Blind Shots Podcast S5 E11 – Hagen O’Neil’s film “From Red Clay to Fairways” at The Fields Golf Club

In this conversation, I sat down with filmmaker Hagen O’Neil of Palmer Pictures to discuss the background and process of making his wonderful documentary film about the course, “From Red Clay to Fairways.” Using the color personalities that form The Fields leadership team, Hagen brings the course’s Phoenix-like rise to the screen, while exploring the principles of community and public golf writ large, as the divide between luxury and every day golf experiences continues to widen.

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Blind Shots Podcast

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E11 Americans in Oregon – Sheep Ranch

This is the Sheep Ranch episode. Perched against the coast on the bluff just north of the Pacific Dunes and Old Mac golf courses, the Sheep Ranch struck me as a bit different than the rest. A much ballyhood Coore Crenshaw masterpiece, it’s more familiar to other experiences than I felt on the rest of the Bandon Courses. Sure, it’s in a unique, almost magical setting, but it was flatter, with fewer visual disruptions. It felt like a core golf course, with long sightlines largely unbroken in most directions. Gentler, calmer ground led to a gentler calmer golf experience, at least on the morning we were there. Later that afternoon, the caddies told us the winds were upwards of 40 mph at Sheep Ranch, where we played in, at worst, a nice breeze that morning.

Blind Shots Podcast

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E10 – State Park Golf Series – KY Parks Commissioner Russ Meyer

The Kentucky State Park System is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2024. This episode is the first of a new series wherein I’ll profile Kentucky’s state park golf courses from time to time. To kick off this new endeavor, I was honored to sit down recently with the Commissioner of the Kentucky State Park System, Mr. Russ Meyer. We talk the breadth, mission, and funding of Kentucky’s state park courses, as well as highlighting some of the much-needed improvements that are on the way.

Blind Shots Podcast

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E9 Americans in Oregon – Pacific Dunes

This is the Pacific Dunes episode, our fourth of this season’s “Americans in Oregon Series.” A golf course of almost unanimous acclaim, it’s the golf course that brought architect Tom Doak into the larger golfing public’s consciousness, that showed people how spectacular coastal golf in America can be, and what natural, minimalist golf architecture can…

Blind Shots Podcast

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E8 – Chris Boysel PGA of Play Golf Lexington Returns!

Friend of the Show, Chris Boysel, PGA, returns to talk about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we think we’re going in golf in central Kentucky, and to an extent, in golf writ large. Chris oversees Tournament Operations and Player Development for Play Golf Lexington, the omnibus organization responsible for municipal golf in…

The Intersection of Golf, Passion & Work

One of my favorite works of journalism in recent years is Shane Ryan’s 2022 deep-dive into “The Club Pro Crisis.” Chances are if you are reading this particular blog, or ever visited onebeardedgolfer.com before today, you are familiar with the primary narrative echoed throughout that article – working in the golf industry can be a…

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E7 Americans in Oregon – Bandon Dunes and Beers

This is the Bandon Dunes episode, the one about the original course at the Bandon Dunes Resort, the one that started it all. This is where it began for Oregon as a golf destination, for the Keiser family golf empire, for golf architect David McKlay Kidd, for fun overtaking difficulty as the chief goal of…

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E6: The Legend of Old Silo with Ethan Fisher

Ethan Fisher, PGA, returns to the podcast to discuss his article over on OneBeardedGolfer.com revisiting the life and demise of the shooting star of Kentucky golf at the start of the 21st century, Old Silo Golf Course in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. It’s a fascinating, cautionary tale from the collapse of the most recent golf boom…

The Rise, Fall & Lessons to Be Learned of Old Silo

Logan Hogge is unsure if he would have ever won the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur or been a runner-up at the Kentucky Open if it wasn’t for Old Silo Golf Course in Mount Sterling. While he was in high school, he and his cousin would get dropped off at Old Silo once class was out…

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E5: Americans in Oregon – The Old MacDonald Episode

Our 2nd installment of the Americans in Oregon, discussing our experience on the Old MacDonald course, and the awe and wonderment of realizing the scale of the Bandon Dunes operation. Plus, a heretical idea so crazy I’d could only get away with it because it’s on the Internet. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe:…

Blind Shots Podcast S5 E4: Americans in Oregon – Punch Bowl, Preserve, & Vibes of Bandon Dunes

In this first installment of the “Americans in Oregon” series, we set the scene at Bandon Dunes through our impressions of the Punch Bowl putting course, the 13-hole Bandon Preserve short course, and an examination of the resort’s vibe through our lodging and accommodations experiences. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio…

Blind Shots Podcast Season 5 Episode 3 – Golf Trips and the Trophy Course.

Matt, Fred, and I reconvene at the Americans in Scotland round table to discuss whether golf trips truly need a “trophy course” to anchor a buddies golf trip. It’s big-picture discussion based on the small details we’ve accumulated in a decade or so of golf trip experience. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Spotify…

Blind Shots Podcast Season 5, Episode 2: Hal Phillips on Generation Zero and Golf

We happen to be living through a tumultuous time in men’s professional golf, and I wondered if Hal might recognize any familiar story lines from his lived experience and research for the book. He did, and there are all worth ruminating upon further.

