's very good, very good. It'll be an experience and
Speaker 1: it will be a fun experience. And that you know,
Speaker 1: you could play a golf course will be fun and
Speaker 1: want to come back, but to experience the whole place
Speaker 1: is is is really really going to be special? Well,
Speaker 1: I think the consumer now is is spoiled in the
Speaker 1: sense that you know, you know, we have a lot
Speaker 1: of options in the world of golf now. There's they're
Speaker 1: that's they're they're happening all over the place. So if
Speaker 1: you can have unique and quality experience, then you know,
Speaker 1: then that's going to get people wanting to come back. So,
Speaker 1: but this is not only going to be a golf course,
Speaker 1: it's it's growing into a much bigger entity than just golf.
Speaker 1: And uh you can we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: lean our companies out of land development into resort development,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have a lot of corporate retreating and
Speaker 1: overnights day we're doing a lot of hospitality and rain
Speaker 1: dance and down in Water Valley right now. But it's
Speaker 1: also a kid's hill over where the driving range was
Speaker 1: going to be. We're always going to combine it with
Speaker 1: snowmaking in the winter and we've tested it and we
Speaker 1: it works, and so we're gonna have Bunny hills and
Speaker 1: you know, learned to ski, learned to snowboard, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Over there, We're gonna have an alpine slide in the summer.
Speaker 1: We've got about two d and fifty ft of vertical
Speaker 1: fall um amphitheaters, so it's gonna be an activity. We
Speaker 1: feel that that eight acres over on the other side
Speaker 1: of the clubhouse where the driving range was going to be,
Speaker 1: is going to be an antill summer winner. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be always busy, so it's going to be quite a place.
Speaker 1: I think obviously that the trend has become even at
Speaker 1: places like pineers or bandoned dunes, is to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: diversify the portfolio of what's being offered. So it's not
Speaker 1: just like, oh, here's eighteen hole championship golf. You're obviously
Speaker 1: doing a lot of different things here. This truly is
Speaker 1: the development of something more than golf. This is a
Speaker 1: community and something for everyone, including the idea of a
Speaker 1: horse course. Right. We ended up with this just amazing
Speaker 1: triangle between one, two and nine, and we were trying
Speaker 1: to think what to do with it, and some of
Speaker 1: us have gone up to Nebraska and played the horse course. Um,
Speaker 1: what's the name of that place, Prairie Cloud. That's right, yep.
Speaker 1: And it's just a hoot. You know, you finished eighteen,
Speaker 1: You grab a few bears, you go out there with
Speaker 1: your wedge and your putter and you just play a
Speaker 1: little over there over there, and and it's just a hoot.
Speaker 1: But for having the ability to not be pushed into
Speaker 1: nine holes or eightean holes, but to just come enjoy
Speaker 1: the property and just go pitch and put and drink
Speaker 1: a pop, drink a beer, drink water, and just have
Speaker 1: that time to learn to have our pros teaching a
Speaker 1: lot of kids. They could they could teach a hundred
Speaker 1: kids out there at the same time. That's how big
Speaker 1: it is. And so bringing that kind of stuff. When
Speaker 1: you have a resort event and you go out there
Speaker 1: and you make a contest out of it, they'll have
Speaker 1: more fun doing that contest and they will play in
Speaker 1: the eighteen tournament they played that day. So we're just
Speaker 1: really excited about that. We need to come up with
Speaker 1: a name on it yet. And then uh with we
Speaker 1: were talking about the vistas earlier. We actually had the
Speaker 1: architects for the clubhouse and all the resort we're doing
Speaker 1: on the hill and I'm never in my life done this,
Speaker 1: but you always raise the land to get a better view.
Speaker 1: So where's the finished floor of that building or where's
Speaker 1: the second floor of that house to get that better view.
Speaker 1: And we're actually lowering the land and lowering the footprint
Speaker 1: on the convention center because by lowering it about three
Speaker 1: ft where the the topography of the horse course and
Speaker 1: whole number two is, you won't see a house. All
Speaker 1: you see is the mountains. So by by changing the angle,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of it was kind of odd
Speaker 1: because you never, you know, in Colorado, you always lift
Speaker 1: up so you can see over, and this one we're
Speaker 1: actually gonna set it down so that the artificial horizon
Speaker 1: that our golf course is created blocks any artificial structure
Speaker 1: and all you see is mother nature. Can you block
Speaker 1: the planes from flying over during an interviewer that might
Speaker 1: have been friends? Yet? That's about what it would sound like.
Speaker 1: Now that's what happens. But players champion there he goes,
Speaker 1: what are some of the vistas that you're looking at here?
Speaker 1: So always since day one, even even before uh Fred
Speaker 1: and Harrison got involved, we always thought that long speak
Speaker 1: should be a signature hole looking at long speak it's
Speaker 1: the big fourteener that everybody on the front range looks
Speaker 1: at and we have a majestic view of it. So
Speaker 1: when we got out and Fred Harrison lined it up,
Speaker 1: we literally put a survey steak right to the top
Speaker 1: of the peak to the tea box and that's where
Speaker 1: Fred Harrison designed hole number one. So I think those
Speaker 1: foursome selfies and all that stuff with long speak in
Speaker 1: the backdrops, it's gonna be a credible sales point force.
Speaker 1: Everybody's gonna want to go have their force. I'm taking
Speaker 1: with that picture's magniicient, magnificent. The you're obviously understand marketing
Speaker 1: and you're you've mentioned a couple of times, but this
Speaker 1: is going to kind of market itself. Is that's sort
Speaker 1: of what your point, right, I mean, if you if you,
Speaker 1: if you build it, they will come and they'll do
Speaker 1: the marketing for you. You know, that's a big part
Speaker 1: of it. Um. You know, you have to have something
Speaker 1: special in today's world. You can't be average, you can't
Speaker 1: be normal. You have to have something extraordinary. And this
Speaker 1: is extraordinary. And when people start sending, you know, posting
Speaker 1: all the social other stuff, even this fire pit, they're
Speaker 1: gonna go what is that. People are gonna want to
Speaker 1: have weddings here, and they're gonna want to have parties here,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's it's kind of magnificent. And this
Speaker 1: scene that you have right here tonight will never change.
