👀 The Three-Putt: 3 Golf Picks You Can't Miss

📰 Must-Read: How unlikely was J.J. Spaun’s U.S. Open-winning putt? You’ll wanna look at the stats—take a closer look at the clutch moment.

⛳ Must-Try: Ever dreamed of going to the Ryder Cup? Make it happen—enter the Caddyshanks x Nikon giveaway and you could be checking it off your bucket list.

👀 Must-See: Curious if the new Garmin R50 lives up to the hype? Carl’s Place puts its accuracy to the test—watch the results before you buy.

⛳ This Guy Builds Any Course for Your Sim

Ever dreamed of playing your hometown course—or the one where you nailed your first hole-in-one—on your sim? Meet Kent, better known as the Lidar King. He’s turned that dream into reality for hundreds of golfers, designing over 600 ultra-accurate virtual courses for TGC and GSPro using high-resolution Lidar data (think laser-mapped replicas of the Earth’s surface). We caught up with Kent to dig into how he brings these digital fairways to life—and how you can request your own.

How did you get into designing courses for TGC? Was there a particular moment or project that kicked things off?

March 2020. I designed courses for the community for free for years.  Someone approached me that they wanted to have their course built. I told them my queue is too big at the moment to build his.  He then I mentioned that he would be willing to pay for the course.

The rest is history.  600 Courses and counting as of today.

Do you remember the first course you ever built? What was it like looking back on it now?

I built the course I play all the time and was blown away by the accuracy of the lidar.   Sim play was exactly what the course plays like in real life.

You create custom courses—how does that process usually start?

Customer will pick out a piece of land.  I downloaded the lidar data for that area.  I then check to see where we can build holes on that piece of land.  If the customer already has it laid out, I will clean up the lidar to ensure that holes are playable.   We will edit the course together to ensure that course is how the customer  expects it to play.

What are the biggest challenges when trying to accurately replicate a real-world course in TGC?

The biggest issue is when the lidar is old and the customer is looking for new golf features that have been changed since the year of the lidar.  This requires me to manually dig and alter the lidar to put those new bunkers in or whatever has changed.  This of course will cost more to get the new features in the course.

Out of all your custom builds, is there one that stands out as your favorite or most rewarding?

Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.  The customer requested stuff that was not on the actual course, like special tee boxes. The number of hours spent on that course was incredible, but the customer and I were ecstatic. 

What’s your dream course to recreate?

I am currently working on a complex of courses—Saucon Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania.  The complex is three 18-hole courses.  All three courses are gorgeous in real life and I am in the process of completing these. The Women’s Open was hosted there several years ago! 

Where can people follow your work?

GSPro will be advertised on my site soon.  I need to publish five customer courses to the main GSPro servers to become "Certified". I have three up there now! 🙂

You can also check out my YouTube channel, The Lidar King, for flyovers for both TGC and GSPro courses. 

🔥 Sim Steals and Golf Deals

🔦 Sim Spotlight

Dreaming of a retractable garage setup to squeeze in a few rounds? Take notes from u/screwball90 and their setup.

What inspired you to install a golf simulator?

I’ve always wanted a golf simulator, and having a young son without much outside help watching him (other than my wife) makes long 4-6 hour rounds hard on us. I can set it up and get a round in during nap time.

Why did you choose your specific location? 

I picked my garage for my setup, because it was the only space with tall enough ceilings and wanted a retractable setup so we can still park our cars. 

For those on a tight budget, where do you think it's most important to invest in a golf sim setup?

In terms of where to invest, I’d say don’t cheap out on the mat, you body and joints will thank you. I actually use synthetic turf I made into inserts for shots out of the rough.

If money was limitless, what’s the first thing you’d upgrade?

If I had endless amounts of money to invest…Everyone wants a permanent room with a bar and seating. Hell, I’d add one of those moving floors too—why not?

‼️ New Tech Drop: Remote Coaching Just Got an Upgrade

Golf Live and FlightScope have teamed up to launch the first-ever integration of live video capture with launch monitor data—bringing remote coaching into the future.

Using the FlightScope Mevo+ and Golf Live’s platform, players can now hop on a live call with their coach, capture their swing, and get real-time launch data—all in one session. Coaches can zero in on specific metrics while everything else is saved for easy review later.

This marks a huge leap forward for virtual instruction—and a big win for golfers who want elite coaching without leaving home.

Chat, is this real? 🤯

joshmayergolf

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