Shane Bacon and Matt McCarty are back with the first Get a Grip episode of the new year! Shane has Matt recap his week at The Sentry, the PGA Tour's first tournament of the 2025 season. Matt shares his impressions of the Plantation Course at Kapalua and stories from his first week playing in a Signature Event on the PGA Tour. The two also discuss how Matt will fill out his schedule for the rest of the season, including Matt's first thoughts about this week's Sony Open.
Jan 08, 2025•28 min
On this episode, Shane Bacon is once again joined by Matt McCarty as the two wrap up the FedEx Fall on the PGA Tour. Shane and Matt discuss Matt's missed cut at the season-ending RSM Classic and his grouping with Luke Clanton and Ludvig Åberg before reflecting on the fall swing as a whole. Matt grades his initial performance on the PGA Tour which included his first win at the Black Desert Championship but also some struggles in other events. Matt details his takeaways from playing alongside a to...
Nov 26, 2024•36 min
Shane Bacon and Matt McCarty are back to recap last week's Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas and look ahead a bit at Matt's 2025 schedule on the PGA Tour. To start this episode, Shane and Matt discuss their love for different golf courses as Matt is back in Chicago to play at Medinah this week. They touch on Matt's time in Las Vegas and how he and his friends celebrated coming off his first career win at the Black Desert Championship. From there, Shane asks Matt about growing up playing juni...
Oct 24, 2024•41 min
In this new season of Get a Grip, Shane Bacon is joined by PGA Tour winner and the No. 1 player on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour points list Matt McCarty. Matt won his first PGA Tour event last week at the Black Desert Championship in just his third career start. In this season premiere episode, Shane and Matt discuss Matt's week in Utah leading up to his win, his work with a mental skills coach and how he feels that helps him, and his three-win 2024 season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Matt expresses his ...
Oct 17, 2024•38 min
Shane Bacon and Andrew Putnam return to the feed to discuss Andrew's first trip to St. Andrews after his T-25 finish at the Dunhill Links last week. The two discuss what's so special about the town of St. Andrews, the challenges of links golf at this time of year, and how players navigate the layout of the Dunhill Links across three different courses. Andrew shares how he prepared for such a unique tournament, and the two highlight the pro-am aspect of the Dunhill as well. After wrapping up on S...
Oct 09, 2024•41 min
Shane Bacon and Andrew Putnam are back to break down Andrew's 2024 FedEx Cup season following the Wyndham Championship. The episode begins with the pair reminiscing about golf trips of the past and what courses they've recently crossed off bucket lists before diving into Andrew's early offseason plans. Shane and Andrew discuss Andrew's missed cut at the Wyndham and 73rd place finish in the FedEx Cup standings. They talk about finding silver linings in negative things, such as getting some time o...
Aug 20, 2024•39 min
Shane Bacon and Andrew Putnam return as the PGA Tour's regular season wraps up with this week's Wyndham Championship. To start, the two break down Andrew's performance at the 3M Open ahead of the Olympics. Andrew discusses his walk-and-talk interview with the CBS broadcast on Saturday and what he thinks he found on Sunday that allowed him to rebound to close out that tournament. After that, Shane and Andrew turn to the current FedEx Cup standings, as Andrew sits ranked 73rd in the race for the T...
Aug 06, 2024•43 min
Shane Bacon and Andrew Putnam are back to recap last week's Barracuda Championship and look ahead to the rest of the PGA Tour season. The two start by talking through Xander Schauffele's win at the Open Championship before moving to Andrew's top-25 finish in Tahoe. Shane and Andrew hit on the pros of having a stableford scoring event on tour and how that can impact how players attack holes. After breaking down why the Barracuda is Andrew's favorite week on the calendar, the conversation shifts t...
Jul 23, 2024•46 min
Shane Bacon is joined by a Scotland-based Andrew Putnam as the PGA Tour season heads overseas for the Scottish Open this weekend! Shane and Andrew discuss the John Deere Classic before getting into Andrew's time in Scotland thus far, his round at North Berwick and how players are excited for the next two weeks of links golf. The conversation then touches on the difficulties of traveling and being alone while on Tour before wrapping up with a look ahead at the Scottish Open.
Jul 09, 2024•48 min
Shane and Andrew are back to break down a thrilling U.S. Open played last week at Pinehurst No. 2. The two dive into the duel between Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau and offer thoughts on how the course played before welcoming on the winning caddie, Greg Bodine. Greg, Shane and Andrew discuss Bryson's equipment changes on Sunday, his bunker shot to set up the winning putt and go behind-the-scenes of the week from the winner's perspective.
