No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1121: The Great Nebraska Golf Trip

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

DJ, Tron and Neil debrief on our trip to Western and Central Nebraska which we depicted in a video that premiered on the NLU YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago No Laying Up: Nebraska Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://nolayingup.com/esf⁠ Support our Sponsors: Titleist Golf Pride East Sands Golf Co If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club today. Ronnie, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Nolenga podcast presented by our friends at Titleist, the number one ball in golf. My name is DJ.

We've got a delightful, tidy little episode today as we are going to recap our trip to Nebraska that many of you may have seen over, you know, documented in our YouTube video that we did. over on our YouTube channel. We put out a film just called No Laying Up, Nebraska. We covered a lot of different corners of the state, and it turned into one of our favorite videos ever. So if you haven't watched it, please go watch it. If you have watched it,

today's episode is going to shed a little bit more context for you on what we got into and some of the stuff that didn't make it into the video. So looking forward to breaking that down with Neil and Tron. But before we get there, we are presented today by Titleist, and our friends of Titles wanted to use their time today to shout out the ALS Bridge Foundation, and specifically a guy named Peter Broome, who had an amazing 30-plus-year career at Titleist and a Cushnet.

He's clearly a guy that has made a huge impact on the industry. He was only the 13th honorary PGA member in history. And Peter was diagnosed with ALS almost two years ago, and as a result of that started the ALS Bridge Foundation, whose mission is to connect researchers with ALS patients, to raise money, to fund research, to expand access to new trials and innovations, basically to make progress towards a future where ALS is a treatable condition. And so why are we talking about this today?

Well, on Friday, the ALS Bridge Foundation launched an auction to raise money with some pretty amazing golf-specific experiences, prizes up for grabs. You can bid out in rounds of golf with Justin Thomas, with Ricky Fowler, with Luke Donald, with Jim Nance. There's all kinds of other stuff, a potting lesson with Brad Faxon, who doesn't need that. Full day experience at TPI. A lot of people have asked about, you know, how do I get an experience at TPI? There'd be a good way to do that and support a great cause.

There's trips to Pinehurst. There's all kinds of things that you can bid on over at alSbridgefoundation.com. That's a LSBridgeFoundation.com where you can check out the auction and more information on what they're doing over there. So thanks to our friends at Titleist and best luck. with the auction over there to the ALS Bridge Foundation. Without further ado, let's get into today's episode. Gosh, we got a good one today, guys. It's going to be a very fun trip to relive.

We're going back to Nebraska, at least in our minds. And to help me do it, I've got the brothers Schuster, the stars of the hit, no laying up film, NLU, Nebraska. First of all, the brainchild of this trip, Tron Carter, also known as Todd Schuster, T.C., how are you? I'm great. Howdy. I'm still, you know, I have to go back country now that we're, now that we're venturing back to Nebraska. Kind of a tough look with you going country, but then totally butchering that Toby Keith quote.

Very tough. That's, that's tough, a tough look for, you know, what of country music's native son. I would say I evolved the quote. I didn't butcher it. And of course, his baby brother, Neil Schuster also on the pod. Neil, how are you, my man? I'm good. It's good being with you.

I'm going to crack open a Coke diesel here. having it's Friday gentlemen I thought it was a cold I got to just Jesus Guys like I said We're going to go back to Nebraska We put out a video

I don't know when this podcast is coming out But probably a couple weeks ago By this point showcasing our Road trip the road trip that the three of us And Ben took through the sandhills Of Nebraska last summer One of my favorite

trips we've ever taken One of my favorite videos we've ever put out Shouted to our friends at Yeti For making that one possible TC let's start with kind of the basics. How long has it been swimming around in your head and how did this one come together? This one's been swimming around in my head for probably at least five or six years. First time I went to Nebraska was like 20, 2018, 2017, maybe 2018. And then we did a video at

Wild Horse. When you were playing Lefty, I believe. Yeah, I was playing Lefty. And we did a video at Landman as well, which is in a different part of the state. People were like, why didn't you go to Landman? Because it's four hours away from these places that we went. It's not the Sand Hills. No old head, man. Exactly. That's right.

But Neil, I would say Landman is more architecturally significant than Old Head. You understood what I was going for there. It did. But yeah, it's just been like each time I've been in Nebraska, I've loved it. I've wanted to get back. I've wanted to share it with my buddies and share it with the world a little. little bit. And yeah, so this has been kind of a passion project of mine for like, all right, like, but also, hey, can we film at Sand Hills? Can we, like, you got to establish credibility

and relationships and all of that stuff. So, yeah, it's been, been a long time coming. Neil, what were your, I don't want to say, I guess preconceived notions? I mean, what did you think you were getting into? How did that differ from reality? Just, just talk to me about kind of pre-trip, post-trip and the similarities or disconnects between those two things. I was thinking more great plains and less, less rumple, less rumple, less rumple stilts, just some real land movement in Nebraska that I did not know about. Canyons and trees and a lot of stuff that I didn't expect. I have been to Ballyneal would be the closest, you know, eastern Colorado that I've been here.

So I was expecting a lot of that, which we saw. And, you know, some courses kind of have that balanile look. But just some, a lot of diversity of landscape that I wasn't expecting. And to quote big Randy, just nostalgic for a place I've never been is I felt that way like every day in Nebraska. I was like I've never been here. But man, I feel like I have. And it's like nostalgic for a time I was never a part of felt like going back in time in the best ways possible. It feels like home.

to me as our guy Jay Trigo would say. T.C. what? A lot of directions we could go with this one. Obviously, you've got landman in one corner. You've got, you know, a lot of other stuff in the complete opposite corner. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it can be difficult, I think, for you to whittle these trips down. You know, there's when there's a lot of times there's 16 options for four slots. How did we end up kind of zeroing in on where we went?

Yeah, I think you, Neil talked about diversity. You want diversity landscape. but you also won diversity of courses and of clubs of, you know, the Bayside Mr. Belding's place. Can I say on that on that note super quick? Kevin and Ben are video guys that Ben hoteling people know Kevin Jackson, who is a masterful editor and shooter, works on a bunch of our stuff. No idea.

