Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion and current CBS lead analyst, joins host Andy to provide a preview of the upcoming 2023 Masters. Immelman brings fresh insights from his recent weekend spent at Augusta National, including an in-depth analysis of the changes made to the 13th hole and their impact on this year's tournament. Other topics discussed include Rory's pursuit of the Grand Slam, Scottie Scheffler's suitability for Augusta National, and how the preparation of LIV players will aff...
Apr 01, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 444
Garrett and Meg Adkins ( @megadkins_TFE ) launch this Tuesday show by sharing their favorite memories from the erstwhile WGC-Dell Match Play. They then dig into the current state of the LPGA Tour, offering takeaways from this past week's Drive On Championship; thoughts on the players who are currently top tier (and almost top tier); criticisms of the awkward, momentum-free start to the LPGA schedule; and analysis of the quiet power struggle between the LPGA Tour, the Ladies European Tour, and th...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 443
Andy opens the episode by running through his favorites for the 2023 Masters. He is then joined by golf architect Jaeger Kovich for a wide-ranging conversation. They talk about how Jaeger builds greens, the challenges of running his own firm, how he does master plans and presentations for clubs, and his thoughts about the potential impact of the Model Local Rule ball. They wrap up with Jaeger doing a power ranking of the different golf regions of Scotland and England. See omnystudio.com/listener...
Mar 23, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 442
NOTE: If you initially hear last week's episode with Brendan Porath and Sean Martin, delete that episode and re-download. We made an uploading mistake. Sorry about that! At the top of our Tuesday show, Joseph LaMagna ( @JosephLaMagna ) calms Garrett's fears about the state of Jordan Spieth's game. They then talk about the PGA Tour's WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which will no longer exist after this year (4:59). They review Austin Country Club, the excellent venue for the tournament, and run...
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 441
On Tuesday, the USGA and R&A announced a Model Local Rule (MLR) that, if adopted, would reduce the flight of the golf ball in high-level tournaments. This is a historic move that deserves the mega-pod treatment. To kick things off, Andy and Garrett discuss the basics of the MLR and why the governing bodies have gone this route in tackling the distance issue (4:03). Then Andy brings on a series of guests: golf architect Tom Doak to explore the impact that the MLR might have on golf course des...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 440
Our Tuesday show covers a variety of topics related to the past week's Players Championship. First, Garrett talks with Brendan Porath ( @BrendanPorath ) about whether Scottie Scheffler's win should count as 0.5 of a major (0:35). Then Garrett brings in the PGA Tour's Sean Martin ( @PGATOURSMartin ) to discuss Scheffler's mindset and approach to the game (8:05). Garrett and Sean touch on, among other things, the relationship between scrambling and faith. After that, Brendan rejoins the pod to cha...
Mar 14, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 439
Over the past week, the PGA Tour has released details about the structure of its new "designated event model." To sort it all out, Andy sits down with former tour player Joe Ogilvie (@ogilviej). Joe talks about his time on the Tour's player advisory council and policy board, the past 18 months in golf, his thoughts on the Tour's proposed changes, and what he would do if he were commissioner. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 438
It's Players week! Shane Bacon ( @shanebacon ) joins Andy to preview the action at TPC Sawgrass. They discuss how designated events will affect the 2023 Players and future tournaments, the Tour's response to LIV defectors (including last year's Players champion Cameron Smith), which players might have a breakout week, and the uniqueness of the Stadium Course's design. Shane and Andy wrap up by giving their picks to win. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Mar 07, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 437
LIV Golf is getting some brutal-sounding ratings on the CW, the PGA Tour's TV partners are changing things up, and golf broadcasting has become a hot topic lately. To break it all down, Garrett talks with Josh Carpenter ( @JoshACarpenter ), an assistant managing editor at Sports Business Journal. Josh is also, as will become apparent in this episode, a golf nut. He and Garrett discuss LIV's disappointing debut performance on the CW, what golf ratings can and can't tell us, and how the breakaway ...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 436
Javier Campos ( @CalClimbingSoup ) is the golf course superintendent at the California Golf Club of San Francisco, more commonly known as Cal Club. Javier sits down with Andy to discuss, among other things, how he worked his way up the ranks of Cal Club's grounds crew, the influence of his mentor Thomas Bastis, the difficulties of the past winter in Northern California (which included a Caddyshack -like invasion of gophers), the intricacies of managing fine fescue and bentgrass surfaces on the W...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 435
