In 1994, Wes and Stan Mickle's lives changed forever. Wes lost his sweet wife Judy, after 35 years of marriage, and Stan lost his mother. For all those years, the Mickles had been in the horse racing and breeding business together, and their great loss seemed to take the flavor out of continuing in that business. So Wes, an avid golfer, traveled to Arizona to visit family and friends and play golf.

Wes had been dreaming of building a golf course since his early twenties. While in Arizona he played at a course with a design that sparked his interest in building a user-friendly golf course back in Texas. Since both Wes and Stan had been playing since the age of six, it seemed like a natural fit. Fueled with nothing more than their vision, the Mickles set out to build the course Wes had been dreaming of all those years.

Getting financing was tough, but finally the Mickles succeeded and construction began on the course in April of 1996. Shortly thereafter, Wes met the second woman of his dreams, Mary Kay Meador. The newly built Canyon West pavilion was a fitting spot for Wes and Mary Kay's wedding. Mary Kay joined the team, and they were off on a whole new life experience, designing, building, and running a golf club.

Shortly after starting construction on the course, the Mickles ran into an 18 inch thick slab of limestone about 4 feet deep. After puzzling over what to do with this massive rock formation, the Mickles' good friends, the Karbo Brothers, suggested building a majestic waterfall from the limestone. Throughout the entire construction, the Mickles used the huge slabs of rock to create the course's signature look. Waterfalls, streams, fountains, and even the markers on the driving range were constructed out of BIG limestone slabs. They also rustled up some mighty nice and authentic western memorabilia like wagons, tools, tack, and other rustic treasures and added some cactus to the mix to create 21 scenes scattered throughout the course in places where golfers might enjoy chancing upon them.

Wes's user friendly concepts show in the greens, fairways, sand traps and lakes which are built to keep the ball rolling onto the green or fairway instead of into a hazard. A ball that ends up in a sand trap, most likely prevents the ball from rolling into the lake, or even worse, out of bounds. The Mickles' course design also includes surprises along the cart path (which is decorated every 50 yards with a red sculptured brick design) like the heart shaped tee boxes for the women on #2 hole; the heart shaped sand trap on #8 in the middle of a huge figure eight shaped green; and rustic fences constructed out of cedar posts to protect the native prairie grasses and wild flowers bordering the course. Prickly pear cactus, cholla, live oaks, mesquite, wild plum thickets, and a few big native pecan trees dot the course and protect the deer, quail, raccoons, bobcats, pumas, opossums, occasional skunk, and other wildlife.

Wes hand-raised hundreds of trees to line the driving range and protect the #9 fairway from errant shots. The nephews, brothers-in-law, and some fine shapers pitched in with construction. The Mickles chose Champion Bermuda for the greens and 419 Bermuda for the fairways. Through it all, Stan and Wes would occasionally butt heads, but, in general, building the course was a work of love.

During the entire construction of the club, the Mickles worked to create a course that looked like it belonged to the natural lay and landscape of the land. They were driven by one thought, "Make it happen". Although the massive undertaking surprised many folks, Wes and Stan always knew they could build the course the way they had envisioned it. Now they try to run it with the same thought in mind, "Make It Happen".

If you would like to host a special event, tournament, reception, wedding, graduation, or have another idea, just call us, and we will Make It Happen.