American Dunes

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." - Frank Lloyd Wright

News Slice

• 💰 Purse: $20M

• 🏆 Sam Burns 🇺🇸 | $3.5M

• 📍 Austin Country Club, Austin, TX, USA

💻 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Full Tournament Results

The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play 💻 was this past weekend at Austin Country Club and had another surprise winner. Sam Burns (13 seed) beat Cameron Young (15 seed) 6 & 5 in the final, while Rory McIlroy (3 seed) defeated Scottie Scheffler (1 seed) for the consolation prize of 3^rd place. This was Sam Burns’ 5^th overall win on the Tour since he turned pro in 2017. Prior to this tournament, he was ranked #15 in the World and with the win this past weekend, he was bumped to #10 in the 🌎 Official World Golf Rankings. The top four winners were as follows:

1st🥇- Sam Burns - $3.5M

2nd🥈- Cameron Young - $2.2M

3rd🥉- Rory McIlroy - $1.42M

4th 🤷‍♂️ - Scottie Scheffler - $1.15M

The WGC-Match Play is not your typical PGA event, as it’s setup more like an elimination tournament where the end result is determined by the number of holes won, not by total strokes gained. You might be asking yourself, what the heck does 6 & 5 or 2 & 1 mean (did I hear a niner in there 🤔?). We’re here to break it down.

The first number means that the player is “up” 6 holes, meaning that they won 6 holes no matter how many strokes you beat your opponent by. And let’s say that player is up 6 holes and it’s already the 13^th hole (out of 18). That would mean mathematically that player could not lose since there are only 5 holes left to play, hence the “5”.

Match Play Format

Still confused? Here is the overall breakdown of how the Match Play works, from start to finish:

First off, the field at the WGC-Match Play is filled using the 🌎 Official World Golf Ranking. If a player in the top 64 chooses not to play (Justin Thomas this year did not) or is ineligible (the LIV Golf guys are in that group), the next player in the OWGR gets the option until the field is full.

Once the field is set, the 64 players are split into 16 groups of four, with each pod featuring a player seeded 1-16, 17-32, 33-48, and 49-64.

• In round-robin group play — or the first, second and third rounds — competitors play 18-hole matches against each of the other players in their group.

• The player in each pod with the most points at the end of group play advances to the 16-player, single-elimination matches.

• By Sunday, there will be two semi-finals, during which winners advance to the championship match and losers play for third place.

• 1 point is awarded for a victory, a 1/2 point is awarded for a tie, and zero points are awarded for a loss.

And how ironic to have a match play tournament where each player gets designated a “seeding” at the same time the NCAA tournament is happening 🏀. In addition, the lower seeded players knocked out the World’s #1 and #3 golfers to play in the final. Coincidence? I think not.

Unfortunately, this may be the last PGA match play for at least a couple years 😞. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed earlier this month that this year's World Golf Championship Dell Technologies Match Play would be the final one at Austin Country Club, although he didn't rule out a match-play event at another location in the future.

It’s a pretty cool format and is something that can even be played on the weekend against your buddies. Did you happen to tank the 1st hole and are already down by 4 strokes? No worries because you are only down 1 hole and are still in the game! It’s a unique challenge with different strategies involved.

Next up is the Valero Texas Open with a purse of $8.9M. However, many of the top players will be looking ahead to The Masters, which begins on April 6^th ! We are just as excited as you 😎

Swing for the Fences

Improve Your Golf Experience

You could tee-off like you always do. Play the same way you always do. Dress as you always do… or you could switch it up!

Here’s some ways to improve your golf experience:

👽 Play with someone different
If you play with the same person every time then play a round with someone new. Golfing allows for a lot of one-on-one time. It’s a good way to get to know someone new.

👍 Try a new course
Like going to a new restaurant and being pleasantly surprised by it. Find a course you haven’t been to and swing away.

✏️ Play a different format
If you usually play stroke play, try doing match play or scramble.

🟢 Use novelty golf balls or tees
Bust out those multi-colored balls just for fun. Grab a differently designed tee and see if it makes a difference.

✔️ Set goals for yourself
Play to focus on one thing to improve on. If you usually struggle in your short game then don’t let the rest of your strokes bother you and solely focus on being better at the short game.

🌲 Enjoy the scenery
Pick the course based solely on looks. Go ahead and judge that book by its cover

🔊 Listen to music
We’re out here having fun. Bring that 🎧 Beats by Dre Pill 💊 and have at it!

🎩 Dress up in fun golf attire
Put a little more thought into it and step out of that cart in style.

🍻 Have a post-round celebration
If you can make it an event, then get some friends together. Play a round and hit up a bar afterwards. Life is short, let’s live it up a bit.

Course of the Day

American Dunes Golf Club – Grand Haven, MI

All of our “Courses of the Day” ⛳️ are worth putting on your bucket list of places to golf, but this one is definitely a must. The American Dunes Golf Club is located in Grand Haven, Michigan and officially opened in May 2021.

The course is a tribute to the military and to the birthplace of Folds of Honor 🇺🇸, a foundation that provides educational scholarships to spouses and children of America’s deceased or disabled service members. Jack Nicklaus 🐻 led the project by donating his $3,000,000 design fee, as well as a group of eighteen individuals sponsored a hole and five private investors.

A few unique things about the course:

• Every day at 1:00 PM, or 1300 hours, golfers on the course will pause for the playing of “Taps” and a bell 🔔 will ring 13 times. This signifies the 13 folds that bring the flag to its signature triangle shape.

• Every day at 5:30 PM, or 1730 hours, everyone is invited to join the staff outside on the patio and face the American flag 🇺🇸 while the national anthem is played over the speakers.

• There are plaques at every hole, honoring Nicklaus’ record 18 professional major championship victories 🏆, accompanied by a story of a fallen military member.

• A must-see is the “Wall of Honor”, which is decorated with plaques honoring loved ones and helps provide life-changing scholarships to military families across America 💙.

It’s a great course with a great mission and one you have to play ⛳

19th Hole

We’ve featured some AI generated golf content in the past. Here’s some cool concepts to get you through the day 😎