Where Does the Water Go?

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 shopThe church pew that changed his life: ending up in a congregation with two working golf architects, Bob Cupp and Billy FullerThe real story of the Billy Bunker — how a highway shoulder, a McDonald's playground, and Dow Chemical turned into the industry standardThe 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 mentorWhy constraint breeds creativity — bunkerless greens at Setting Down Creek, and slope as strategy at Otter CreekConnect with our guest💼 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-belgum-2a587874/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billyfullergolfdesign/Follow The Bag Drop📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebagdrop 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/thebagdropgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBagDropGolfListen to The Bag Drop🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH🎧 Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/Join the NewClub community🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclubSupport our Partners🐝 NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com🌐 Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com 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/Chapters00:00  Cold open: back to loving chipping00:35  Bermuda vs. bent — reading lies and no margin for error05:48  Setting up the episode: who Erik is and why now06:14  Fact of the week: reading before bed and the science of winding down11:05  Partner: Titleist GTS — what the Professor got fit into12:24  Erik joins; Otter Creek, Columbus, and the J. Irwin Miller / Cummins story16:08  Cradle-to-grave golf: the Romp, the Pup, and the championship Otter19:26  The unromantic side of design: AutoCAD, budgets, order of operations21:37  Origin story: his dad, Iowa City, and a cobwebbed pull cart24:24  A $300 junior pass and learning the game at Bobby Jones25:50  Cart kid, the starter's nightmare tee, an