In December 2021, SZA posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Day 6 at number one and I’m texting Björk rn. Life is as it should be.. sensational. I love you all so much. Please have a fire day.” Fast forward nearly three years to Wednesday, August 21, and SZA’s day was made by the Icelandic multi-hyphenate again.
Out of seemingly nowhere, Björk posted links to three separate fan-made YouTube mashups of SZA and Björk’s songs: “Hunter”/”Seek & Destroy,” “Pagan”/”Drew Barrymore,” and “All Is Full Of Love”/”Saturn.”
“I’M SORRY WHAATT?? I BEG UR F*CKING PARDON !???” SZA wrote while reposting Björk’s repost of “PAGAN BARRYMORE.” In response to Björk’s post of “Hunter”/”Seek & Destroy,” SZA wrote, “DAAAAAAHHHH.”
Of course, fans immediately took this as an excuse to hypothesize about a hypothetical Björk and SZA collaboration, which would be welcomed with open arms. SZA is about to have more downtime to orchestrate a brainstorming session with Björk, considering SZA posted on X (formerly Twitter) on August 5, “Yesterday was my last show for a while. Finally bout to get my life together thank u God.”
More or less, SZA has been going nonstop since the December 2022 release of SOS, her sophomore LP that dominated multiple Billboard charts, including 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Listen to the fan-made Björk and SZA mashups here, here, and here.
“Taste” and Short N’ Sweet will arrive simultaneously on Friday, August 23.
On Wednesday, August 21, Carpenter teased the accompanying Dave Meyers-directed video with a snippet revealing Jenna Ortega as Carpenter’s co-star.
In the teaser, Carpenter selects a knife from a bed full of weapons before charging toward a shower occupied by Ortega and a guy. The screen cuts to black when Carpenter goes to stab Ortega, and then Carpenter uses a knife as a mirror to fix her lipstick while singing, “Oh, I leave quite an impression.”
Carpenter’s fans immediately drew parallels between Carpenter’s “Taste” video snippet and the 1992 Oscar-winning film Death Becomes Her, which starred Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis.
Regardless, it’s a nice, nostalgic Disney reunion between Carpenter and Ortega. Carpenter and Ortega spent their formative years on Girls Meets World on Stuck In The Middle, respectively, before becoming bona fide A-listers.
Learn more about Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet album below.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet Tour North American Dates
09/23 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
09/25 — Toronto, Ontario @ Scotiabank Arena
09/26 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
09/29 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
09/30 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
10/02 — Hartford, CT @ XL Center
10/03 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/05 — Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
10/08 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
10/11 — Montreal, QC @ Centre Ball
10/13 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
10/14 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
10/16 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
10/17 — Saint Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena
10/19 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
10/20 — Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
10/22 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
10/24 — Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
10/25 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
10/27 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
10/28 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
10/30 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
11/01 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
11/02 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Center
11/04 — Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum
11/06 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
11/07 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
11/09 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
11/10 — San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena
11/13 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
11/15 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
11/17 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
11/18 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
Short N’ Sweet is out 8/23 via Island Records. Find more information here.
The golf resort boom over the last decade has given golfers an ever-expanding number of options for trips. From iconic standouts like Pinehurst and Pebble Beach to new favorites like Streamsong and Bandon Dunes, there has never been a better time in American golf when it comes to publicly available destinations.
Among the best is Sand Valley, which opened in 2017 and now features four 18-hole championship courses and one 17-hole short course, The Sandbox, on the sprawling Wisconsin property. Two of their courses, the namesake Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes, fall in the top-30 public courses in the country by various outlets, and the newest course, Sedge Valley, will almost assuredly join them in that distinction after opening earlier this year. The Lido, their private course with limited resort play allowed Sunday to Thursday, opened in 2023 and immediately landed at No. 68 on Golf Magazine’s top-100 courses in the world list. Those rankings make Sand Valley one of the nation’s premier golf destinations, but also begs the question: What do those rankings mean for a typical golfer?
I got a chance to find out on a media trip to Sand Valley in early August, playing all five courses over a pretty incredible four-day trip. I started with Sand Valley upon arriving on Saturday afternoon, played Sedge Valley and the Sandbox on Sunday, The Lido on Monday, and wrapped up the trip with Mammoth Dunes on Tuesday before flying out that afternoon. Here, I’ll give my full thoughts on all things Sand Valley, starting with my detailed thoughts on the courses, before getting into everything like caddies, course-planning, food options, non-golf activities, and traveling to and from the resort.
Sand Valley ($295)
Sand Valley
My welcome to the resort was a round at Sand Valley on the day of my arrival, pulling in 20 minutes before my tee time, which meant checking in and heading straight to the tee — no warmup, no putting green. Thankfully, the first hole at Sand Valley is a bit of a handshake from designers Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, a 325-yard par 4 that’s certainly drivable for long hitters, but presents options for simply hitting the fat part of the fairway with less than driver and still having wedge into a tiered green with a large false front. It also is an introduction to the test that’s to come, as you’ll be presented with a lot of those same challenges and decisions throughout your round, dialed up to various degrees.
If the first hole is a handshake, the second is a wakeup call. It’s not long on the card (~400 yards from the orange) but plays longer than the yardage and asks difficult questions the entire way. It’s a split fairway, running out at about 250-260, taking driver out of the hand for longer hitters. Laying back gives you a generous landing area to find the short grass, but leaves you with a longer approach hitting up the hill to a green you can’t see from the fairway, with runoffs on all sides. It’s an introduction to the precision required with approaches at Sand Valley, as distance control and finding the proper tier or section of the green are a must.
