On Wednesday I’m heading to lovely Lloydminster, the border town between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Why? Well, it isn’t for the entertainment. I’m head to the town to walk around a dune-filled site with American developer Mike Keiser (photo right), the greeting card magnate behind Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Canadian golf designer Rod Whitman, and Bill Coore, arguably the best golf architect on the planet.
All three will be in Lloydminster to see a site Coore claims may be among the best he’s ever seen. It is full of wild, natural dunes that normally are found along the ocean. But this site is in the middle of one of the flatest areas in Canada.
For Keiser, his interest comes from the potential of developing a low-cost course that he could sell to high net worth individuals from Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, not unlike Sand Hills in Nebraska.
After meeting Whitman, Coore and Keiser, I’m off for a whirlwind tour of Saskatoon, taking in four courses in two days, including Dakota Dunes, the much vaunted Graham Cooke/Wayne Carleton design just outside of the city for a travel story I’m working on.
Needless to say, with five rounds of golf scheduled in four days, it is hard to say how much blogging I’ll get in. But if I find a spot with access, I’ll provide G4G readers with an update of what I’ve seen and the discussions about what could become the best golf course in Canada.