If you could ask Mike Keiser one question...

[RJ_Daley]

I'd ask him... Mike, do you have your homeland security plan in place.  If not, can I be your full time director of security, and on my 6 days per week off, play free golf...

[Joel_Stewart]

If we can still ask a question, I would like to ask him who the finalists were for Bandon Trails and why did he choose C&C.  Also, was Fazio seriously being considered.  

[John Foley]

Mike & Dan,

The Buffalo, NY is soo in need of a great public course. I gotta beleive that land costs in the area are very reasonable and the area is very passionate about golf. While the demographics are not the greatest, a right-sized project I believe would be a success.

[Dan Herrmann]

John - you're right.  The Lake Erie and Lake Ontario lakeshores offer some dramatic topography.  Other than the short summers, it makes so much sense.  It'd be a 1 day drive from Portland, ME to Richmond, VA.  From Detroit, MI to Pittsburgh, PA.

And for a dark horse, pick the shoreline of one of the Finger Lakes, the best undiscovered vacation region in the NE.

I'd like to keep it in the USA, but the Ontairo side has some great locations too.

[Jeff_Lewis]

What are your criteria for choosing an architect?

How much did your vision of what makes a great course get communicated during the building of each course?

How much did you communicate with the architects during design and construction?

Can a great course be built for an owner who has neither the knowledge nor inclination to want a classic-style course?
Ran,  I am sure you can come up with a better synonym for 'classic style'.

[Tom_Doak]

Jeff:

I can answer your middle questions so Mike can answer others.

I don't remember ever hearing Mike Keiser pontificate directly on "what makes a great course."  He did sometimes make general comments about what kinds of features he thought golfers liked or didn't like ... elevated tees are always popular, sod-wall bunkers too penal and frustrating.  But, I had had the advantage of playing several great courses with him before we started Pacific Dunes, so I understood his likes and dislikes fairly well.

We communicated A LOT during the routing of the course and during the construction.  I think that Mike was in Bandon for about half of my visits to the site.  If we were there for four or five days, he would walk the course with me a couple of times during that trip to look at progress ... so he probably spent as much time on site as a lot of big-name architects do.  I would say he had more input during the routing process than during construction, but he did ask good questions all the way through the process.

[Jeff_Lewis]

Thanks Tom,

If you would allow, here is a variation on that question. Would you prefer an enlightened owner who participates in the process or a developer who just leaves the course to you?