I played startlingly well on my front nine, going out in an even par 35 despite some windy conditions, but the back nine was a reminder of the thin margins between success and failure at Sand Valley. I caught a couple good breaks on the front and was able to get up and down the few times I got out of position, but I spun the roulette wheel a few too many times on the back and wasn’t so lucky. Compounding my issues was a lack of patience when I put myself in a tough spot. Sand Valley preys on your hubris, often offering you the opportunity for a hero shot to get out of trouble, but with more trouble waiting when you fail to pull it off.
Sand Valley
The best example of this for me came on 15, a slight dogleg left par 4 that plays just under 400 yards as long as you go the correct direction off the tee. I hit my worst tee shot of the day, a spinny, high-right disaster that got carried further right by the wind, moving me away from the hole. I drew a decent break, finding sand and not wiry grass, but with the ball above my feet and a blind shot, I tugged my effort at finding the green from 185 away left. This time I didn’t get lucky with the lie, sitting down in some sand with a clump of grass behind the ball and a 50-yard shot. I thinned that over the green, shortsided coming straight down the hill and, again, had a scratchy lie, where the best I could do was leave 35 feet for bogey, resulting in my lone double of the round. It was the full Sand Valley experience, one that could’ve been simply avoided by hitting a 9-iron back into play on my second shot.
A back-nine 42 took a little of the wind out of my sails, but I would’ve gladly taken a 77 if you’d offered it to me on a day where the wind was blowing 15-25 and I arrived to the first tee fresh off a plane and a car ride. I don’t think I’d suggest that as the way most people should plan their trip, but the namesake course on the property delivered on the promise of being one of the nation’s best courses. It was in fantastic shape and for as difficult as it can be, it is an extremely fair test. The fairways are generous, even if they don’t always look like it from the tee, and the landing areas on the greens are a bit bigger than they often look from the fairway.
Sand Valley toes the line beautifully of being challenging while also being playable. It is not a course that exists solely to beat up on you, and gives you plenty of opportunities to put a circle on the card. Everyone in my foursome made a birdie in their round, and if I were to guess, the other three guys I got grouped with were in the ~10 handicap range. However, to score well, you have to be patient and recognize what is actually an opportunity to get after the course, and when to play it smart, especially on a day where the wind is up. That’s a much tougher proposition for most of us, and a double bogey is always lurking just around the corner because it’s extremely easy to go from trouble to worse trouble if you aren’t willing to take your medicine.
Sedge Valley ($295)
Sand Valley
If you talk to just about anyone at the resort — guest or employee — the first course they bring up is Sedge Valley. That’s partially because it’s the newest addition to the Sand Valley property, but it’s also because it’s a truly unique experience that challenges you to think through your round of golf differently than you do at just about any other course.
The Tom Doak design is a par 68, with the back tees clocking in at just 5800 yards, but the caddies and desk staff at check-in urge players to get rid of their traditional thoughts on distance equaling difficulty. Doak’s approach was to simply plot out the best green sites on the property and work from there to build out the course, resulting in a layout with five par 3s, a handful of potentially drivable par 4s, and just one par 5, because that was the best way to route the course to those green sites. That design process results in a fascinating round of golf that demands precision and constantly forces you to do risk-reward calculations. I opted for the Back/Middle combo, with a total yardage of just under 5300 yards, but found it incredibly challenging in spite of — or, probably more accurately, because of — the lack of distance.
When you arrive at most par 4s on a typical course, you simply reach for the driver. At Sedge Valley, that is far from the case, as you can get inside 150 yards throughout much of your round by hitting less than driver. I pulled my 2-iron or 4-iron as often as my driver on the tee box of par 4s, and that was still probably too many drivers, as I found myself pretty regularly fighting with bunkers and thick tall grasses, which I found to be far more difficult to scramble out of than the wispier grass at Sand Valley. Those dangers increase the further down you try to push the ball, as landing areas narrow considerably the closer you get to the hole. A missed fairway will typically lead to bogey (or worse), and even finding the short stuff is only the very beginning of solving the puzzle that is Sedge Valley.
The greens will punish mediocre-to-bad shots, especially on the shorter holes, but it doesn’t feel unfair because you’re constantly going into them with a short iron. That also raises the frustration level when you aren’t dialed in with the wedges, as watching your ball trickle down runoffs, false fronts, or even just find the wrong tier on the green is far more damaging to your fragile ego as a golfer when it happens with wedges rather than a 5-iron. The 77 I shot at Sedge felt worlds apart from a 77 at Sand Valley, as I didn’t get comfortable on the course until I’d hit the middle of the back nine. I walked off most greens kicking myself for a poor decision or poor execution more times than I’d like. But at the same time, I enjoyed being challenged in a different way than usual.
Sand Valley
The flip side of that coin is there are also a lot of opportunities to put circles on the cards if you can strike the right balance between being smart and being aggressive. If you can find fairways (which aren’t as hard to hit as I made it look in my round) you’ll have the “scoring clubs” in your hand constantly, and if you’re willing to take on some risk, you can give yourself an eagle look (or chips for seconds) on some of the par 4s. The greens are fast, but still fairly receptive on approach if you can launch the ball high, despite looking like they should be extremely firm. I kept expecting to catch big bounces and runouts that never really came — with the understanding that I played it after a particularly wet summer — and while it took awhile to trust it, once I did I was able to get some approaches in close.
