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9781565129818

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A fascinating study of Keiser's evolution as a golf entrepreneur . . . any golfer interested in how things work will find it a worthy read. This, one suspects, is how the West was truly won. --Travel & Leisure Golf What a pleasure when a good story lands in the hands of a good storyteller. --Golfweek Go buy the book--it will make you go to Bandon for sure. --Golf Today Fascinating . . . Any golfer interested in how things work will find it a worthy read. --Travel and Leisure Golf

Goodwin ( Breaking Her Fall) brings a passion for golf and a fluid narrative style to his account of one man's quest to create a British-style links course on a gorse-choked, craggy expanse of land on the Oregon coast. Mike Keiser was a successful entrepreneur whose company, Recycled Paper Greetings, afforded him the possibility of laying out $2.4 million in cash for what most people viewed as a dubious project at best. Goodwin deftly breaks down the differences between traditional, modern and postmodern golf course architecture, and relays the revelatory experiences in Great Britain that gave Keiser a love of rolling, sandy, seaside courses. He portrays Keiser as visionary, humble, generous and dynamic, though readers may wonder if he's too reverent or close to his subject (for instance, Goodwin makes no mention of Keiser's thoughts on golf courses' tendency to wreak havoc on the land, which is strange considering Keiser founded an environmentally friendly greeting-card company). Although chapters on the intricacies of development might be of interest only to businesspeople and planners, Goodwin's lively writing and clear descriptions make for an apt chronicle for golf fans of the making of Bandon Dunes, which, since its 1999 opening, has been considered one of the world's premier courses Goodwin ( Breaking Her Fall ) brings a passion for golf and a fluid narrative style to his account of one man's quest to create a British-style links course on a gorse-choked, craggy expanse of land on the Oregon coast. Mike Keiser was a successful entrepreneur whose company, Recycled Paper Greetings, afforded him the possibility of laying out $2.4 million in cash for what most people viewed as a dubious project at best. Goodwin deftly breaks down the differences between traditional, modern and postmodern golf course architecture, and relays the revelatory experiences in Great Britain that gave Keiser a love of rolling, sandy, seaside courses. He portrays Keiser as visionary, humble, generous and dynamic, though readers may wonder if he's too reverent or close to his subject (for instance, Goodwin makes no mention of Keiser's thoughts on golf courses' tendency to wreak havoc on the land, which is strange considering Keiser founded an environmentally friendly greeting-card company). Although chapters on the intricacies of development might be of interest only to businesspeople and planners, Goodwin's lively writing and clear descriptions make for an apt chronicle for golf fans of the making of Bandon Dunes, which, since its 1999 opening, has been considered one of the world's premier courses Bandon Dunes is a golf resort on the remote southern Oregon coast, a region that defies all common assumptions about where to build both golf courses and resorts: It's sparsely populated and relatively inaccessible from any large urban areas (five hours from Portland and more from San Francisco). The story of how Mike Keiser, a golf-loving, greeting-card millionaire from Chicago, fell in love with the rugged, windblown site (it reminded him of Scottish and Irish linksland) and transformed it into not one but three world-class golf courses will appeal to golfers and lovers of golf history on multiple levels: as a crash course in golf-course architecture; as an insider's look at how golf holes are designed and constructed; and as a surprisingly inspirational account of how a golf course built the old-fashioned way can inspire a sense of the sublime in all who trod its fairways. Author Goodwin compares Keiser to Jay Gatsby and claims that, in Bandon Dunes, Keiser found something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. Readers with a passion for golf will share that wonder as they read this very special book.--Bill Ott Booklist A fascinating study of Keiser's evolution as a golf entrepreneur . . . any golfer interested in how things work will find it a worthy read. This, one suspects, is how the West was truly won. --Travel & Leisure Golf Go buy the book--it will make you go to Bandon for sure. --Golf Today What a pleasure when a good story lands in the hands of a good storyteller. --Golfweek Fascinating . . . Any golfer interested in how things work will find it a worthy read. --Travel and Leisure Golf Go buy the book it will make you go to Bandon for sure. Golf Today A fascinating study of Keiser's evolution as a golf entrepreneur . . . any golfer interested in how things work will find it a worthy read. This, one suspects, is how the West was truly won. -- Travel & Leisure Golf

Bandon Dunes is a golf resort on the remote southern Oregon coast, a region that defies all common assumptions about where to build both golf courses and resorts: It's sparsely populated and relatively inaccessible from any large urban areas (five hours from Portland and more from San Francisco). The story of how Mike Keiser, a golf-loving, greeting-card millionaire from Chicago, fell in love with the rugged, windblown site (it reminded him of Scottish and Irish linksland) and transformed it into not one but three world-class golf courses will appeal to golfers and lovers of golf history on multiple levels: as a crash course in golf-course architecture; as an insider's look at how golf holes are designed and constructed; and as a surprisingly inspirational account of how a golf course built the old-fashioned way can inspire a sense of the sublime in all who trod its fairways. Author Goodwin compares Keiser to Jay Gatsby and claims that, in Bandon Dunes, Keiser found something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. Readers with a passion for golf will share that wonder as they read this very special book. -- Bill Ott Booklist

Author Information

Stephen Goodwin is the author of four other books, including the critically acclaimed Breaking Her Fall. He lives in Virginia and teaches at George Mason University.

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