On the Olympics, the Dead and a stylin' bag
+ Where does Olympic golf rank?; Mike Purkey's nine questions to ponder; and the new design in Michigan's UP.
THE STARTER
🏌️ Players compete this weekend for Olympic medals for the third time in the modern era. What would it take for the Olympics to one day have the same standing in world golf as a major championship?
🏌️ Xander Schauffele has taken his Open Championship momentum to Paris for the Olympics. If he wins, is he automatic player of the year or does a gold medal matter?
🏌️ Speaking of player of the year, has Scottie Scheffler run out of gas?
🏌️ Hideki Matsuyama is also at the top of the Olympic leaderboard. How much brighter would his star be in Japan with gold around his neck?
🏌️ Jon Rahm won LIV Golf UK for his first victory since the 2023 Masters and he’s also among the Olympic medal contenders. Does he still have time to call this year a success?
🏌️ About a dozen protesters gathered at the front of Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, Utah, to greet Tony Finau for his annual charity tournament. They say Finau hasn’t repaid them for time and/or money that helped him become one of golf’s stars. Does this story have legs?
🏌️ Keegan Bradley, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 matches, was named a last-minute vice-captain for the Presidents Cup in September in Montreal. Are they scrambling to get Bradley some backroom experience?
🏌️ Jhonattan Vegas won the 3M Open for his first PGA Tour victory in nearly seven years. Is it easier to win on Tour when all the stars are elsewhere?
🏌️ Why does it feel like the professional golf season is all but over?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
RevCore golf bag has that Cadillac look, feel
Our contributor test drove CaddyDaddy Golf's stand bag and came away thinking it had all any golfer could want — except for maybe a milkshake maker.
:: Gary Van Sickle | Read
Putting his best foot forward
Sqairz CEO Bob Winskowicz takes on the golf footwear category and discusses his company's emergence with Driver$ podcast co-hosts Jon Last and David Klein.
:: Driver$: Inside the Golf Industry | Listen
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 Is technology in the Olympics a form of doping or a reality of modern sport?
Twenty years ago, a small Texas nonprofit launched a yellow wristband. It became a must-have accessory and a talisman of hope that changed the fight against cancer forever.
:: Bree Iskandar | Scientific American | 07.25.2024
📖 Breaking in new sports at the Olympics
Breaking, sport climbing and skateboarding may seem untraditional, but they embody the true spirit of the Games.
:: Sam Anderson / Philip Montgomery / Leslye Davis / Ora DeKornfeld / MJ Lat / Philip Montgomery | New York Times | 07.25.2024
📖 Reckoning with the Dead at the Sphere
A run of lost Las Vegas weekends for Deadheads prompts a longtime fan to wrestle with what the band has left behind.
:: Nick Paumgarten | The New Yorker | 07.22.2024
BUSINESS
PERFECT PUTT
The growth of junior golf
Publisher Jared Doerfler looks at the youngest segment of golf’s growth. Juniors, according to the National Golf Foundation, saw on-course participants increase by 1 million (40%) between 2019 and 2023.
:: Jared Doerfler | Read
Each Monday, Jared Doerfler breaks down the business of golf. Subscribe to Perfect Putt here.
WEEK IN REVIEW
1️⃣8️⃣ The industry’s names, news and notables that are making the headlines. | Read
ICYMI
This week’s editions of The First Call:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
LIFESTYLE
THE STYLE LINKS
A little fun, entertainment and skill testing mixed with the trade show the PGA Buying Summit in Frisco, Texas.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Richard Barnes, owner of Red Barn Golf Club in Rockton, Illinois: “I’m a Wisconsin boy, so I like a brat with relish and onions, and a Canadian whisky plus sweet mixer to drink.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN NOTES
Island Resort & Casino rolls dice on a new 9
Island Resort & Casino, located in the town of Harris on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, recently announced a $19 million capital investment as the Island continues to expand and prepare for future growth. The two-year project will feature the development of a new nine-hole golf course, golf shop and additional convention space.
With the increased demand for golf, Island Resort will add Cedar Course, a nine-holer on the resort’s existing Sage Run course site. The 3,630-yard, par-36 course will be designed by Paul Albanese, who also crafted Sweetgrass and Sage Run. The layout will be inspired by golden age architecture, focused on natural landscapes and featuring popular template green complexes designed into the natural environment. Green complexes will take on a C.B. Macdonald feel from his work at National Golf Links and overseas at Prestwick.
“We are very busy in the summer and often booked on both of our courses in the morning,” said Tony Mancilla, general manager for Island Resort & Casino. “We decided to add nine holes to accommodate our guests looking for early morning tee times before they head home. We are not adding to Sage Run but making these nine holes their own course.”
The name Cedar (“Kishki” in the native Potawatomi language) is derived from being one of the four sacred medicines known for its protective and purifying properties. The logo design will pay tribute to tobacco, another sacred medicine. Cedar complements the existing courses — Sweetgrass and Sage Run — to complete the representation of medicines that, in Potawatomi culture, represent the connection to the earth.
“We are taking some great concepts from the golden age of architecture in the early 1900s and incorporating them into the Cedar course,” Albanese said. “The course will feature some of the game’s most popular green templates like the Punchbowl, Double Plateau, and even a Juniper hole like the famous sixth hole at Augusta National. Many Midwesterners have not experienced this kind of architecture, so we wanted to give them a flavor of what it would be like to play overseas or from that era.”
Added Mancilla: "We are also going to have a variety of different-length holes, short par-4s inspired by holes like No. 10 at Riviera, maybe a short par-3, and even church pew bunkers like Oakmont."
The new course will be routed on rolling land adjacent to the front nine of Sage Run.
"The land we have for Cedar is perfect for the concept," Mancilla said. "The course will wind through a valley with gently rolling hills and some elevation. It will be less severe land than Sage Run but have more movement than Sweetgrass — somewhere right in-between."
In addition to the course, Cedar will offer a multi-hole complex featuring multiple greens with varying short and mid-level par 3 shots that can be played in all directions. This will be a fun golf experience for groups and golfers looking for extra golf that can be played in about an hour.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
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