What Sedge Valley does best is challenge your confidence and willingness to make committed swings, and if you catch it on a day where the winds are up a bit, that becomes even more important. You will constantly be given options at Sedge Valley, but options aren’t always the friend of the average golfer. Being forced to hit one “correct” shot sometimes can make it easier to commit fully to it, whereas having multiple avenues at your disposal can let doubt creep in that you’re picking the right option. That’s the greatest strength of Sedge Valley as a course. The lack of distance lulls you into a false sense of security, and instead you’re challenged to craft a plan on every hole and execute each element. For that reason, it’s the course I most want a second crack at, and is also why it’s quickly becoming the favorite course for many on the property.
Mammoth Dunes ($295)
Sand Valley
Mammoth Dunes answers the question: What if Sand Valley was nice to you? The fairways and greens are gigantic, and the slopes on the course — from fairway to green — tend to push you towards a good position, rather than running you into trouble. There are still false fronts to contend with and plenty of bunkers and waste areas, but there’s no question that Mammoth Dunes is going to be the course you feel the most comfortable on while at Sand Valley.
The word that comes up the most when you talk with people around the property about playing Mammoth Dunes is “fun.” It’s not a course that puts your game to the ultimate test — go to The Lido or Sand Valley for that — but after you’ve gotten beaten up a bit by the other courses and dealt with the mental grind they present, it’s nice playing a course that wants to help you. The David McLay Kidd design makes it very clear where you want to go with most of your shots at Mammoth, which is a fairly dramatic difference from Sand Valley, Sedge Valley, and The Lido. That helps to puts you at ease and allows you to swing freely, which tends to lead to better scores.
There’s very little stress getting off the tee at Mammoth. The fairways are extremely generous, and while there are bunkers to avoid, there’s plenty of room to dodge them. After a weekend of battling blind tee shots, deceptive sight lines, and just generally stressful tee shots, Mammoth offered a welcome reprieve. I hit 12 of 14 fairways at Mammoth and the two I missed were drives that ran through the fairway and into the rough by just a few feet, as I swung the driver better than I did all weekend. That was largely because I was never thinking about trying to miss trouble (which almost always leads to tightening up) and just let it rip.
Sand Valley
Approaching the green is similarly comfortable, as most of the slopes funnel balls to the greens rather than away from them. That doesn’t mean there aren’t penalties for missing on the wrong side of a hole, as there are still false fronts and runoffs, but the edges of the greens don’t dart away in all directions like you’ll find at the other courses. With larger margins for what constitutes a “good shot” at Mammoth, it’s much easier to get in a rhythm and a groove with your swing. There’s not the same pressure to be precise to the yard the way there is at Sand, Sedge, or The Lido, which, of course, resulted in me having my best ball-striking day of the trip and putting the ball where I wanted it on most holes.
The greens have a decent bit of movement to them but are a touch slower than Sedge and Sand (and a good bit slower than The Lido), and coming off a round at The Lido, I just could not commit to hitting the ball hard enough and kept missing low side. Still, I presented myself with enough opportunities that I made five birdies despite not making a putt over 6 feet all day, en route to a 3-under 70 (which, from the orange, was one stroke better than my handicap said I should’ve shot).
It is extremely fun to play golf like that. There are a few challenges and certainly a big number lurking with a big miss on any hole, but for the most part you’re going to hit fairways, hit greens, and have the chance to go low. The par 5s are all reachable (depending on the wind), and the signature hole is the drivable 14th, where you play your tee shot down a massive hill on the right (or tug a 3-wood and just fly it onto the green like I did).
You couldn’t have every course be like Mammoth, but it’s nice to have a bit of a respite from grinding through rounds at the other courses. A lot of people suggest it as the first course you should play, because it is the easiest, but I really enjoyed closing with it because after playing everywhere else, you truly appreciate (and take advantage of) the opportunities presented.
The Lido ($295)
Sand Valley
The Lido’s story is pretty incredible, as Tom Doak’s team took a lost C.B. McDonald design from the early 1900s on Long Island and replicated it across the street from the rest of the resort property, and it immediately landed at No. 68 on the Top 100 courses list. I was interested to see how The Lido matched up to the hype, particularly after hearing it tends to be the most polarizing course on the Sand Valley rotation. After playing it, I fall firmly into the camp that loves it, and talking with caddies it seems that skill level plays a very big role in your enjoyment of the course.
Unlike the other courses, there are far more forced carries — none that were particularly daunting — and almost every approach shot is hitting up at a perched up green with extremely sharp edges and steep drop-offs. That takes away the ground game that can allow players who can’t elevate the ball well to work it around the other courses on property, and if you can’t throw it high in the air, stopping it on the very firm and fast Lido greens is going to be almost impossible. However, as a high ball hitter, I had an absolute blast at The Lido.
I played the from the whites, which clock in at a little over 6500 yards, opting not to beat myself up on Day 3 of my trip from the 7000-yard navy tees (they can tip it out to over 7300 for tournament play, but don’t offer that as an option on normal days). The Lido is the only course on the property that requires you to take a caddie, and that is for very good reason as you hit blind off the majority of the tees, which means you almost never are looking at your landing area and your depth perception gets thrown all out of whack with the way bunkers and greens rise out of the ground. As such, you have to have someone who can point you to the correct target line and let you know where you might need to park the driver to avoid rolling it into a bunker, which you can almost never see from the tee.
