Earlier this year Golf Digest was looking for college golfers to star in a video that would showcase how a new Adobe tool could be used by lovers of the sport.
There are 1,300 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 college golf programs in the U.S. but typically the talent pipeline for pro golf 鈥� and its preeminent publication 鈥� runs through powerhouse NCAA Division I schools such as Oklahoma State, Stanford, and Wake Forest.
For this video production though, Golf Digest turned to Division III and 乐播传媒 College. To demonstrate the creative reach and user-friendly qualities of Firefly, Adobe’s generative AI tool, Golf Digest followed members of the 乐播传媒 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 golf teams as they explored its potential applications to build idealized golf holes.
Shot in Lewiston and Auburn on a single day in May, the result is a that debuted this month, starring many 乐播传媒 golfers adorned in Bobcat-merch, the Martindale Country Club, and campus locations that included Pettengill Hall鈥檚 Perry Atrium.
乐播传媒 landed on Golf Digest鈥檚 radar through connections with two 乐播传媒 golfers. The first is a current student, Charlie Weinman 鈥�27, a politics major from Rye, N.Y., whose father, Sam Weinman, is the publication鈥檚 digital editorial director.
But Sam Weinman鈥檚 connection to 乐播传媒 predates his parental one. For Golf Digest in 2018, he profiled a teenage golfer, Sam Gerry 鈥�24, who at that time was by drawing on his own experience. Gerry went on to attend 乐播传媒 and play golf. Over that time, Weinman followed his progress. Then, when Charlie Weinman was first considering 乐播传媒, he got a campus tour from Sam Gerry.
During Golf Digest鈥檚 brainstorming sessions for the Adobe project, the idea of using a small-college team came up. Weinman said his colleagues 鈥渒new that Charlie was having a great experience at 乐播传媒.鈥� They included Stina Sternberg, an executive with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports who leads video and branded content for the publication and who ultimately made the call to select the Bobcat team for the Adobe project.
Watch the Golf Digest video:
Filming day was May 20. Production started at 乐播传媒鈥� historic home course, Martindale Country Club in Auburn, then shifted to campus, where the golfers used Firefly to imagine, design, and create realistic visual images of their own golf holes 鈥� all in front of a production team capturing their every move.
The weather was familiar Maine 鈥渟pring鈥� weather: cloudy skies, north winds gusting to 20 mph, and a temperature that barely reached 50 degrees. The day鈥檚 first scene focused on one of the course鈥檚 signature holes, the par-3 9th hole, a precipitously downhill hole that plays 180 yards from the white tees.
From a storytelling standpoint, it was the perfect place to begin. Since the course opened in 1921, the elevated tee has felt magical. 鈥淐limb to the very crest, keep your eyes on the ground until you reach the summit, and then turn around and drink it in,鈥� exhorted the Lewiston Sun Journal in its review of the new Auburn course. (Today Martindale Country Club is owned by Nick Glicos, whose son Evan graduated from 乐播传媒 in 2024 with an economics degree.)
Atop the windy hill, the film crew assumed their positions on the 9th tee. Down below, the 乐播传媒 golfers were gathered on the green. 鈥淎ction,鈥� said supervising producer Michael Sneeden, and three handheld cameras captured video, and a drone tracked the action from above, as the golfers completed a cinematic walk up the steep hill. There, they met Derek Duncan, Golf Digest鈥檚 architecture editor and host of the podcast Feed the Ball.
