Speaker 1: Mike Kaiser, thank you so much for all that you've done,
Speaker 1: all that you continue to do the way you do it. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I always say that if I read, ever
Speaker 1: write a book about you, it'll be called what do
Speaker 1: We Think? Because I've always appreciated your style of of listening.
Speaker 1: You obviously make the decisions, and you make the right ones.
Speaker 1: It's been amazing to watch how you've also included so
Speaker 1: many people and different voices into a lot of your
Speaker 1: thought process getting to the final decisions. So it's been
Speaker 1: it's been amazing, so I appreciate it. Thanks Matt, You've
Speaker 1: been great for golf yourself. Keep it up and enjoy
Speaker 1: the Sheep Ranch. I can't wait. I'm gonna enjoy every step,
Speaker 1: especially coming off of the circumstances that we're going through
Speaker 1: right now. So be safe. My best to you and
Speaker 1: your family and uh and I hope to see you
Speaker 1: in organ in a couple of weeks. Good thanks man.
Speaker 1: Put another logo. Nobody here is to get in time.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the fire Pit with Matt Chenella. We're back
Speaker 1: and it's always good to be at this pit. Although
Speaker 1: currently in winter Park, Florida, it's a steamy fire pit
Speaker 1: every time you walk out the door, masks on of course.
Speaker 1: Hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there. As
Speaker 1: we continue a short hiatus between seasons one and two,
Speaker 1: we continue to go through some of our first season
Speaker 1: of recordings and extract some relevant nuggets or unpublished stories
Speaker 1: from our distinguished list of guests. With all That's happening
Speaker 1: this week Abandoned Dunes in Oregon, most notably the US Amateur.
Speaker 1: We've created another mini pod serving as a short tribute
Speaker 1: to owner Mike Kaiser and all that he has done
Speaker 1: to golf in America and four golfers all over the world.
Speaker 1: We start with a short bite from Mick Peters, a
Speaker 1: barber in the town of Bandon for over fifty years,
Speaker 1: who got the first tea time on the first course
Speaker 1: that opened, the Bandon Dunes Course in May. Mick hit first. Well,
Speaker 1: we all shook hands and they introduced theirselves to me us,
Speaker 1: and uh, they handed out these coins and I just
Speaker 1: can't explain it. It was just something special. I've never
Speaker 1: had that happen because I've never been to a course
Speaker 1: like that, and it's too nice for me really actually,
Speaker 1: but it was It's just an honor to be number one.
Speaker 1: It's a sweet story. Mick hit first that day, then
Speaker 1: his son Mike, and they've gone on to be first
Speaker 1: and then second off every new course opening Abandoned ever since,
Speaker 1: most recently on June one, the opening of the Sheep Ranch,
Speaker 1: the Bill Core and Ben Crenshaw design. It was Mick,
Speaker 1: Mike and a lot more of the Peters family for
Speaker 1: their last hurrah. For more on the Sheep Ranch, Mick
Speaker 1: Peters and his place in Bandon history, see the link
Speaker 1: in this podcast description, which is where you'll also see
Speaker 1: a link to the Bob gas Bar story. Gas Bars
Speaker 1: Bandon's official director of outside Happiness, and his nickname is
Speaker 1: Shoe because he looks like jockey Bill Shoemaker. In this
Speaker 1: feature shoot tells you how he found Bandon Dunes, who
Speaker 1: gave him the nickname. Background on his daily weather reviews,
Speaker 1: his reach on social media, and the impact Mike Kaiser
Speaker 1: has had on the community. Here's Kaiser on Shoe. He's
Speaker 1: a retired UPS guy who was involved in this post
Speaker 1: guard in what capacity I've forgot when he moved in
Speaker 1: southern California in retirement to Abandon and he was working
Speaker 1: with the Coast Guard and heard about our project and
Speaker 1: said I would do himself. I want to be involved
Speaker 1: in this. Came into Josh's um and said, put me
Speaker 1: to work, and Jeff said, well, we don't have any positions,
Speaker 1: so put me to work. I don't you don't need
Speaker 1: to pay an me and Josh never looking to wanting
Speaker 1: to look at your person amount and said, well, you
Speaker 1: know what, I got the owner coming out with forty
Speaker 1: eight friends that run into Jet and they're coming out
Speaker 1: here too. Look at the golf course a little bit
Speaker 1: before it's ready to play. I need h and you
Speaker 1: know what, if you find caddies, they will play. But
Speaker 1: I don't know where to find him. Sho said, if
Speaker 1: you want caddies, just tell me how many forty eight.