The course is immaculate, and even playing early in the morning, it played the firmest and fastest of any of the courses tee to green. That presents both challenges and opportunities, as the length of the course can be mitigated a bit by finding the short grass, as your ball will scoot pretty well along the ground. The fairways are, for the most part, pretty generous, but they’re dotted with pot bunkers, some quite deep, as the design leaned on classics like the Old Course at St. Andrews for inspiration. Getting it running gives you the best chance to get it close and have a shorter club in, which is very helpful for stopping the ball on the firm greens. However, once the ball is on the ground, you’re at the mercy of the many undulations that could guide you into a bunker, where the sand is soft and heavy, and the lips can be steep, making for a difficult combination to get out of.
Something interesting I found at The Lido is that missing big off the tee often gives you a better chance at scrambling for a par than missing small. The waste areas that surround the fairways make for a bit of a dice roll on whether you’ll get a clump of grass blocking your swing, but the grass hasn’t grown up a ton yet and, as such, I found it easier to advance it from the waste area to the green (or at least, around the green) than I did the two times I ended up in a fairway bunker. That’s not to say you should go out there blasting it into the waste areas on purpose — it’s still challenging to get up and down — but it was just an interesting quirk of the layout.
Sand Valley
The greens are what stand out most at The Lido. They are massive, and many have defined tiers and huge slopes. Even on the less severe greens, there is almost constant, subtle movement, and you will very rarely stand over a straight putt on this course. As someone who likes being able to see the movement on the greens, I clicked very quickly with them, but I highly recommend giving yourself 15 minutes or so to get acquainted with the practice green before your round, as there is a speed adjustment to make from the courses across the street. Being underneath the hole is vital to scoring, because downhill putts are just so ticklish and you have to respect the fact that “make speed” might put you 10 feet by for a comeback putt.
However, staying below the hole is a lot easier said than done because of how firm they are, especially to front pins. If you want to have a good look at birdie to a front pin, you’re going to have to flirt with landing your approach on the very edge of the green. Because of how most of the greens are elevated with sharp drop-offs, leaving it even a yard short will put you either in a deep bunker or chipping up at least a foot or two and taking away any ability to put check on the ball to greens that bounce and run. As a result, you’re typically going to play to the pin number on a front pin and just accept having a 20-footer back down and try your best to leave a tap-in for par. Of my four birdies on the round, three came with pins that were center or back, allowing for the release on the approach and still leaving an opportunity to make a more aggressive stroke. (The other was an outrageous 40-foot double-breaker on 10 I couldn’t replicate again with 100 tries.)
The Lido is simply a fantastic test of golf, and I see why it landed on the Top 100 list in its first year of being open. I felt much of the mental challenge of the course is on approach, largely because there’s some freedom off of the tee on par 4s and par 5s, since you simply can’t see where the trouble is. My caddie, bless her, would give me a start line and withhold all information about the potential issues that lurked over the horizon until after I hit it, freeing me up to just swing away without lingering thoughts of unseen dangers. However, approach shots required a keen focus to hit your number. I got to play The Lido in about as calm conditions as you’ll get, which contributed to me posting a strong score (75). But when the winds pick up, there is no protection from the elements on the wide open property and it’s a course that plays harder downwind, because it makes stopping the ball an incredible challenge.
The Lido isn’t a course for everyone. I wouldn’t suggest it for high handicappers, because I can see how it would be an absolute nightmare to get around. But that’s also not its intent. It’s supposed to be one of the world’s best courses that poses a unique challenge, and it delivers on that promise in a way that, I think, makes for an phenomenal golfing experience if you’re up for it.
The Sandbox ($75)
Sand Valley
I’ll be honest, I don’t think I got the full Sandbox experience by virtue of being out there solo. It was a great opportunity to work on my wedge game with some fun holes, big slopes, and challenging pin positions, but my favorite part was hearing what was going on around me. I heard a group a few holes over go crazy after someone made a hole-in-one, and a couple others begging for tee shots to drop that just wouldn’t. I watched the group of four older guys in front of me trash talk each other as they played a cash game, discussing how much money had swung on a big putt, made or missed.
That is what The Sandbox is all about. Sure, you get those things happening on the big courses too, but there’s always an internal battle going on with your own score out there. Part of the magic of short courses is it eliminates that element of stress — you’re not putting your score on The Sandbox into the GHIN — and invites you to have a bit more fun. I didn’t quite get that playing alone, as I spent my time trying to dial in my feels from 50-100 yards, but for groups looking to tack on a little more fun to the trip, it’s a great spot to unwind while still playing golf.
What Order Should You Play The Courses?
When I make a trek back to Sand Valley with some friends, I think I’ll look to go in this order: Sedge Valley, Sand Valley, The Lido, and Mammoth Dunes. I understand the suggestion to start with Mammoth as a way to ease into the trip, but I really loved ending on a high note and I don’t think it looks quite as inviting until you’ve played the rest. Sedge would allow you to get settled in a different way, playing a course that you don’t need to bang driver off every tee. From there, you get the two biggest tests with Sand Valley and The Lido, where by the third round of the trip you should be pretty dialed on distances. Then, you go over to Mammoth to end things, where the fairways will look a mile wide and you can really try to get after it and go low.