With cameras rolling, Duncan offered a historical primer on golf course design. He explained the history and legacy of Charles Blair Macdonald (1855鈥�1939), who studied classic U.K. holes and brought their strategic brilliance to his U.S. designs. 鈥淢acdonald had a set of what he considered his 鈥榠deal鈥� golf holes, and he worked to design courses from those holes,鈥� he said, referring to Macdonald鈥檚 concept of 鈥渢emplate holes,鈥� basic layouts that could be tweaked and adapted for any terrain or setting, but that would always be playable, fun, and challenging for all golfers.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you will do with Adobe Firefly,鈥� Duncan said. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l use inspirations from holes that you’ve played, some from your own hometown courses, and from your travels. Think about what you like and don’t like about those courses.鈥�
He asked them to look down at the 9th green, which has Beech Hill Road passing right behind the hole. The hole鈥檚 design reflects strategic course design: To help the golfer keep the road behind the green out of play, there鈥檚 a generous, safe landing area in front of the green.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want a road to be part of a hole鈥檚 strategy, unless you鈥檙e talking St. Andrews,鈥� Duncan told the golfers, referring to the famed Road Hole, where a road behind the green and along the right side of the fairway becomes a critical part of a golfer鈥檚 decision-making.
From the 9th tee, the production team and the 乐播传媒 golfers moved to the 12th, a straight 484-yard par 5 where a right-handed golfer could slice the ball into the Little Androscoggin River that runs alongside the fairway.
As Duncan walked the 12th fairway and talked with the 乐播传媒 golfers, the 16-member production team 鈥� camera and audio operators, drone specialists, producers, directors, and executives 鈥� moved in a loose orbit around them. The video team came from IMG Media, based in London, with freelance professionals capturing audio.
Duncan asked what made the hole challenging. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just so straight,鈥� said one 乐播传媒 golfer. As they advanced down the fairway, team captain Will Phillips 鈥�25 of Portland, Ore., took note of Duncan鈥檚 approach to the course, which was instructive beyond golf.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the way he walks a golf course: He walks slow, and he takes time to look at all the undulations in the green, to look at where a good miss might be off the tee.鈥� (A 鈥済ood miss鈥� is a shot that misses the golfer鈥檚 intended mark but doesn鈥檛 find deep trouble.) 鈥淗e takes his time to gather in what is all around him before he makes any remarks or gives his opinion.鈥�
For Phillips, the morning exercise at Martindale turned the typical golf experience inside out. Like other individual sports, golf demands an inward focus. But like only a handful of other sports, such as skiing or running cross country, golf鈥檚 playing venue changes dramatically with each match, which tests the golfer鈥檚 ability to stay focused, block out distractions, and make smart decisions under pressure.
鈥淲e just came off our season,鈥� explained Phillips. 鈥淧ractice, practice, practice, and play, play, play. You work to get comfortable with yourself in your own head. You find little techniques to stay on it mentally.鈥�
But as Phillips walked the Martindale golf course with Duncan, he realized that to view the course as a creative course designer, he needed to step outside 鈥渢he player mentality and into the designer mentality, and visit the game of golf without having to be completely locked in, dialed in, and focused on yourself.鈥�
His teammate, Henry Ehrlich 鈥�26, also from Portland, Ore., was similarly struck by how Duncan invited the group to shift their thinking. Duncan asked the golfers to imagine how any given hole might be different, and how that would affect someone鈥檚 experience.