Speaker 1: I'll get you forty eight kiddies, And he found forty
Speaker 1: eight caddies from the Coastguard. So who are our first?
Speaker 1: Candy Cord that one day where coast guards have been
Speaker 1: taken the day off and caddying for my my group
Speaker 1: of Chicago. It was great. He's been the voice in
Speaker 1: the presence of Van and Duds ever since, been there
Speaker 1: for twenty years. Over twenty years. In our reporting on
Speaker 1: several of Season one podcasts, including the history of Bandon Dunes,
Speaker 1: how Bill core part Earned with Ben Crenshaw, the building
Speaker 1: of Sandhills, the Plantation Course, a couple of and much more.
Speaker 1: We spoke to Bill Course several times. Here are his
Speaker 1: thoughts on Mike Kaiser. We've gotten so far away more
Speaker 1: than our fair share of very special sites, and a
Speaker 1: great number of those have come from Mike Kiser. Uh
Speaker 1: He's been He is simply the most incredible and should
Speaker 1: be the most highly acclaimed golf developer in the world.
Speaker 1: And he the products that he puts out there and
Speaker 1: the care that he puts into them is just beyond comparison.
Speaker 1: And but he finds these sites, he goes back to
Speaker 1: that that that nucleus of playing golf on sandy firm ground,
Speaker 1: and in Mike's case, at least until Sand Valley, it
Speaker 1: was always about somewhere near the sea. Um is he
Speaker 1: just finds it to be it's a it's a connection
Speaker 1: to five d years of golf history. And he he
Speaker 1: just I think he believed in before he started doing
Speaker 1: these golf developments, that that was a connection that would
Speaker 1: resonate with American golfers as well as European and other
Speaker 1: other nationality golfers, and he brought it to us. He
Speaker 1: gave us the opportunity to experience it, and he was right.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a it's a It may be the
Speaker 1: oldest form of golf in the world, but I think
Speaker 1: it's still the most appreciated. I always say, the only
Speaker 1: person in golf who's more respected, revered and appreciated than
Speaker 1: Bill Core is Ben Crenshaw, who also provided some insight
Speaker 1: into Kaiser's success. Man, you talk about a guy who
Speaker 1: has given us so many opportunities to put our philosophy
Speaker 1: forward in a natural manner, and Mike is you know,
Speaker 1: in his heart, he's a golfer and he simply wants
Speaker 1: to present the people something that's entirely different in the
Speaker 1: world of golf. I think reaches an element in a
Speaker 1: person that wants to go a journey a little bit
Speaker 1: and travel a little bit to see a destination. Crenshaw
Speaker 1: always delivers. But one of my favorite interviews of the
Speaker 1: season was getting time with Jimmy Kidd David McClay, Kid's father,
Speaker 1: who had never realized had such an impact on the
Speaker 1: building of Bandoned Dunes. Here's a little bit from Mr
Speaker 1: Kidd on how he and his son got the gig
Speaker 1: from Mr Kaiser. David had already said that, well, I
Speaker 1: don't think that there's any real chance of us. Mike's
Speaker 1: obviously talking to the bigger guys, so to help we
Speaker 1: may as well just go for it. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the day makes offended by anything I say tonight,
Speaker 1: that's just too bad. But when I had up, what
Speaker 1: I understood of Mike from way back was that Mike's
Speaker 1: the sort of guy that really enjoys that. He enjoys
Speaker 1: the competitiveness of conversation and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: he's not a chat a guy who sits back and uh.
Speaker 1: And it wants people to just be um, what's the
Speaker 1: one I'm looking for? Beholden to him and listen to
Speaker 1: take on board everything he says. He wants you to
Speaker 1: argue it. Employee David can argue, and he did that
Speaker 1: particular night, And at the end of the day I thought,
Speaker 1: she's David, I think you've probably done it. I think
Speaker 1: we'll be in the next plain home and maybe another
Speaker 1: back here. But it worked out fine, I'd say it did.
