I was fortunate enough for the Lido to be my first foray into golf course architecture. Prior to its loss to military land acquisition during WWII, the Lido was considered one of the best golf courses in America. The result of Macdonald dredging millions of yards of soil from a nearby channel to create the course from nothing, it included many of his usual template holes, but some additional holes that he built only once. Believed to be gone forever, Peter Flory recreated the course as detailed as he could as a video game version and Brian Zager created a way to put that data into a real-world bulldozer. This created a starting point from which Tom and Brian could dial in every green, bunker, and fairway contour as exactly as physically possible. This attention to detail combined with some of Macdonald's boldest strategies and designs creates a truly one-of-one golf course. Placing it across the street from Sand Valley on some of the best sand in the country and the course plays every bit as good as it looks, if not better. While I can claim no shaping contributions, save for 1 small bunker of the 150+, I and my fellow interns were responsible for finishing every fairway and bunker with sandpros and hand tools. It was an incredible project to be a part of and to learn how a golf course is built.
#30 Golf Magazine Top 100 Courses in the U.S.
#13 Greenside Bunkers
Photography by myself and Jeff Marsh (www.jeffmarsh.com)
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