May 18, 2026

What it Really Took to Film the Desert Classic Docuseries with Carly Gilleland

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In this episode of T-Time with Tori, I sit down with Carly Gilleland, the creative force behind The Good Vibe Studios and the director who turned an idea I had in the car one day into a six-part documentary series. We walk through everything that went into The Making of the Desert Classic — the Taylor Swift moment that sparked it, the pre-production scramble, the mental health story I almost didn’t tell, the literal storm on day two, the confetti disaster nobody saw coming, and what it actually takes to turn hundreds of hours of footage into something that feels real.

The Taylor Swift Moment

The idea started, honestly, while I was watching Taylor Swift’s documentary on a plane. I love a highlight reel as much as anyone, but the behind-the-scenes footage was the part I couldn’t stop thinking about. The team. The crew. The personalities. Everyone whose name doesn’t go on the poster.

We’d worked with The Good Vibe Studios on Desert Classic content for years — mostly highlight reels and marketing pieces. So I called Carly and pitched something different.

"Let’s focus on the team. Let’s see what it actually takes."

Carly said yes before I could talk myself out of it.

Saying Yes Before I Could Talk Myself Out of it

The minute I committed, my brain did what brains do — it panicked about being on camera. Horizontal video adds five pounds, every angle is wrong, and you suddenly become aware of how often you scratch your face. But I knew if I waited until I felt ready, I’d never do it. So I went all in and accepted whatever was going to happen.

Carly’s perspective was the calming part of that. Her background is documentary, so she wanted the rawness. She wanted the unscripted moments. Whatever showed up on camera — good day, bad day, full meltdown — was the actual point.

Building the Skeleton

Our first real pre-production meeting was at the beginning of February. The tournament was in March, which gave us roughly six weeks to figure out a store we'd never told before.

By the end of that meeting, we had the shape locked: six episodes, thirty minutes each, with Episode 1 as the origin story so anyone stumbling across the series on YouTube could understand who these characters are and what the Desert Classic actually is. From there, three production days at the tournament itself, and a finale that pulled the whole thing together.

"We had the skeleton, but we also had to leave room for whatever was going to walk in front of the camera."

That balance — structure plus the flexibility to chase whatever surprised us — turned out to be the whole game.

The Interview I Almost Didn’t Do

The most vulnerable part of the series came out of an interview Carly did back in January, before any of the tournament footage existed.

For years I’d been carrying around a low-grade dread heading into Desert Classic week — the kind of bone-deep tired where you know your body and your mind aren’t quite right but you push through anyway because you have to. I’d started new medication only a couple of days before the interview, and for the first time in a long time I actually felt like myself.

I told Carly the whole story, on camera, and afterward I almost asked her not to use it. I’m so glad I didn’t.

"It’s part of my life now. It’s going to be with me forever."

The Storm

Week two of Desert Classic this year landed in the rainiest March Arizona has had in decades.

Picture this: 220 women on the course, daylight running out, and a forecast that keeps shifting by the hour. I was on the phone, on radios, on text threads, trying to figure out whether we could squeeze in a few more holes or whether we should bring everyone in. With just a couple of holes left for the afternoon group, the lighting started. I had to make the tough decision to count the first day as a practice round to keep it simple and fair.

"When in doubt, keep it simple. Accept that you’ll make someone mad. Move on."

That decision has aged well. The simpler version was the right version.

The Great Confetti Disaster

The Monday-night party is one of my favorite things we did this year — Bingo Loco! They brought confetti cannons, lights, dancing, the whole show. This year we hired a production company to build the room out, and the moment those cannons fired I stood in the middle of the pavilion and almost cried. It was that good.

What I did not understand was the volume of confetti those cannons produced. Or that some of it would blow outside. Or that the sprinklers would come on overnight.

We were out on the grass at 9:30 PM on a Monday picking up individual pieces of paper. We knew it was a daunting task that required more energy than we had after a full day. We decided to come back in early the next morning and finish up. Little did we know, someone else would beat us to the course the next day and take care of the clean up without us!

The Awards Ceremony I’m Most Proud Of

My biggest pet peeve at any tournament I’ve ever played in: the awards ceremony. You sit there forever, the energy drops, and by the time they get to your flight nobody’s clapping anymore.

After five years of running Desert Classic, the closing ceremony is the thing I’m most proud of. We move fast. We get cheers from flight one all the way through flight ten. The girlfriends and roommates of the winners scream across the room. Everyone gets their moment.

We also give out a Desert Classic flag instead of the standard trophy you’ll throw in a closet. People frame those flags. They get them signed. They turn them into something that lives on a wall.

"It’s a piece of the day they actually want to keep."

Aubrey, Color-Coded Quotes, and the Real Editor

Carly is generous about credit, and she made a point of saying it on the record: her editor Aubrey is the reason the series feels the way it feels.

Aubrey went through hours of interview footage and color-coded every soundbite — by speaker, by topic, by emotional tone. Foreshadowing, callbacks, payoffs — all of it was mapped out in advance because she’d done the unglamorous work first. By the time she started building episodes, the storylines were already in her head.

I’m in the content business too, and I had a new appreciation for how much craft is hiding inside something that looks effortless. Four terabytes of footage. Most of it doesn’t make the cut. The pieces that do are pulled out with intention.

"She wants the drama and the emotion. She listens. And she tells the story."

“To Be a Better Photographer, Be a Better Person”

One of my favorite moments in the conversation was when Everardo, our event photographer, shared the best advice he ever got — from a mentor early in his career.

"If you want to be a better photographer, be a better person." People give you back what you bring to them.

You can feel that across the entire series. The reason people opened up on camera isn’t because of the lighting or the gear. It’s because the person holding the camera is someone they trust.

What’s Next: The 2026 Creek Cup

We’re not done with Carly. We’re already deep in conversations about filming the 2026 Creek Cup — our Ryder Cup-style team event with captains, uniforms, and one of the best courses in the country.

The tone will be different from Desert Classic. More golf. More competition. More following the leaderboard. But the same heartbeat behind it: real people, real personalities, captured the way they actually are.

"It’s new territory for us — which is exactly why we’re excited."

Conclusion

What I keep coming back to is how much of the Desert Classic series happens outside the highlight reel. The crew on the grass in the middle of the night. The interview that almost didn’t make it in. The decision to call a round short. The flag someone takes home and frames.

That’s the whole reason we made the series in the first place. The highlight reel is the part everyone sees. The behind-the-scenes is the part that matters.

Huge thanks to Carly, Ashley, and the entire Good Vibe Studios team for making this real. All the links to watch the series are below.

Watch the Making of the Desert Classic Docuseries Now!!