BY: RORY SPEARS SR. WRITER &                                ASSISTANT EDITOR

THE CENTER OF THE BUFFALO GROVE                       DOME, SWING AWAY

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MIKE KEISER (RIGHT) WITH BILL COORE & BEN CRENSHAW at Bandon Trails

The Morning Drive was the place where the second architect was named for the new golf property in Central Wisconsin called Sand Valley.

After much thought and some careful consideration, Mike Keiser, his family and part of the Founders Group have selected the architect who will design the second course at Sand Valley.

The three finalists were, Tom Doak who worked with Keiser twice at Bandon Dunes. First on Pacific Dunes and was brought back with Jim Urbina on Old MacDonald. David McLay-Kidd the scotsman who created the original Bandon Dunes Golf Course. Canadien Rod Whitman whose work on Cabot Links is getting more recognition all the time.

With that,”The Envelope Please”, and the winner is. David McLay-Kidd. ” David identified perhaps the most interesting part of our site and has routed the golfer through it in a very exciting way,” said Keiser. “I truly am looking forward to working with him again.”

Sand Valley in August of this year, with over 600 acres cleared. This area will be part of the first course.

Sand Valley is located just over 30 minutes south of Stevens Point in Central Wisconsin, and near Lake Arrowhead.

The property was found by Craig Haltom the Sr. Vice President of Oliphant Golf, who alerted Keiser of his finding. Keiser then sent KemperSports Management President Josh Lesnick up to view the property. Lesnick spent only 30 minutes onsite before he knew he would need to tell Keiser to come look for himself.

Once on property, Keiser didn’t take long to realize the property had outstanding potential. Keiser then closed a deal with the company that owned the property to acquire the roughly 1,800 acres of land.

In December of 2013, Keiser had closed the deal and after talking with his group of investors, known as Founders. He came to the decision of hiring Ben Crenshaw and his partner Bill Coore to create the first course. When the harsh winter finally broke this spring, land clearing started and Bill Coore came in and started creating possible routings.

Sand Valley’s sandy dunes will make for a great golf atmosphere, not found in many places over the Midwest.

After Coore put several routings together, Crenshaw made a site visit to add his input. Some changes were then made to help the potential routing plan for the second golf course in addition to the clubhouse location. It will be interesting how McLay-Kidd works around the routing Crenshaw and Coore have in place.

The plan is for the first course to open in late 2016 or early in 2017, after the PGA Championship at Kohler putts out, and before the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills tee’s off. Mother nature will have a lot to say about this, but the question will be, can the second course open late in 2017 or into 2018. But it’s more likely to be summer of 2018 before the Kidd course is ready to play.

Craig Haltom stands on what’s likely to be the first hole ever played by golfers who visit Sand Valley, on the Crenshaw & Coore design.

What will be the end product at Sand Valley in terms of the amount of courses is still unknown, Keiser will have to play that by ear and see what kinds of response he gets to courses 1 & 2.

There is some calling from members of the golf media, and loyal fans of other Keiser courses, for Keiser to bring an architect that he has not used before. While it sounds like an interesting concept, others are quick to say it’s hard to move away from what works.

What has worked at places like Bandon Dunes, is the ability to tell that story walking. In Oregon you walk because there are no carts, in Wisconsin will cart golf be an option. At this time, even Keiser might not know the answer.

USGA Executive Director Mike Davis has now been to the property three times, and admits he is very impressed by the site. Davis calls Keiser a visionary, and if that magic vision Keiser has shown in the past works again at Sand Valley. There will be a need for more courses, 18 holes types, a par 3 course, a junior course and a creative practice area. One can bet that a USGA Championship of some sort, might not be far behind.

USGA Executive Director Mike Davis talks about Sand Valley and Mike Keiser.

Architect David McLay-Kidd explains his Sand Valley routing on the Golf Channel.

There will be a need for onsite housing and a theme restaurant or two. Instead of an Irish Pub like at Bandon Dunes, it’s likely to be a Midwest or Wisconsin style grill. But regardless of what the theme is, golfers are already sensing Sand Valley will be something special.

Stay clicked in for more news on Sand Valley as it happens.