Speaker 1: You can hear a lot more from Jimmy and David
Speaker 1: kidd on building Bandon in episodes eight and nine of
Speaker 1: season one, which is where we asked David and Josh
Speaker 1: Lesnick what Bandoned Dunes means to them. Now. Lesnik is
Speaker 1: the current president of Kemper Sports, which helps the Kaiser
Speaker 1: family manage the resort, but in late nineties, les Nick
Speaker 1: was also the first general manager of Bandon Doom. Here's
Speaker 1: Josh line and then David kidd on why it's also
Speaker 1: special to them even to this day. For me, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean I've been involved with a number of other places,
Speaker 1: and but Bandon is is uh yeah, it's home. It's
Speaker 1: my home away from home. It's my happy place. I
Speaker 1: love you know, the second you step foot on that
Speaker 1: property and breathe in that air and then get to
Speaker 1: play those golf courses. Um and Bandon Dunes being my
Speaker 1: favorite golf course anywhere in the world. Yeah, there's I
Speaker 1: don't know that anything could ever take over Banded Dunes
Speaker 1: is my favorite place in the world. And Bandoned Dunes
Speaker 1: is your favorite course. It is David is is it? Is?
Speaker 1: It hard to think that anything will ever overtake this
Speaker 1: is your this is your number one, this is this
Speaker 1: is your first baby. Absolutely, I never tire of talk
Speaker 1: about Bannon Dun's. I never tire of every visit I make.
Speaker 1: I especially love it when I get to take Bandon
Speaker 1: virgins there who are not banned in East As yet
Speaker 1: to experience the place with a newbie is still a
Speaker 1: huge kick. And I know it's the same for you guys.
Speaker 1: I mean taking I probably take at least one or
Speaker 1: two ate somes to band in a year, and in
Speaker 1: that eight someme, I try and make sure there's at
Speaker 1: least one or two virgins, uh and introduced them to
Speaker 1: the place and know that it's just blowing their minds.
Speaker 1: And that's such fun to be part of. To see
Speaker 1: that wonder again and experience it through someone else's eyes,
Speaker 1: seeing it for the first time, I'll never ever tire
Speaker 1: of that. Congratulations to David and his wife Tara who
Speaker 1: on July two, Welcome to David Drake McLay kid. Young
Speaker 1: David Drake's father started building Bandon Dunes from Mike Kaiser
Speaker 1: when he was twenty six years old, still a baby,
Speaker 1: And of course we spoke at length with Kaiser on
Speaker 1: several subjects, some of which you haven't heard yet. For example,
Speaker 1: I asked Mike why Bill Court and Ben Crenshaw are
Speaker 1: at the top of his list of preferred architects, and
Speaker 1: on Core's ability to route a course like the sheep Ridge.
Speaker 1: They have their own opinions about things, but they don't
Speaker 1: insist that we do it in their way. They are
Speaker 1: really open minded, not totally because they have their own style,
Speaker 1: but they're modest about their their own beliefs and are
Speaker 1: always open to change, you know, if they criticize Bill
Speaker 1: or event Red Green that I don't like because it's
Speaker 1: too lumply, or a whole like Bannon Trails number fourteen,
Speaker 1: which has been through a number of iterations, and that
Speaker 1: sort of Ben's whole. They've amended things before and there
Speaker 1: was built and after they were built in a way
Speaker 1: that the other architects, Some of the other architects. I'm
Speaker 1: thinking of Timo Cano, who's who's brilliant, but he is
Speaker 1: He's a big golf ego, and I take away nothing
Speaker 1: from him for being certain more certain than the other
Speaker 1: architects about this is the way it. Because he's so brilliant,
Speaker 1: I've been working with him. I let him do that
Speaker 1: because there's only so much she'll listen to from an
Speaker 1: owner mayorment, I know what he's doing. Bill and Ben
Speaker 1: are more collegial. What about Bill Core's ability to unlock
Speaker 1: a puzzle? But you're probably thinking of the Sheep Ranch
Speaker 1: is a good example of that, and there are many
Speaker 1: other examples of good in sand Hills, where he and
Speaker 1: he had been walked for days and days and days
Speaker 1: to find the investity team holes. Wow, out of you know,
Speaker 1: they identified a hundred and twenty holes, all of which
Speaker 1: were good, and they had to reduce it down to
Speaker 1: an eight team hoole routing. What a what a mental
Speaker 1: thing that is. So the Sheep Ranch. Other architects I
Speaker 1: won't name them and looked at it and said it's
Speaker 1: a great site, but it's only big enough for thirteen
Speaker 1: fourteen holes. And Bill had known what others had said.