They had no idea. It's such a happy accident that that made it in the edit, the Mr. Belding's place stuff because they're like, I don't know what that is. you guys are they're not saved by the no they missed it completely missed it no clue what what any of those references are it just it's like i i got more more gray hair than ever here yeah kelly capowski never felt never felt never felt older spanno when she took the what she take the caffeine pills or something right caffeine pills kind of like you at the celsius stacy carosi mr carosi at the beach club but they're like i don't know we put it in the edit because you guys seemed super

confident about it but we had no idea what that was Anyways, Mr. Belding's place, Frederick Peek, so on. Yeah, just making sure that we got the full spectrum. Because I think, obviously, you know, we went to some highly exclusive, highly private places in Sand Hills and Caprock Ranch, especially. We went to, you know, more resort place in prairie club, but just as easily Dismal River could have, could have fit into those buckets as well,

gray bowl as well. So it's kind of making sure that you get places that are representative of the different types of clubs. And then Mullen or Augusta Wind or Thedford, like, you know, those places, you know, kind of just more honesty box, you know, mom and pop shops. And then you've got Wild Horse, which kind of sits in the middle of all these places that's kind of the best of all worlds. So I think with, I think something important to keep in mind, like with Sand Hills, too,

is it's exclusive and not, you know, not a lot of people that, watch this video are going to get to go experience it. I don't think that means that we shouldn't cover it or we shouldn't, you know, I just think that there needs to be balanced, right? And I think that sand hills is somewhere that kind of spawned an entire generation of great golf courses, whether that's band and dunes or barmbugel or, uh, Cabot, you know, Cabot Nova Scotia or wild horse right down the road. Yeah, exactly. And so I think there's, you know, even if you don't experience Sand Hill, you it's tangentially experienced through some of these other places that popped up sand valley as well that that popped up and it kind of you know established that that stuff was possible

right and yeah so you know and and also like sand hills is like it's not fancy right it's it's very rustic it's very it's very much about the golf like I think it's it's one of those places where you go and like Neil you said hey I kind of get intimidated at these places is my first day or my first round. And I think, I think sand hills, it's, it's maybe disarming in certain ways, but it's almost even more intimidating because it is rustic and it's different from any, you know, exclusive private club that you've been to where it like, it's like, it's like, oh my gosh, like they're like, like guys are just drinking beers out on the porch and eating burgers here, you know. Yeah, I think my, I said it, it, you feel like you're in the museum.

And I'm like, oh, it's, especially sand hills. It's so quiet out there. there you're like, I don't want to mess anything up. I'm like, oh, God, you get intimidated by like, man, this is a, heard so much about it. I'm, I'm overwhelmed with seeing it for the first time. I always think about these trips to you, and hopefully this isn't too, like how the sausage is made or or whatever. But I always think about the role of these trips. I've gotten a lot more comfortable with going to places like that because I think the goal is to, is we do have access to go check those places out and to show what makes them great so that you can lay that. over on other places is kind of how I look at those. I don't look at these trips and there are

there are elements of oh you should go check this place out but I don't think these are like we're not travel agents you know I don't think these are like you need to go here's your your ready made itinerary go follow the footsteps of what the fuck you guys went to a private club like I don't look at those the same way I look at them almost more like a I don't this is not comparing but like chef's table is a good instance of like man I'm not going to eat at any of these restaurants. But I like to know what they're doing. That's interesting. You know, where are they taking inspiration from? Can I say, I, I just rewatched our Sylvie's episode from season five of Torres Sauce and for some other projects we're doing. Loved it, but we interviewed

Scott Campbell, the owner of Sylvie's. And he's talking about, he's out in eastern Oregon, and the town he grew up in and, you know, a lumber mill closed in the 80s and economic downturn. It's been tough out there in the high desert. And he's like, he's saying with Sylvie's, like one eco resort's not going to change the economic situation for two counties, you know, in eastern Oregon. But hopefully it's symbolic and it's a start for other people to invest in this area and show that like people will come if you, you know, do a good job. And I think that's exactly what's happened in Nebraska over the last 30 years, right?

You know, Sand Hills proves that like if you build it, they will come. And then you get a wild horse and then you get dismal river. then you get the prairie club and um so i think there it was fun to see that almost from a different part of the country a different guy talking about his resort almost economically similar to this yeah i think that's i think that's well said as far as kind of like who who can take this trip who should take this trip the travel agent sort of element of it because i i do think that you know there is some of that like i said i'm not trying to speak out of both sides of my mouth but tc how do you how do you recommend this as far as like prerequisites

Is this like a, oh, you have to go to Scotland first. You have to go to Ireland. You got to go to Australia. The light bulb is not going to click until you've seen certain things. Or is this like a no, go hop in the suburban and go check it out as soon as possible. You don't try to get out there. Totally. Yeah, I don't think it's, I don't think there's any prerequisites for this trip.

I think this trip is almost a prerequisite for some of those other trips of, hey, if you can't, you know, whether time wise or budget wise or, you know, like, if you can't get to Scotland or you can't get to. to Australia, this is the best parts of that in your own backyard. And, you know, coming from Jacksonville, it can certainly feel like it's probably as quick for me to get to Scotland as as to get to the first tee at a wild horse or, you know, Frederick Beaker, one of these places. But like, you don't need a travel agent to book this, right? You can, you know, and then with the advent of rodeo dunes in the next few years and, you know, like you could fly in and out of Denver and stop at Common Ground on your way out. Or there's just so many, like, you can make this trip your own.

You can go out of Omaha. You could drive down from the Twin Cities and do this. I think, you know, you've got Awari Dunes. You've got landmen, like we said. And you've got, there's a dozen other courses out there that we didn't go to that are publicly accessible. There's some cool stuff up in the northwestern part of the state that feels more like desertscapes and maces and royos kind of thing.

So I think there's something for everybody. but it's highly accessible. Like, you know, I 80 is right there. And you're kind of just taking Johns off of I.80 to go up. And, you know, you could do a three or four day trip. You could do a 10 day trip. And you could, you know, you could build in fly fishing or tubing or something else to it. But yeah, you know, it's just one of those things that like,

I don't think these places are getting overrun. Like I think it's probably a lot more difficult to get a T-D time at Wild Horse or Prairie Club these days, but you can go to Frederick Peak. You can go to, you know, you can stop at these honesty box places and like those fill up the tank for me just as much as the private clubs and the resort. It's like it's truly to me like this trip was as much about the road trip and the windshield time as it was about the golf courses themselves. You're going through all these different landscapes and you're surrounded by just awesome wildflowers the whole time and I don't know just hanging out with you guys it was it was fun i you took the words out of

my mouth you mentioned those jaunts off of i80 and to me that is going to be one of the lasting memories it's like all the golf courses are great sand hills is probably my favorite golf course in the united states like all of that stuff is so so cool but what i don't have a lot of in my life is true just driving fast on open roads and wide open spaces is that's lacking you know And that is a, man, that was fun. It's just, it's a great, yeah, it's, it's just a funny kind of push and pull, right? Where you pull into a place like Augusta Wins or Thedford or Mullen Golf Club or whatever. And maybe if you don't have the eye or if you don't have the context or you don't have whatever, yeah, maybe it doesn't look like a lot to look at.

But man, go do it for two, three days and see how much your heart rate drops and your blood pressure drops a little bit. You know, it's like, it's one of those trips for me where it's like, yeah, maybe not every, all the golfers. in your life are going to understand what you're doing, but I promise it's going to click once you get out there. We were joking about it, you know, and we kept kind of saying like, oh, my God, this is Nebraska. There were so many people in my life where they're like, oh, what do you got coming up? I was like, oh, we're doing this, this big, massive film in Nebraska. Like, what's, why? What are you? What are you talking? Nebraska? Really? I'm like, oh, yeah. Do people not realize? Like, it's, that's, that's, that's the best we got pretty much, you know? And it's,

It takes kind of a week to package all that up in a way that I think people like really resonates with people who have never been there. Dej, there's a quote. This calls to mind. Starts her trips always ended near a city somewhere. Way out in a freight yard with smoke clouding the air where a turmoil of trains made a great noisy rumble on crisscrossing tracks. An impossible jumble. And that's how it feels, you know, kind of. Is this the caboose?

