WEBVTT - Affordable Golf as a Family Business 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.000 Hello, and welcome to the Frida Egg Podcast. I'm Garrett 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:07.159 Morrison and today I'm joined by Andy Johnson. How's it going, Andy. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.280 Oh, it's going swell. Just another day in paradise. We 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.440 had great weekend Labor Day, weekend of golf with the 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:17.160 Solheim Cup and you know, just ready to talk about 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.720 two wonderful hidden gems in Michigan with you. 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.560 Are you still in Michigan? No, No, you've You've finally 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:25.000 come back. 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.400 Mentally, I hope to think that I've stayed in northern Michigan, 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.479 but I I'm afraid that all of my hopes and 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.240 dreams of keeping that mental state have come crashing down, 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.920 you know, on this Tuesday, as I've really gotten back 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.199 in the saddle with work and and just you know, 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:44.640 I took the garbage out last night and I realized that, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:46.040 you know, things are different. 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.559 Yep, yep, back home all right. So first, our sponsor 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.840 for this episode is Zero Restriction. Zero Restriction is not 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.160 only a Frida Egg sponsor, they were also the official 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:03.040 outerwear for Team USA at the Solheim Cup. 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I miss a green, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.200 for example, I'm already upset when I find my ball 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:00.680 in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:02.120 And when I find my ball in a. 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.360 Bride egg Frida egg, the dreaded Frida egg Frida egg 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:07.960 Egg bride egg Lie, I'm. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.840 About ready to run off the golf course. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.960 So Andy, we're going to talk about mainly a couple 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:40.640 of great affordable public golf courses in Michigan in this episode, 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.240 but we thought we'd first say a few words about 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.760 the Solheim Cup, which we just watched over this past weekend. 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.080 What are some big takeaways you had from the Solheim. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.080 Cup Women's Golf. I think had a had a bit 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.960 of a moment this weekend. Obviously, they had their premier 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.440 event at a great golf course Inverness and went up 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.840 against obviously the Tour Championship and whether or not the 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.920 numbers will bear it out, you know, the social media 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.280 definitely was an indicator that the Solheim Cup was the 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.840 event to watch this weekend first and foremost. That'll be 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.840 my big takeaway. You know, things such as how do 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.960 you pronounce his name? Nile herand the one direction guy 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:26.560 with thirty million followers tweeting about it, no idea. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.560 But I don't know how to pronounce his name. But 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.520 there's no doubt in my mind that for people under 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.320 thirty under twenty five years old, he is the most 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:36.440 famous amateur golfer in the world. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.120 Yeah, like him tweeting about the Solheim Cup, not the 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.719 Tour Championship, you know, not men's golf. Women's golf was 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.120 such a big deal. Like just like things like that 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:51.240 anecdotally as well as like the dominant social discussion this weekend, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.359 you know, just like an NFL Sunday where there's a 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.240 dominant social discussion, one storyline. It might be your team, 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.680 it might be a player on your team, you know 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.280 your rivals team. There's always one dominant like the dominant 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.479 story this weekend was the Solheim Cup, and that's just 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.359 tremendous for women's golf, and it shows like when you 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.040 put together a team competition, team competitions are far and 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.400 few between, you know. I think like one of the 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.000 natural reactions is we need more team competitions. Like one 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.680 of the things that makes teams competitions so popular is 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.800 the scarcity of them. So I don't want to flood 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.160 it with but I think there's room for more of them. 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:30.760 But we have to be very pick and choosy on 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.680 how we cultivate these ideas. And we don't need all 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.359 of a sudden fifty weeks of team competitions right. 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.120 Now, Well it wouldn't be as special anymore. I mean, 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.760 part part of what's great about the Solheim Cup the 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.880 Ryder Cup is that you know they only come around 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.440 every couple of years and you have time to miss it, 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.880 Unlike what happens with PGA to our golf when you 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.800 don't have any time to miss it and yearn for it. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.600 I think there are enough team competitions out there right now. 