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"Rolling in at 8 a.m. on Friday doesn’t even guarantee you a Saturday morning tee time - people are literally spending the entire day and night in their cars just for a chance to get on." - @WaysToGolf on the state of Bethpage Black tee times before it all shuts down to prepare for the Ryder Cup.
There's a part of me that would have a blast camping out for a day at a golf course just to play it the next day. Takes me back to camping out for Syracuse basketball games in college. To this day, those were still the best naps I'd ever had. Sub-40 degree temps in a tent, snuggled into a sleeping bag.
Fun fact, while camping out one time I was literally woken up from a nap by someone "knocking" on the tent. I zipped it open to reveal a news reporter and camera interviewing students about camping out and as I sleepily agreed to an interview, they ended up coming into the tent and I gave the entire interview from inside my sleeping bag. Pure college.
The $220K Ultimate Augusta Package
A MASTERS EXPERIENCE UNLIKE ANY OTHER
As if dreaming of winning the Masters lottery wasn't already lofty enough—the Masters released their newest round of hospitality packages this week. Making the headline was a brand new offering clocking in at an estimated $219,600 for the week.
Josh Carpenter on X shared a screenshot of the exact breakdown but I'll share my highlights.
HOUSING - Includes a weeklong stay at an "executive-style" home nearby. But beyond that, they've identified that there is a Host Home and a Sleeper Home. I'm interpreting Host Home as one with absolutely baller accommodations, grounds, activities, etc where you can party and hang and not have to worry about guests running up into your bedrooms. That said, I would love to be able to just pop upstairs and crash after a long dinner and firepit session with the crew.
TRANSPO - Two private drivers for airport and Augusta based travel. Solid. Sounds right.
STOCKING - You can request anything to be stocked at all times in the house. This feels underrated as a perk. Yes, I'd like fresh Georgia peaches, your finest local hazy IPAs, and every flavor of Tru Fru in the freezer. Which is honestly about 90% of the supplies I need to be happy these days.
STAFFING - Basically, a butler. They call them a "Program Manager" but come on, it's a butler.
CATERING - Only dinner is included in the cost estimate. Bit of a miss on not including breakfast. To me that's always the more impressive meal anyways—for dinner you can pop into town or throw some meats on the grill. There are options. Breakfast in a smaller town? So much nicer to just wake up to the unmistakably alluring smell of bacon.
TEE TIMES - I'm assuming this is a tee time at Augusta with option to add additional tee times at the top notch courses in the area. If true, easily the best perk of the package. Playing Augusta the week of the Masters???
The package is for up to 8 guests, so let it be known that I will just keep that week open permanently if any of you ever need a little extra vibes on-site.
A new breaking 100 challenge has surfaced
MEET WOODY TOMFLEET?
Tommy Fleetwood has posted only four videos in his first month on YouTube—and is already at almost 90K subscribers and 800K+ views. Not a bad start.
For those asking why he'll be worth a follow, I direct you to the video titled "I Have an Announcement." Tommy reveals that he has started a quest to break 100... left-handed. And the video is simultaneously one of the most relatable and unrelatable things I've watched.
He begins by showing off a few completely topped iron shots and as he walks his way up to the woods, it's slice city. Coming from someone who is still on their own quest to break 80, watching someone of Tommy's fame top a shot was so comforting.
On the other hand, the middle portion of the video shows Tommy absolutely ripping irons with little to no lefty experience to draw from. Just pure talent. But the most impressive piece is when he gets around the green. Righty or lefty, he's a monster. He basically makes every single putt he attempted with his lefty zero torque Spider. Granted the zero torque likely helped in stabilizing things but still—touch-wise it's pretty @#^& impressive.
Which then led me to worry about whether Tommy will not only break 100 but also then break 80 faster than me despite completely starting from scratch as a lefty.
Final note was how the comments section (and myself) wondered aloud if Tommy should create an alter ego for his Lefty self. Woody Tomfleet has a nice ring to it.
Pleasantly surprised by Happy Gilmore 2
ANYTHING FOR THE CONTENT
Took me a bit but finally got around to watching Happy Gilmore 2 and I have to say, I'm glad we waited. Because in that wait I was able to watch the roller coaster of reactions from people saying it was a blast to others saying it was one of the worst sequels they've seen. The net outcome for me was basement-level expectations that were actually exceeded!
Look, was it amazing? No. But my wife and I were talking mid-movie about how we never see movies that are just dumb and surface level and comfortingly predictable. So it actually grew on me as I sat back and enjoyed how absurd and goofy it was.
The cameos were fine. Willy Z stole the show. Travis Kelce might actually be a decent actor. And Ben Stiller loves a mustache.
The reason I bring up Happy Gilmore 2 though was an article from Golf Digest detailing how they actually built all of those insane Maxi holes. The snow one. The sand one. And even the giant wooden pot bunkers and rotating green one.
The company behind it all was called LaBar and they apparently do golf construction work for many of the biggest names in golf like Merion, Seminole, and Winged Foot among others.
My favorite part of the story was how despite all the cosmetic changes, the team turned around the sets back into a golf course to resume play just days later without actually ruining these clubs. Impressive.
US Women's Amateur Championship Alert
TAKE ME BACK TO BANDON PLEASE
A quick final note this week is that if you haven't had a chance to watch already, the US Women's Amateur Championship is being played right now at Bandon Dunes with coverage on The Golf Channel.
Super fun to watch that place on TV and there are some great stories to follow throughout.
Kiara Romero from University of Oregon —aka the top ranked amateur in the country aka the team member of BB Rushmore legend and U of O golf coach Krissy Carman—is still in the hunt as match play quarterfinals happen today.
Another fun story was the Golf Channel reporter Emilia Doran who made the Round of 32 after a thrilling playoff and then proceeded to walk off the course and right into a broadcast.
All this to say, you may not know the names, but it's been a really fun and unique way to see Bandon when usually it's just drone shots at sunset where it all looks too good to be real.