Is that the caboose that got loose? This is the caboose that got loose. Which I haven't seen yet, T.C. Did you put it in the mail? I haven't seen it yet. I did. I had, I, I ordered it through, through, you know, delivery. Should have been there last Friday.

So, all right. I got to. What she wished to be much more than the rest was a cabin she'd seen on her trips through the west. A little log shack half covered with vines perched on a slope in a forest of pines. There you go. Get that in Nebraska too. That's right. Can I, can I, the thing I would add is, uh, sometimes, I don't want to say frustrated,

but sometimes golf trips can feel so scheduled. If you were looking to take a golf trip that is unscheduled and you, you're looking for that flexibility over a four or five day period, this is the perfect golf trip to take where, yeah, you're going to have to do some driving, but you can roll up to these honor boxes and places like Frederick's Peak. And you can, you can, you can have that flexible schedule to work in a, you know, yeah, you'll have to book things with prairie club and with wild horse but you can work around that i that's what i really enjoyed about it it felt like we could change our itinerary on the fly build in time for the rodeo

baby you know you never know when you're going to drive by one so uh exactly the j and l cafe on the way out uh i think that's a lot of a lot of throat clearing on on the actual trip itself but i think let's get into the itinerary a little bit i'll keep you guys moving so that we don't get too bogged down with the left side of this fairway, the right side of this green type of stuff. But we started at Mr. Belding's Place Bayside. Like you said, Neil, I want to ask you

a simple question. What are you going to remember most about Bayside? The aquifer. Massive body of water out there. Didn't expect that. So that was the reservoir. We couldn't see the reservoir was under the ground. Sorry. The aquifer, yes. Or I'm sorry. God,

now you got me to a step. The reservoir. Yes. Triple landlock, gentlemen. Triple landlocked, all right? No, I think the, um, some, some dunes and what will I remember the routing of a lot of blind shots? Just, the, the paralysis I would have to design some of these golf courses on and where to go next. It's just you get off to a T. It's like, you could tell me we, we should be, we're going 180 degrees that way. Like three or four times I was like, oh, oh, we're going that way.

Okay, cool. That's just the thrill for me. I don't know what's coming next, but you say you don't know where you're going, but there's also no trees. So that's very disorienting. And I, I, uh, I like playing a course like that from time hand up. Uh, we wanted to play the back. Can only get off the front. The back had, you know, it was jam packed. We didn't have enough time to play all 18. I think a lot like the back is much more notable and gets all sorts of more notoriety. So hand up, my fault there, but we did play 11. But I've heard that there's another, there's a part three on the back that's even more outrageous.

J.D. was telling me stuff. But shout out to J.D. He was just a, a Sherpa and an awesome council, the entire trip. And, you know, in the pre-planning segment, even down to like, hey, you guys got to go to this, you know, convenience store truck stop in Ogallala that, this is Nebraska for you. Yeah, that was great. You mentioned the 11th hole. That's going to stick with me. Approximately 950 yard par five that plays down a spine.

Please go watch the video if you don't know what we're talking about. There's great, great visuals of that. T.C., I'd like to commend you on just playing a real golf hole. Neil, you played it much the way that I probably would have played it. And I'd not been behind the camera. I think you lost a couple balls and T.C. had like a 15 footer for Bertie, which I think kind of sums up the the volatility of that golf holes. Yes.

I'll remember as well. There was some flak being tossed around and on socials of just like, oh yeah, no laying up. Like you guys were laying up on the, I was like it's like a 650 yard par of five street under the wind. Yeah, that's a real,

you weren't there, man. You don't really know what it was like. The, I would throw out just kind of the resort. what's I don't know the right way to say like kind of the resort set up without it feeling like a resort I was I was that was unexpected

vacation yeah kind of a vacation yeah rent a cabin play golf rent a boat do some water skiing but you're in the middle of Nebraska was a that was an immediate like oh this is not just not what I was expecting I was expecting a lot of cornfields there was a lot of that

but that was a yeah just a bit of a zag and a cool kind of cool kind of, yeah, vacation spot that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere that had a great golf course attached to it. So that was a, if you're within a couple hours drive, I'm sure you already know about this place. But if not, it seemed worth checking out. It seemed like a very fun kind of family or buddies sort of destination. We tried to stop at Pelican Beach, but simply were drawn away by the gravitational pull of the rodeo, the Arthur Rodeo.

Shout out to the friends we met along the way there and the barbecue truck that we got to go to. anything tc pelican beach i know we didn't get to go there but any kind of overview of that no i think it's you know like both bayside and pelican beach i think uh it's messing with me because on the on the on the base side website it says dan axlund and dave proctor and it just makes me second guess it's dave axelan and damn right um so they've they both you know they were shapers and and architects in their own right at at sand hills but wild horse and then yeah they're the architects record at wild horse and continue to work on it and then they also did uh bayside but then one of them did pelican beach so i felt like it was going to be a you know a good a good add on a little bit out

of the way for us i mean there's only like you know there's a road every 30 miles out there too and uh But yeah, we were driving by the rodeo and Arthur were like, oh, man, like, all right, we got to stop there. And yeah, so sad to miss Pelican Beach. We've, we've joked shoe program, 24 hour lockdown. Shout out to Denzel. But, but yeah, you know, Pelican Bay Golf Club. Yeah, just I think another one along another reservoir that's just, you know, yeah, like, whoa, we're in Nebraska. Yeah.

A big shout out to the bunkhouse in Arthur. If we've got any listeners, listeners there, great place to wet. Quiet night at the bunk house. It's great. Yeah, I want to meet some of those people that ride there, apparently ride the horses into the bar. We didn't get to meet any of those people, but it sounds like that's a great place. I'd love to revisit sometime in my life. Neal's a big, save a horse ride a cowboy kind of guy.

Exactly. Sure. A real, yeah, yes. That's, that's, that's right. Frederick Peek was the next one we went. a Tom Lehman joint. It was 10 holes, right? And you know, you buy nine, you get one free.

Which was, which was great. That was a little bit of driving from, like, that was a big day. We started, we flew into Denver. We stopped at the J&L Cafe in Stapleton outside of, you know, just outside the Nebraska state line, went and played Bayside, went to the rodeo, went to the rodeo, went to the bar, then drove two and a half, three hours up to Valentine. I was like, I was trying to prepare you guys for like, hey, like, I'm not going to lose you guys day one here. Like this is. It was a true travel day. That we rip up to Valentine. Check into the comfort in. Get there that

night. Be able to stay there two nights. But, um, but man, that was that was a lot of travel that day. You must have so many comfort in more. I had a, uh, on top of that, I had a, uh, on top of that, I had 10-string challenge going that much. So I hit the broken elliptical at the comfort in at like 1 a.m. You must have so many comfort in points after after this trip as well. That's private. That's private. I don't want to divulge.

You know, I'm a platinum member now at the choice hotel. Quick break to hear a word from our friends at golf pride. For more than 75 years, golf pride has been trusted by golfers at every level to deliver grips that perform when it matters most. From T to green, it's all about confidence in your hands. Most golfers spend plenty of time thinking about putters, maybe not enough time thinking about a grip. That's where golf prides, all new. Zero taper, putter grip comes in.