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Shane and Andrew are back to break down Andrew's U.S. Open sectional qualifying experience plus his prep and thoughts on The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. The two dive into some personal updates including child birthdays, remodeling Andrew's house and coffee preferences. Finally, they round off the discussion with the age old question "Do short course hole-in-ones count?" plus Andrews thoughts on the PGA-Suadi PIF negotiations.
Jun 05, 2024•51 min
Shane and Andrew are back to recap the PGA Championship where Andrew finished T-53. He shares his thoughts about the conditions at Valhalla, low scores, and mudballs. The bizarre circumstances of Friday morning are also discussed from both Shane and Andrew's perspectives. Lastly, Andrew talks about makes Xander so good and offers some insight into Bryson's week before wrapping up the episode looking ahead to this week at Colonial.
May 22, 2024•43 min
The Get a Grip Podcast is back with a new format. PGA Tour Member, Andrew Putnam, co-hosts a 6 part series with Shane Bacon. Putnam shares an inside scoop into his lifestyle on tour on and off the golf course. The two dive into traveling with family and kids, growing up playing with Andrew's brother, Michael who played on the PGA Tour, and where his game is at right now. They round out the convo with discussion on Pinehurst and Valhalla plus some quick hitting get-to-know-you questions.
May 15, 2024•45 min
Get a Grip started as a collab between two golf people who live and consume golf in totally different ways. The idea was to have someone from the media (Shane Bacon) and someone on Tour (Max Homa) cohost a podcast together. We are getting back to exactly that with the reintroduction of Get a Grip! Partnered with Fried Egg Golf, Get a Grip will continue to match media and a pro together on the mic. The first mini-season of Get a Grip will star Shane and the clever Andrew Putnam wading into the po...
May 10, 2024•3 min
Shane has his longtime buddy Ashdon Woods on the pod to unpack into their recent trip to Streamsong Golf Resort in Florida. They cover the highlights from the three courses and the Chain, a new short course on the property, before reviewing the surrounding amenities, like the stellar hotel and food scene. All great tips for those looking to plan a trip to the Florida resort in the future. They end the pod with some fun stories from their days on the mini tours, Ashdon's hole-in-one this year on ...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 130
A great chat this week with LET Tour player Meghan MacLaren about her life as a professional golfer. Meghan talks about growing up in a golf family, her experiences playing on the Epson Tour in the States, and why writing has been such an amazing outlet for her while chasing her dream. Meghan has an awesome series that dropped this year with Skratch that is definitely worth your time so give the first episode a watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC3ji4YhxpY Also, her website that ...
Nov 16, 2023•49 min•Ep. 129
This week's guest is a great one as Patrick Koenig joins the show to talk about his RGV Tour. Patrick and Shane discuss his recent world record-breaking moment on the golf course, how much you still love golf when you've played nearly 500 courses in a year and plenty more! Patrick is one of the good guys in golf so make sure to give him a follow (@pjkoenig) and check out his website for all the tales from the road! https://www.pjkoenig.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 10, 2023•41 min•Ep. 128
It's been long overdue to have Kate Smith on the podcast so we are happy to report she is in fact this week's guest! Kate talks about her great season Epson Tour, what flipped from her rookie year to this level of consistent play, and what she will do to prep for Q-School later this year. Then, Kate and Shane talk about how they got into business together and started Ground Under Repair. Kate talks about the balance between owning a business and playing high-level professional golf and how fun i...
Oct 25, 2023•51 min•Ep. 127
If you missed the Korn Ferry Tour Championship earlier this month, you missed one of the most gutting moments in the history of professional golf. Shad Tuten was right around the top-30 number on Sunday needing to finish strong to get his PGA Tour card for 2024. Shad got penalized on the 15th hole and that two-shot penalty cost him his PGA Tour card, eventually finishing 32nd on the points list. After a couple of months to reflect, Shad joined Shane on the pod to talk about that Sunday, the ruli...
Oct 18, 2023•51 min•Ep. 126
If you live in the northeast you know that we are getting closer and closer to simulator szn. It's basically here for us cold-weathered people and that means the attention turns to indoor golf options so I thought it made sense to chat a little with a man who started a company to make simulator work easier for the consumer. Carl (The Carl behind Carl's Place) chatted about the business, the Covid boom for his business, and what makes a good simulator room. A huge thanks to Carl for the time! ___...
