Bison DeChambeau
Telluride, Colorado- 2025

There are about 16,000 golf courses
in America, but only two are higher in
elevation than Telluride Golf Club. When
the members play out their rounds
against the visual grandeur of the San
Juan mountains, the thin air allows them
to enjoy an extra 10 % length on their
drives.
120 years ago, these mountains were
thinly governed and hosted hard
living, gun carrying, outlaws, not golf
tournaments. When Tarantino shot
The Hateful Eight, just a couple of miles
up the road, there were no clean-cut
characters who looked like Arnold Palmer
or Jack Nicklaus.
There was little cultural refinement in
the San Juan Mountains in the wild west
days and the emergence of the genteel
game of golf seems a little incongruous -
especially at 9,500 feet. Until the club was
founded in 1985, there were many more
bears and bison in the mountains than
there were birdies.
With all this in mind, I sensed there was
an opportunity to be playful and stage a
Wild West golf match on the course. The
locals could participate as extras, so long
as they dressed in final frontier clothing,
and then we just needed a proper ruffian
as the lead. I chose my friend Ty Mitchell,
an authentic cowboy and DiCaprio’s
henchman in Killers of the Flower Moon.
But we were not quite finished with the
cast. We knew a tame bison out of Santa
Fe and his owner was fairly convinced
that he would be comfortable carrying
the outlaw’s golf clubs. That seemed an
idea worth exploring.
Early one mid-summer morning, it all
came together on the 18th green at
Telluride. The view back to the celebrated
mountain airport in the distance
emphatically identifies the location.
Today’s professional golf circuit
is enriched by a few cavalier gun
slingers and none more so than Bryson
DeChambeau. I had a rare moment
of inspiration and the title of this
photograph is perhaps as fun as the
photo itself.