Zero taper joins the popular reverse taper. You might have seen Sully's big on the reverse taper. It joins that collection is built with a parallel shape that gives you the same feel in both hands, helping to promote a consistent grip pressure and more repeatable strokes on the greens. It doesn't try to change how you put. It just helps you do it more consistently.

zero tapers available in medium and large and multiple colors. So there's an option for everyone. And listeners of the podcast get 20% off a full set of 13 swing grips and one putter grip at golf pride.com with code NLU20 at checkout. This is a new code for 2026, NLU 20 at checkout. And Ness members get 25% off. So there's another perk of being a Ness member. You can find the code in your member profile if you're a Ness member and you want to save

25%. Zero taper is available now wherever grips are sold. Golf Pride, the number one grip in golf. Let's get back to the podcast. All right. Well, Frederick Peak, Neil, we hit that first thing the next morning. Awesome golf course. Crazy land movement. Lots going on. What stuck with you from there? I mean, like I love, I said it in the film. Community felt like a community golf course. My guy, Steve, talked to him before the round, all the signs he did, just all the little unique things that, you know, like to make it the definition of a community golf course. It was awesome. It was quirky and fun, just fun shots from start to finish.

And, you know, very cool landform in Freddie's Peak to orient you. It's funny. We were talking about this in the car because all of us live in fairly big cities, you know, and don't have a ton of touch points to, like, very small towns. And so you get into a town like that with 300 people. people, 400 people in some of those towns. Valentine's a little bit bigger, but not much. And we're kind of joking about it.

Like, well, what would you, you know, if you moved here, no lineup doesn't exist. You get dropped into this town. Like, what do you, what do you think you're doing? What's your, what's your move? And then we met Steve, like, I think I try to just do that. Like that, you know, setting up a golf course, a community golf course in a small town. Like, man, I don't know. That might be the playbook.

That's shout out to him. But yeah. It was so cool, too, of like, like Steve was talking about how. the um when they built it that you know the the local high schoolers they taught them you know like they they built the clubhouse themselves and basically had all right yeah they taught the local high schoolers like how to do you know electrician work how to do the siding on the clubhouse how to how to put the flooring in in the you know and it's yeah truly felt like a center like a center of gravity just a focal point in the community right from the start there yeah uh

I'll remember that downhill par three was was severe. I'll remember that downhill par five that just felt like you're hitting off the edge of the earth down, you know, 200 feet. And I'll remember the homemade signs. You, you shouted that out, Neil. That was, that's handcrafted stuff. Big walk. It was gasped. Like I saw Ian Gilley Sugarlift Social Club posted, like he did a Nebraska trip.

Gosh, this was probably six, seven. eight years ago and I remember him posted a bunch of carousels from that and it's always been on their hidden gem map so this place has always been you know you want to talk about different landscapes and landforms like that I was like whoa where is that like you know filed that away in the back of my mind it's just been like a source of inspiration to get there for a long time but they also had that um it was like that little that little structure that was along the creek or along the river there and they dammed up the thing and then it the dam broke like almost immediately back in the what was that the 30s or the 40s yeah just a big yeah kind of concrete structure

up in the up in the air in the middle of woods that was that was I will say we like a big walk for a community course keep the keep the community healthy yeah exactly from there we moved on to the prairie club I think a couple cool things to shout out about the prairie club is a kind of a It sits on the land right adjacent to Cap Rock Ranch, which is the private Gilhance, Jim Wagner golf course up there. It is a cool model that I know exists in a lot of places, but I hadn't really been to one of these places. I don't think where it's 36 holes. And they basically flip, flop each day. The members have one of the golf courses private to the membership one day and the public has the other one.

And then they flip. So you play one course on, if you're a member, you play one course on Monday. you put the other course on Tuesday and then you probably head out or whatever but if you're the public you still have access to both it's just a cool very cool model that i hadn't really seen that seems to make a lot of sense for those types of resorts that are far flung that takes them getting to but maybe can't necessarily sustain their own private uh sort of membership just kind of felt like a true best of all best of all worlds it seems like they have a really cool thing going there with that they did a great lunch they do a great lunch there yeah

Awesome lunch. It was a really, a lot of fun energy at Perry Club. I just sensed like, man, if I can't have so much fun staying here for two days playing golf dawn to dusk with the horse course and, uh, and the two big courses. Just a lot of options and, um, look like very comfortable amenities. Yeah. You know, I thought you hate the course. Uh, I hate how I played on the horse course. I was, uh, I was, he's meeting myself.

He was making up the rules. He was making up the rules. It's classic TC. No, I got my ass kicked on the horse course, but I liked it. Maybe not for that format, but I loved it. I think the ultimate compliment to the Prairie Club. So Kevin Jackson, who I mentioned, our editor, was not on this trip, but booked his own trip to Prairie Club before he finished editing. He's like, oh, my God, I'd never, yeah, this place is it.

Like, I'm going here, which is a pretty good, good testament. But I think it's also- File that one away, too, for like, hey, like, we need to go back and do, here's all. you know, however many 40-something, you know, 48 holes or whatever at Prairie Club. Because I think like going around, it's the dunes course and the forest course or the pines. Pines course. You know, dunes course looked crazy.

Like you just, you know, awesome thrilling shots around dunes and crazy and stuff. And then the Pines course was designed by our guy Graham Marsh. Yeah. did ocean dunes ocean dunes thing island which was nuts to like put those like two and two together but we kind of all were like

hey who designed this place I think we were all like seeing some yeah like weird deja vu stuff and then when we like heard his name we're like oh my god yes I have seen this before you know I have seen this style before he has a he has a flourish to his design totally reminded me of

remember that place we played in like on the Montana British Columbia border Yeah, I can't remember the name of it. It wasn't the Wilderness Club, but it was a Nick Fowd, or it was a Gary Player designed. And I remember being there and we were playing the 17th hole. And I remember being there and I texted Rob Collins.

And I was like, Rob, like, this is really weird. Like I'm at this course in Montana or it was either Montana or, you know, Western Canada there. And I swear to God, like this. This green reminds me of this green at Sweetens Cove. It's crazy. It's uncanny. He's like, oh, yeah, I shaped that green. And it's like, there's just something in the DNA of, you know, of some of these architects

where it's like you can see their, their DNA on something very, very clearly. I think other notable things about the Prairie Club, probably where we met, you know, hate to say the MVP of the trip, but certainly shortlisted. Our guy, Roger, the COO. Big Rod. who just drove us around at approximately 85 miles an hour, that ATV, just haranguing the members, you know, shouting stuff that you can see in the video. I mean, just a shot of life, I think, in the best possible way.

Part stand-up comedy, part, you know, National Park Service tour guide. I mean, it was just electric stuff. I could have done that for six or seven days without getting bored, I think. I think Roger might be the personification of the caboose that got loose. It's just living there along the river in his happy place. And yeah, he's the man. Did you guys notice that he on the horse course he showed up with a really, really dirty white t-shirt? And then he changed into a clean white t-shirt.

