⛳️ LinksDAO signs with Kemper Sports & Course Acquisition Updates

Keeping up with LinksDAO 24/7 so you don't have to

Welcome to the Mulligan, the official publication of LinksDAO!

Make sure to subscribe so you can stay up to date with everything that's going on over at the world's greatest community-governed golf and leisure club.

181 Days Since Mint

Good morning, happy 4th of July weekend, and welcome back to another edition of The Mulligan. 

Highlights

LinksDAO x Kemper Sports

It's official, we've signed with Kemper Sports as one of our course management and sourcing companies. Kemper is a definitive leader in the space, boasting an impressive portfolio of courses and resorts including Bandon Dunes (pictured above), Sand Valley in Wisconsin, and Streamsong. The core team believed that bringing a course management company on board would be the most prudent and efficient way to bring our ultimate goal, to buy a golf course, to life... and the community agreed, voting almost unanimously to push Proposal #10 over the finish line. 

We're also in conversations with two other leading course management companies who have a deep desire to get involved with what we're doing. 

Course Acquisition Updates

Jim has been on the road traveling up and down the East Coast visiting potential sites over the past two weeks. Per this week's Podium, Jim has seen:

• A championship course that's been closed for a while but would be relatively easy to open back up in the Southeast U.S.

• A top-rated golf course in the Southeast U.S.

• A 27 hole facility in close proximity to the New York City area

Adam (Bez) also spoke on the Podium, and dove into the latest news on the architect front...

• We have not engaged formally with any single architect

• Adam has spoken to a large majority of the top architects in the world

• In addition to Kemper, these architects are also helping us source properties around the United States

  • Adam has seen properties that would classify as new builds from scratch. These opportunities apply more towards the network of courses LinksDAO plans to have

LinksDAO Genesis Tour Premiere 

You can now see our content czar Douglas Buckets on the big screen! After weeks on the road, 12 stops at golf clubs from Charleston to Boston, and a bout with the flu, the first episode of the LinksDAO Genesis Tour with Douglas Buckets is live on our Youtube channel. Doug and the editing crew (shoutout Tungsten) have been working hard behind the scenes over the past four weeks to bring this from an idea to a full-blown content series. Make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications so you can stay up-to-date with the latest episodes. Episode 2 dropping soon. 

Events

NFT NYC 2022 Recap

It's been just over one week since our NFT NYC event at 5i Herald Square in Midtown Manhattan wrapped up and the Events Pod is finally settling back in to regular life. From an array of amazing partners and sponsor activations to more than 400 members and guests rolling in throughout the evening, all of us attendees got a small taste of what it'll be like hanging out at our first course's clubhouse.

Thanks to...

• Erik Anders Lang and the Random Golf Club crew for converting one of 5i's sim bays into a lounge for a live podcast during the event with Cooper, Jim, and Anheuser-Busch Senior Director of Blockchain, Julie Garneau

• NBC for filming the initial piece of LinksDAO's very own documentary, where they interviewed Jim Daily as well as Doug and Joe from content and events, respectively

• Michelob Ultra for providing the beverages and a multitude of challenge prizes

• Otto, Bridgestone's ball fitting robot, for helping guests find the perfect ball to match their game

• Lipsweater, the preeminent hockey NFT project, for taking over the putting green and giving the term "flat stick" a new meaning with their hockey-inspired putting competitions

• Gilson Snow for delivering 1 of 1 LinksDAO-branded skis and snowboards for competition prizes

• Aptos for sponsoring the event and bringing the vibes with their incredible team members

• Ad Lunam for providing a taste of what's to come, not just for their Web3-inspired whiskey collective but also for the first Links Whiskey

P.S. Our CEO and co-founder Jim Daily spoke at the Web3 summit in London earlier this week.

We hosted a major Podium in the Discord with updates on a number of mission-critical topics. Live on our Youtube here. Don't forget to subscribe!

Mike also joined Adam Levy to discuss venture funding and designing token economies. Listen here. 

Community Spotlight

Proposal #11: Youth On Course Donation

We've had celebrities, athletes, musicians and the like continuously filing in since launch on New Year's Day. Some have been public about it, like Jake Owen and Cam Jordan, while others have been lurking behind the scenes.

But in our opinion, the most important public figure to join our ranks up to this point is Roger Steele. If you're not familiar with Roger and his company HIPE Media, check out this article detailing his story.

We're so excited to welcome Roger on board as one of the newest members of LinksDAO. He made a surprise appearance on our Discord Podium earlier this week and spoke to the more than 300 members in attendance on exactly how he plans to use his own personal life experiences to grow the game of golf. 

His mission aligns exactly with the ethos of LinksDAO, which is why nickwalkermsu and JenS put forth to the community Proposal #11, a $10,000 donation to Roger's Team HIPE, who will be participating in the 100 hole hike for Youth on Course. Youth On Course is an organization allowing kids to play over 1,700 golf courses for $5 or less. If you haven't already, please visit our Snapshot page to vote. 

Speaking of athletes that are LinksDAO members... 

Steph Curry's UNDERRATED Golf Tour kicked off last week in Chicago. The UNDERRATED brand he founded in 2019 is "a purpose driven business endeavor with the overarching commitment to provide equity, access and opportunity to student-athletes from every community by balancing participating in the sport to truly reflect our society." Read more about it on the PGA tour website. 

