Feed The Ball

Joe Hancock is one of the OG’s of golf course building and shaping, and has worked with the profession’s greatest architects. The list of courses’s he’s helped build is staggering. He joins Jim Urbina and Derek Duncan to discuss how Mike DeVries pulled him into golf design, how his own sense of frugality influences his design outlook, the importance of collaboration in successful design, how the experiential side of golf may be more important than the strategic intentions, the value of creative thought versus using precedent for inspiration and the advice he’d give to younger shapers hoping to have a long career in this industry. Photos: Cover page, Midland Hills(courtesy of the club). Above, Yeamans Hall. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 7th hole at Pebble Beach. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Salon Vol. 32, ft. Joe Hancock appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Architect David Kahn of Jackson Kahn Design comes back to the podcast to update us on his twin daughters afflicted with juvenile Batten disease and the 2026 Take a Swing Fore Batten auction. He also sits in the spotlight to answer questions about the challenges and advantages of building estate courses for private owners (that no other golfers get to see), how he views the contemporary trend of idolizing architecture tropes of the past, how Mike Strantz has influenced his outlook on design, developing the courage to build anything he and Tim Jackson can envision and putting the art of golf course design at the center of his ambitions. Photos: Cover page, Monterey Peninsula Dunes Course (Jon Cavalier). Above, Scottsdale National’s Other Course. Music: “24 Frames” by Jason Isbell. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 7th hole at Pebble Beach. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post 24 Questions with David Kahn appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf course designer Dave Zinkand joins Derek Duncan on the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about his work at Bandon Trails and Bandon Preserve with Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, what “sympathetic restoration” looks like to him, what Harry Colt and Tom Simpson taught him about using the ground surrounding hazards, establishing name recognition with new clients and the power of having time on your side. Photos: Cover page, Desert Forest (courtesy of the club). Above, Bandon Preserve. Music: “24 Frames” by Jason Isbell. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 7th hole at Pebble Beach. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post 24 Questions with Dave Zinkand appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jim Urbina returns to the podcast, this time back in the guest chair, for a free-flowing discussion about the proliferation of bunkers in contemporary design, the sameness of courses now, whether designers and developers are pushing a vision or emulating others, and how much William Watson he feels he needs to bring back to his remodel of the Ocean Course at Olympic Club in San Francisco. Photos: Cover page, Pasatiempo. Above, Loblolly G.C., Hobe Sounds, Fla. Music: “Photograph,” REM with Natalie Merchant. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 7th hole at Pebble Beach. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 100: Jim Urbina 2 appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf designer Jay Blasi comes on the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about the challenges and importance of good public golf, comparing building new holes on top of existing holes versus working new land, the expectations versus outcome of Chambers Bay, the challenge of having to deal with cart paths, the challenge of making it in a tough industry where you’re two calls away from being out of business and much, much more. Photos: Cover page, Lakeside Country Club (Laurie Perez). Above, Poppy Ridge (Poppy Ridge). Music: “24 Frames,” Jason Isbell. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post 24 Questions with Jay Blasi appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Ran Morrissett is the founder of GolfClubAtlas.com, the most influential golf architecture website of the past 25 years, which means, of all time. He’s a prolific writer and photographer, a consultant in course designs like The Roost at Cabut Citrus Farms in Florida, the former administrator for Golf Magazine’s top 100 U.S. and World courses, and one of the most eloquent advocates for pure, uncomplicated golf, which means walking courses in quiet environments with an absence of accoutrement or attitude. Ran joins Derek Duncan to discuss golf in quiet places, the possibilities of bunkerless golf courses, the process of building The Roost with three different designers, the challenge of new designers routing courses, the highs and occasional lows of the Golf Club Atlas community and whether we shouldn’t be ranking courses based on experience versus architecture. Photos: Cover page, The Roost at Cabot Citrus Farms (Carolina Pines Golf). Above, Barnbougle Dunes (Penelope Sattler). Music: “The Unguarded Moment,” The Church. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 99: Ran Morrissett appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jeff Stein began his career shaping courses for Gil Hanse, Tom Doak, Jim Urbina and other designers. Now he has his own business consulting with clubs and a partnership with Brian Ross designing new courses. They recently opened Great Dunes on Jekyll Island in Georgia and are exploring other opportunities. Jeff talks with Derek Duncan about the unpredictability of the equipment available when building courses, combining the Walter Travis architecture at Great Dunes with parts of a Dick Wilson design, the happiest experience he’s had building golf, his unique job at Ohoopee Match Club and the intricacies of Devereaux Emmet. Photos: Cover page, The Seawane Club (Larry Lambrecht). Above, Ohoopee Match Club. Music: “24 Frames,” Jason Isbell. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post 24 Questions with Jeff Stein appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf architect Todd Eckenrode has built and re-built golf courses up and down California and knows the work of historic architects like Alister MacKenzie, George Thomas, William Watson and Max Behr as well as anyone. He joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss working at and learning to play at Pasatiempo, when to try to “restore” original architecture and when to make alterations, how his outlook on design has changed through time, if public courses can close the conditioning gap on private courses and how the early courses of California evolved into what they’ve become today. Photos: Cover page, Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club (Channing Benjamin). Above, Diablo Country Club. Music: “Los Angeles,” Phosphorescent. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 98: Todd Eckenrode appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf course designer and builder Jaeger Kovich, who has shaped projects for Gil Hanse and Tom Doak and now is establishing himself as one of the busiest remodel specialists in the business, joins Golf Digest’s Derek Duncan to answer 24 questions about his views on architecture. Photos: Cover page, The Cradle (Pinehurst Resort). Above, Laurel Links (propergolf.com). Music: “24 Frames,” Jason Isbell. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post 24 Questions with Jaeger Kovich appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Architect Tyler Rae is part of the next wave of major golf course designers. He joins Derek Duncan in the hot seat to answer 24 questions about golf, his career and his outlook on design. Photos: Cover page, Old Sawmill (Tyler Rae). Above, Lookout Mountain, 11th hole. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post 24 Questions with Tyler Rae appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Martin Ebert is one of the founding partners, along with Tom Mackenzie, of Mackenzie & Ebert, arguably the top golf design firm in Europe. Ebert has been the lead consulting architect, with Mackenzie, for most of the Open Championship courses as well as dozens of clubs in the U.K., Ireland and Europe. They also have several new courses currently under construction around the world. Ebert joins Derek Duncan to discuss the company’s rise to the upper stratosphere of golf design, his impressions of golf in the U.S., how the cost of building and renovating courses in the U.K. compares to the U.S., the way Mackenzie and Ebert use advanced technology to produce plans, his insistence that green surfaces be constructed down to the most minute details of those plans and the trend of architects build too much contour into their greens. Photos: Cover page, Royal Portrush (mackenzieandebert.com). Above, The Island (mackenzieandebert.com). Outro song: Brendan Benson, “Metairie.” Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 97: Martin Ebert appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jerry Pate burst into the golf world when he won the 1976 U.S. Open at Atlanta Athletic Club in just his second year on tour. From 1976 through 1982 when he won the first Players Championship held at the new Pete Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass he was one of the best players in the world, contending in other majors and earning a spot on the 1981 Ryder Cup team. Injuries forced him off the Tour and into other ventures including golf course design, pairing up with luminaries like Bob Cupp and Tom Fazio. He recently completed a major renovation of the Pete Dye masterpiece Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo in the D.R. Pate joins the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about the work he’s done at Teeth of the Dog and his longtime connection to the resort, what Dye told him about architecture in 1974, the challenges of building Teeth, the penal aspects of the original TPC course, his short but illustrious television career and his real thoughts about National Golf Links of America. Photos: Cover page, Teeth of the Dog (Enrique Berardi). Above, Kiva Dunes (Kiva Dunes). Outro song: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Alabama Pines.” Watch Derek Duncan break down the original Redan hole at North Berwick. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 96: Jerry Pate appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Trey Kemp has been one of the most active and influential figures in public and municipal golf design in Texas for over 15 years. He spent much of that time working with John Colligan and now has his own firm, continuing to improve public courses while also pursuing new course commissions. He joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss the challenges and opportunities working in the public sphere, what courses have guided his design aesthetic, the value of Tom Fazio, if the Raynor resurgence is played out, the secret sauce to making public golf profitable and what it takes to break into the architectural elite. Photos: Main page, Rockwood Golf Course (credit: fortworthgolf.org); Above, Texas Rangers Golf Club (courtesy of the club). Outro song: Wilco, “How to Fight Loneliness.” Watch Derek Duncan break down the original Redan hole at North Berwick. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 95: Trey Kemp appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Lost Rail Golf Club Bill Kubly is one of the OG’s in golf course architecture. He’s the founder Landscapes Unlimited, of one of golf’s most prominent course construction companies (opened in 1976), and has had a hands-on, up front view of the profession for 50 years. Kubly joins the Feed the Ball podcast to share stories from a long career building golf courses for virtually all of the industry’s architects going back two generations. He talks to Derek Duncan about being a founding investor in Sand Hills Golf Club with Dick Youngscap, the architectural impact of golf in the Sandhills, what firms delivered the cleanest set of blueprints, the difference between contractor bids and design/build, working special projects like Lost Rail with Scott Hoffman and his involvement in the development of Sutton Bay, one of the great sleeper destination clubs in the U.S. Photos: Main page, Sutton Bay (credit: Gary Kellner); Above, Lost Rail (courtesy of the club). Watch Derek Duncan break down the 3rd hole a Oakmont Country Club. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 94: Bill Kubly appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Ron Whitten, historian and former Golf Digest architecture editor, and Mike Davis, former USGA CEO and executive director, delve deep into the origins, evolution and architecture of Oakmont Country Club. We discuss how and why Oakmont developed the way it has, what makes it arguably the greatest championship venue in American golf, what makes the greens so unique and so fast, whether it’s a purely penal design, how Whitten shamed the club into reclaiming their treeless identity in the 1990s and the course’s specific strengths and weaknesses. Photos: Main page, Oakmont CC, First hole; Above, Oakmont’s second hole. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 13th hole at Augusta National. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post The Rap: Oakmont, One of One appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf course designer Riley Johns joins Derek and Jim from his home in Canada to fill us in on his latest thoughts on course building and artistry. Johns has been splitting time between his own growing business with partner Keith Rhebb, leading projects for Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, and even working with Jim on the renovation of St. Charles in Winnipeg, a club with nines by both Alister MacKenzie and Donald Ross. We talk about the influence of Stanley Thompson and Thompson’s similarities to MacKenzie, the benefits of unconditional constraints in artistic design, the luxury of improvising in the field, the downside of following recipes and the value of collaborative input vs. intense auteurism. Photos: Main page, Te Arai South, 5th hole (Ricky Robinson); Above, Winter Park 9 Watch Derek Duncan break down the 13th hole at Augusta National. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Salon Vol. 31, ft. Riley Johns appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Augusta National is complicated. It’s the most famous course in the world and has been an architectural and maintenance ideal for decades, even though the design is in a continuing state of flux and the turf and bunker conditions have been far from perfect over its life. If it isn’t what we think it is, and perhaps never was, and if it has passed through numerous very different versions of itself, how can it perennially and for most of its history be considered essentially one thing: arguably the best or second best course in the U.S. and number one on every golfer’s bucket list? Designer, historian and Golf Digest architecture emeritus Ron Whitten, and prolific author David Owen (who wrote the seminal book on the Masters called “The Making of the Masters“) sit with Derek Duncan to hash out all of this and explore the depths of Augusta. The Comprehensive Guide to Every Change at Augusta National. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post The Rap: Augusta Agonistes appeared first on Feed The Ball.

You may have read or heard someone talk about good or bad “tie-ins” on a golf course. It loosely has to do with how the architecture is connected to the land during construction, but the topic is much larger and more nuanced than that. Derek Duncan and Jim Urbina define and discuss tie-ins, what they are, and why doing them correctly is important to the functionality and enjoyment of a golf course. Cover photo: The 4th at Pacific Dunes, built by Jim Urbina. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Ask/Answer: What is a “Tie-in”? appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Looking ahead to The Players Championship, former PGA Tour player Richard Zokol and designer Jeff Mingay drop in from Canada to break down everything there is to know about The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass (Zokol actually competed on Sawgrass in the 1980s). We get into the history and creation of the course, how it exemplifies Pete Dye’s architectural genius, its influence on golf design, playing the course with 1980s equipment, how the professionals have adapted to it and commentary on its best, worst and most overrated holes. Outro song: “Comfortably Numb,” Pink Floyd. Watch Derek Duncan break down the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post The Rap: Dye-secting TPC Sawgrass appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Writer Michael Croley, author of the book Any Other Place: Stories, veered into the world of golf with a revelatory profile on Tom Doak in 2017 in the Virginia Quarterly Review, hardly the place you’d expect to find an expose on a golf course architect. Now fully entrenched in the golf writing world while teaching creative writing at Denison University, Croley joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss how he was able to get under the surface of Doak’s public persona, the usefulness of being new to a subject, if the concept of “genius” applies to golf course architects, the usefulness of criticism in golf writing and if contemporary architecture is “sanded out.” Photos: Above, Kinsale; Main page, St. Patrick Links (Clyde Johnson). Watch Derek Duncan break down The 17th hole at Whistling Straits. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 93: Michael Croley appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Former Australian, European and PGA Tour player and current CBS Sports golf broadcaster Ian Baker-Finch joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina on the Feed the Ball podcast. They discuss the lack of architecture discussion during tournament television broadcasts, the dangers of the distance professional players are driving the ball, the importance of seeing as many different courses as possible, the different genius of Bill Coore and Tom Fazio, why PGA Tour rounds take so long, what makes Australian Sand Belt courses so distinct and what Baker-Finch’s ideal course design would look like. Photos: Above, Pebble Beach (Stephen Szurlej); Main page, Kingston Heath (David Cannon). Watch Derek Duncan break down The 17th hole at Whistling Straits. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 30, ft. Ian Baker-Finch appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Hole No. 17 credit: LC Lambrecht/Courtesy of Whispering Pines GC (or however Larry Lambrecht likes his credit to appear) Texas-based architect Chet Williams joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss designing the 2024 Golf Digest Best New Private Course, The Covey at Big Easy Ranch near Houston. He talks about what made the land special, the ideal of creating as much hole-to-hole variety as possible, working with owner Billy Brown and how 25 years working for Jack Nicklaus has influenced his design sensibilities. Photos: Above, Whispering Pines 17th hole (Larry Lambrecht); Main page, The Covey at Big Easy Ranch, 8th hole (Brian Oar). Outro song: “Anything Can Happen,” The Clean. Watch Derek Duncan break down The 17th hole at Whistling Straits. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 92: Chet Williams appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Keith Cutten comes back on the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss the new Shorty’s course at Bandon Dunes that opened last year, Brantford Golf & Country Club in Ontario and building Ken Baskt’s The Ranch near Hobe Sound, Florida. He also explains the working dynamics of his firm Whitman, Axland, Cutten (WAC), how Dave Axland and Rod Whitman work, the importance of small contours and what an updated chapter of his book The Evolution of Golf Course Design might look like. Photos: Above, Brantford Golf & Country Club (Brantford G&CC); Main page, Shorty’s at Bandon Dunes (Bandon Dunes). Outro song: “Time Stands Still,” Rush. Watch Derek Duncan break down The 13th hole at Pacific Dunes. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 91: Keith Cutten 3 appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Mike Davis was the CEO and executive director for the USGA for over 30 years and was responsible for awarding U.S. Opens and Amateurs to host courses and helping to set them up for those tournaments. Over the course of his career he got to know intricately virtually every great golf course in the U.S. He now takes that knowledge into a new chapter of his life as a golf course designer, working with partner Tom Fazio II at Apogee Club in Florida designing the South Course, just completed. Davis talks to Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina about his first foray into design being such a large engineering project, fitting ideas of holes he experienced while setting up Opens into a blank-slate site and the challenges of balancing the demands of agronomy, professional skill levels, average member play and tournament play in modern design. Photos: Above, Merion’s 5th hole (Derek Duncan); Main page, Apogee South (Jim Urbina). Watch Derek Duncan break down The 13th hole at Pacific Dunes. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 29, ft. Mike Davis appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Scottish golf course architect Benjamin Warren joins the Feed the Ball podcast with Derek Duncan to discuss building The Loop at Chaska in Minnesota, a course designed for adaptive golfers, working extensively in Japan, why recent architecture outshines that of the 80s and 90s, the challenge of building true links in the U.S. and shaping courses for architects like Bill Coore, James Duncan, Kye Goalby and Ogilvy, Cocking and Mead. Photos: Above, The Loop at Chaska (chaskaloop.com); Main page, The Tree Farm, hole 13 (Jeff Marsh). Outro song: “Better Trends,” Japanese Motors. Watch Derek Duncan break down The 13th hole at Pacific Dunes. