James Duncan has had over 30 years of experience in golf course architecture and has worked with Tom Doak and Gil Hanse in addition to being a longtime associate with Coore & Crenshaw. He joins Andy Johnson to talk about how he got his start in the business and what brought him from his native Denmark to America. He and Andy discuss his experiences at Austin Golf Club, Hidden Creek, and the ill-fated Dos Pueblos project, and they wrap up with an update on the Brambles project outside of Napa...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 384
Given the turmoil that has dominated men’s professional golf this year, a Rory McIlroy victory in the Open Championship at St. Andrews would have been a storybook ending to the major season. Well, too bad. Cameron Smith, as he reminded us in the process of dismantling the Old Course on Sunday, is really, really good at golf. To break down all of the action as well as the deeper storylines, Garrett Morrison speaks with Jamie Weir ( @jamiecweir ), golf correspondent for Sky Sports; Joseph LaMagna ...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 383
How did the Old Course at St. Andrews become what it is today? Garrett Morrison takes a break from the action at the 150th Open Championship to chat with historian Bob Crosby ( @otey71 ) about how golf’s most famous and influential course changed—in surprisingly radical ways—during the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. This evolution, Bob argues, has a lot to teach us about the nature of strategic course design. It also accounts for why the Old Course continues to...
Jul 15, 2022•52 min•Ep. 382
The 150th Open Championship is almost here, so Michael Clayton ( @mikeclaytongolf ) joins Andy Johnson to run through five storylines to watch for this week. Tiger, Rory, and the biggest star of week, St. Andrews, are all covered. Michael also discusses which fellow Australians he hopes to see in contention and tells some stories about his experiences playing in three Opens at the Old Course. There's also some LIV chatter, but only a few minutes' worth... promise! See omnystudio.com/listener for...
Jul 10, 2022•52 min•Ep. 381
Andy Johnson will take his maiden voyage to St. Andrews for next week's Open Championship. To prepare, he talks with a series of guests about their first visits to the Old Course. Tom Doak, James Duncan, Shane Bacon (@shanebacon), Michael Clayton (@mikeclaytongolf), Gil Hanse, and Zac Blair (@z_blair) all talk with Andy about their first impressions, what surprised them, and what they took away from their first trip to the Home of Golf. Time stamps: (3:15) Tom Doak (7:02) James Duncan (10:31) Sh...
Jul 08, 2022•33 min•Ep. 380
This past weekend, the second event of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational series was staged at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland, Oregon. The Fried Egg's own Garrett Morrison was on site, and he joins Andy Johnson to reflect on what he saw. Garrett and Andy talk about the shotgun start, the team format, player attitudes, and a variety of other topics. They also make some projections about the futures of both LIV and the PGA Tour. Warning: if you'd rather not see men's professional ...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 379
With the 150th edition of the Open kicking off at the Old Course in a little less than two weeks, Tom Doak and Andy Johnson devote an entire episode to St. Andrews. Tom has gotten to know the course deeply over multiple decades, so he has a lot of thoughts on what first-time visitors should do and what makes the Old Course one of a kind. The bunkers, the reverse routing, and the evolution of the course are all discussed in depth. We hope this gets you excited for the final men's major of the yea...
Jul 01, 2022•53 min•Ep. 378
In the latest installment of the Yolk with Doak, golf architect Tom Doak covers a wide range of topics with Andy Johnson. First, they spend some time examining Saudi Arabia's role in golf outside of the LIV tour, namely the kingdom's massive investment in golf course construction. Tom also provides updates on his current activities, which include the recently announced second course at Cabot Highlands, formerly known as Castle Stuart. Finally, Tom and Andy run through listener questions about th...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 377
With the KPMG Women's PGA Championship underway, Andy Johnson welcomes Pete Wendt ( @PeteWendtCCC ) to the latest edition of our Superintendent Series. Pete is the Director of Golf Courses and Grounds at Congressional Country Club, which is hosting the third women's major of the year this week. The Blue Course will be showing off its new look after an extensive renovation by Andrew Green that was completed last year. Pete talks about how Green's vision became reality and which aspects of the cou...
Jun 24, 2022•37 min•Ep. 376
The 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline was an instant classic. It had all the key ingredients: a great course, a tough setup, a variety of big names in contention, a dramatic final-round duel, and a champion who sealed victory with an extraordinary shot on the 72nd hole. To discuss all of this and more, Garrett Morrison talks with four guests. First up is Nick Hardy ( @NickHardy8 ), an up-and-coming tour pro who, at one point on Sunday afternoon, found himself two shots off the lead...