Andy starts this episode by running through his 10 (early) favorites to win the 2023 Masters. He is then joined by Joseph LaMagna ( @JosephLaMagna ) to talk about a variety of topics: their takeaways from the West Coast swing, the players on the PGA Tour who have stood out so far, the debate around the 10th hole at Riviera, the distinction between short par 4s and drivable par 4s, and Sports Illustrated's highly questionable new world ranking. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 434
Thirty-four-year-old Andrew Putnam is a pro's pro. He has quietly put together an impressive career on the PGA Tour, winning once (at the 2018 Barracuda) and establishing himself as one of the best putters in the game. He joins Andy to discuss what it's like to be a tour pro living in the Pacific Northwest, what he thinks of the new designated-event series, why he plays with no swing coach, and what it takes to be a great on the greens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 21, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 433
The much-anticipated Netflix docuseries on professional golf has arrived. Full Swing debuted yesterday with eight episodes on the 2022 PGA Tour (and LIV) season. For some honest reactions to the show, Garrett calls up Megan Schuster ( @megschuster ), who covers golf and Formula 1 for The Ringer. Garrett and Megan start off by talking about what made Drive to Survive , Netflix's F1 series, so effective and popular. They then delve into Full Swing , discussing its strengths, most and least appeali...
Feb 16, 2023•56 min•Ep. 432
LIV Golf, the upstart golf tour backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, will start its second season next week in Mexico. It's been an odd, somewhat rough offseason for Greg Norman's organization, with executives fleeing and no big-name player signings. To get a sense for what's going on in LIV-land, Garrett sits down with Adam Woodard ( @AdamWoodard ), who covers the league for Golfweek . Garrett and Adam talk about LIV's major successes and failures in 2022, its seeming loss of moment...
Feb 14, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 431
This week's Waste Management Phoenix Open is the PGA Tour's first full-field "designated event." The designated-event series, created in response to LIV Golf's attempts to lure the world's top male players with guaranteed paydays, will transform the Tour's structure in ways that are hard to predict. After discussing the Phoenix Open and its better-than-you-might-think venue, Andy and Garrett explain why they're excited about designated events, both as a product and as a catalyst for change on th...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 430
Thad Layton has worked for Arnold Palmer Design since he graduated from college 23 years ago, and today he is the Senior Golf Course Architect and Vice President at the company. He joins Andy to talk about working with Arnold Palmer and building golf courses all over the world, including getting his first lead-design gig on a project in Kazakhstan. In recent years, Thad has done a lot of compelling work under the APDC umbrella, and he tells Andy about guiding the company into a new era. Before g...
Feb 07, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 429
Lately Garrett has been wondering how recent technological advances, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, may change golf architecture in the coming decades. So he called up Peter Flory ( @nle_golf ), whose digital modeling was a key component of the Lido project in Wisconsin. Peter tells Garrett how he researched the history of the C.B. Macdonald-designed Lido Golf Club and which technological methods he used to help architect Tom Doak re-create the course in Wisconsin. Peter and...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 428
You asked, we answered. Andy and Garrett tackle a variety of golf architecture-related questions from listeners, including ones about the impact a potential equipment rollback will have on championship courses, which practices in modern golf course design are most objectionable, Robert Trent Jones II's pot-stirring Golf Magazine interview, why the Covid boom has not translated into widespread muni renovations, whether great architecture is becoming elitist and unaffordable, and more. See omnystu...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 427
After a two-year layoff to recover from shoulder surgery, Zac Blair is back on the PGA Tour this season. He's also back on the podcast, chatting with Andy about his return to professional golf. They also discuss the final stages of his Tree Farm project in South Carolina and the different contributions that he, Tom Doak, and Kye Goalby brought to the design and construction process. Finally, they turn their attention to the future, touching on potential golf developments Zac wants to be involved...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 426
The GCSAA Golf Championships, held annually in conjunction with the GCSAA Convention and Trade Show, is the biggest tournament of the year for golf course superintendents who play competitively. We attended last year’s edition and found it to be a fun, impressive event. With this year’s GCSAA Golf Championships approaching (February 4-6 in Orlando), we decided to tell the story of the 2022 tournament. Garrett talks to three different people in this episode: Scott Hollister, editor-in-chief of Go...
