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…
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…
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…
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.
A playing partner, especially a randomly assigned one, can make or break a round of golf.
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.
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
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.
Kieran Clark, the Digital & Social editor at Golf Shake, lives in St. Andrews, Scotland, which gave him a unique experience when the 150th Open Championship was played there on the Old Course this summer. He gets to the essence of what make the Home of Golf so special on any given day, and how those magical qualities are amplified by the buzz and excitement of an Open Championship.
Three years ago, Matt, Fred and I embarked on a journey to the Home of Golf. That trip, those places, that golf, that Scotland, it changed us forever. So much has changed since the fall of 2019, so on this third anniversary of the trip, the fellas and I get together and reflect on such…
The Do Something Golf Club in Lexington is bringing golf into the schools and communities that otherwise might not otherwise have any exposure to the game we love. Its founder and driving force, Shed Lacefield, shares the journey of his brainchild program that began as a few kids learning to swing a golf club after…
I was charmed by what I found at The McLemore, high atop Lookout Mountain above Rising Fawn, Georgia. In this conversation with Duane Horton, president of The McLemore, as well as the Scenic Land Company, and Charlie Rymer, McLemore Executive VP, we discuss how the community and development is transitioning from a traditional golf residential…
This episode is the first half of my conversation with Matthew McCrady, the Director of Operations at my home practice and fitting facility, Man O’ War Golf in Lexington, Kentucky. We talk all around and thru the state of the golf business, as I try to touch on what makes this stand alone practice facility so special.
On today’s episode, we class up the joint a bit by welcoming author, writer, golfer, and native Kentuckian gone rogue, Michael Croley. Michael grew up in Corbin, Kentucky, but now lives in the Columbus, OH area, shaping the minds of tomorrow as an Assistant Professor of English and Journalism at Denison University, developing his own creative writing portfolio, and working the golf journalism beat for more than a handful of publications.
Welcome to Episode 22! To start the new year, I bring you the voice of someone new to the game. Many of you are lifers or golf tragics, like me. I find chatting or playing a round of golf with someone that has just been newly bitten by the golf bug to be a wonderfully…
This post is the fifth in a series that will dive deep into the design and outstanding features of the individual holes of Kearney Hill Golf Links, one of my two home courses in Lexington, Kentucky. This course, built by Pete & P.B. Dye, represents some of the most interesting, most challenging, and most fun…
I am our golf trip captain. That makes me a dictator, consensus builder, logistician, travel agent, handicap committee chairman, tournament chairman, billing department, menu planner, and group secretary. These are all jobs that I am happy to perform. None of these tasks bring me as much joy as designing the team games and individual wagers…
This post is the fourth in a series that will dive deep into the design and outstanding features of the individual holes of Kearney Hill Golf Links, one of my two home courses in Lexington, Kentucky. This course, built by Pete & P.B. Dye, represents some of the most interesting, most challenging, and most fun…
This post is the third in a series that will dive deep into the design and outstanding features of the individual holes of Kearney Hill Golf Links, one of my two home courses in Lexington, Kentucky. This course, built by Pete & P.B. Dye, represents some of the most interesting, most challenging, and most fun…
Welcome to another episode in our Scottish Golf Experiences series! This episode is a companion piece to my essay Afternoons were for Match Play, which you can find over on the blog at OneBeardedGolfer.com. This interview with my friend and competitor, Matt Chaney, delves further in depth into what made our random afternoon matches at…
Managing expectations is a tricky proposition, in golf as in life. Balancing hopeful optimism and evidence from past performances without tilting expectations too far in either direction takes mental toughness and discipline, which probably requires a stronger mind than mine. The end of last season was a roller coaster ride that saw me playing the…
On Saturday afternoon, I decided to play golf in the rain. Understand that I wasn’t playing golf and then it started raining. Rather, it had been raining for several hours and I decided to go play golf anyway on a cool December day. There were two staff members in the pro shop. They didn’t laugh…