I will note that with how long it takes to get to the resort from the airport (~2.5 hours from Milwaukee), you don’t really want to be cutting it too close with your timing on arrival, or if you’re trying to rush before you have to leave. I did that first thing, and while it worked out, it was a bit stressful and I needed everything to go exactly right with my flight landing a little early, my clubs being the first thing off the plane, and the rental care line being just three people to make it happen. For that reason, an early evening Sandbox visit the day you get in is probably the smart play unless you can get a flight that lands in the mid-morning.
If I were booking a Saturday-Tuesday trip, landing midday Saturday and leaving in the evening on Tuesday, this is how I’d try to structure the trip.
Saturday: The Sandbox
Sunday: Sedge Valley, Sand Valley
Monday: The Lido
Tuesday: Mammoth Dunes
That gives you a chance to loosen up on The Sandbox upon arrival and puts your day of 36 holes (which, every course at Sand Valley is walking only) on the first day when the legs are still fresh. If you’re skipping The Lido, you could look to tack a second round on at one of the other courses in that spot. For me, the course I’d look to play twice would be Sedge, just because there’s so many different ways to play it and walking off the first time you’ll have a lot of thoughts on things you’d like to do differently.
Caddies
The caddie fee is $100 per bag (paid cash to the caddie after the round, plus gratuity), and I think it is well worth it, especially on your first visit to each of the big courses. Mammoth is perhaps the one you can get away without, as it’s a bit more straightforward and less punitive, but you really need someone who can tell you where to go and where to avoid at Sand and Sedge. Beyond getting yardages and start lines, I always play better when I talk through each shot, and I force myself to go through that process with a caddie, even if their only input is to nod and say “I like that.” You also will stick with the same caddie throughout your trip (if possible), which allows them to get to know you and how you like to play, which leads to their suggestions getting more tailored to your game.
Non-Golf Activities
The main attraction at Sand Valley is unquestionably the golf, and while you could pack in 36 holes a day if you wanted, you will probably want to give yourself a little bit of a break. There are plenty of other outdoor activities at Sand Valley, like fishing, hiking, bike riding, and more, as you can explore the property with trails that meander all around the courses. You also can play grass court tennis, as they have the largest grass tennis facility in the United States over by Sedge Valley. The courts are immaculate and while it takes a bit of getting used to the lower bounces, it is a cool experience, and a different game from hard court tennis most of us are accustomed to playing.
Dining
There are three main restaurants at Sand Valley, along with unique food options on each of the courses where most things cost $1. The favorite is Craig’s Porch at Sand Valley, where the $1 tacos are a delight and worth the quick pitstop at the turn. Over by the Sandbox is Bill’s BBQ, which is also open to the public from 11 a.m. to sundown, which is a good place to get a quick bite not far from the clubhouse.
As for the main restaurants, The Gallery is the newest option over by Sedge Valley, offering Italian fare. I highly recommend the pizza — the artichoke pizza was great and the pepperoni that walked by my table looked fantastic — and multiple people told me unsolicited the chicken parm is excellent. Aldo’s Farm & Table at the clubhouse offers high-end American fare, headlined by their steaks, while next door at Mammoth Bar, you can get a bit more casual dining and sit out on the patio overlooking the 18th at Mammoth Dunes — the smashburger at Mammoth Bar is sensational.
Transportation
You will need to rent a car to get out to Sand Valley, as it is a little over 2.5 hours from Milwaukee and just over 3 hours from Minneapolis. But once you’re on the property, the shuttle buses run constantly and will take you anywhere you need to go in about five minutes.
It didn’t take long to understand why Sand Valley is high on the lists of must-play golf destinations. Every round presents something different, from challenging your game at the highest level to asking you to think about golf differently than you do just about anywhere else. Course rankings don’t always translate to an enjoyable round of golf, but I thought the courses at Sand Valley strike a really good balance between challenging and fun. Some skew more to one end of that spectrum or the other, but in total, you will leave feeling like you got a complete golf experience that was unique to anywhere else you’ll go.
Uproxx was invited on a hosted trip to Sand Valley for reporting on this piece. Sand Valley did not review or approve this story. You can find out more about our policy on press trips/hostings here.
On Wednesday, August 21, Swift publicly commented on the Vienna cancelations for the first time. Swift posted an Instagram carousel of photos from her final five Wembley Stadium performances alongside a lengthy caption, as seen below:
“In summation
We have officially wrapped the European leg of The Eras Tour. With it came the most passionate crowds I’ve ever played for, new traditions in the show, and an entirely new era added in. It was a more hectic pace than we’d done before, and I’m so proud of my crew/fellow performers for being able to physically perform that show and build our massive stage, take it apart, and make magic with so few days in between for recovery and travel. They’re the most impressive people I know and I’m so lucky they gave The Eras Tour their time, their energy, and their expertise.
Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.
In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.
And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there.
