THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE MADISON VALLEY, RUBY VALLEY AND SURROUNDING AREAS

All 18 holes at Buzz Warner’s new golf course on Burma Road are in some stage of construction. PHOTOS BY DAVID MADISON

From cows to clubs

A Scottish-style golf course under construction on “Mistress Cabin” ranch

Buzz Warner chuckles at the thought of it: A new kind of golf shoe, one designed specifically for the course he’s building near the Big Hole River along Burma Road near Twin Bridges. For his new “no carts, walk-only” course—which he’s constructing in prime rattlesnake habitat—it might make sense for players to wear something with the snake-bite protection of a cowboy boot and the spikes of a golf shoe. 

The thought of a hybrid cowboy boot-golf cleat might be funny, but the way Warner’s current earth-moving project blends golf course construction into cowboy country isn’t a laughing matter to many. Since KXLF TV in Butte broke the story on July 9 about the new course, critics of the project continue to raise concerns about transforming Montana ranchland into something inspired by the great links of Scotland. 

Warner’s phone keeps ringing. Some of the callers are happy. Some are not so happy, said Warner, who planned to welcome at least one critic of the project to his property for a tour on July 16. 

On July 15, Warner led The Madisonian on a tour, first driving through the massive cottonwood grove in the riverbottom where Warner is not building any golf holes. Warner’s truck kicked up dust and simultaneously flushed a flock of Canadian geese and two velvet bucks. Then just down the ranch road, a sandhill crane strode into the shade of the cottonwoods. 

Once, while fishing the stretch of the Big Hole that runs along his property, Warner said he got lucky and caught a brown trout that was about two feet long. 

The river is currently under hoot owl restrictions, and this time next summer, Warner hopes to be playing golf instead of wishing he was fishing. 

In a July 11 phone interview, and during the follow up visit to the property, Warner reflected on how this whole thing got rolling. The Warner family in Salt Lake City sold Warner Truck Centers to Penske Automotive Group in 2019 and toward the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, Buzz zeroed in on the Burma Road property. 

Over the last few years, Warner kept watering one of the pastures and growing hay. And that’s what he was doing when the life-long dream of building a golf course started to percolate. 

“I was out cutting hay one day in that spot and thought, ‘Man, we are wasting a ton of water to continue to flood irrigate this,’” remembered Warner. “There’s a lack of golf in Madison County. So easy decision.”

Warner hired local consultant Ralph Hamler to help him set septic systems away from the river. He named the roads on his property. There’s now Field House Road and Cottage Drive, where Warner plans to build four cottages for his four kids. 

As Warner worked his way through the county and state permitting process, he learned Madison County would not scrutinize his project because, as Planning Director Cody Marxer explained in an email, “The project occurring on land owned by ABCW LLC near the Big Hole River outside of Twin Bridges is not a subdivision, therefore no subdivision application has been submitted.”

Warner is a principal in ABCW LLC, and the course is described by Marxer as “semi-primitive.”

“All applicable county permitting is in place. The bulk of the golf course component is located outside of the jurisdictional floodplain and the activity within the floodplain is exempt from permitting requirements.  The cabins are located outside of the floodplain and are for private use. Therefore, no floodplain permitting or accommodations licensing applies,” explained Marxer, adding, “The project, as proposed and discussed with the county, does not include any work within the Big Hole River streambed or streambanks. Environmental studies are not required for development outside of subdivision. This tract of land is not zoned, as there is no zoning in rural Madison County. And what this translates to is that the county does not have the authority to restrict the types of development that a landowner chooses to pursue on his private land, as long as all applicable county permitting is in place.”

Warner tells it like this: “We got the golf course totally away from the river. That whole riparian area is totally out of it. We could have built some really, really neat golf holes down there.”

But he didn’t. That’s one reason his pitch for the project held up under the scrutiny of the non-profit Big Hole Watershed Committee. It’s also getting a once over from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. 

“I’m huge on wildlife, fish, conservation, then golf,” said Warner. 

Pedro Marques, executive director of the Big Hole Watershed Committee, said Warner came to him with his plans and is now developing the golf course in a way that will benefit the Big Hole River more than if the land was still exclusively used to grow hay. 

For example, said Marques, Warner closed an irrigation intake ditch and now there are 3 million gallons of water a day remaining in the river and not used for ag irrigation. 

Marques added, “This golf course is happening and all the laws regarding stream discharge and water rights are all being followed. So given that, that's the reality that we're facing. I don't think golf courses are a conservation-focused land use. But given the irrigation that was happening on the land, that is now being converted to golf, it’s looking like there's going to be a net conservation of water from this new use.”

Warner emphasized he holds no hard feelings towards locals in Madison County taken aback by the transformation of his property. He sighed at one point and said he could have put in a five tower pivot and started to pull double the water for hay and no one would have raised a concern. 

