“I asked ChatGPT. I'm really sorry, I wish I could tell you that I came up with it myself, but I didn't.” - LPGA Pro Cassie Porter on how she came up with her team name for the LPGA's Dow Championship in Michigan this week... or me occupying my son with "Jack's Dream Machine" which essentially is me typing whatever imaginary scene he tells me into ChatGPT and then saying "Beep-Boop-Beep" as I pretend the entire process is an 80s era science fiction computer. Out pops AI-generated images bringing whatever he had in his mind to life.
 
All jokes aside, it's pretty effective and he loves it.

This week on r/golf

UHOH, THEY'RE ONTO US

This week, a post that hovered near the top of the page was a story about how a user was playing a course in Northern Virginia when they realized that Obama was hitting balls on the range. The user claims that no one else was on the range (obviously Secret Service everywhere) so they decided to go hit balls as well, say hi, and that was about it. 
 
Golf Digest picked up the post and ran it on social etc this week.
 
Now, here is where things get interesting to me. The top post currently on golf Reddit is someone complaining about how major golf publications use Reddit posts as content. Reporting the stories as true without much in the way of sourcing. 
 
I dove into the comments to discover a wealth of journalism is dead posts, a sprinkling of Golf Digest sucks, and then this comment—
 
"Did they even confirm with Obama it’s true. If not we should start making up stories and posting them to see what we can get in a magazine." - u/Equivalent_Economy12
 
You know what, Equivalent_Economy 12, that's a pretty good idea.
 
This has a Nathan Fielder stunt written all over it—catfish a golf publication into posting your golf story. Been watching Rehearsal on HBO and wow is it insane. The stunts within stunts within stunts he goes through is truly mind-blowing. A great watch for those who enjoy a quirky comedy and cringe-inducing TV.
 
All I'll say is this—let the games begin.

LIV may be losing the war, but it won another battle.

THINK YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES??

LIV announced a new fan-centric contest where players from around the world can try their hand at getting closer to the pin than the Majesticks Golf Club on  No. 6 at Real Club Valderrama—accomplished at any Trackman-equipped facility.

On July 11th, LIV will visit Real Club Valderrama IRL and whoever gets their ball closer to the pin than the members of the Majesticks Golf Club will be entered to win the grand prize! But if a pro gets it closer than everyone who competed then anyone who hit the green will be entered to win.

What do you win?

18 holes with a member of the Majesticks Golf Club. A key note to this grand prize being location, date and player are all TBD.

Who is on the Majesticks Golf Club, you ask?

Ian Poulter (solid)

Lee Westwood (solid)

Henrik Stenson ('member him?? solid)

and Sam Horsfield (excuse me?)

So I'll let you guess which member of the Majesticks ends up drawing the short straw to play on some day somewhere in the world with three fans.

Who knew a course could hold dual citizenship?

THIS IS BOUNDARY-CROSSING GOLF

Tucked just one hour away from the Arctic Circle is a golf course than spans two nations and two time zones.

It's called Green Zone Golf Club aka The Torino Golf Club and eleven holes of it's 18 hole track sit within the borders of Sweden and the other seven holes lie in Finland.

While this alone would make this one of the more unique golf courses in the world, they also threw in the added wrinkle of building a golf course directly on a time zone border. What that means for you is that as you tee off on the par three #6, it will take your ball over an hour to actually land on the green—because the hole sits directly on said time line. And we all thought the PGA and LPGA have the slow play problem...

Apparently they also host a 90 hole event that spans multiple nights during summer where golfers take advantage of the near complete days of sun by playing 5 rounds back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back. A feat that would require me to bring an entire closet's worth of shoes, socks, and shirts.

More golf art you never knew you needed

THE ULTIMATE "KEEPER" SCORECARDS

Introducing Sam Van Galder, an artist specializing in "golf-inspired creativity."

While their on-course stuff looks good... the real score are his hand painted scorecards like the one above. (And I need an entire gallery wall of them.)

Definitely check out his Instagram to get the full sense of what he does, but it's taking every ounce of me to not send over my full array of Bandon scorecards for him to have his way with. 

No snark here, just pure admiration for golf-inspired creativity. Keep at it Sam!