Bill Dunson holds a flag with pictures of his brother, Jim Dunson, used on hole No. 4 for tournaments at the course.
Bill Dunson, who joined his beloved brother in building a nine-hole golf course in his back pasture, and then was the only person to ever hit back-to-back holes-in-one there, has died.
The co-founder of the Gate Ranch Golf Course was 90.
The Dunson brothers opened up their golf course to the public for free. They mowed and watered the grass on their own time and dime, keeping up the course as their retirement hobby. They got a big kick out of meeting with everyone who would come to hit the links.
“I love what I’m doing,” Bill told The Chronicle a few years ago. “I especially enjoy talking to the young people who are just beginning to play.”
Jim Dunson died in late 2017 of pancreatic cancer. Bill died shortly after Veteran’s Day this year. He had suffered a stroke while in the hospital for a planned, fairly routine medical procedure. Until then, he had been in good health and was enthusiastically enjoying life.
The brothers were well-known and highly regarded in Rochester.
“They were really great people,” said neighbor and friend Gene Weaver, the longtime president of the Grand Mound Rochester Chamber of Commerce. “They were just good ol’ boys, you know? Very modest and quite the characters.”
That esteem became global last year, when television personality Mike Rowe visited the Gate Ranch to film an episode of his online broadcast “Returning the Favor.” The episode has since been watched almost 4.4 million times.
The 25-minute show is a joy. Rowe is clearly taken with the grandfatherly figure of Bill Dunson.
After learning of his death, Rowe posted a long appreciation on Facebook for a man that he considered a true friend, although he only knew him for a day.
“Bill was one of those people who becomes your friend the moment you meet,” Rowe wrote. “It’s really not up to you. Bill possessed a quality that demanded friendship. He exuded generosity and familiarity. He dripped with empathy, and authenticity. Mostly though, he just made you feel as though you had known him forever.”
I talked with Bill earlier this year after he was featured in “Returning the Favor.” He told me he still would still get choked up thinking about that sunny day that ended with a huge barbecue appreciation party packed with hundreds of friends, family and neighbors.
“It was an awesome thing,” Dunson told me. “It was a hell of a big surprise.”
With both Bill and Jim now gone, it’s worth remembering how a little inspiration, a spirit of generosity, and a lot of hard work can create something unique and valuable.
The brothers were both retired when they built their 14-acre, nine-hole course in 2001 on the back forty of their property near the former railroad junction town known as Gate, northwest of Rochester.
When they first envisioned the course nearly two decades ago, the pasture was home to two horses and six cows. The grass was as tall as a golf club.
Jim got on his riding lawn mower and started going at it, with the idea of making a putting green.
“When Jim was mowing out in the pasture, all I could see was his head,” Bill told The Chronicle in a 2016 profile.
Jim added with a grin and a shrug, “there wasn’t a whole lot of thought given to any of this.”
They borrowed a tractor and a windrow rake to finish the job. They ended up with a nine-hole golf course and enough hay to feed a pair of horses for a year.
That course became a place for the community to gather, especially at the brothers’ annual Fourth of July barbecue.
Kids on the Rochester High School golf team practiced on the rustic course. Bill was proud that several of them went on to earn golf scholarships to college.
Bill and Jim, both widowers, had shared a modest home at the Gate Ranch and did the maintenance work on the course themselves. They estimated the annual cost of supplies and equipment at about $5,000. A small donation box at the course brought in about $2,000 a year (plus the one-time gift of $5,000 that Rowe and his crew left when they filmed their episode last year.)
What happens next with the golf course is uncertain, said Dunson’s friend Weaver. The Dunson family is discussing what happens next.
“It would be a shame if it goes way,” Weaver said, “but on the other hand, who can afford to run a free golf course?”
One thing is for sure: Bill and Jim Dunson’s friendships and legacy will last for many years to come.
“Certain people were born to sit on the porch and tell stories and drink lemon-aid and be wise and funny in their old age,” Rowe said. “Bill was one of those people. He’s gone now, but he won’t be forgotten anytime soon. My sympathies to his family, and to the people of Rochester, who are no doubt missing him today. His life was a great gift, and we were honored to share it with so many.”
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Brian Mittge can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
