Lunchball
The Lido is less a golf course and more a spectral resurrection. The original C.B. Macdonald masterpiece on Long Island was widely considered the greatest course in the world before it was erased by World War II and urban sprawl. For decades, it existed only in grainy black-and-white photos and golf historians’ dreams. That changed when a financial analyst named Peter Flory recreated the course in a video game using historical topography maps, caught the eye of the Keiser family and Tom Doak, and essentially ‘printed’ the ghost onto the sandy canvas of Central Wisconsin. It is the first time in history a lost course has been rebuilt with GPS-guided precision to match the original contours.
Stepping onto the first tee feels eerily like stepping into a sepia-toned photograph. The scale is immense—Macdonald believed in width and grandeur—and the lack of trees or modern visual framing makes the famous template holes pop against the horizon. The 4th hole, ‘The Channel,’ is perhaps the most famous strategic par 5 in history, offering a heroic carry over water (or sand, in this case) for an eagle putt, or a safer curved route for par. This is the ultimate Lunchball destination: a place where the geekiest architectural theories of 1914 have been brought back to life to challenge the modern golfer.
Comparison: 12th (Biarritz)
12th (Biarritz)
The American Biarritz
Yale Golf Course
Architectural Analysis
While Yale's Biarritz is a rugged, evolved beast of nature, The Lido's 12th is a pristine, archaeological restoration of the template's ideal form.