Blind Shots Podcast Season 5 Episode 1 – Nathan Crace ASCGA on the Roll Back

I’m honored to welcome Nathan Crace, ASGCA to the podcast to talk through and help me understand the much ballyhooed USGA decision to “roll back the golf ball.” Watermark Golf – http://watermarkgolf.com/nathan/ Moonbay Media – http://www.moonbaymedia.com/ Nathan Crace, ASGCA – https://asgca.org/architect/ncrace/ Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | Deezer…

The Pro Shop is my new Barbershop

Beyond those surface level conversation starters, though, there’s enough trust in our mutual discretion to speak freely about what’s going right and what has gone terribly wrong, in golf and life. Golf professionals listen to a lot of what people want to complain about, so I think they enjoy the idea of someone actually listening to them for a change.

A mid-season golf lesson: What’s the second thought?

Two things happen simultaneously to tank an otherwise improving golf year. I get busy, forgoing additional in-season golf lessons, and I get greedy. Greedy for lower scores. Greedy for swinging the club faster and hitting the ball further. Greedy for getting better faster.

The Flag Game – a different kind of golf wager

The Flag Game works like this: each player receives a flag with their number written on it. The number is the sum of par for the course and that player’s course handicap. Each player’s number is how many strokes they get to use to get as far down the course as they can, and their flag is planted wherever their final allotted stroke comes to rest.

Blind Shots Podcast Season 4 Episode 11 – Lie + Loft Founder Luke Davis

I speak with Lie + Loft founder Luke Davis about his journey to and within golf. Golf art and golf imagery has come a long way in the past decade or two. Once the exclusive province of the coffee table books, luxury travel publications, and the architecture issues of the mainstream golf publications, artistic depictions of golf’s playing fields have been devolved to the people in the digital age.

Love of the links at The Golf House Club, Elie

To experience Elie is to play golf simply for the joy of it, through one’s eyes, heart, and imagination, rather through a range finder lens and the tally on a scorecard. Golf legend and five-time Open Championship winner Peter Thomson remarked of the Elie links, “It’s quirky and it’s the most enjoyable course I know. If I had my way, I’d build Elies all over the world.”

Divergent walks: Thoughts on Sewanee & Sweetens Cove, Tennessee’s two terrific nine-hole courses

After a weekend of walking the MidSouth’s best nine-hole courses, I’ve been thinking about my experiences in terms of what sets Sweetens Cove Golf Club and The Course at Sewanee apart.

Blind Shots Podcast 9th Night of Christmas Quick Loop

Blind Shots Podcast 8th Night of Christmas Quick Loop

I contemplate how my local golf club professionals fulfill a role that I formerly found in my barber, my bartender, or my colleagues. Talker. Friend. Listener. Confidant. Fellow traveler. They are the fabric that binds me to my golf community, and the tie that binds that larger community together. And I’m better for knowing them.

Blind Shots Podcast 7th Night of Christmas Quick Loop

Thoughts on the social and social media silo that I’ve landed in focused on golf swing speed and hitting the ball farther.

Blind Shots Podcast – 6th Night of Christmas Quick Loop

A playing partner, especially a randomly assigned one, can make or break a round of golf.

Blind Shots Podcast – 5th Night of Christmas Quick Loop

A rumination and three cheers for that collection of golf courses that are truly familiar, old haunts that are comfortable to play, no matter how long it’s been since it was last played.

Blind Shots Podcast – 4th Night of Christmas Quick Loop

On the fourth night of Christmas, I ponder my golf present and future after a fourth month forced layoff from the game.

Blind Shots Podcast – 3rd Night of Christmas Quick Loop

On the third night of Christmas, I spend a few moments reflecting on the role and importance of daydreaming in golf. Daydreams sometimes turn into plans, and, occasionally, even come true. That’s enough to get me through, enough to keep me motivated, and the romance of the next adventure.

Blind Shots Podcast – 2nd Night of Christmas Quick Loop

On the second night of Christmas, I reflect on what it means, if anything, that I played the best golf of my life in 2022. Can I continue to get better? Or is this as good as it gets? And will any of it ever be good enough? Happy Boxing Day, everybody

Blind Shots Podcast – 1st Night of Christmas Quick Loop

On the first night of Christmas, I look back at the courses I played for the first time in 2022. Merry Christmas everyone!

Blind Shots Podcast Season 4 Episode 10 – Americans in the MidSouth at Sewanee

This episode is another installment of the Americans in the MidSouth episode. This time, Fred and I share memories and platitudes of the Course at Sewanee, located on the campus of Sewanee: The University of the South, just up the road roughly 50 miles west of Chattanooga.

To me, the Course at Sewanee, a nine-hole, 2014 Gil Hanse renovation, does community golf hub unlike most anyplace else I’ve visited on this side of the Atlantic. It is an arresting and engaging golf course, folded seamlessly into the fabric of the University Domain up on the Bishops’ Mountain. The greens and the visuals at Sewanee are superb, perfectly nestled into the larger landscape of the course, all of which left a lasting impression upon me, and a desire to return sooner rather than later.

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