Jan 24, 2023•58 min•Ep. 425
It has been over six years since Rob Collins's first appearance on The Fried Egg podcast. He was guest No. 4 back in 2016, and a lot has happened for his architecture firm King-Collins Golf since then. Rob talks with Andy about his busy 2022, which included the opening of Landmand Golf Club in Nebraska and his ongoing work at Red Feather Golf and Social Club in Lubbock, Texas. He reflects on how his life changed after the success of Sweetens Cove, and how he has handled the transition from strug...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 424
With the 2023 golf season underway, we're already thinking ahead to the four men's major championships. Joseph LaMagna, who writes the excellent Finding the Edge newsletter, joins Andy to discuss which players have the best chance of winning a big one this year. They sort players into tiers ranging from "No Contention = Major Failure" to "Lightning in a Bottle." And yes, some LIV guys are in the mix! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jan 17, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 423
Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, joins Andy to talk about a range of recent happenings and hot-button issues. They discuss the decisions the PGA made when Covid-19 hit, how the organization goes about selecting host sites, the Ryder Cup, and the emergence of LIV Golf. Seth also gives details on two major golf course developments that the PGA is spearheading: the construction of the massive PGA Frisco complex and the renovation of West Palm Beach Muni by Gil Hanse See omnystudio.com/lis...
Jan 13, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 422
We're back with another edition of the Yolk with Doak, our series with golf architect Tom Doak. Andy and Tom devote a portion of this episode to discussing Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club, Tom's acclaimed 2006 design in the Chop Hills of Colorado. They talk about Ballyneal's conception, how the owners influenced the final product, comparisons to Coore & Crenshaw's Sand Hills, and the holes that required the most earthmoving. In the second part of the episode, Tom fields listener questions about...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 421
Yesterday, Pinehurst announced that Tom Doak will design the resort's 10th 18-hole course on a dramatic property in Aberdeen, NC. Tom joins Andy to talk about the factors that will make No. 10 unique, including its elevation changes and the fast timeline for the project (his crew has already broken ground). They also discuss Pinehurst more generally, touching on the strengths of Donald Ross's No. 2 course and the importance of Coore & Crenshaw's 2010 restoration of it. In non-Pinehurst talk,...
Jan 05, 2023•52 min•Ep. 420
In the first pod of the new year, Andy and Garrett spend some time reflecting on their favorite golf moments from 2022 before looking ahead and picking a few things they're excited about in 2023. First they revisit memories from the biggest tournaments of the past year and relive casual rounds that exceeded expectations. Then they each choose a couple of events and projects that have them enthusiastic about the months to come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jan 04, 2023•59 min•Ep. 419
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, golf caught on outside of Scotland for the first time. The game became especially popular in England, where the number of clubs skyrocketed in the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s. Michael Morrison’s new book The Great English Golf Boom, 1864-1914: A History chronicles these developments with unprecedented detail and insight. He joins Garrett to discuss golf’s initial spread in England, the various differences between the English and Scottish gam...
Dec 20, 2022•56 min•Ep. 418
There’s an argument to be made that Walter Travis, the Australian-born American golfer who lived from 1862 to 1927, is the most underrated golf architect of the Golden Age. To learn more about Travis’s life and work, Andy sits down with Renaissance Golf Design associate Brian Schneider, who has done restoration work at several Travis courses. Andy and Brian discuss Travis’s impressive playing career, his relationship with legendary designer C.B. Macdonald, his bold and unique approach to green d...
Dec 16, 2022•59 min•Ep. 417
The Official World Golf Ranking has unexpectedly become a lightning rod for debate this year because of its decisions to overhaul its formula and turn down the upstart LIV Golf league's request for immediate membership. To sort through this mess, Garrett sits down with Joseph LaMagna ( @JosephLaMagna ), co-founder of Optimal Approach Golf and author of the Finding the Edge newsletter. Joseph and Garrett tackle the ins and outs of the OWGR, explaining the new formula, the criteria LIV needs to me...
Dec 13, 2022•57 min•Ep. 416
Garrett welcomes author Bob Cullen to the podcast to help explain the mysterious ways in which golf can transform a beginner into an addict overnight. Bob examined the subject in his book Why Golf? , which was published over 20 years ago and happens to be one of Garrett's favorite books on the game. Bob also talks about how his experience as a golfer has changed for him over the years and what he learned from writing a series of bestsellers with Dr. Bob Rotella. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...
Dec 09, 2022•54 min•Ep. 415