Jun 21, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 375
The late 1800s saw the invention of an important institution: the American country club. This week’s U.S. Open venue, The Country Club in Brookline, was the first—or at least one of the first. By the beginning of the 20th century, most major cities east of Chicago had several golf-focused clubs. What were the reasons for this proliferation? And what can we learn from the origins of country-club life in America? To get some answers, Garrett Morrison talks to Richard J. (“Pete”) Moss, a retired hi...
Jun 17, 2022•41 min•Ep. 374
It's U.S. Open week! To give a preview of the action, Andy Johnson sits down with Tron Carter ( @TronCarterNLU ) and runs through five things they'll be watching for at The Country Club in Brookline. They touch on the virtues of the host city, the challenges of the course, the players who might be best prepared to take on TCC's small greens and heavy rough, the potential activities of Team Reed, and the long shadow cast by the insurgent LIV league. The Fried Egg and No Laying Up have team member...
Jun 13, 2022•58 min•Ep. 373
This episode concludes our series “The Open Doctor and His Monster,” which chronicles the origins, rise, and end of the Robert Trent Jones era in golf. Today, we tell the story of the movement that challenged Jones’s ideas and revived the reputations of Donald Ross and other golf architects of the “Golden Age.” Ultimately, this movement led to a battle of ideas at Oakland Hills Country Club, where Jones had initially established his reputation as the “Open Doctor” in 1950. Our guests in this epi...
Jun 10, 2022•42 min•Ep. 372
In this second installment of our documentary series “The Open Doctor and His Monster,” we focus on the 1951 U.S. Open, in which Ben Hogan did battle with Robert Trent Jones’s modern architecture at Oakland Hills Country Club. Our guests in this episode are Ed Gruver ( @EdGruver ), Richard Howting, James Hansen, Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Bradley Klein ( @BradleySKlein ). Further reading: Ed Gruver, Bringing the Monster to Its Knees: Ben Hogan, Oakland Hills, and the 1951 U.S. Open Richard Howt...
Jun 08, 2022•43 min•Ep. 371
Today, we kick off a three-part documentary series called “The Open Doctor and His Monster,” in which we chronicle the Robert Trent Jones era in golf: its origins in Rochester, New York; its breakthrough moment at Oakland Hills Country Club; and its recent fall from favor. In this first installment, we tell the story of how Robert Trent Jones rose from a blue-collar background to the status of “Open Doctor”—and how, in the process, he came up with ideas that would dominate golf course design for...
Jun 06, 2022•38 min•Ep. 370
Golf architect Kyle Franz ( @KyleFranzGolf ) returns to the podcast to share his wealth of knowledge of Pine Needles, the site of the ongoing 2022 U.S. Women's Open. Kyle carried out a restoration of the Donald Ross course in 2017 and is on the grounds at Pine Needles this week. He chats with Andy Johnson about holes to watch for and what he learned from following Ingrid Lindblad and Annika Sörenstam during Thursday's first round. On the back half of the episode, Kyle provides an update on the b...
Jun 03, 2022•49 min•Ep. 369
With the U.S. Open a little over two weeks away, we are well into the "from many, one" process. The 2022 edition will be held at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, for the first time since 1988.* Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison talk about the deep history of professional golf at the course, the maze that is the championship routing, and the USGA’s planned setup. Gil Hanse stops by (26:45) to share insights from more than a decade of working at The Country Club, then Andy and Garrett...
May 31, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 368
The final two days of the 2022 PGA Championship were generally a bit of a slog. The big names were going in the wrong direction, and the rest of the leaderboard wasn't producing much excitement. But then the final hour gave us Justin Thomas's playoff win, and all was forgiven. To recap the storylines of what ended up being a fun week, Garrett Morrison talks with three guests: Brendan Quinn ( @BFQuinn ), sportswriter for The Athletic; The Fried Egg's own Andy Johnson; and Stephen Britton ( @sbrit...
May 24, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 367
After a day of walking around Southern Hills Country Club and watching the first round of the PGA Championship, Garrett Morrison and Meg Adkins convene in the media center (right next to KVV as he did a guest spot on The Shotgun Start!) to discuss it all. Garrett and Meg offer observations on the tournament, the course, and the fans, and they wrap up with a few things they'll be watching for over the weekend. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 20, 2022•34 min•Ep. 366
It's PGA Championship week! ESPN.com's Kevin Van Valkenburg ( @kvanvalkenburg ), who will be on site at Southern Hills, talks with Andy Johnson about all the major storylines heading into the second men's major of the year. From the challenges of the Perry Maxwell design to the players they think have the best chance to succeed, Andy and Kevin dive deep into all things PGA, including some suggested requirements for the club pros in the field this week. Note: This podcast was recorded before it w...
