Work is underway at Old Shores in Florida, Michael Keiser's most recent high-end destination, with a course by Tom Doak
A little over a year since Michael Keiser announced the development of his first project in Florida, Old Shores, he’s announcing the first course is officially under construction. Tom Doak is his designer—just like his project in Texas, Wild Spring Dunes, which opened for preview play at the end of 2025. The plan at Old Shores is for preview play to start at the end of 2026 with Doak’s associate Angela Moser, who worked on Pinehurst #10.
It’s been a busy year-plus for Keiser as he unveiled the first course at Rodeo Dunes, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, with a second course at the Denver facility underway by Jim Craig and plans for up to five courses. Wild Spring Dunes will have 36 holes with Coore and Crenshaw building the second course, too. These join Keiser’s portfolio that includes Sand Valley and his family’s development of Bandon Dunes.
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Now enter Florida.
Jeff Marsh/Courtesy of Old Shores
Keiser started his search for a Southeast property in Georgia, but continued to find better sites until he stumbled upon Old Shores, which is a 1,400-acre site about 30 miles north of Panama City Beach and an hour away from the upscale communities on Highway 30A.
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Golf Digest Logo The best golf courses in Florida About 40 feet of elevation change can be found on the site of Old Shores with sandy soil, plus the presence of unique karst depressions—essentially giant sink holes, sometimes filled with water, sometimes not—that can plunge to depths of 80 feet of more, which Doak said is “unlike anything I’ve seen on a golf course.”
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Jeff Marsh/Courtesy of Old Shores
“Geologically, everything growing on the site is unique and not really found anywhere else in the country, at least not Florida,” Keiser told Golf Digest’s Derek Duncan when the project was announced at the end of 2024. “The topography was also interesting. The land that Tom and I chose for the course has a tremendous amount of variety throughout the routing and the huge depressions create very steep, dramatic golf features that you play alongside, and others are smaller and you play through them.”
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Jeff Marsh/Courtesy of Old Shores
Keiser’s team says a second course is in the design phase at Old Shores with a short course also planned. This will part of a community-focused village with activities like fishing, swimming and hiking accompanying homesites located near the final holes of the Doak course to a high ridge overlooking Long Lake. Reservations can now be made on the homes, offered from $1.3 million, with owners able to design their own builds to eight bedrooms.
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