And I was like, God, I kind of want to get to a point in life where I just wear white t-shirts. Should. Like, that's, that's good stuff. Yeah, just to, but genuinely like an awesome way to, uh, to, uh, to see the problem. because we didn't get to play the golf courses, but I weirdly remember those two courses better than some of the other ones I've seen on trips like this. You know, just him going around and I might be hitting that point in my life where I'm just like, I don't even know if I need to play anymore. I kind of get more of a kick out of just going around and looking at stuff in detail and have an expert point stuff out to me. I drink a couple beers. Yeah, like I don't know if I need to play it, but I love I love talking about the exercise. I think my favorite moment of the entire trip was that or one. of them maybe top three favorite moments we're just making a dip in the river yeah there looking up and just respecting the canyon physically respecting the fact out of the canyon uh well while we were down

there you could look up to the top of the canyon you can you can see the flag sticks from caprock ranch which is just like how close those properties are just so far up there though that cany it's huge not what i was expecting uh but again just kind of a funny you know a funny uh element to this trip where i might Like, okay, I haven't heard of a million golf courses in Nebraska, but I know they're out there. I know they take some driving. And it was just very funny to be like, oh, these two are like touching. Huh, that's, you know, so there was land that was originally owned by the people who own the Prairie Club, I believe, who sold off that land to Caprock folks to develop that.

Gosh, probably, I don't know, six, seven, eight years ago now, something like that. But my gosh, was that place stunning. That was one that is, again, you almost feel a little, going back to what I was saying about Sandhals, you feel a little guilty where you're like, ooh, this is tough. I know you guys can't come to see this place, but if you have a way, you should because it rules. It's the Cap Rock was kind of blew me away. High end, a little quieter over there, you know, very, very polished. But I said it on the video. I don't, I haven't seen a ton of.

of Gilhance's original stuff and that is for me the best one. I was just like, whoa, just really, really well-routed golf course with some multiple signature holes, great use of the landscape. I mean, it was awesome. I think getting out to the canyon to pay respects early. Can we just, I don't even know if this was in the video. Was that, was it at Caprock on the pencils? Yeah, yeah, it's their, their tagline. Respecting Canyon. So we were, yeah, Canadian respectors, the whole, the whole trip and i think for a lifetime now yeah and and yeah so you get out to it early you got you know a couple couple holes out there and then you go away from the canyon to me those were just as good the par fives were really cool it's it you know it's like so like so often you

play a course like that similar to certain courses along the ocean right where uh we're going back inland all right cool like i just go into low power mode for a while anything i felt like the holes were like in I would say another thing with Gil and Jim courses. I love trying to suss out, all right, I know Wags designed this green. Because it's like, it's sadistic or there's something crazy going on. And there's a few of those greens out there. And I think one of the coolest things at Caprock was the different T-boxes. It's much more about offering up a different angle than it is just adding distance.

and there was so much of really, really messing with your eye as far as the angle. Like if you looked at where various T-boxes were, it was much more like lateral as opposed to just straight depth, which is cool. I don't know if that makes sense. It does. Almost like the circumference of a circle, right? You're kind of moving around.

I think of that one, and this is what's crazy. Again, behind the camera, I didn't even play this golf course, but I'm like, I can picture exactly what you're saying. I can picture every square inch of 15, 16, 17, 17, 18. The one you're talking about is the par three. I forget what number it is, right? It's probably 10 or... Five or six.

No, it's later in the round. 11 or something, 10 or 11? Yes. Right? Where, like, that almost felt like Kingsley Club. Number nine at Kingsley where it's like, man, you could make this a 360 degree part three. You know, just move the T-box all the way around this thing. It just changes it so much and it's so cool.

especially with how much of, you know, the wind plays a factor. The firmness plays a factor. Yeah, I totally get what you're saying. The one thing I'll say, they mess with me for until I finally looked it up was it is the snake river, but it's not that snake river in the canyon. I was like, man, I was like, God, I feel like we're pretty far in the middle of the country. I didn't, I thought this was landlocked. How is the snake?

Snakes start. I swear. Is it going over the continents of vibe? What are we doing here? And it turns out it's a much smaller Snake River. So just know, I was glad you looked that up. That was the, you know, if you have the question, someone else in the class probably has that same question. You know, I was thinking about that too.

For a while. I'm like, kind of keep seeing Snake River on all these maps. What am I? What am I? What's going on here? Yeah. I'm trying to think what else from Caprock. Great post round beer in the parking lot.

Highlight of the highlight of the trip there. That was, that was lovely. And then we're back. And uncrustable. Right. That's right. I thought I made. I thought I made the,

the, the, the ace on 16 legitimately. It was very close. Very, very close. Yeah, the light got good and it was like, whoa. Yeah, some good golf being played by the boys out there. Next up, we moved over to Wild Horse.

We stopped at a couple different places on the drive the next day, back towards Gothenburg. That's where we stopped. I think this is becoming a DJ TC trademark I here is just stopping at golf courses without playing them. I think I get it. big kick out of that as well. Just stop, you know, driving 15 minutes, 20 minutes out of the way.

Like, let's just go see that place. Got to stay in the parking lot, look around, throw the drone up, get back in the car. We did that in a couple fun little mom-and-pop places, which was great. Made it to Wild Horse for the Thursday night men's league, or Tuesday night at Men's League. I forget what night it was. But a girthy, robust men's league going on there. People competing out there. And you know what, Wild Horse.

Thursday night. you know what Wild Horse had was the I think this is where we developed the parking or the pickup truck index you know it's like how many pickup trucks are in the parking lot is I don't know what it means but I know it means

it means something as far as what my enjoyment of that golf course is going to be and you pull in every every member that was like a 90-10 ratio exactly I was like ooh I think so many trucks I think I'm going to like this place I think this is going to be a good vibe and a good you know a good good

offering, you know, a good value proposition for this golf course. Yeah. And that's exactly what it was. T.C., you've called it the Great American Golf Course. Would you like to expound on that? Yeah, no offense to Tom Coyne or to our very own Ben hoteling, which I think his, some guy's backyard was glossed, the Great American Golf Course. But for me, this is, this is it of just everything that you want to see at,

when you rock up to any sort of course. It's got the Thursday night Men's League kind of thing going on. You got great agronomy. I mispronounced his name in the video, but Josh Mayhar, the superintendent out there, you know, he's kind of along with Kyle. Like he, you know, he's like the guy. I'd say not only Nebraska agronomy, but just probably generally speaking, you know, nationwide, worldwide.

One of the best ones doing it right now. And you see that from start to finish out there, like the collars and the surrounds of those greens are so pure, not to mention the greens themselves. You know, Tony and the staff inside is just friendly. You know, like you can rock up to that bar and grab a drink. You can, you know, they do a nice, nice dinner. They do a great hot dog. They got that porch out back. They're building several more cabins.