We had some EPIC surprise performances from my long time friends @teddysphotos, @florenceandthemachine, and @jackantonoff. Performing ‘Florida!!!’ with Flo for the first time was unforgettable and Ed took me right back to our old Red Tour memories. It was the most dizzying honor to become the first solo artist to play Wembley 8 times in one tour. To the fans who have seen us this summer, you’ll always have the most sparkling place in my memories. You were a dream to perform for, dance with, and share those magical moments with. We’ll see you all again when we resume The Eras Tour in October, but for now we get to take a much needed rest. Thank you for the adventure of a lifetime. May it continue…”
Swift will conclude The Eras Tour with a second, much shorter North American leg, which will begin at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida on October 18. Gracie Abrams will return as the opener. Swift’s final The Eras Tour show is scheduled for December 8 at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
See Swift’s remaining US dates here and Canadian dates here.
In April 2023, Yaeji released With A Hammer, her debut full-length album. Uproxx named the LP among the “Best Indie Albums Of 2023 So Far” because of Yaeji’s commitment to experimentation. “Booboo” showcases that quality.
Yaeji dropped “Booboo” on Wednesday, August 21, and the song interpolates Yaeji’s 2017 breakthrough hit, “Raingurl.”
“I think with anything — a little breathing room, a little break — distance makes the heart grow fonder,” Yaeji explained in a press release statement, as shared by Pitchfork. “With the overpowering attention that came from ‘Raingurl,’ I took a break from clubbing, dance music, and the underground scene, but, in that time away from it all, it’s allowed me to gain new perspective and a deeper appreciation for it.”
Yaeji continued, “This year is the 10-year mark for many of the parties my friends and I used to go to, so ‘Booboo’ coming out now feels like full-circle moment. And with my closest friends — who I’ve witnessed grow as DJs and start their own labels, throwing parties and having fun, all while creating a radical and safe space, it’s been so fun being their cheerleader and now rejoining them in the club, front right!”
Throughout the frenetic song, Yaeji undeniably has fun and encourages listeners to “dance and shake your booty from the left to the right.”
The fourth season finale of The Boys left most characters’ fates in question, as a penultimate season should do. This included Hughie, who had already been through too much, and Kimiko, who had only begun to know some happiness with Frenchie, and then there would be Ashley. The Vought International CEO had overheard Deep discussing that she knew too much and needed to be taken out, and that caused Ashley’s swift decision to mainline Compound V.
The injection led her to instantly fall to the ground in pain with her wig falling off, too. Remember the previous revelation that she had been tearing her hair out over the stress of working with Homelander?
Prime Video/Amazon
In the fourth season finale, Ashley’s scalp also began to pulsate, and that’s all that this season wrote for her. If she lives, what would her power be? Colby Minifie spoke with Variety to reveal how, if Eric Kripke uses any of her ideas, the results will be “humiliating”:
“As we’ve seen, when V first enters your body, the historic visual on the show is that it enters your bloodstream and things start happening in your blood, and it takes over your body. So what we’re hinting at is something’s going to happen! We don’t know if she survives or dies, but I have pitched some things of what her superpower could be — they’re all humiliating. I don’t know what they’re gonna do, or how they’ll see that to fruition. But it will be something crazy.”
Since we don’t have a concrete answer from Minifie (and even if she knew, she surely couldn’t discuss the power at this stage), Reddit has been tossing possibilities around about her new incarnation, and the two most popular theories involve a Hulk-like figure or a character who would have — wait for it — powerful hair. This could also involve a Medusa-like situation used for thrashing enemies with snakes or turning them into stone, but hair-associated options seem appropriate for Ashley. As one Redditor described the situation, “[G]etting her hair back and it becoming her power is almost like a symbolic reclamation of this fear and anxiety.”
Not only that, but super-hair would be a suitable weapon for attacking Antony Starr’s character. Squeeze Homelander to death or turn him into a statue, please. We will eventually learn more, but not possibly for the two years that it will take for The Boys‘ fifth and final season to arrive. At that rate, the second Gen V season will have come and gone, and the Vought Rising show might have already begun. Let’s hope.
Cillian Murphy and period dramas go together like, well, you catch my drift. The Peaky Blinders bloke and Oppenheimer star shines in historically-based dramas, even if the former was full of fictionalized characters and the latter upset an Oppenheimer family member over the “poison apple reference” as a “really serious accusation and… historical revision.” That reference did surface in the American Prometheus book as more of a question with no proof offered, but Hollywood screenwriters ran in a different direction with that fruit. Hopefully, Murphy’s next production won’t lead into those types of distractions because more serious subject matter is afoot with Blood Runs Coal.
Earlier this year, Murphy signed on to star in the film and executive produce, which makes for a busy couple of years for him after the Oscar win. And again, a book shall be adapted, so let’s hop into those details now.
Plot
Murphy had his eye on the 2020 Mark A. Bradley book, Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America, ahead of his Oscar win, and as Deadline reports, that awards week coincided with sealing the deal on acquisition rights for a Universal movie.
The book documents the 1969 triple murder of a union activist and his family in Clarksville, Pennsylvania. Joseph “Jock” Yablonski had attempted to capture the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)’s presidency and oust the corrupt Tony Boyle, who was guilty of embezzlement and assorted frauds along with being in the back pocket of Big Coal. Boyle cheated in the next election and then retaliated against Jock for daring to move against him. More from the book description:
The most infamous crimes in the history of American labor unions, the Yablonski murders triggered one of the most intensive and successful manhunts in FBI history―and also led to the first successful rank-and-file takeover of a major labor union in modern U.S. history, one that inspired workers in other labor unions to rise up and challenge their own entrenched, out-of-touch leaders.