New Proposal Process Nearing Launch

We've come a long way on the community governance front since our first couple of proposals in early January. As we continue to push forward, we thought it was extremely important to install a new, standardized proposal process that allows for any member of the community to put forth their ideas in a cohesive, concise manner. 

After months of iteration and hard work by community team member Jaredd#1143, that new proposal process is nearing the finish line. Before we put it to a vote, we'd very much like to hear your feedback. Head over to our Commonwealth, our new on-chain governance and project funding platform, to share your thoughts.  

Partnerships

TopGolf Benefits are Live

Callaway is focused on positioning itself as the leading innovator in the golf ecosystem. To do that requires some out-of-the-box thinking and strategy, which is why last March they acquired TopGolf for a cool $2.6 billion in an all-stock transaction. Read more about the deal here. 

That's also the reason they partnered with us here at LinksDAO. Our extremely ambitious yet attainable goal of completely reimagining membership experiences and the country club model really resonated with the executive team over at Callaway. 

As part of the partnership, in addition to the number of benefits we detailed in the last The Mulligan, we're excited to let you know that TopGolf benefits are officially live. Head over to the LinksDAO clubhouse to claim special discount codes and apply them to IRL TopGolf gameplay! 

Mizzen and Main

Does the Partnerships Pod ever stop working? No. No they don't.

This past week Mackenzie Hughes, the 67th ranked player in the world and a member of Team Mizzen, announced via a video our 14th member benefit, 20% off at Mizzen and Main. They make some of the most comfortable performance and formal clothing around, so be sure to head over to their website and check out all that they have to offer! 

Interview

Turfgrass Deep Dive

What would LinksDAO be without its exceptional community? If you've had the opportunity to attend either of our first two events you'd know that our membership is comprised of unique, talented individuals from all walks of life. 

And what type of community newsletter would The Mulligan be if we didn't highlight our members? So without further ado... we're excited to introduce Hank111, LinksDAO's resident turfgrass expert with a PhD in plant biology. 

1. It's not everyday you meet someone with a PhD in plant biology specializing in turfgrass, how'd you end up in the industry?

I started in the turf industry by first getting involved in the larger golf industry. Throughout college I was a cart guy and when I went to get my masters I continued to work at my club. While completing graduate school I moved up the ladder from cart guy to club fitter to assistant pro. I was studying completely unrelated plants when I realized I could just study turf and spend all of my time at the course. Basically, it was an excuse to see how much free golf I could access. One thing led to another, and I entered turf school while finishing my masters before finally getting my PhD in plant biology, concentrating on shade tolerant creeping bentgrass. I have experience with breeding all cool season and some minor work during the warm season. 

2. Where does the turf on golf courses come from? 

As a turf breeder, there is a ton that goes on before the turf is even ready to be sold to a golf course. My specialty is breeding grass for shade tolerance and so I constantly am evaluating grasses that have been collected from around the world and have shown promise in other trials growing in the shade. I have to select out the plants that I think are best, not only for one specific trait but for every other trait we want on the course, i.e. drought tolerant, disease tolerant, or low mowing height. After the selection process, I spend weeks individually cloning the plants so that I can continue this process year after year. Once cloned, I grow these grasses in the shade and breed the ones I think will do well. It takes several years before I even have something of interest.

Bar none, the most overlooked aspect of a course is just how coddled these grasses are when it comes to water. We aren't just popping on some sprinkler heads and calling it a day... trust me.

Another thing I'd say is that most people are surprised at how little technology there is in turf breeding. I've handled well over 100,000 plants without any tractor or farm equipment, that's just how it's done. 

3. Tell me about the golf course grass. What types are in what areas of the country? What are the high level differences? 

I personally study bentgrasses which along with the fescues, the ryes, and the bluegrasses make up the cool season grasses, which are a large majority of the grasses we all see on golf courses. These grasses thrive in the northern half of the United States, mostly during spring and autumn.

There's a separate group of grasses that exist in the southern states, the warm season grasses. Bermudas and zoysias are primarily what you'll see down south since they thrive in high heat. 

I work with bentgrass for a multitude of reasons, one being because it's the preeminent grass for the high dollar, money-making spots on the golf course... the greens. It's ability to withstand low mowing heights while still growing laterally makes it the perfect grass for the putting surface. In my experience, warm season grasses bring a whole host of problems, as they tend to stay browner much longer while also bringing a number of other economic factors into play, all of which can be avoided with a nice bentgrass. 

4. You've been in the industry for a while, tell us a cool story or two!

Working in turf I've had the opportunity to travel all over the world working events for the PGA. I'd say one of the major highlights so far was being on the course setup team at The Travelers when Jim Furyk shot a PGA record 58. Not sure If I should be proud of the fact that the course was playing that easy... but it's something that had never happened in competitive play before which is definitely cool. Additionally, I've got to collect grass from around the world, my favorite being from the top of a waterfall in Iceland. I've also been apart of 3 majors and a President's Cup. 

The Mulligan was created by Nick (barbs#7712). Have any feedback? Reach out in the Discord. Thanks for reading!