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.880 I mean you've got the President's Cup, the Ryder Cup, 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.080 the Solheim Cup, the Curtis Cup, the Walker Cup, the 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.920 NC Double as even the PGA Cup or the Eurasia 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.680 Cup if it ever comes back. I'm not sure what's 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.520 going on with that right now. But the problem is 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.520 we don't cover them enough. They aren't really on TV 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.480 except for the ones at the professional level. The Walker 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.280 Cup is barely on TV in the US when it's overseas. 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.680 It got pretty good television coverage this year, as did 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.680 the Curtis Cup, but I'd like to see more of that. 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.320 I'd like to just see more emphasis on the team 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.320 matchplay tournaments that we have because those have tradition, those 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.680 have relevance to the players who participate in them, and 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.400 I think that we need to cultivate those instead of 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.160 thinking about adding more, because you could get to the point, 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.839 as you say, where you know, all of a sudden, 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.120 we have too many and that would be too bad 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:54.520 as well. 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.159 You make a great point about history, tradition and that matters, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.000 and in the Solheim Cup is a younger event. So 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.039 I think that's like this is going to be a 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.359 big jumping off point I think I saw early in 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.720 the week and I apologize to whoever wrote this, but 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.720 they they made a comparison of this Solheim Cup and 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.520 what it could be to the Ryder Cup's Kiowa moment 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:19.880 when like that war by the shore, and I think 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.760 like to a certain extent, that was a pre tournament prediction. 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:27.120 It's somewhat came true with this Solheim Cup where it 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:31.120 really elevated the women's game to a different level than 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:32.280 we typically see it. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.360 I agree, But what do you think it was about 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.880 this particular Soulheim Cup that elevated it to that level. 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.360 I think the coverage was great, Like there's a lot 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.200 of its substantial we could watch everything, which is you know, 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.160 being able, Like I would have loved to see it 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.520 on NBC more than it was, but the reality is 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.600 like the NBC is going to show the Tour Championship 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.360 because they have a whatever billion dollar rights deal with them. 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.760 But the I think think the coverage was number one. 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.080 I think the golf course played it and do it 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.000 having it at a golf course that's hosted numerous major 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.480 Championship Men's Major Championships was a big deal. You know, 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.920 obviously the fans being there, but I think that's what 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.320 elevated it. And then there was great play. The final 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.400 important thing was that the players delivered and there was 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.400 exemplary play and people saw just how talented, how good 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:26.600 so many of these women are. 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.880 Yeah, it was great to see Inverness Club. It was 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.160 great to see approach shots into those greens that weren't 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.720 necessarily falling out of the sky right. You know, obviously 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.719 they weren't running them up like you would on a 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.360 links course necessarily, but you saw a variety of trajectories 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.040 going into these greens, which made it really interesting for 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.280 me as a viewer to watch this tournament. Because you 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.120 know it's team matchplay, you get to see a lot 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.600 of shots. That's one of the wonderful things about the 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.800 match play format. You tend to see more shots covered 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.800 on TV than you do when it's stroke play, and 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.840 that broadcast can kind of get into this pattern of 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.200 just showing putts. So we saw some delightful approaches into 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.120 these greens, kind of bouncing over bunkers, running up, using 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.839 different contours on the green, but just you know, there 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:16.199 was a feeling that this was a major tournament. You know, 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.920 the fact that it was at Inverness, the fact that 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.040 this club has a storied history, that it's hosted a 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.360 bunch of men's major championships, I thought gave this Solheim 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.440 Cup a real weight. I do think that the venue 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.280 was crucial here and I hope that that's part of 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.640 the lesson that the organizers of the Solheim Cup learned 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.400 from this past weekend. 