An extraordinary portrait of one of the nation’s major unions on the brink of historical change, Blood Runs Coal comes at a time of resurgent labor movements in the United States and the current administration’s attempts to bolster the fossil fuel industry. Brilliantly researched and compellingly written, it sheds light on the far-reaching effects of industrial and socioeconomic change that unfold across America to this day.
By all available accounts, the book is a page turner, and Cillian signed on to portray Chip Yablonski, a family member who wasn’t present on the night of the murder. He spent much of his life and career (as a labor attorney) working to capture justice for his father. Those strategies included petitioning for the Labor Department to take up the case, which ran deep into the pockets of the union, uncovering even more crimes than murder in the process.
Cast
As mentioned above, Murphy has been cast as Chip Yablonski, and surely, much more talent is waiting in the wings for the casting gods to speak.
Release Date
Keep those fingers crossed. Cillian recently wrapped filming on 28 Years Later and has the Peaky Blinders movie on his schedule, so this project has some competition.
Trailer
Since the wait for a trailer has begun (and not ended), please enjoy Cillian discussing how much “I love sleeping, and I need sleep.” Relatable king.
Luna Li’s new album sounds stellar. When A Thought Grows Wings, her second album, refines the lush indie-pop she previously established on 2022’s Duality. Citing influences like ‘70s jazz flutist Bobbi Humphrey and harpist Dorthy Ashby feels appropriate; Hannah Bussiere Kim channels her multi-instrumental talents, including the flute and mini-harp, showcasing her prowess for melding classical instruments with pop-minded songwriting.
After ending a long-term relationship and relocating from her native Toronto to Los Angeles, Luna Li seemed poised for a significant sonic shift. But rather than radically altering her sound, she has refined it. From start to finish, When A Thought Grows Wings is an enchanting display of growth.
Ahead of the record’s release this Friday, Luna Li sat down with Uproxx to talk about Tame Impala, Ethiopian food, and taking ballet lessons in our latest Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Cinematic, psychedelic, warm, intricate.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
I would like my music to be remembered as something that brought warmth and beauty into the world, especially for people who don’t always feel they belong.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
I don’t know if there’s one person in particular who has inspired my work directly, but my parents are the reason I make music because they fostered a really supportive environment for me to learn as much as I could about music from an early age.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?
I stumbled upon an Ethiopian food stand in London right before a show last summer. There was no menu; they just served you what they had that night. I was so hungry that evening and it just truly hit the spot.
Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.
I saw Tame Impala at this venue called the Kool Haus in Toronto with my best friend when I was 16. Because it was such a formative time and I was such a huge fan of theirs and I got to see them at this little venue, it meant a lot to me. Also I saw Mitski at a festival once and she’s the most beautiful performer I’ve ever seen.
What song never fails to make you emotional?
“Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
Cello pickup options for my brother to join me on the cello onstage when we play our Toronto show this fall! We will need to plug it in…
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
A stranger’s living room, with a bunch of other random people who for some reason also needed a place to crash.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?
My favorite city to play in is Toronto because my whole community is there and it’s so special to be able to share my music with them. And I would love to perform one day in Seoul, which is where my dad is from.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
I’d say trust yourself and your instincts. No one else can tell you what’s best for you. I’m still learning that lesson now.
What’s one of your hidden talents?
I did 13 years of ballet as a kid, and sometimes I still go to classes for fun.
If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?
This is a hard one. Maybe I would find a social justice organization I really align with and work with them to help shape policies to benefit marginalized people, and to properly address climate change in an intersectional way. Maybe I would start my own charity to bring music education to communities that don’t have access to that. There are so many areas that need money and resources, it’s hard to choose just one.
What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?
I have mixed feelings about AI, especially having learned recently that AI data centers use a lot of energy. I think it could be an interesting tool for creatives, but I do worry about it being used in place of real artists’ work. I’m OK with it as long as there are policies in place that protect artists, and we find a more sustainable way to use it.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.
Mitski, Joni Mitchell, Björk, Solange, and Tame Impala, somewhere in rural Ontario on a lake. Actually it would be really overwhelming to me to see all of them in one day. I don’t know if I would be OK. It might need to be spread out over a few weeks so that I’d have time to process each show.
Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?
I love the ‘dust to digital’ account on Instagram. They post the coolest music clips from around the world.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
My first tattoo was a (pretty terrible) crescent moon stick and poke I got on my left calf at a party at the age of 17. People sometimes think it’s a horseshoe or the letter C.
What is your pre-show ritual?
I do vocal warmups in the green room with the band, and if we remember to, we do a pre-show handshake we made up a few years ago.
Who was your first celebrity crush?
I’m not sure. Maybe Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You.
You have a month off and the resources to take a dream vacation. Where are you going and who is coming with you?
I would love to go to Korea and Japan with my best friends or my family!
What is your biggest fear?
My fears feel a bit too scary to write down or say out loud. I’m not putting that energy out into the universe.
When A Thought Grows Wings is out 8/23 via In Real Life Music. Find more information here.
There’s something poetic about Mariah May’s path to Wembley Stadium for her AEW All In Women’s World Championship match against Toni Storm on Sunday. She grew up watching football games and concerts at the venue where she’ll be featured prominently against the woman whose path she followed to stardom.
She didn’t know how this story would culminate, how it would build to one of the greatest long term stories in AEW history, or that she’d have the opportunity to further progress the promotion’s women’s division into a focal point of weekly television.