Speaker 1: There will never be any homes, there will never be
Speaker 1: a building that will be in the obstruct what we
Speaker 1: see here tonight. So it's it's it's gonna self, it's
Speaker 1: gonna self promote itself. And and that's another thing about that.
Speaker 1: We're we're gonna be Google or when you google longest
Speaker 1: course from the world, we're probably gonna be number two
Speaker 1: if it's measures where you thought it was. But it'll
Speaker 1: be appropriate if if he wants to have an event.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it's just going to be part of the mode
Speaker 1: graphs out there. It'll be part of what's in play.
Speaker 1: But when they want to have them, well they could
Speaker 1: have I think seventy seven obviously, so it measured eighty
Speaker 1: would measure and we're at eighty four. Um, what about
Speaker 1: some of the other stuff? You know? I heard glamping?
Speaker 1: What in the hell is glamping? So glamping is a
Speaker 1: new trient. It's not real new, but it's in the
Speaker 1: last decade, and it's glamour camping, So it's the kind
Speaker 1: of camp you're gonna be in charge of. Glamour won't
Speaker 1: be me, It won't be me, I can promise that,
Speaker 1: But I mean, you live a nice fire. I'd be
Speaker 1: willing to bet that these guys wives don't want to
Speaker 1: go sleep in a tent with an air mattress anymore.
Speaker 1: It is kind of cool to go out and like,
Speaker 1: imagine if you're here and you have an actual built
Speaker 1: in master bath like cab at home in a temper
Speaker 1: pedic mattress would be a cool place to spend the night.
Speaker 1: That's what glamping is. It's a super comfortable bed built
Speaker 1: in uh um, super nice amenities. But you're in a
Speaker 1: tent or you're in a covered wagon or a royal
Speaker 1: and know yep, yep, and you and you have you
Speaker 1: have the silence that we have out here tonight. You
Speaker 1: have that silence and maybe you have a guy with
Speaker 1: a guitar comes in and there's families and you know,
Speaker 1: do the schmores and you do that stuff, and that's
Speaker 1: glamping and it's gonna be a lot of that. And
Speaker 1: again you're gonna be glamping and you might as well
Speaker 1: be a million miles from anywhere, but you're right in
Speaker 1: the middle of a million people. You'll never know it.
Speaker 1: The hope is to open July July. Is that realistic?
Speaker 1: Harrison Fred? Absolutely? I mean, you know, we'll we'll get
Speaker 1: we'll get it seated out by the first September at
Speaker 1: the at the lightest. And it could be a little
Speaker 1: rough in the in the beginning, but who cares. You're
Speaker 1: gonna go out there and play golf. The grains are
Speaker 1: going to be good, the taste will be good. You're
Speaker 1: gonna bump it in the fairways anyway, So who cares. Man.
Speaker 1: I've got a super peacefulness about that because we've opened
Speaker 1: two other courses on a very similar schedule, and they
Speaker 1: were blue grass, and I know what fescue grass does
Speaker 1: in this and it's gonna just it's gonna grow like
Speaker 1: a jungle. And so Jeff, our superintendent, is going to
Speaker 1: be out here with mowers in two months and where
Speaker 1: I have absolutely no anxiety about Jul twenty two. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be great and it'll be ready. Sounds good. I
Speaker 1: want to reserve a glamping spot so I could be
Speaker 1: close to the Court Center, Air mattress and that manure
Speaker 1: spreader right there. That's all I've earned here today. I've
Speaker 1: only do you think of the interview. I've only known
Speaker 1: you for about six hours, but you're as full of
Speaker 1: ship as any of these guys are. For more on
Speaker 1: rain Dance National. To see and read about their work
Speaker 1: in progress, go to Firepit Collective dot com. But before
Speaker 1: we go, I'd also like to thank our friends at
Speaker 1: Part Points, the revolutionary app that gives you and your
Speaker 1: crew an alternate way of scoring the game. Tee it
Speaker 1: up from wherever you want, but the further you go back,
Speaker 1: the more points you get for making par. It's especially
Speaker 1: good for beginners, family golf or buddy strips looking for
Speaker 1: an alternate format. Download the Part Points app now and
Speaker 1: go make par. Put another fire, nobody hears getting time
Speaker 1: on down and settle in the story. Here's about to begin,
Speaker 1: the circles starting to take its shape, seats of field
Speaker 1: and the tired sun lands his skin. And everybody's got
Speaker 1: some glory just wait unto unfold. Everybody's got some story,
Speaker 1: Just wait unto be to the place for that is here,
Speaker 1: all those smiles and all those tears, Let them go.
Speaker 1: Put another log on the figh. Nobody hears getting tired,
Speaker 1: Settle down, and settle in the story hears about to begin.
Speaker 1: Tales were told of war and gold, Love is lost
Speaker 1: in a lifetime's dreams ours soul, Maybe you should stop
Speaker 1: and listen at the wisdom in the air. Maybe you
Speaker 1: should pour your heart out. We angle and the way
Speaker 1: i'd your mercy in the sound. As the smoke gets
Speaker 1: pushed around and your soul put another log on the fire.
Speaker 1: Nobody hears getting tired. Settle down, and settle in the story.
Speaker 1: Here's about to begin the story. Here's about to begin
Speaker 1: the story hears about to begin.