May 15, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 365
It's Flashback Friday: Fried Egg Edition! With the 2022 PGA Championship next week, Andy Johnson and Brendan Porath join Garrett Morrison to look back Phil Mickelson's victory last year at the Ocean Course. Andy and Brendan were on site at Kiawah Island all week. They reminisce about the lead-up to the event, the excitement around the venue, and the wild Sunday finish, which included a broadcast appearance by Andy himself. The group also reflects on what's transpired for Phil since his win and h...
May 13, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 364
Today's guest on our Superintendent Series is Tyler Marcotte, the Head Superintendent at Brambles in Middletown, California. Tyler has one of the more interesting jobs in turf right now. He is currently overseeing the grow-in at Brambles, a new Coore & Crenshaw design just north of Napa Valley, and he has some unique co-workers: sheep! He shares details with Andy Johnson on how he plans to use sheep instead of mowers and what long-term benefits he hopes the sheep will bring. Tyler also provi...
May 10, 2022•43 min•Ep. 363
With our fourth deep dive into the five 18-hole courses at Bandon Dunes, we arrive at Tom Doak’s Pacific Dunes, which opened in 2001. Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison discuss the course’s intricate strategic puzzles; its use of the “sandy bowl,” the “gorse plain,” and a spectacular stretch of cliff-side land; its collection of short par 4s; and the way that Pacific Dunes, more than any other course at the resort, demands smart, precise golf. Tom Doak himself makes a cameo (16:30) to tell the st...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 362
Golf's accessibility problem isn't new, and fixing it won't happen overnight. Golf architect Christine Fraser ( @cfgolfdesign ) knows this, but she also believes that good course design can chip away at the issue. She talks with Garrett Morrison about how tee positions, fairway lines, maintenance practices, and even entrances into golf facilities can all be designed to encourage an inclusive culture. Christine has worked on courses all over the world, including Lahinch, Royal Birkdale, and the T...
May 03, 2022•46 min•Ep. 361
The 2022 PGA Championship, which starts in three weeks, will be held at Southern Hills Country Club, a 1936 Perry Maxwell masterwork that has recently undergone a historical renovation by Hanse Golf Course Design. In this episode, Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison talk about what makes Southern Hills an exciting major venue and chat with Gil Hanse himself about his team’s work on the course. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 360
For the latest edition of our Superintendent Series, Andy Johnson talks with Justin DePippo, the Director of Golf Course and Grounds at Bel-Air Country Club. Andy and Justin discuss Tom Doak's recent restoration of George Thomas's design at Bel-Air, the unique challenges of maintaining turf in the California canyons, the complex logistics behind golf course construction, and a variety of other topics. The Superintendent Series is brought to you by the Toro Company. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...
Apr 26, 2022•44 min•Ep. 359
Happy Earth Day! As we did last year at this time, we asked Dr. Cole Thompson to come on the podcast and chat about golf's relationship with the environment. Cole is the assistant director of Green Section Research at the USGA, and he helps run the Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program. In this episode, Cole talks with Garrett Morrison about what may be the golf course industry's single biggest problem in the 21st century: water. Cole and Garrett address the optics issues around using wat...
Apr 22, 2022•48 min•Ep. 358
After a recent visit to Pastiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California, Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison figured it was time to dedicate a full podcast to this brilliant (and publicly accessible!) Alister MacKenzie design. From the underrated front nine to the controversial finishing holes, Andy and Garrett dig into the features that make the course a must-visit for any golfer. They wrap up their chat by turning an eye to the future and discussing their hopes and concerns regarding last week's n...
Apr 19, 2022•59 min•Ep. 357
Justin Ray ( @JustinRayGolf ) has an unrivaled ability to present statistics and historical facts in a way that gives golf fans a better understanding of players and their performances. He and Garrett Morrison chat about Justin’s methods and his background in media before diving into the key storylines of the 2021-22 PGA Tour season so far. They explore some numbers and notes related to Scottie Scheffler’s rise, Collin Morikawa’s incredible early-career performance in majors, and Rory McIlroy’s ...
Apr 15, 2022•52 min•Ep. 356
Scottie Scheffler played so brilliantly at the 2022 Masters that, for much of the final round, the outcome wasn’t in doubt. But what this Masters may have lacked in competitive tension, it made up for in rich storylines. To think through some of these deeper narratives, Garrett Morrison speaks with three guests: Jaime Diaz ( @JaimeDiazGC ), a veteran golf writer who is currently an analyst for Golf Channel; Bob Crosby ( @Otey71 ), a golf historian; and Joseph LaMagna ( @JosephLaMagna ), the anal...
Apr 12, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 355
