Western motif welcomes guests in the lobby (left) and throughout the ranch. A lake (right) and executive course is named after Chief Egan, the last war chief of the Paiute tribe. Goat caddies (bottom, courtesy of Silvies) work for peanuts.
theme permeates ranch life in honor of those early settlers. On Friday nights, everyone looks forward to the chef’s seven-course meal in the ranch house bar and restaurant. Rustic décor punctuates an elegant table setting where the chef introduces each creation. A tray with various knives is passed for meat cutting. Guests’ personalities are jokingly defined by their cutlery choice. Before and after dinner, cowboys/girls and golfers belly-up to the well-stocked bar. The evening is consummated lakeside by the patio’s flaming fire pit with storytelling and stargazing.
The golf games Though the Campbells do not golf, their friends do. Through their fantasy of a course on the beautiful landscape, they realized the potential for tourism. Enter Dan Hixson, who created a reversible loop of Craddock and Hankins 18-hole courses, named after settlers. The isolated tracts traverse the rolling hills and pine forests without encroachment
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of houses or civilization. The links-style routing provides open-range fairways with elevation diversity between tees and greens. Land in any bunker and get razzed by the metal rake, which son Tygh Campbell has etched with sayings such as “Better get lessons.” Fun is the name of any Silvies game. hole of the Hankins side is
The 18th
a grip-it, rip-it downhill, downwind opportunity where mere mortals are challenged to hit the longest drives of their lives. Achievers who “nail it” are awarded a special drink, the Horseshoe Nail, and an album in the clubhouse records the drives for posterity. The Chief Egan executive nine plays
out by the lake below the clubhouse, where breakfast and lunch are served. Antique implements dot the courses and ranch. Dr. Campbell believes the manure spreader was appropriately positioned next to the clubhouse for golfers’ BS. It could also serve the adjacent caddy shack where goat caddies hang out until hired for the recently opened
McVeigh’s Gauntlet course, a seven-hole treat on top of a razorback mountain.
Get your goat Silvies’ novel goat caddies are garnering much attention, having appeared on Good Morning America. They are fitted with a custom Seamus saddlebag to hold six clubs, six beverages and peanuts for tips. B-a-a-a-d jokes abound. Besides the few goat caddies, the ranch hosts the largest organic meat goat herd in the world. Over 2,000 American Range goats are tended by Peruvians from a long lineage of shepherding with the help of their Great Pyrenees dogs, an entertaining sight. Sandy Campbell has a quest to deliver the best, healthiest goat meat, or chevon, served in the ranch’s gourmet restaurant and sold to others. Ranch guests depart with a new meaning for “get your goat.”
Straight shooters If your golf shots are lacking, take a shot at the Rifleman, Sharpshooter or Pistolero gun ranges. Colby or one of his
www.azgolf.org
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