The whole thing is just, it's like world class and local at the same time. And I think it's, yeah, like that place reminds me of like, man, if we had more wild horses, golf would be thriving to a level that, you know, like, it's just, it, it definitely reminds me more of what you'd see in Scotland as far as great, great golf courses that are just community bound. such a good name to sum up the course you know just it you know instead of instead of a lot of race horses in the golf world in the u.s you know uh thoroughbreds it's like we need more wild horses man just anybody can rock up just no fences let's go it's gone country rope in the wind uh that's right yeah to co-sign all of it a place i'd wanted to see forever and uh did not disappoint just I don't know what else you're I can't really belabor it I don't know what else you're looking for out of a golf course than that great shape great people great price

just close to I-80 I mean it's drilling holes yeah it's it's awesome and I don't think we're certainly not sharing the secret with anybody who lives within a couple hundred miles of that place I think that the secret's kind of out but that is a man if business brings you there if a trip like this brings you there it's just kind of inexcusable to to miss it. Yeah. And props to the, like, I think Gothenburg's a really cool little town or little city too of just, you know, kind of one of those central hubs along IA80. There's, there's, you know, they pop up every 50 to 75 miles. You got North Platte, Ogallala, Gothenburg, um, Carney, Grand Island, you know, all these places that kind of,

little stops along both the, the highway and the railroad right there. But, Gothenburg, like there's, you know, T. Walker's was just a killer, killer lunch spot. A few other spots in town there too. So it's, yeah, and it's like it just feels like that, I think that feels like what you think Nebraska's going to be. Yeah. Of like the stereotype of Nebraska in the best way. And then, and then you can go up north and get, and get weirder and get, you know, it kind of adds layers the farther, the farther north you go from a Gothenburg. North Platte. Finally, one more break in the action to say that we are presented today by East Sands Golf Company. Listen, we're talking about golf travel. If you're looking to take a golf trip,

I would recommend reaching out to East Sands. It is a husband and wife team, Nick and Haley, that we love working with. Their customers work directly with them to plan their trips, and they do it because they're obsessed with golf. In particular, they're obsessed with Lynx Golf. So if you're looking, you know, to plan a trip to Scotland, to Ireland, to England, some parts of continental europe australia they they do a lot of different stuff and they are very much worth reaching out to uh and you can just you know get a sense of them very quickly from talking them about their knowledge their excitement for helping people uh save money on trips helping people plan their first trips helping people plan their hundredth trip uh they are a great resource

for anybody looking to take a golf trip they can speak to 30 year olds 20 year olds 80 year olds men and women group trips singles whatever you've got nick and haley are happy to help you out you're interested in reaching out, go to Eastsandsgolf.com. Eastsgolf.com. CO slash NLU. Uh, and Ness members, this is a big perk. Nest members save $500 per person off any trip. Repeat uses are allowed.

You won't plan multiple trips. You can save $500 each time just by being a nest member. And also check out our February Nest podcast with Nick and Haley, where they break it, you know, they break down how our partnership came together, how they got into this industry, uh, kind of what makes them, them tick, some dues and don'ts on planning a trip. Great people have become great friends and great partners of ours. So check out Eastsandsgolf.com. NLU and let's get back to the podcast. Later that afternoon, I think, right? We drove to Mullen. We played a Mullen Golf Club,

which is the nine hole kind of community golf course that's maintained a little bit by the Sand Hills Agronomy team. What do they call it? The North course, South course? North course. The north course. I mean, just this is, this is my my stuff right here. There's an unlocked barn that has everybody's, everybody's golf carts. Everybody's kind of custom golf carts. Very low-key type of vibe.

Everybody's got a parking spot and they've got all kinds of just great memorabilia tucked away in this barn. The golf course is, you know, it's not much to look at. But man, it's just everything you need to go get out and look at some beautiful landscapes and have a great time. you know, knocked the ball around. It was, we got our guy coach with the, with the big handlebar mustache out there maintaining things. It, uh, it ruled. T.C. I know you got dosed with a, with a Celsius. I don't know how much of this day you even remember, uh, but, uh, we had a great time.

I mean, this, this golf course will jump, you know, jump all over you. If you let it, there's, like, it's simple. It's not easy. Uh, if you get on the wrong side of the hole or if you, uh, you know, You get above the whole some some tough stuff out there. We play with one of the, the agronomy interns from Sandhills. Sorry. Reminded me on that note, Neil,

of like some of the strap courses we play where it's like, there's nothing to it. Don't look for anything. But if you have to hole out and hit cups, you have no chance of shooting better than like 78. Like no chance. Yeah. Well,

there's no hiding from the wind. It's just, it's like vast. There's just, it's very exposed. But like, yeah, there's nothing to it. You will not make any,

anything outside of two feet, you have no chance of making those putts. Uh, and it's just you're going to be battling all day, even though there's, there's not much to it. Uh, it's just, it's sick. It's so fun. And like every once every, I don't know, maybe 25 to 30 shots. I would just thank one. Like on the whole trip, I just shank one of, which was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. But yeah, we play with one of the agronomy interns, uh, at Sand Hills, they do an awesome program there. He came out with us. That was great. And then, you know, just seeing, yeah, like seeing coach and his element out there too, just, you know,

messing with the with the irrigation heads and, you know, just kind of looking after the place was awesome. You know, just thinking about holes too. Like, Neil, I love that you, you ended up under one of the trees out there, one of the few trees that's one of the very few. That was great, but it's, you know, it's very much like, hey, you can, you can, you can, hit it 400 yards on this line but like you might have an awkward angle into this green because the screen's tilted this way you know it's it's uh you played you played good golf that day too so and it was cool to see can like cam the uh you know one of the kind of uh oh gs at sand hills his son is out there grinding. You know, grinding when we started and he was still out there grinding when we finished.

Like there's there's juniors out there. It's, it's awesome. It's like the centerpiece of that community. I was going to say one thing I would love more of or I know I'm in the right place is when there's horses or cattle budding up against the golf course. Multiple times on this trip at, at Frederick's Peak and at Mullen specifically. I was like, oh, got to go pet the horses. You know, you can throw dogs like everybody loves a coarse dog. At Wild Horse ran into a coarse dog. I just, I love having an animal encounter while I'm playing golf. You were, you were pretty bummed.

You didn't bring your helmet. I know. No. Just jump over the barbed wire. Take a quick bear back ride. Just a light dressage. Sure. Maybe next time.

And then, I mean, kind of the main event, Sand Hills, golf club, like I mentioned, I don't know if we're breaking any news on this podcast, talking about how great Sand Hills is. But as advertised, I think one of the coolest places you can possibly go in the game of golf. Unbelievably grateful to them for trusting us to film there. I know that's not something they just pass out lightly. So that was very awesome to be able to do. And kind of a, I don't know, lifetime sort of, I don't want to say achievement,

but lifetime just box checked, I guess. Like that felt like a lot building to being able to do something like that at Sand Hills. is we got we got j checking boxes we got neal on the video saying that you know there's no great holes out here that it's just a bunch of sevens and eights i don't know how to yeah i didn't say that there's they they just don't uh it's all very subtle and it's disorienting because there's just it's vast and and so first time around you're like well i don't how one how'd you decide to go this this direction and not that direction and there you know there's not a lot of landmarks it so it's a place that uh i can see why

members return and continue to return and i could just see that your love for this course growing with every round you play out there it's awesome it's uh i mean even holes that we didn't really feature in the in the film a good example is number four like four is like one of my favorite par fours in all of golf and the greens just this is downhill par four the green's just kind of benched in to the side of this little knoll slopes in left to right and then if you miss low right like you're chipping uphill and you're all right cool like you're making five or six there no problem it's a thrilling second shot you know it reminds me so much of there's so many that one specific instance like there's so much stuff like that scattered throughout band and dunes