But instead, Warner wanted to create a special kind of course that’s in league with some of the great ones around the globe. 

“I’ve been to Scotland and New Zealand, all these sensitive places on the planet,” said Warner. “I’ve hired the best individuals I can.”  

The lead designer is Kye Goalby, whose father won the Master’s back in the 1960s. Goalby, said Warner, has built golf courses all over the world. 

“They just finished up at Oakmont where they are having the 2025 U.S. Open,” said Warner. 

The course construction crew is currently mining sand out of the property and using it to shape features for each hole. The course will have just a handful of constructed bunkers, said Warner, because they would further alter the landscape and invite rattlesnakes. 

Warner noted how with a walking-only course, it’s possible to use fescue grass, which requires 30-40% less water than bluegrass. 

A comparable Scottish golf course is Brora, said Warner. Photos of this bucket-list course for diehard golfers bring to mind television broadcasts of the British Open, only it’s a little more barren than the famed St. Andrews. 

Warner’s place on Burma Road is on its way to becoming part ranch, part river conservation corridor and part golf course. No club house is planned, but thirsty golfers can pop into the stylish halfway house on the 9th hole. Warner said for the first year, locals will play for free one day a week, “and we’ll take it from there.”

“How about hosting the Montana High School golf championships?” 

Warner liked that idea. He said he envisions a future where Montana’s best young golfers make a pilgrimage to his course, which he has not yet publicly named.

“Did you name your kids before they were born?” ribs Warner, keeping Madison County in suspense, waiting for a name that’s likely to become a new county landmark. 

Up until now, Warner’s ranch was known as the location of the “Mistress Cabin.”

“That’s what they called it,” said Warner, flashing back to headlines from 1999 about famed journalist Charles Kuralt’s secret family in Montana. Kuralt’s wife lived in New York City, and his second partner resided among the cottonwoods in a cabin that still stands today. 

After Kuralt’s death, the ranch changed hands a couple of times, finally landing with former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. 

Rumsfeld liked hot springs apparently, and tried to engineer one by drawing 95 degree water out of the ground on the ranch, said Warner. 

When he bought the property from Rumsfeld, Warner plugged the hot water flow because it was the obvious thing to do to protect a river already battling high temperatures. 

Warner met Rumsfeld during the sale of the ranch. And Warner remembered watching Rumsfeld, “like we all did,” during the Iraq War. 

That was when Rumsfeld planted his most famous quote at the crossroads of politics and pop culture. 

“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know,” said Rumsfeld, carrying on in a manner that earned him internet fame. “We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.”

On social media, those watching Warner’s project are wondering aloud about all types of knowing and not knowing. Generally, the comments are divided between those lamenting the loss of a pristine swath of classic ranch land. Then there are the golfers, who are stoked. 

One post from July 10 read, “It’s a golf course, not an open pit mine. I can’t wait to play it.”

Warner said, “The Big Hole shuts down and you get so many beautiful days, even in November. And that property drains so well, we can be playing golf months longer than we can be fishing. We can be playing in April, and there’s days in November and December. We don’t get a lot of snow there.”

Warner closed with a “I’m not building another Yellowstone Club” pitch. 

“I’m not a developer,” he said. Unlike Spanish Peaks and Moonlight, Warner insisted, “I don’t have a single member. I don’t have a single jet.”

Ralph Hamler, the local consultant who helped Warner get his golf course dream off the ground, said, “I think it's a wonderful project. It’ll be good for the community and I don't see why anybody would object to it. It’s going to be an open course. As far as the environment and the conservation, I don't think it'll affect the Big Hole River one iota.”

Pedro Marques with the Big Hole Watershed Committee was less boosterish, but he did say supportive things about Warner’s project. Marques also empathized with Madison County locals who share gut-punch feelings about the bucolic landscapes they grew up with disappearing. 

“It’s not like the old days where ranchers are in the market for these lands when they come up for sale,” said Marques. “And so what we're seeing and what we will probably continue to see is that new types of landowners are coming into our valley bottoms and that is a hard change to deal with and accept. Half our board, more than half of our board are ag producers. So we hate to see land going out of production.”

These days, when Warner has folks out to his place, he apologizes for the disruptive scene. He says he knows it looks a little chaotic when you drive by on Burma Road. 

Right now the greens are a taupe colored sand, the fairways are bare ground and dust is flying in all directions. 

But come next June when Warner hopes play begins on his course, “It’s going to be great.”

Readers, what do you think? Send your thoughts to news@madisoniannews.com.

Featured: 
Make Top Lead Story on Website

More Information

The Madisonian

65 N. MT Hwy 287
Ennis, MT 59729
406-682-7755
www.madisoniannews.com

Cori Koenig, editor: editor@madisoniannews.com
Susanne Hill, billing: s.hill@madisoniannews.com 
Ad orders, inserts, classifieds: connect@madisoniannews.com 
Comment Here