Oct 13, 2023•33 min•Ep. 125
Max Homa returns to the podcast after his first Ryder Cup experience to break the whole week down. The two open the podcast talking about the Dodgers run in the playoffs and what a real offseason will look like for Max before diving into the Ryder Cup that wrapped on Sunday. Max talks about playing with Brian Harman, the vibe of the event, and how word spread internally about the whole Cantlay/Rory/LaCava situation. Max and Shane also talked about the state of American alternate shot and what ca...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 124
One of the best events of the entire year in golf is upon us, and who better to have than Golf Digest's Joel Beall on the show to break it all down? Joel is live from the media center at Marco Simone to give us his initial thoughts on the golf course, who he thinks it favors, why it'll be an awesome match play course and plenty more. The two then dive into which player on each side must have a good week for their team to win, the Rory struggles as of late in Ryder Cups and who is likely to go ou...
Sep 27, 2023•47 min•Ep. 123
Fresh off his third U.S. Mid-Am title, Stewart Hagestad swings by to chat with Shane about the win at Sleepy Hollow. The two discuss the difference between his first mid-am to the most recent one, what he still has left to accomplish in his amateur career, and how cool it will be for Hagestad to play in a U.S. Open (in 2024 at Pinehurst thanks to his mid-am win) where he played his first ever USGA event (2008 U.S. Amateur). They cover a variety of topics like the recent Walker Cup experience at ...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 122
One of the most fun pods of the year is here with Joel Dahmen and Geno Bonnalie, who were gracious enough to have a little fun at their own expense. Geno, who has looped for Joel for nine years, presents his top-five list of the worst shots and/or worst caddie calls of the two's partnership. It's an amazing conversation between two of the nicest guys in golf and a fun offseason reminder that even the best in the world can hit awful, awful golf shots at times (and pro-level caddies can occasional...
Sep 08, 2023•57 min•Ep. 121
A fun change to this week's podcast, as Shane traveled to Scotland last month to check out a true links course that is getting a makeover. The Links Golf Club recently purchased Spey Bay and hired the DeVries Designs team to do a full renovation of the property. Mike DeVries, Michael Clayton, and Frank Pont join Shane from Spey Bay to chat about the job, the architectural excitement of getting a chance to work on a true piece of links land in Scotland, and plenty more. Plus, Jim Daily and Adam B...
Sep 01, 2023•45 min•Ep. 120
The pod is flipped today with Claire Rogers of Golf.com fame taking hosting duties to ask Shane questions about his U.S. Amateur experience. Shane chats about the week, how tough Cherry Hills played and the difficulty of competing at a championships level. The two then dive into the comeback season for Bryson DeChambeau, what's left the rest of the year for both in terms of golf travel and plenty more! A big thanks to Claire for her time - make sure you're following her on all social platforms a...
Aug 18, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 119
Before Shane departs for Denver to compete in his first-ever U.S. Amateur he catches up with the 2016 champion, Curtis Luck. Curtis and Shane talk about the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season and what has worked as of late for Curtis before reminiscing about his win at Oakland Hills. Curtis talks about a fairway bunker shot he hit in the stroke play that got him really going that week, how the two previous U.S. Ams he played in helped in terms of a conservative approach to stroke play, and then gives S...
Aug 11, 2023•35 min•Ep. 118
On this week's Get a Grip, Shane chats with Golf Digest's Joel Beall about the Justin Thomas debate surrounding the upcoming Ryder Cup. Should JT's incredible Ryder Cup record (and ability to get under the skin of the Europeans) be enough to earn him a spot even with the very spot season he's having? Joel and Shane discuss JT on the team, then move to what this American team might actually look like considering how many guys from Whistling Straits won't be a part of the 12. A reminder to follow ...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 117
One of the coolest events in all of golf wrapped last week in Pinehurst, and we have one of the most impactful players in the field here to recap the championship. Alex Fourie joins Shane to chat about the second U.S. Adaptive Open, what the week means to that community, and how cool it is to see this tournament alongside historical events like the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open. Alex then gets into how he got into the game, what it means to be a role model to so many people out there and plent...
Jul 20, 2023•34 min•Ep. 116
The old guy gets through! A day after qualifying for his first U.S. Amateur, Shane chats about the day, the experience, and how hyped he is to get out to Colorado. Shane discusses what has clicked lately with his golf game, his mental game, and his approach to competitive golf and then gets into the day at Bonnie Briar. He also gives a huge shoutout to Kevin, his caddie for the day, for leaning into the aggressive play that led to some late birdies and helped him snag one of two spots into the b...
Jul 12, 2023•26 min•Ep. 115