which again is when you start looking at like that's kind of the point of trying to go to these types of places and show them off is to see how some of these influences have kind of percolated all around and that's that's a great example yeah and just yeah dick young's cap like great great man status you know yeah it's unquestion i've got an idea here just go with just go with me man just go with it yeah vision people tell him he's crazy no all right i'm gonna see this thing through and he thought through and then he stewarded it through the last you know three decades and it's retained and, you know, retain the soul of the place and not lost that that rusticity and simplicity, I think. It's remarkable. And the other thing, and this is,

you know, I don't want to make it sound like this is true just because we had cameras there because I got lucky to have been there before and it didn't feel this way either. But it's, it is not, Neil, you talked about, you know, sometimes you can show up to these great golf courses of the world and you feel a little uneasy and you're a little walking on eggshells. Like, yeah, man, it's hard to, it's hard to get out there. It's a very small membership and and all of those things. But when you do get there, you don't feel like you're intruding. It is truly like welcome on in, man. You're, you're member for the time that you're here. This is what can we, it doesn't feel pretentious at all. It doesn't feel like you can't pronounce

the things that are on the menu. It doesn't feel like you need to, you know, act a certain way. It truly is just about like playing great golf and drinking cold beers and maybe having a cheeseburger. You know, it's like just take all the other stuff and, and get it out of the way and what are people actually here to do like play golf all day sleep in a comfy bed and then wake up and play golf all day the next day too it's just it man it it just blows me away i i love it so much and it's such a credit to yeah to cam to kyle to clint to you know the whole staff there for fostering that environment and i think also it's like you know respect the canyon is certainly the tagline at caprog i think uh

I think if there's a tagline at Sand Hills, it's like, it's, a, respect the course, respect the staff and like respect the porch too. Because Ben's porch is like, that's kind of the, it's like the inner sanctum. And you don't, like, we didn't, you know, we filmed a little bit at the end of the day up there. But like during the day, it's like, you don't want to, you know, infringe upon people like, that's a sacred space. And you don't want to, you know, eavesdrop on anybody or record up there. Because it's like, no, like, that's, you know, people are going up there to get away from the world.

Yeah. I think maybe that that might take us to the five senses game, the big Randy honorable five senses game, because I got to think maybe Ben's porch is going to get some run in the five senses games. You've never listened to this in the past. I think this started with maybe a trap draw that you guys were doing. Randy was maybe talking about his honeymoon,

I think is the first time I remember it. And him and his wife, cat like to play a game that's like, all right, favorite smell, favorite sound, favorite touch, favorite sight,

favorite taste. So we can start in kind of, We can go in that order if that's if that's easiest, but TCL, I'll start with you. Favorite, favorite, favorite smell from the trip. Favorite smell. Huh. I have one if you want me to go ahead. If you need a sec, because I feel like this is a easy first round draft pick is,

I mean, it's a grill at Ben's porch, right? Like you get done, you get done playing golf, sun's hot. Everybody kind of flops down at a table and there's just a rip, roaring grill, dishing out cheeseburgers is like, that's, that's kind of it for me. That's a hard one to beat. I would say, I mean, that is a hard one to beat. A nominee for me would be, I just love the smell of rolling around in a ranger. Yeah.

Or, you know, the ATV vehicles that. Kick it up, like at Prairie Club. Yeah. And it's just like you got the fresh air, but you got the dust, but you got the gas. I don't know. It just feels like, hey, we're doing stuff. I love, there's something about that. It's like, you know, ho, oh, oh, oh, oh, you know, like, let's get it.

And it's, it's more of a smell than anything, than any other, maybe the feel of the wind, but I feel like it's more of a smell than it is any other sense. I'd say the, the smell of like being out there at 6 a.m. with Kyle, you know, he's cutting pins and we're just picking his brain for like two hours, but just the smell of sunrise on a golf course that's an hour and a half from the nearest city. Or, you know, like, that's a cool. I think the smell, the smell encapsulates, like, what all the other senses are doing. Because it's truly like a sensual experience, right?

You've got the, you know, the quiet and that first light, like the brightness of that. But the smell to me is like, it's just, yeah, it's just. pure. Favorite sound? I would, I don't want to squat on the wind. Yeah. Or lack of wind. Or lack of wind.

Yeah. It's like the dead silence is, is my first one. But I think trains. Yeah. I love the sound of a distant train. Like wild horse, there's a train every hour or so, it felt like, or maybe, maybe I'm imagining that. But just hearing a train while you're playing golf is awesome.

I think we got the sound of those trains right next to us at the sand. Hills Motel. That's right. Maybe that's what I'm thinking of to. God, that place was great. That's a good one. T.C., any other nominees? You'll move on.

I would say the sound of the rodeo. I've never been to a rodeo before and just, yeah, that was, I don't know. That was cool. Not the gun going off, but the, the signal that it's, you know, open the gate and then the stomping of the horses as they're tracking down cows.

Very visceral. It's great. Favorite touch? that's an interesting one on this trip because it was a little bit of a a little bit of a not harsh trip but I mean it was a lot of sunburned wind and and scratchy kind of motels so I don't know if I wouldn't say we're I have one that at each of these courses they had like water pumps oh that's a good well pumped and so like the the touch of that like the metal you know when you're thirsty and you're just like

I'm just going to drink water straight out of the ground is like a, I don't know, a very, uh, you could say it's not really a taste. It's more of a like water feels more like a touch even if it, even if you're drinking it, but like drinking it out of like a tin. Uh, ladle was was great. That's a great one. Yeah, Neil, Neil, kind of re squatted on water there. And we mentioned it earlier, but like the, yeah, just getting in the river. Yeah, that's, that's a no brainer too for sure. It felt really good.

I would say also just the touch of the steering wheel on a on a big ass American. and made SUV, you know, like, and just having the open road of, of, of love, I love just road trips like that and just driving and feeling like, all right, like we are, we're going to pilot this thing to some cool spots today, meet some cool people along the way. And, you know, yeah, that was great. Favorite site. I think for me is, uh, that storm rolling in to, to sand hills to, to truly, uh, wrap the trip. Ben captured some

unbelievable shots of the lightning and the storm clouds as you're just looking out over the coolest holes in the world as just a big-ass storm comes in over the big sky. I mean, it was like, that's hard to beat as well. I would say it's the

the golden hour at Cap Rock, but you could say the same when we were at Mullen golf course. Like there's a I don't know, there's almost like a filter on the light when you get out on like the vastness, the vast, I don't want to say planes, but like in these sandhills where just it looks like you're in the 1950s. I can't really explain. It just looks different. And I think

that site, that hit me a couple times and I love it. Well said. I would say favorite site was rocking up to the drive-through at the Runza and they were still, they stayed open for us. Like we got there. No, we got it. They didn't stay open. We got there with like two minutes to go and I thought you know sometimes people closed like a five minutes earlier they shut it down and they didn't they they they took that was that was a really really welcome site because I was starving and then Neil had you looked at wrong dates I think for try to book a hotel and sometimes you do it on your phone it's like the dates will reset to you know how they just like sometimes you try to book a flight and they just like they just pick like random dates like two months out like oh yeah you know

you want to go to uh Monterey California March 40 like 20 3rd's like no I want to go like in two weeks like what do you why do you keep defaulting to two months out same thing with the hotel tc was not pleased sorry about that that was that that we all kept her wits about us yeah yeah yeah the runs it was good i don't think i don't think it i don't think it wins favorite taste for me necessarily i think t walkers is probably going to get a lot of run here the pie i would throw out the the the coors banquet beers that we had after that that day uh after caprock sitting on the tailgate and just like kind of first sip of an ice cool.

