Every golfer has stood over a putt and guessed. Erik Belgum learned to ask one question instead: where does the water go?
In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co‑host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Erik Belgum — a design associate with Billy Fuller and Tom Kite, and right now he's elbow-deep in the dirt at Otter Creek in Columbus, Indiana — a Robert Trent Jones original being reimagined into cradle-to-grave golf. He walks Matt and the Professor through the parts of course design nobody romanticizes: the AutoCAD, the budgets, the order of operations, and the moment a green gets approved before it's actually ready.
The conversation dives into:
- How a kid pulling a cobwebbed pull cart in Iowa City ended up self-taught at Atlanta's Bobby Jones muni — on a $300 junior pass, with a five-questions-a-day limit from the pro shop
- The church pew that changed his life: ending up in a congregation with two working golf architects, Bob Cupp and Billy Fuller
- The real story of the Billy Bunker — how a highway shoulder, a McDonald's playground, and Dow Chemical turned into the industry standard
- The Cayman ball: the McGregor experiment Jack Nicklaus commissioned to make 5,000 yards play like 7,000, and the 13 dozen Erik inherited from his mentor
- Why constraint breeds creativity — bunkerless greens at Setting Down Creek, and slope as strategy at Otter Creek
Connect with our guest
💼 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-belgum-2a587874/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billyfullergolfdesign/
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Connect with Matt & The Professor
🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/
📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/
Chapters
00:00 Cold open: back to loving chipping
00:35 Bermuda vs. bent — reading lies and no margin for error
05:48 Setting up the episode: who Erik is and why now
06:14 Fact of the week: reading before bed and the science of winding down
11:05 Partner: Titleist GTS — what the Professor got fit into
12:24 Erik joins; Otter Creek, Columbus, and the J. Irwin Miller / Cummins story
16:08 Cradle-to-grave golf: the Romp, the Pup, and the championship Otter
19:26 The unromantic side of design: AutoCAD, budgets, order of operations
21:37 Origin story: his dad, Iowa City, and a cobwebbed pull cart
24:24 A $300 junior pass and learning the game at Bobby Jones
25:50 Cart kid, the starter's nightmare tee, and "five questions a day"
26:50 The church mentors: Bob Cupp and Billy Fuller
30:34 Choosing landscape architecture; UGA, fall of 2007
33:00 His own game today: letting go of score, old equipment
35:14 What is a Cayman ball?
43:00 Inheriting 13 dozen Cayman balls from Bob Cupp
40:30 Billy Fuller's agronomy pedigree and his years at Augusta National
46:45 How the Billy Bunker was actually invented
51:38 Lessons learned: the green he approved too soon
56:42 Where does the water go — infrastructure as strategy
59:31 Setting Down Creek and how constraint breeds creativity
01:02:24 Favorite courses: Cuscawilla, Old Barnwell, North Berwick, Sunningdale
01:07:57 What success at Otter Creek looks like in a year
What is The Bag Drop?
The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, in‑depth discussions on all things golf.
What is NewClub?
Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.
