At this point in time I'm usually dream planning golf trips while eagerly anticipating any fried egg events next summer. I am currently thinking about doing Sand Valley or a Nebraska trip next year. My game is in a much better place so I keep thinking I need to go back to Prairie Dunes too.

This is awesome, Ethan. Thanks for sharing! And congrats to you guys. Very exciting times ahead!

Congratulations!

Deep answer: this will likely be my last few months playing rounds as a single. 75% of the rounds I play are by myself, which I love. At the start of the year though, my wife got more of an interest in golf and played a decent bith with me. But now, she's 22 weeks pregnant and we'll welcome our first child in January (please put some magic in the air for us and promote a December birth for insurance and tax purposes). She hasn't played as much recently due to some back pain stemming from pregnancy, but I suspect once the baby has joined us in the flesh, he or she will be accompanying me on a lot of rounds. One of the great perks of working at a private club is having the course to yourself on Mondays, so there will be many times starting in 2026 where I carry my bag and push a stroller in the process with hardly anyone else on property. I am very excited to have that extra bit of company, but for now, I will relish my remaining rounds where it's just me. Basic answer: I am already giddy for rounds where I'm wearing a quarter-zip, it's 60 degrees and the leaves are yellow and orange.

Awesome read, Garrett. The video is outstanding as well - 40 of the fastest minutes I've had watching something recently. I wanted to ask for some additional context on Marion's involvement. I was not familiar with her prior to watching the video you all created. Seeing as how it's rare today, in 2025, for a woman to be consulted on a golf course's design, I was curious if there's knowledge of the social politics surrounding her involvement a century ago. Given the country was only 30ish years removed from allowing women to vote, were there any men with power who rolled their eyes at Marion's involvement - thinking she wouldn't have anything to offer? Or was her reputation so established and respected that there was no sexism from any egotistical males? Her involvement and the commentary about her skills has really taken my interest and I'll be delving more into her resume when time allows. One personal thing I'll add. My parents and I took a trip to the San Francisco area in 2004 when I was 8 years old. This was prior to me playing golf and with my only connection to the sport being through the EA Sports Tiger Woods games. Anyway, we took a day to go to Monterrey Peninsula and do 17-mile drive. I was quite familiar with Pebble Beach, Poppy Hills and Spyglass Hill since those courses were featured on the games. SH was my favorite course to play, so I was especially intrigued about that one. I was awestruck when I saw #3 on Spyglass Hill doing the drive and there was a point where we got close enough to Poppy Hills where my mom and dad let me hop out of the car and take a divot from a fairway as a free souvenir. This was an all-time day and in hindsight a really good indicator this sport would one day consume my entire life, but when we got to the part of the drive where you approach Cypress Point, my brain was basically like "?????????" "What course is this?" "Why does it seem especially secluded?" But alas, I didn't care too much and just figured it was.. some other course. Oh, how I wish I could be back in that moment with knowledge of what I was looking at and take a better mental photograph of where I was.

While I like your other choices, I'll go against the grain and say that I think the ninth is one of the least interesting holes on SV. If you're playing strategically, it makes no sense at all to go for the green. It's a large target for a wedge, and the hole, were it the 16th or so in a round and one player in a match might need a big swing to make up ground… as the ninth, the easy strategic play is also the boring one: 4I or 5I, then flip wedge, to a fairly accommodating green. But… I recognize I'm in the minority in deriving my joy in playing golf from choosing a good strategy and then executing the shots. Many others prefer the occasional hero shot or will gladly risk it many times and come up short for that once-every-now-and-then reward.

and one of those loops, play with just an 8 iron for some real fun

Do yourself a favor and play the Sandbox on multiple days. So fun to replay holes with the pins in wildly different places. Was so satisfying to play to the pin on the back shelf on 9 and run a shot through the big depression and then get to just lazily run one into the bowl pin when I played it the next day.

Maybe not a course topic.... But at what point do we have a neutral group set the course? What if each team submits their plans for the course and this group/committee takes some ideas from both teams? That might make it a bit less of an advantage for the home team and make for a bit more excitement no matter the course.

Off the top of my head I would go: SV #16 - So many options but I just have so much fun playing this hole. MD #13 - Just an all world par 3, thrilling tee shot every time. SB Road Hole Green #4? - Pin tucked behind the bunker is insane in the best way. Sedge Valley #6 - Beautiful and dangerous Lido #10 - Perfection