Speaker 1: He knew that it was somewhat constraints I certainly compared
Speaker 1: to sam Hills or Bannon Trails. Instead, I'll give it
Speaker 1: a try anyway, and he and Ben came up with
Speaker 1: this famulous rounting everyone will see on June first when
Speaker 1: it opens. Uh, and all the other architects who thought
Speaker 1: it was too small just stacked ahead and say, I
Speaker 1: don't know how he did that in talking to Bill,
Speaker 1: I know they did it by finding what became the
Speaker 1: first Hole, Kaiser's favorite opening hole on property. They pushed
Speaker 1: the first Green as far north as possible. They built
Speaker 1: three double teas two and eighteen, five and fifteen, eight
Speaker 1: and ten, and they maximized the potential and use of
Speaker 1: the coastline with nine Infinity Green complexes, including the double
Speaker 1: Green of three and sixteen. Before we go, here's Kaiser
Speaker 1: again on his fall to feed on fire pits and
Speaker 1: his favorite fire pit, because as I'm sure you've heard
Speaker 1: by now, it was abandoned fire pit tucked into the
Speaker 1: trees of Bandon's Grove cottages that inspired this podcast in
Speaker 1: the first place. We probably don't have enough of them,
Speaker 1: but we we have them because no one wants the
Speaker 1: day to stop, and it's outdoors and part of nature
Speaker 1: at night, so we couldn't have note, we could have
Speaker 1: many fire pits without a fire, but we've got to
Speaker 1: keep you warm, so we we want to keep you
Speaker 1: outside moment. Cigars were not just the way, just the
Speaker 1: way to warm you so you stay in nature a
Speaker 1: little bit longer. Do you have a favorite fire pit,
Speaker 1: it's probably the one of growth cotta jump. We're building
Speaker 1: one right now for and I haven't seen it a
Speaker 1: cheap branch, so it's got it's going to have some growth.
Speaker 1: Cottages doesn't really have a view. You're just part of nature,
Speaker 1: and they wanted sheep ran. She's going to be resplendent
Speaker 1: with the visuals. You'll be overlooking the golfers. So wait
Speaker 1: until you see that right now as the growth cottages
Speaker 1: smart man to say the least. All right, that'll do
Speaker 1: it for this mini pod interlude between seasons. Remember use
Speaker 1: promo code Mattie G to get off your next purchase
Speaker 1: of apparel at link soul dot com. Ongoing appreciation for
Speaker 1: alex Upeggy who helps me produce this podcast, Rex Lint
Speaker 1: who adds the sound music and makes it sing, which
Speaker 1: brings me to another playing of the complete fire Pit
Speaker 1: Anthem written and recorded by Joe Horrow what's produced by
Speaker 1: Jakier King, which they called The Story and is available
Speaker 1: on iTunes or wherever you buy your music for more
Speaker 1: on the making of this song The Story listened to
Speaker 1: episode fifteen, which is how we ended season one. We'll
Speaker 1: be back again soon. Put another larpole of fire. Nobody
Speaker 1: hears getting tired, Settle down, and settle in the story.
Speaker 1: Here's about to begin, the circles starting to take its shape,
Speaker 1: seats of field, and the tired sun lands, and his skin,
Speaker 1: and everybody's got some glory, Just wait unto unfold. Everybody's
Speaker 1: got some story, Just wait unto him. Be to the place,
Speaker 1: for that is here. All those smiles and all those tears,
Speaker 1: let them go. Put another log on the figh. Nobody
Speaker 1: hears getting tired. Settle down, and settle in the story
Speaker 1: hears about to begin. Tales were told of war and gold,
Speaker 1: lovers lost in a lifetimes dreams our soul. Maybe you
Speaker 1: should stop in the sun at the wisdom in the air. Baby,
Speaker 1: you should pour your heart out. We ainle hand the way,
Speaker 1: find your mercy in the sound. As the smoke gets
Speaker 1: pushed around in your soul. Put another lock on fire.
Speaker 1: Nobody hears getting tired. Settle down and settle in the
Speaker 1: story hears about to begin. The story hears about to begin.
Speaker 1: The story hears about to begin.