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.400 Yeah, yeah, the venue was great. One of the things 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.800 just real quickly about the venue that I enjoyed. And 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.200 I don't know if this is a women's game thing 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.400 or if it was Andrew Green's work, because we haven't 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.199 seen like a men's major out there or a men's 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.960 tournament out there, but like the penalty that those bunkers 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.760 inflicted was really delightful. They you get up near and 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.800 I think this is like just anecdotally from me playing it, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.959 I feel like those bunkers are dead. You know, if 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.320 you hit it into there and it gets anywhere near 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.360 the face you are, you're not probably getting home. And 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.840 we saw that with the women this week, where like 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.960 finding bunkers had a monumental impact, especially the faraway bunkers. 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.280 You know, it's just something that we don't see we 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.720 can week out on the PGA Tour very much right 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.800 where like it was, it inflicted a penalty, and obviously 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.880 I think that's one of the beauties of match play 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.440 is where each hole feels so important, you know, and 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:43.160 there's like a weight to the hole and losing ground, 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.400 like it feels like it could just slip away. And 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.880 then certain players you just don't want to get down 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.000 to and that you can see them just kind of 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.480 put the put more and more pressure on them, and 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.760 finding a bunker was this catastrophic thing like also, oh, 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.000 I'm not gonna make par if I find this bunker 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.440 like we saw it on the and the eighteenth which 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.440 is the ninth hole with those bunkers on the right, 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.600 which I didn't understand how poor the driving was on 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:09.880 the ninth or the eighteenth hole. It's like a very 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:10.880 easy driving hole. 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.640 So the eighteenth hole for the Solheim Cup, which is 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.080 the ninth hole for members, Yeah, I don't know. I 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:17.959 find I find that to be a tricky driving hole. 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.160 I guess there's a lot of space out there, but 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:22.480 you know, when you're standing on that tee. It's a 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.000 little bit hard to tell where you're supposed to hit 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:26.400 the ball. 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.040 It's maybe true for me at. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.360 Least, maybe you would expect more from a player who 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:33.360 has already mapped out the course. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.360 I just couldn't believe how many people were hitting it right. Yeah, 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.560 and and like there's nothing good right, but there's all 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.800 the room of the world left and. 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.040 We and we saw those bunkers that you were talking 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.200 about really come into play there where you know they're 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.160 in fairway bunkers, And a lot of times we saw 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.320 the players kind of pitching out, which we just don't 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:56.720 see that often. We see approach a lot of approach 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.360 shots on the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour, we 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:04.560 see players hitting appro shots from bunkers. But yeah, I 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.360 believe that green did build up those lips of those 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.600 bunkers substantially and gave them that kind of raised up 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:15.560 angular appearance. And that's not just an aesthetic thing. It's 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.840 also functional in the sense that it exacts a real 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.600 penalty if you end up in the wrong place in 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:22.240 those bunkers. 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.400 It seemed also like the other thing was when they 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.480 missed green side, I felt like the recovery from those 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.840 was so tough when you were short sided. Yeah, you know, 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.120 a lot of bunker shots you saw. If they didn't 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:36.760 have a lot of it was like, well like if 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:39.560 they keep it, you know, fifteen feet, it was a 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.280 great shot. And that probably has something to do with 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:47.199 the old school sloping greens, like greens with substantial slope. 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.360 Yeah, and the external contours on those greens, right, there's 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:55.160 a lot of severe contours on the edges of those greens, 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.680 and often when you're playing out of a bunker, your 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.240 recovery is going to land on a downslope and kind 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.240 of propel away, right, and you're just not going to 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.480 have much of a chance to get it close. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.679 Did you find yourself watching the golf differently after your 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:16.520 podcast with Joseph Lamanya last week and analyzing pairings and 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:18.559 different plays a little bit differently. 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:19.080 Yeah. 