All she knew after a 5 a.m. phone call with AEW CEO Tony Khan was that this role, this story, this opportunity was made for her. To be featured in this fashion is a dream come true for the British wrestler.
“I never imagined I would wrestle (at Wembley), and then AEW finally brought wrestling back to Wembley and kind of created this resurgence in the UK,” May tells Uproxx Sports. “So, to be able to be a part of that means so much. But the part that I’m looking forward to the most is ending Toni Storm’s career.”
May says what you see on screen is the exact nature of their relationship behind the scenes. She acknowledges that Storm was “always the top girl” in the UK, and admits that she “followed her footsteps as far as possible,” whether that was in Stardom or AEW.
“And that’s exactly why I’m going to beat her,” May says. “Because she essentially created me.”
May’s end goal was always to move to America and to wrestle on television. She saw what Storm was able to do at a young age, moving from New Zealand to the UK, working all over Europe and then Japan, and modeled her path forward based on that success.
“Once I started wrestling, I realized just how broad the wrestling industry is. I discovered Japan, I discovered Stardom. I really wanted to find who I was and to grow as a wrestler and learn all these different styles across the UK, across Europe, the Japanese style,” May says.
“For me, once AEW came around, it revolutionized wrestling, and it actually brought me back into American wrestling. I was very focused on what I was doing in Japan and becoming such a strong all-around competitor. And then Tony Khan reached out to me, and we talked at length about this incredible idea that he had. And that’s the main reason why I decided to sign with AEW so soon. I thought I might stay in Japan a little bit longer, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity because the storyline was so incredible.”
In less than a year, May and Storm have worked with RJ City, who she calls an “amazing writer,” and Khan to develop an onscreen story that incrementally built investment and intrigue as their dynamic evolved. It was one of the more straightforward storylines that didn’t involve a ton of twists and turns.
It was simply executed perfectly.
“It threads so deeply into our real life because I have really followed in her footsteps all the way until now, where I finally get to stand side by side with her at Wembley,” May says.
May thought “it felt like fate” when Khan announced that the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament winner would get a title shot at Wembley. While it’s early in her career, the resolution from the best of friends to bitter enemies is something May claims she’s planned for a long time.
“Whilst Wembley and the AEW Women’s World Championship is an incredible added bonus, the goal has always been Toni Storm,” she says. “Toni Storm is the best wrestler that we have, but her weakness is that she’s completely head in the clouds and away with the fairies. I made her fall in love with me, I made her think she was my own mother, and the fact that I stabbed her in the forehead with a shoe when her own catchphrase is ‘watch for the shoe’ entirely embodies why I will beat her at Wembley. She’s not going to see it coming.”
From a broader perspective, May sees her story as part of a larger movement across the women’s division.
“I think it’s such a positive for the AEW women’s division. I feel like we get a lot of unwarranted criticism, when in actuality we do at least three women’s segments every Dynamite. We have long-running storylines, long-running feuds. You’re seeing three women’s matches at Wembley between the main show and the pre-show, and to be a part of the biggest women’s storyline that I think we’ve ever had in AEW, it’s such an honor, but I think it’s also completely justified,” May says. “I think we’ve all worked incredibly hard, from the writing team with R.J. to Tony Khan’s original idea to Toni and I. I think it’s completely deserved and what everyone is going to see at Wembley is going to be the cinematic masterpiece that perfectly concludes a year of just hard work and heart that has gone into this.”
With a roster bursting with talent, May has endless directions to go after Sunday. She’s long spoken about a dream match with the current TBS Women’s Champion, Mercedes Moné, and seems open to the idea of a blockbuster showdown in the near future.
“Mercedes Moné was a huge signing for AEW and she is a conversation starter, so it’s always good to mix it up with people that are going to make people talk. I think she’s an incredible wrestler and I have my eyes on her match, too,” May says.
“I’m interested to see who prevails, if it will be her or if it will be Britt Baker, who’s obviously the AEW original girl, who I’d love to have a singles (match) with as well. Either way, I know I’m walking out of Wembley as the Women’s World Champion, which is the top women’s belt. So whether it be Britt or Mercedes, I’d love to wrestle them. Maybe title for title down the line, maybe next year in Texas.”
Ever since Ashanti and Nelly reportedly rekindled their romance last spring, fans haven’t been able to get enough of the cute couple, which rumors of a pregnancy swirling just eight months later — which Ashanti eventually confirmed. And hey, wouldn’t you know it, nine months after that, here we are: Ashanti has announced the birth of the couple’s first child together, Kareem Kenkaide Hayes, on Instagram. That makes Ashanti’s first and Nelly’s sixth.
In the post, Ashanti wrote: “Funny how life’s plans aren’t…always on time.. lol. I’ve been waiting to be a mom for a long time now but nothing could prepare me for EVERYTHING motherhood brings! This is what postpartum looks like… I’m so proud of my body for giving me my baby, baby, baby, baby, baby.” People also got a statement from a rep, which read, “Ashanti and Nelly welcomed their baby boy, Kareem Kenkaide Hayes, on July 18, 2024. The proud and happy parents are so in love with KK!” That means baby Kareem is a month old, but it makes sense that the couple would take time to adjust to parenthood before making an official announcement.
The whirlwind romance not only brought a new baby, but also marriage; in June, it was reported that the couple had privately gotten married, although they hadn’t had an official ceremony yet.
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