Drivers on Highway 377 have noticed a large amount of dirt work next to Camel Stop near Dublin. The former farmland represents a greener future for local golfers and a woman who traces many of the biggest moments of her life to the game.
The dream started when Tori and Pete Branch were playing cards one night.
Tori has loved golf since her father introduced her to the game at the age of four.
“Some of my fondest memories were getting in the car and driving all the way to San Antonio and golfing all the way there and back,” the Lubbock native said of hitting as many courses as they could. Her first clubs as kids were actually some of her dad’s old clubs that had been shortened for her to use.
She was working as a fitting specialist for Golf USA in 2011 when she met her future husband, Pete.
She even dreamed of going professional but fate had other plans. In 2016, Tori was getting ready to go through qualifying school to try for the LPGA when she started experiencing terrible pain in the bottom of her foot.
“I had to take off shoes 2 hours into the day,” she remembered. “They started injecting steroids in the top of my foot.”
During treatment, she went septic and almost lost her foot. “Six surgeries later, I walked past a TV where golf was playing and I’d grit my teeth,” she admitted. “I was so resentful.” After moving to the area, they started attending Lingleville Baptist Church when a conversation with pastor Ryan Hurt turned things around.
“He said ‘I heard you were quite a golfer,’” she recalled. “’I’ve got two boys that love to play and want to learn.’ Well, who can say no to the preacher’s kids? Nobody.”
Her love of the game quickly rekindled as she watched Brody and Garrett Hurt improve and then she started working with some of the other kids at church.
Without a dedicated local place for practice, she was giving lessons in her backyard and it was becoming crowded.
Pete has a reputation as a horse trainer and has trained quarter horses for Barbara Allsup for 39 years. They were playing cards at her house when Tori said she was going to have to build a simulator room off of their garage.
“I said we’ll just open the back door, hit it into the pasture and hope the cows aren’t in the way as we’re hitting,” she joked.
“She looked at me and said what if we take it a step further,” Tori said. So they started looking for land and landed on the 118 acre property that opened the door for practice facilities, a driving range and a par 36 nine-hole course.
Tori said the primary goal for the club is to offer locals a place to improve their game with two club houses, one on the 377 side of the property for the public and a team facility at the back side of the property with a separate entrance from CR351.
“We have a lot of schools in this area and these kids don’t have anywhere to practice,” she said. “Look at the kids that don’t have the opportunity to have private lessons. I want to cater to those who wouldn’t get an opportunity otherwise.”
She also added that she spent most of her time on the driving range when she was working on perfecting her game. She also said that the 2025 Masters champion Rory McIlroy worked at a course in his youth and that consistent access to practice was credited for the development of his skills.
Phase 1 of construction will focus on the driving range and the clubhouse that feature cutting-edge Trackman simulators that help golfers look at dispersion patterns and ball flight while swinging at a projection screen. The system even has the ability to play solo or competitive games.
“For a golfer who plays really good golf, it’ll be exceptional,” Tori said. “For a golfer who doesn’t play very good golf, it will be a lot of fun.”
There also plans for pickle ball courts for non-golfers looking for a place to play. It’s hoped that Phase 1 will be up by the end of the year.
Phase two will be the course following a “grow in”. This course is being developed by Trey Kemp of Kemp Golf Design. The Branches are excited about the design with the hope that it will be a standout facility. They also commended the work from Royce Light and L1 Contracting as well as Ryan Fromme and Evans Onsite Services.
The 9-hole course will feature four par 4 holes, two par 3s and two par 5s. The current design has players starting on a par 5 with the hole lying 570 yards from the back tee, 530 from the middle and 470 from the forward.
The other par 5 is a 590 yard (from the back) hole 4 that dog legs around the course’s pond. Golfers will get close to the water again at hole 9 as the par 4’s green rests on the other side of the pond. There has been a lot of discussion and gossip about the course online since work began, but Tori assures that the plans come from a genuine love of golf and a desire to share it with others looking to hone their skills.
“The game is such a God given game from the history of it,” she said, adding the course and facility are a result of God putting the right people in her life at the right time.
“I always say I’ve had such a hard time my whole life living one day at a time,” she said. “I think a lot of us do. If I can stay with the way golf teaches me—where it’s one shot at a time, one day at a time—I can try to live today the way that golf teaches me how to live. I can’t do anything about the shot behind me. I can’t forecast the shot in front of me. I’ve got to stay in the now.”
“I’m going to miss the magic if I don’t stay in the right now,” she said. It’s a magic she’s always loved, and now gets to share with the next generation.