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.280 So we had Joseph Lamania on the pod last week 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.960 talking about the strategy of team match play and how 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.120 captains really should be thinking through how they make their pairings, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.440 And certainly I was looking at the pairings that were 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.800 made and the decisions that were made by the captains 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.440 with through a slightly more critical lens. And you know, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:41.320 one of the main takeaways from what Joseph told me 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.920 was that players with similar skill sets really shouldn't be 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:49.320 paired together. You know, you want people with complementary skill sets, 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.880 especially if you know you're pairing together two relatively short 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:57.360 players and two relatively long players. What you really want 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.760 to do is spread those players out and make sure 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.360 that you know they don't get caught with a lack 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.240 in a certain with an absence of of a certain 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.800 skill area in a single pairing. And that's especially important 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.439 and alternate shot. To my mind, I didn't see too 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.800 many pairings that were glaring to me where I was like, yeah, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.400 that doesn't seem like a good decision. Maybe putting the 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.320 court of sisters together actually wasn't great because both of 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:25.280 them are among the longest players on the LPGA Tour. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.080 Maybe they should have been distributed more through the American team. 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.120 But one thing that I did notice when I was 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:37.040 just considering the relative skills of the players on the 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.480 American team and on the European team, is that Team 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.760 Europe had a lot of long hitters. 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:43.120 Yeah. 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.480 Right, you would have just assume, maybe this is an. 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.440 Assumption men's it's a men's take that exactly, Americans are 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.280 longer because men American men are the longest hitter. 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.600 And there's also a kind of sloppiness like European players 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.080 just to learn the game different and they're more tactical. 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:05.040 Blah blah blah. It's just nonsense. But the European team 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:07.640 had a lot of long hitters on it. I mean, 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.560 Lexi Thompson is the longest hitter out there, But there 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.520 were a bunch of Team Europe players who are in 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.800 the kind of teams and twenties of the LPGA distance ranks, 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.800 and they really didn't have many short players and a 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:27.120 Nordquist was the lowest ranked player on Team Europe in 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.760 terms of distance and so, whereas the American team had 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.040 had a few short players who had great other skills 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.440 as well. But I think that the course prized a 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.760 little bit of length, and I think that Europe had 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:41.640 an advantage there. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:46.840 One perfect example of like a data driven pairing that 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.840 Joseph probably would have been proud of was the Leona 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:56.080 McGuire mel Red pairing where mel Reid obviously a long player, 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.800 a shaky potter, and you put her with one of 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.880 your shortness hitters Leon McGuire, who's like eightieth and a 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:06.400 distance off the tee and one of the best, very 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.920 very best putters in the world. So all of a sudden, 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.320 you melded that skill gap. And I think that's one 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.240 of the things like if I see it with our 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.480 our tournaments. You know, we have it all at our events. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.640 We have alternate shot at every event, and it's like 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.800 what you see is there like compliments from like teams 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.240 that do well, like even if it's a high handicap, 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.200 if they have like a you know, a high handicap 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.120 low handicap pairing, they've got like a really good shot 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.920 at playing pretty well like above expectation. And then you 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.040 sometimes see these two high handicaps work really well together, 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:43.240 and then you see them maybe they make it into 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.160 our shootout and it's like, oh one of them's really long, yeah, 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.560 you know, and that that really helps, you know, So 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:53.320 complimentary skills in an alternate shot is like such an 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:57.240 important thing, and to understand it beyond data is to 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.880 play it. And when you play, like there are people 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:03.160 that your game just works really well with in alternate shot, 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.800 and typically those are players that play significantly different than you. 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.399 I think one other thing I think there you know, obviously, 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.920 like this might be simplistic, but the one of the 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:18.000 lures of the team events is that there is a 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.040 very clear winner and a loser. 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:20.720 Yeah. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.240 And it's not like, you know, like the professional events, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.520 there's obviously a winner, but then like if you finish eighth, 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.960 you don't necessarily say good week, like great week, you know, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.680 good playing. There's a gray area between winner and loser. 