Always nice to have a cooler in the back of a, uh, uh, a road trip vehicle. Shout out to Yeti for that one. I would say I got, I got deep in the patty melt game on this trip. Like, you know, patty melts at lunch was kind of my go to was really feeling those. Oh, that lunch we didn't. Yeah, the gas, was it? TC, the gas light cafe. The coach light.

Coachlight cafe. Uh, it did a nice lunch. Yeah. I mean, I got a shout out. Well, favorite taste was, you know, non-burger at Sand Hills Division was definitely the, I think it was a breakfast burrito. Oh my God. How is this? This should have been our lead story.

Mullen. That place was ridiculously good. And then also on the way home. No, not just that. You guys were saying this is like the best breakfast burrito I've ever had in my life. You guys were saying grandiose things about this gas-taste breakfast burrito you had. And I was, I was. So the other day I hopped on the Nebraska Golf Association's podcast with Ben, Ben Vigil,

and he said his buddy owns or operates that gas station, that quick stop in Mullen. I said, well, please send my regards to the chef. He's doing a hell of the job. And then Ben got us on to the, we stopped to. Please let him know. He stopped at a Taco Bell. Yeah. Just on the way back to Denver.

you know, we all had like mid-day flights. What was Ben's hack? Spicy potato, taco, add beef. Yeah. Add beef, that's right. I've put into motion multiple times since that trip. Yeah. Also, I do want to shout out, we didn't make it to this place,

but J.D. gave us the recommendation of, at Ogil, in Ogilala, he said, quote the waterhole in Oglala gas station that a couple of his buddies Jeremy and T.J. run both golfers, quirky place, but might be right up the strap-oiz alley. We did not have a chance to pop into there. And that's one of my great regrets from 2025. Next time. Got to have something to do next time. Well, I feel like we've hit a lot of a lot of what's on the agenda here. Any other kind of awards or,

uh, or lasting sort of, you know, takes you need to get into the record here. No, I don't, uh, I want to go back.

And there's places you go where you're like, good. I like T.C. said earlier, checked it off the list. Glad I saw it. Uh, Nebraska doesn't feel like that to me.

It feels like I would love to return. I think the, yeah, like, you know, had off to. to Ben for, you know, all of his hustle, DHDU for, you know, all your hustle and wisdom on that front. And then to Kevin as well.

Like I think Kevin, Kevin and Ben, like kind of unsung heroes of our operation on the video side of, you know, like for Kevin to put a lot of this together that without being on the trip is like a Herculian monumental task and to be able to pick up on all the themes and characters and bits and Bob's. and kind of just hit the ground running as soon as we give him this big ass pile of footage never ceases to amaze me. So, yeah. Here, here. I think I would just add to that. I mean, you know, in this past year where we didn't have a tourist sauce trip, we've kind of been trying to do these mini one-off sort of things and figure out the right way to not necessarily

like systematize that, but have a little bit better process for how we can bring those trips to life with a smaller group and a smaller flip. print and yeah, Ben and Kevin largely are the people that have brought all of that to life. And they do an unbelievable job. And this trip kind of felt like the culmination of culmination of that. And, you know, what started in really like Argentina. And then, you know, went as wide ranging is Milwaukee, upstate New York, Montana, Northern Ireland, all the other places that we that we went over the past year. Like this kind of felt like the, yeah, the culmination of that and kind of the best of all of those those aspects and I'm just so proud of

how it turned out they did an awesome job bringing it to life and I think it's important to note like that stuff's not in lieu of torres sauce or strapped it's just like it's additive and it's because we can't go do that in the newspaper we can't go do that stuff or like you know like sometimes and things have to like schedules have to align and all that we have plenty of that stuff planned for this year but it's like hey this is you know this is this is this is a different thing and it's passionate about why not why not both exactly a lot a lot more in the hopper too right i mean there's there's uh just a bunch of stuff that's already been shot which is always kind of fun with these types of trips is like yeah a lot of times by the time they they come out it's been a couple

weeks months uh so we've got a jacksonville film guatemala casa de compo um god other stuff i'm even probably forgetting about by this point so Lots more coming, but this was a great high water mark, I thought. So appreciate all the people who reached out and had some great feedback. Again, I would direct most of that to Ben and Kevin on the video front. But TC, just a job well done on, you know, executing the vision here as well, because I know this one's been rattling around for a while. It turned out, you know, we always joke.

It's like if you could show me that finished product at the end of or at the beginning, like when we're doing our first pre-production meeting i'm like no no that's yeah that's kind of exactly what i wanted to look like you know is it's always good to it's always good to get to that point uh at the at the at cc's vision tc's wigi board yeah i think the uh if you're gonna do if you're gonna do a trip like this you know i wouldn't recommend doing it in the order that we did it in i think some of that's just like you have to make lemonade with all right like this is the day that we can get on this course and this is the day that we can get on this course we but these are the places we want to go and we have to figure out how that routes and how that you know ladders up and sometimes it it creates a longer drive or it creates you know a night at the comfort in in this place that we weren't anticipating on um which shout up the comfort in too they were great great yeah yeah free breakfast um yeah but um but yeah and just you know can't can't say enough great things about kyle heggland like

one of the most competent, thoughtful, earnest, like direct people I've ever met in golf of just very, you can tell that like people that work for and the people that work with him. Just, you know, just immense respect for him. He commands respect and I think it's, it's well earned. Yeah, but undoubtedly agree. One last shout out. Josh at Wild Horse puts up the agronomy schedule on their website. And I want to say how cool I think that is.

Like there's so many courses that when you're planning a trip, you don't know what you're, you know, when in the season you're planning of, you know, we could parachute in somewhere. And oh, you know what, guys, we forgot to tell you, we aerated three days ago or that sort of thing. They have aeration. They have top dressing.

They have all that stuff on there. You know, built out for the whole year. And I just think like that's such a cool feature of their website, but also a reflection of like those guys have their stuff together there. Of, you know, the pro shop, the agronomy staff, you know, all of that of like, that's so reflective of competency. And Neil, like he shattered it out of like there's a lot of competency going around at Wild Horse specifically, but just generally speaking.

in Nebraska. Just got to stay out of the wool. Yeah. People just handle their business. Just handle your business. Get ahead. Handle your business. Yeah.

Well, guys, let's put that one in the books. If you haven't watched the film on our podcast or on our, if you haven't watched the film on our YouTube channel, go, go rectify that. I'm a no laying up YouTube channel. Turned out great. And guys, until the next one, uh, cheers.