Spent yesterday walking around a majestic dunes site near the town of Lloydminster, Alberta, with Mike Keiser, most of his Bandon Dunes team, Bill Coore and Rod Whitman. Lloydminster is about three hours from Edmonton, which is in the middle of Alberta.
The site is remote -- though not as remote as Sand Hills -- and Coore and Whitman agree that it could well be the equal of the site for Sand Hills. The dunes, in this case, are more compact, but the contours of the land are amazing. Some holes are contained within the dunes, while others open to magical vistas.
To give you a sense of how good this site is, Rod and Bill have done a full routing and come to the site several times, though no contract is in place and they haven't been paid a dime. Some of the holes they've come up with are amazing (all 18 had flags), including a par three that reminded everyone of Calamity at Portrush.
Keiser has come up four times, and is blown away by the site. In his mind it is the equal of Sand Hills, where he was a founding member.
The only remaining issue is money. Mike doesn't want to lead the project, feeling it would be best left to a Canadian. Keiser and his team envision a Sand Hills-like course where members would come and stay for days, playing a rugged inland links.
This is someone's opportunity to build timeless, great golf. We'll see if someone can be convinced....