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:38.600 Right with the team events, the finality of it's over 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.960 and one team won, one team lost. Yeah, I think 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:47.359 that adds to the viewing because you know that it's over. 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.840 Yeah. That there are clear stakes in a team match 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.879 play tournament. This is something I thought about throughout the week, 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:59.159 just the consistency of the stakes. There's there's real substance 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.800 to which team wins, obviously, and every match feels important 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.320 from the first day through the third day. Every match 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.080 feels like it has big consequences. And yet at the 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.439 same time, late on Monday afternoon, even though Europe was 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.280 playing way better in a lot of ways than the 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.480 US team, even though Europe didn't really relinquish its lead 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.720 throughout the entire tournament, it felt like things could turn around. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.560 It felt like, you know, this could all flip if 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.680 a few matches go the US's way. 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.560 There was like that flickering hope. But it was just 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.800 like it was so it was so absurd to all 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.960 the things that needed to happen. It was enough battle, 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:41.320 like sure, I like because like I thought it was over, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.560 and then I was like it's over, and then I 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.960 was like, well, wait a second, and then I thought 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.159 about it. And then by the time like it flipped, it 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:50.639 was like I realized, like, you know, how ridiculous it 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.639 was to think that the Americans still had a chance. 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.400 It seems like in retrospect, but listen, I mean, if 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.960 a couple of matches flipped, yeah, then then it could 0:18:57.960 --> 0:18:59.439 have been you know, and that would have been one 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.359 of the greatest comebacks that we can remember. And so 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:07.360 there's always that little potential you never know. Yeah, it's 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:11.159 the hope that kills you. We should probably move on 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:15.639 to talking about these uh these Yeah, this was way longer, 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.600 but the courses that we're going to discuss are Champion 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:24.399 Hill and Pinecroft in Michigan. I think the overall topic 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.840 that we're discussing here right the concept we're talking about 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.640 is how affordable golf can work as a family business, 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.760 and and we're using these courses of as an example 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:40.200 of how that can function. So Champion Hill and Pinecroft 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.840 are in Northern Michigan or northern Lower Michigan. I guess 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.960 I should say, I don't want to offend the people 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.920 on the Upper Peninsula. Uh, these courses are owned by 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.600 the same family, and they're they're pretty close to Traverse 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.919 City and really close to Crystal Downs, which is the 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:58.800 famous Alistair McKenzie. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:03.440 Course Arcadia too. They're fifteen minutes from Arcadia Bluffs for sure. 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.560 So this is these are definitely courses to go to 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:07.679 if you're going to take a trip to Arcadia Bluffs. 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:12.000 They're family owned. As I said, they're affordable, they're well designed. 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.479 They're basically examples of these public golf unicorns that we 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:19.160 only occasionally run across in America. I think the first 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:21.320 of them that you saw was Champion Hill. 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.320 Right, Yeah, So I saw Champion Hill a number of 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:26.919 years ago. It was one of those. I was in 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.959 the area, I had like three hours to kill. I 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.760 went out there and saw and saw it and it 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.000 was it blew my mind. It was the middle of 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.040 the day though I didn't have my camera with me. 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:39.720 I took some you know, shoddy drone and it was 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.280 just something in my mind. I always was like, well, 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.120 I need to get back there and do a proper, 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:49.200 proper frieda egg. Look see at it, because it's an 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.800 incredible place. And this was the second golf course that 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.119 they built. You know, we'll get into the story, but 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.080 these are people that weren't serious golfers that built this 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.800 golf course. They were farmer and it's just an amazing 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.400 thing when you stumble across a piece of amateur architecture 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:07.679 and and it blows your mind at how good it is. 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:12.720 And I think they're few and far between, like you discussed. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:14.960 Like another example would be the Ache and Golf Club 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.960 down in Aken, which we've done pieces on. But these 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.040 guys did everything right. And you know, this time around, 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:24.080 I got to play Pinecroft too, which was their first 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:27.400 design and it opened in the early nineties. It's just 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:31.639 a wonderful example of architecture. I couldn't believe. Like I 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.000