鈥淲hen you’re on the course as a golfer, it’s such a mental sport. It’s so easy to get in your own head,鈥� Ehrlich said. 鈥淭hinking about the way the course is constructed and how everything’s laid out isn鈥檛 something that’s always at the top of your mind.鈥�
鈥淵ou gave us gold. You blew all of us away with your engagement, enthusiasm, smart questions and answers, and, yes, design skills.鈥� 鈥� Stina Sternberg, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports
For example, said Ehrlich, when he鈥檚 on Martindale鈥檚 9th tee, 鈥渕inus wind, I鈥檒l hit the same club no matter what. I know where I’m going to be, because I’d rather be short in that collection area than be long.鈥� (That鈥檚 an example of the 鈥済ood miss.鈥�) 鈥淲hen you realize that the hole is designed for that purpose, that it鈥檚 how you’re supposed to play the hole, the architecture makes more sense.鈥�
At its heart, a liberal arts education teaches students to ask the question 鈥渨hy,鈥� and that played out even during the experience of starring in an advertising product. Mehar Nijjer 鈥�27, a psychology major from Chandigarh, India, said that her mindset on the tee would typically be focused on tactics. 鈥淗it the ball to this target, avoid that hazard.鈥�
Now, she has 鈥渨hy鈥� in mind. 鈥淚’m thinking much more about strategy and the architect’s intended path. I ask questions like, 鈥榃hy is this bunker here? What is the best angle of attack to this green, and why?鈥� It鈥檚 no longer just about hitting a good shot but about hitting the right shot for the situation, based on a deeper understanding of the hole鈥檚 design.鈥�
Her teammate Isabelle Meltzer 鈥�28 of Summit, N.J., agrees. 鈥淎 big part of scoring in golf is being good at course management 鈥� taking into account shot shapes, risk vs. reward for certain shapes, and where to place balls on the green. Walking the course gave me more things to think about when it comes to where I want to be on a green or fairway in a competition.鈥�
After the morning at Martindale, everyone headed back to Perry Atrium in Pettengill Hall where the 乐播传媒 golfers broke into groups and used what they saw and heard from Duncan to take a crack at designing their own golf holes using Adobe Firefly.
During a break in the afternoon shooting, Michael Sneeden, the project鈥檚 supervising producer, was asked what the 乐播传媒 students were bringing to the project. He used the example of a Venn diagram, how a series of circles might explain a video project that uses volunteer student talent.
Sneeden rattled off the circles of need. One, of course, was being top-flight golfers 鈥渁t a great college.鈥� Then being available and willing to give their time, the ability to 鈥渢ake physical direction as we move the cameras around,鈥� and, finally, the ability to speak on camera, 鈥渢houghtfully, respectfully, and intelligently.鈥�
Like other Adobe products such as Photoshop and Illustrator, Firefly enables users to create and enhance visual content. It uses generative AI, which means users can produce images, including text effects and other visual attributes, by typing a text description. The 乐播传媒 students also used Firefly Boards, a collaborative tool to help with the overall ideation.
Phillips鈥� team took a crack at designing a variation of the par-3 12th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters. First, they used Adobe Fresco, a free drawing tool, to make rough sketches, then used Firefly to make the hole look real, with lush greens, swaying trees, and a vivid water hazard fronting the green. They didn鈥檛 touch the iconic green, but instead imagined new tee boxes. 鈥淲e gave them four new options, differing yardages, which creates more or less of a battle with that traditional angle across the green.鈥�
Meanwhile, Nijjer found inspiration from across the country, designing a dogleg-right par 5 that features stunning redwood trees sometimes found on northern California courses like Northwood Golf Club in Monte Rio. 鈥淲e felt this provided a unique and scenic element that is not often seen in golf course architecture,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 key element was ensuring the hole was accessible and engaging for golfers of all abilities.鈥�
That鈥檚 what the Golf Digest team wanted to see. 鈥淭he engagement from the 乐播传媒 golfers comes a lot from the fact that they鈥檙e so genuine,鈥� said Sneeden.
Since 2021, NCAA student-athletes can profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) through endorsement deals and other business ventures. At the Division I level, this means millions going to top athletes.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e making a ton of money, which means they often already have media training by the time they get to college,鈥� said Sneeden.
What the Golf Digest team found at 乐播传媒 was golfing excellence among the men and women on the golf team. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be professional in their fields, just not professional golfers. They gave us their honest opinions, not something manufactured.鈥�
Or as Stina Sternberg put it in a thank you note to the golfers: 鈥淵ou gave us gold. You blew all of us away with your engagement, enthusiasm, smart questions and answers, and, yes, design skills.鈥�
Jay Burns recently retired from 乐播传媒 Communications and Marketing after a 32-year career that included many titles and ended with senior editorial director. He edited 乐播传媒 Magazine for much of his career at 乐播传媒 and will continue to contribute to the college’s publications as a freelancer.
