THE STARTER SHACK

The Jetson's had a robot maid called Rosie. Tom Doak has a bulldozer named Dozer (our words) who is building a course through GPS technology. We're living in the future people!

🤖 Robots are remaking a classic golf course

🧐 Charlie Beljan thinks Bermudians are Nazis

💰 The endorsement debacle with the Saudi Golf League

⛳️ Player & Caddie shoot 59's

Resurrecting A Lost Golf Course With Robots

That’s actually happening with The Lido. The course was originally built by C.B. MacDonald and Seth Raynor on the coast of Long Island in 1917. Declared “the greatest golf course ever” by Masters Champ Claude Harmon. It was neglected during WWII and officially closed in 1942.

• It spanned 115 acres
• They moved 2,000,000 cubic yards of sand (with shovels and horses).
• Read that sentence again...2 million cubic yards. With shovels and horses.
• A not-yet-famous Dr. Alister Mackenzie inspired/designed the 18th hole (provided winning entry in a design competition).

And no, they are not shipping in the sand, granule by granule.

The original Lido was a complete manufacturing of the land—every hump and bump, swallow and swale was orchestrated—so it’s only fitting that they are doing the same with this re-imagination.

And they're doing it with GPS guided Bulldozers.

The Keiser family, known for resorts Bandon Dunes and Cabot Cliffs, is behind the construction at another one of their famed resorts- Sand Valley in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. Three hours outside of Milwaukee.

They’re not playing in the sand with their own shovels and sand castle moulds, they’ve commissioned famed course designer Tom Doak to do all the dirty work. Doak will be attempting what no other designer has done in history—recreate an entire golf course from the first tee to the 18th green. This includes the routing. Hazards. Even the shaping of bunkers.

Doak is using 3D digital model that amateur golf historian Peter Flory assembled over three years using historical information and photos. That model was then meticulously transformed into a GPS model that has precision down to an inch.

At a cost of 16 million dollars, it’s going to open as a private club across the road from the Sand Valley Resort. Resort guests will have limited access on certain days of the week.

Why are private clubs always across the road?

We’ll never know if the re-creation is close to the original but with the Keiser's passion and Doak’s intimate knowledge of McDonald and Raynor’s designs, and the use of GPS bulldozers, it’s going to be spectacular nonetheless.

One thing they can’t recreate is the salty ocean spray in the middle of Wisconsin.

GIMME

• Not a full field: Butterfield Bermuda Championship is offering stuff like exemptions and FedEx points, MONEY and yet its 132 man field is only going to be 127. An astounding 34 players are outside the Top 1000! Read that again. We could've had a chance at winning! They really should have extended an invitation to all LPGA Players.
• Want a Sponsor: did you ever wonder why when you went to a golf tournament, why the cash prizes were always exactly $750 and not a penny more. That was the arbitrary number that apparently separated the pros from the ams. With the new NIL rules coming into effect, these are changing.
• Chance of a lifetime: Brian Morris has terminal cancer and he accepted an invitation to tee it up this week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. We're not crying you're crying!
• Saudi Golf Invitations: 8 players applied to the PGA Tour to be allowed to play in an event in Saudi Arabia...here are the 8 players including Jason Kokrak (no surprise here), Graham McDowell—big names—Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood and others.
• They're F-ing it up!: The Saudi Golf League is potentially f-ing up endorsements deals. Most big-name golfers have multi-year deals that require them to play between 15-20 PGA Tour events. PGA Tour events, not Saudi Golf events. So if DJ takes off to play the Saudi Golf League and Jay Monahan bans him from the PGA Tour, DJ is now breaking his contract. Oops.
• Player & Caddie shoot 59: Will Wilcox (former PGA prop) is caddying for Russell Knox at this week's Bermuda Championship. Fun fact—they have both respectively shot 59's in competition. And since 34 players in the field are outside the top 1000, there's a good chance Wilcox could've teed it up and beat them.

PIC OF THE DAY

Gotta be honest, we thought Fluff was just born an old man. Boy were we wrong.

Here he is with a fresh mop of hair and a mustache not tainted by the stresses of being a high performing caddie.

WITB

This is a putter Tiger Woods used. Not, similar to one he used. One he actually used. And it's going on the auction block with people (people who know a thing or two about this type of thing) thinking it will break the $1 million mark.

It kinda makes us think we'd have to pay someone to take our putter.

INSIDE THE ROPES

Charlie Beljan has thoughts on the vaccine (that he quickly deleted) and he'd like you to not just read them but feel them in your loins.

Some of the responses below...for purely entertainment purposes.

GOLF GEAR

We know you can read...cause you're here.

Uncrate has a 5 book collection that is not your typical "golf" book. How to Play the World's Most Exclusive Golf Clubs by John Sabino, is included along with 4 other books on how to improve your game. You'll probably never read them, like the Shakespear Collection you have, but they'll look good on the shelf.

*not a sponsored post

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Today's email was brought to you by: Nolan Filipenko & Colby Johannson

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