Dream Golf - Stephen Goodwin
Dream Golf chronicles the development of the Bandon Dunes resort in Bandon, Oregon. Bandon gets the book cover but the hero of this story is Mike Keiser - the mind and finances behind the resort. Keiser took a professional route that is normally seen in modern politics. He founded a greeting cards company based in Chicago that went on to make him a millionaire. He always had his eyes on golf course architecture though. Those millions became the seed money that brought traditional golf values back to the United States.
I can only speak to the generations I’ve lived in, but I see so many parallels in the ways that industries seem to have changed in the late 1990s and 2000s. Things like the local food movement, craft beer, and new urbanism all seemed to have popped up during this time as a response to the cook-cutter mass production that exploded after WWII. The 1960s are the ultimate “counter-culture” generation that rebelled against the establishment but the subtle return swing of the pendulum of the craft movement seems more like a return to values our culture had but then lost.
Take new urbanism for example: the development trends in the 1980s focused on space, cars, and cul-du-sacs. This one specific generation that demanded this type of development at the time really liked this but the generations after weren’t as thrilled. Enter new urbanism. A revitalization of classic styles of urban development that valued density, walkability, and access without even trying. New Urbanism normally criticized for lacking any soul but at least its a start.
It seems like this is the same kind of cultural wave that Mike Keiser either tapped into or started in the golf world. He seems to be the first to say that he didn’t do anything revolutionary. Instead, he based his developments on the principles that were at the center of true golf: excellent wind blown land by the ocean. It’s not rocket science, but more importantly, its not cheap, mass produced {insert product/sport/cultural movement} that came to dominate the market in the second half of the 21st century. I’m worried that I’m coming off as something of raging consumerism-hating college sophomore but I don’t mean to. Rather, I’m looking at it more from an arm’s reach. The cookie cutter production that preceded the craft movement created a ton of wealth and improved the livelihood of millions of people but a return-swing of the pendulum was due as well.
** There seems to be a slight environmentalist angle to Keiser’s work too and I think there is a lot to dissect there. On one hand, golf is the poster child for environmental waste but the principles that Keiser reinstated in his resort allow golf to be much less environmentally-damaging (encouraging natural species, discouraging the “Augusta National” look) but it’s probably still a long way from golf being a net positive in the environmental equation. Similarly, Keiser clearly has an environmental philosophy given the fact that his greeting cards company proudly used recycled papers, but, understandably like many businessmen, he was wary of government playing a role in environmental regulation. He was certainly a catalyst for a more sustainable version of golf but should sustainability be dependent on powerful rich people choosing to value those things when they want in the same way the ultra-rich advocate for lower taxes so they can donate billions? On the other hand, maybe these types of movements wont be as powerful if they are diluted and drained of the innovative spirit when they are pushed through bureaucracy?