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 90: Benjamin Warren appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Nick Schaan works side by side with architect David McLay Kidd out of their offices in Bend, Ore. Kidd is one of the most esteemed and decorated designers in the business over the last 25 years, and since 2006 Schaan has been instrumental in bringing to life acclaimed courses like Tributary, Mammoth Dunes and the new GrayBull course in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Schaan joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan to discuss GrayBull, making the new course at Gamble Sands different than the first, flying with Kidd as he pilots his private plane, the mastery of Pete Dye, the challenge of building Huntsman Springs (now Tributary), advancing their concept of “playability,” how they routed GrayBull and his thoughts on what the next generation of architects need to do to inherit the torch from Kidd and his peers. Photos: Above, Gamble Sands’ 17th (Brian Oar); Main page, GrayBull’s 11th. Outro song: “Wishlist,” Pearl Jam. Watch Derek Duncan break down The Postage Stamp at Royal Troon. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 89: Nick Schaan appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Mike Cocking is the “C” in the Australian golf design firm OCM. His partners are former tour player and 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and Ashley Mead. The trio have built courses in Australia and Asia and consult with some of the top historic clubs Down Under including Victoria and Kingston Heath. Over the last five years they’ve gained a foothold in the U.S. as well, beginning with the renovation of Shady Oaks in Fort Worth and more recently executed the radical reconception of the famous #3 course at Medinah outside Chicago. They have new projects, too, including the Fall Line in central Georgia, Tepetonka in Minnesota and a course near Austin. Cocking joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss how OCM broke ground in the states, the influence of Alister MacKenzie in Sand Belt golf, caddie culture, the insurmountable cost of building affordable public golf, the DNA of Sand Belt golf, the rare privilege of routing courses, the role of aesthetics in perceptions of greatness and the concept behind the revamping of Medinah. Photos: Main Page, Victoria Golf Club (Gary Lisbon); Above, Medinah #3 (Medinah C.C.) Outro song: Modest Mouse, Sunspots in the House of the Late Scapegoat Watch Derek Duncan break down The Postage Stamp at Royal Troon. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 88: Mike Cocking appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Lee Schmidt’s lengthy golf architecture career began in the early 1970s working for Pete Dye and took many different detours through the decades. He worked closely with Landmark Land Company on numerous Dye projects in the 70s and 80s before taking a job with Jack Nicklaus’ design firm. In the late 1990s he created his own firm with Brian Curley, and the two built courses across the U.S. and also made deep inroads into the Asian market, becoming the most influential American architects in the region. Today Schmidt is semi-retired, though as is always true in golf architecture, there’s always work that keeps pulling him back. Schmidt joins Golf Digest’s Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina to share stories about Pete and P.B. Dye, learning about golf design from Bill Diddel, the different construction approaches of Dye and Nicklaus, building the Alcatraz Bunker at PGA West’s 16th hole, Dye’s love of building courses that were challenging to professionals, the decision to leave Nicklaus, how he formed his partnership with Curley and opened over 60 courses in China and rooming with Bill Coore in the early 70s. Photos: Cover page, The Wilderness Club (wildernessclubmontana.com); Above, the Alcatraz Bunker at PGA West. Watch Golf Digest’s drone video of Pinehurst No. 2 here. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Feed the Ball Salon 28, ft. Lee Schmidt appeared first on Feed The Ball.

If might seem like golf course architect Scott Hoffman came out of nowhere with his design at Lost Rail, opened in 2022 outside of Omaha. However, he’d previously worked for over a decade with Tom Fazio, designing courses in the western U.S. He then worked with Tim Jackson and David Kahn for a number of years. Hoffman wasn’t pursuing new work when he was approached about looking at land for a club near Omaha, where he’s from, and those interests turned into Lost Rail, Golf Digest’s runner up for Best New Private Course for 2023. He’s now busy constructing Mapleton, another new stand-alone club near Sioux Falls, Idaho. Hoffman joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan on the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss finding the land for Lost Rail, his instinct for routing golf courses, the insomnia-inducing puzzle of routing Lost Rail, the freedom of working for Fazio versus being his own business, how to water a 20,000 square-foot green, whether classical architecture influences his designs, the futility of properly evaluating a course after just one round and how he compares and contrasts Shinnecock Hills with National Golf Links of America. Photos: Cover page, Lost Rail (Lost Rail Golf Club); Above, the par-3 11th at Scottsdale National. Watch and listen to Bill Coore narrate the latest Golf Digest Every Hole at Cabot Saint Lucia (script by Derek Duncan). Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 87: Scott Hoffman appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw joins golf course builder Jim Urbina and Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan to discuss his long time partnership with architect Bill Coore and the beliefs and impulses that define the many courses they’ve built, from Sand Hills to Friar’s Head to Bandon Trails, all the way through to their newest courses including Point Hardy at Cabot Saint Lucia. Crenshaw talks about meeting Urbina for the first time, Coore grooming green contours down to the quarter inch, how his roots playing dry and windy courses influenced his preference for designing toward the ground game, the importance of matching turf conditions to the architecture, the influence of Perry Maxwell in his green building and the intuitive and enduring chemistry between he and Coore. Powered by Highest quality CBD oil Watch and listen to Bill Coore narrate the latest Golf Digest Every Hole at Cabot Saint Lucia (script by Derek Duncan). Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Photos: Opening page, Sand Hills #4; Above, Sand Hills #2 The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 27, ft. Ben Crenshaw appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf course architect Greg Letsche, lead designer for Ernie Els Design, joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina to discuss his early years working for Pete Dye, how running projects for Jack Nicklaus differed from his experience with Dye, the design similarities between Dye and Nicklaus, the sometimes absurd challenges and hiccups working internationally in different cultures, how Els’ sympathy for poor golfers manifests in his designs, reuniting with Nicklaus at The Bear’s Club and transitioning into renovating older courses like the Scarlet Course at Ohio State (MacKenzie) and Wentworth (Colt) near London. PHOTOS: Cover image: Albany, Bahamas (albanybahamas.com); Above: Anahita Mauritius (ernieels.com) Watch Derek Duncan discuss Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, host of the 2023 U.S. Open. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 26, ft. Greg Letsche appeared first on Feed The Ball.

In less than 10 years in the profession, Blake Conant has risen from crew member to shaper to the co-designer of Old Barnwell, a stunning new course near Aiken, S.C. Conant has primarily shaped greens and bunkers for Tom Doak at projects like Houston’s Memorial Park, Bel Air, The National’s Gunnamatta Course in Australia and St. Patrick’s in Ireland while working closely with Doak’s associates Eric Iverson, Don Placek, Brian Slawnik and Brian Schneider, who is his co-designer at Old Barnwell. Conant joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss the difference between being a shaper for someone else and having final edit responsibility at Old Barnwell, how the search for creative opportunities stokes his passion for golf design, whether he and Schneider began with an initial vision for Old Barnwell, originality vs. derivation, drawing inspiration from other forms of art and nature and if designers of his generation need to be more ethically aware of golf development’s impacts on sustainability, social connections and the economy. PHOTOS: Cover image: Old Barnwell, 13th hole; Above: Old Barnwell’s 6th and 7th holes. Watch Derek Duncan discuss Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, host of the 2023 U.S. Open. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 86: Blake Conant appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Shortly after Tom Weiskopf broke with design partner Jay Morrish in the late 1990s he turned to architect Phil Smith. Smith had been working with Nicklaus Design in Arizona, but the opportunity to partner one-on-one with Weiskopf was too good an opportunity to pass up. Over the next 24 years, Smith and Weiskopf designed courses in numerous countries with most of their best work occurring at gorgeous sites in the U.S. west, in Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Their latest work, completed after Weiskopf succumbed to cancer in 2022, is at Black Desert Resort in southern Utah, a dazzling course blasted from a landscape of black lava outcroppings. Smith joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss the potentially contradictory transition from Weiskopf the elite professional golfer to professional architect, the importance of playability and aesthetic appeal (versus “championship-style” designs), the evolution of the “Weiskopf bunker,” the almost guilty feeling of building golf in many of the pristine environments they’ve worked, designing good drivable par 4s and the courses they’ve built that best represent the Smith-Weiskopf design philosophy. PHOTOS: Cover image: Black Desert, Utah (courtesy of Brian Oar); Above: Spanish Peaks in Montana (philsmithdesign.net). Watch Derek Duncan discuss Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, host of the 2023 U.S. Open. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 85: Remembering Tom Weiskopf with Phil Smith appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Don Placek began working for Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design in 1997 after being in Perry Dye’s Denver office for several years. It was a significant jump, going from the types of technical builds Dye was coordinating in the western U.S. and Asia to Doak’s more intuitive, organic way of designing and constructing courses. Placek began producing plans and blueprints for Doak’s projects and eventually migrated to the field where he helped shape and oversee numerous Renaissance projects, including The Renaissance Club in Scotland and CommonGround in Denver while consulting with venerable clubs like Shoreacres and Camargo. One of the profession’s great graphic artists, Placek has run the day-to-day operations at Renaissance Golf for 25 years and is often the point-person prospective clients first speak to regarding hiring Doak and the firm. Along with fellow associates Eric Iverson, Brian Slawnik and Brian Schneider, he’s now an owner and partner at Renaissance. Placek joins the podcast to discuss some lean years partnering with Iverson, getting started with Doak and the impact of showing that large sums of money aren’t required to build great golf, Renaissance Design’s “Hippocratic oath” to do no more than is necessary to a site, what golfers like versus what they want, restoring Seth Raynor greens, the future of Renaissance design and the importance of short courses. PHOTOS: Cover image: Placek’s map of Cabot Highlands in Inverness, Scotland (courtesy of Cabot); Above: The “Short” 11th hole at Camargo. Watch Derek Duncan discuss Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, host of the 2023 U.S. Open. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 84: Don Placek appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Architect Stephen Kay has been involved in the building, remodeling or renovation of over 300 courses during his design career spanning back to the mid-1980s. He was one of the pioneering voices in the late 80s for looking at the historical record of a course during renovation to attempt to honor the original architecture. He built numerous new courses in the 1990s and early 2000s, many public, including The Architects Golf Club in New Jersey (in collaboration with Ron Whitten), where each hole was based on the style of a different architect. He continues to be busy with major remodels, consultations and a new municipal course, and is always one of the most entertaining voices in the room. Kay joins Derek Duncan on the podcast to share story after story about what the business was like in the late 70s and 80s, the myth of green speeds, the impact of turf technology on golf course design, building the minimalist Links of North Dakota at the same time Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw were building the minimalist Sand Hills and a host of other intriguing topics. Photos: Cover page, The Architects Golf Club (thearchitectsclub.com); Above, The Links of North Dakota (thelinksofnorthdakota.com). Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 83: Stephen Kay appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf course builder Allan MacCurrach began working on crews for Pete Dye in the late 1970s and opened his own golf course contracting company in 1987. He’s been involved in building or remodeling over 20 courses for Dye, who passed away in early 2020, as well as architects like Tom Fazio, Bobby Weed and Rees Jones. MacCurrach is also responsible for constructing–and designing, through interpretation of the numerous conversations and planning sessions he had with Dye —The Dye Course at White Oak, Golf Digest’s Best New Private Course of 2022. White Oak, located near Jacksonville on the Florida/Georgia border, is extremely private and is played only occasionally by its billionaire owner, his few guests and select Golf Digest panelists. MacCurrach joins the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about his involvement in the White Oak project, creating something distinctive on a non-distinctive site, the opportunity and challenge of attempting to carry out Dye’s design directives after Dye could no longer participate in the construction, the evolution of Dye’s green contours as a reaction to higher green speeds, how the golf course building business has changed to a renovation business and the artistic and engineering genius of the original TPC Sawgrass design. Photos: Cover page–The 16th hole at The Dye Course at White Oak (Brian Oar); Above–White Oak’s par 3 17th (Brian Oar). See more White Oak photos and flyovers here. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Episode 82: Allan MacCurrach appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Designer and historian Josh Pettit began collecting the writings of Alister MacKenzie for his new compendium of essays, “The MacKenzie Reader,” years ago, and was ready to publish in 2020 when the pandemic postponed printing until the summer of 2022. The wait was worth it–the Reader is a gorgeous volume of Pettit’s selections of the architect’s best and most important writings, presented with sketches, prints and routing maps. The volume will soon be in its third edition. Powered by pan card agency Pettit visits the Salon to speak with hosts Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina about a variety of topics, from his research into the archives at The Valley Club of Montecito that helped inform Urbina and Tom Doak’s greens renovation, the horse-trading that goes on with memberships when attempting to recreate what was originally designed, the romanticism of early-internet archival research and what’s still undiscovered, MacKenzie’s process for identifying local talent to construct his courses, the necessary discrepancy between the green elevations MacKenzie drew and what was originally built (and the problem that presents to preservationists), and why there isn’t a contemporary voice advocating for design ideals comparable to MacKenzie. Get “The MacKenzie Reader” here. Photos: Above, The Valley Club of Montecito (LC Lambrecht); Opening page, “Thirteenth at Cypress Point” (J.P. Graham Photos) Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 25, ft. Josh Pettit appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Landmand Golf Club in northeast Nebraska, just across the Missouri River from Sioux City, is one of the largest and most expansive golf courses ever built, with the largest total square footage of greens of any course in the U.S. That it was designed by Rob Collins and Tad King, creators or the equally audacious though much smaller Sweetens Cove outside Chattanooga, should come as no surprise–both courses (Landmand is their first 18-hole course) are courageous pieces of architecture that push the boundaries of the genre. Collins comes back to the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about Landmand and his design outlook with Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina. Topics include the new King-Collins short course at Palmetto Bluff, seeing the Landmand property for the first time, whether he doubted if he and King could pull of such a major build, if Landmand is a “maximalist” course, routing a course on 550 acres but only coming up with 16 holes, the reasoning behind the size and extremity of the greens, the thought behind the Sitwell green and figuring out the blank slate that was Red Feather in Lubbock. Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Photos: Cover photo–Landmand’s 12th hole; Above–Ground level view of Landmand’s 17 green. The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 24, ft. Rob Collins appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jim Nagle began working with golf course renovation and historical restoration legend Ron Forse in 1998, in what might be considered the field’s pioneering days. Golf course restoration is an attempt to reestablish a course’s first principles–placing it back in a specific point in time, usually in accordance with the way the original architect designed it–using documentation and photography as resources. In the last few decades Nagle and Forse have helped dozens of clubs reconnect with their past, from Lancaster Country Club (PA) to Country Club of Buffalo, to Kirtland in Cleveland to Lawsonia Links to Broadmoor East. If there was a Hall of Fame for restoration and consulting work, Nagle and Forse would be first ballot admissions. Nagle joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss how the desire to host top tournaments can skew a club’s architecture, the fine line of following the a previous architect’s design “intent,” how fast green speeds kill interesting contour, the early days of restoration, dealing with a new type of historical ignorance (or at least agnosticism) and the unending revolving door of the renovation profession. View Derek’s latest narration in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at The Country Club“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. Photos: Above, Country Club of Orlando (Vaughn Halyard/StoryLounge Films); Title page, Philadelphia Country Club (Vaughn Halyard/StoryLounge Filmss). Powered by uti pan card agency apply online The post Episode 81: Jim Nagle appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jason Straka has been a principle in Fry/Straka Global Golf Design since joining with partner Dana Fry in 2012. Previously he was the senior architect for Hurdzan-Fry Golf Design, helping that company build landmark courses like Calusa Pines, Erin Hills and Shelter Harbor. Fry/Straka is one of the hottest design firms in the world right now, coming off major new builds including the South Course at Arcadia Bluffs and Union League National in south New Jersey. They will soon begin redeveloping the four different courses at Boca West Country Club in Florida, and are currently restoring 36 Donald Ross-designed holes at Belleair Country Club in Clearwater. Staka visits the Salon to talk with Derek Duncan and golf designer Jim Urbina about the first time he met Urbina as a landscape architecture student, his goals at current president of the ASGCA, the influence classical has on architecture today, the advise he received from Bill Coore, the social and emotional importance of community golf courses, the role of criticism in golf course architecture and much more. Powered by pan card agency Photos: Opening page, Union League National, 4th hole, Meade 9 (Derek Duncan); above, restoration work at Belleair Country Club in Clearwater, Fla. (Connor Lewis). View Derek’s latest narration in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at The Country Club“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 23, ft. Jason Straka appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Andy Staples positioned himself as one of the profession’s most creative architects with his throwback renovation of Meadowbrook Country Club near Detroit with its Willie Park, Jr. inspired early-1900s shaping. He moved into the 1920s with his green designs and shot strategies at The Match Course at PGA National Resort, opened in 2021, that pull from Macdonald/Raynor templates. He’s currently remodeling the South Course at Olympia Fields and consulting for numerous clubs in the U.S. and Canada. Andy steps into the Salon to talk with Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and designer Jim Urbina about the economic tailwinds behind renovation work, whether the same amount of investment that’s been pouring into the private and high-end markets will find its way into public golf, the massive effect of television and the PGA Tour on golf design and the way golfers perceive the game, giving golfers the opportunity to experience different forms of the sport, the mundane instinctiveness toward par 72 courses, an emerging cultural taste for old style architecture and pre- and post-war green design. Photos: Above, San Vicente Resort (sanvicenteresort.com); Title page, The Match at PGA Resort (pgaresort.com, ) Powered by WordPress Support View Derek’s latest narration in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at The Country Club“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 22, ft. Andy Staples appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Chris Cochran began his career building golf courses for Jack Nicklaus in the mid-1980s. With over 100 international projects completed, he is Nicklaus Design’s longest tenured senior design associate, and since the early 90s has arguably been the most significant mover behind Nicklaus Design’s global operation. Cochran sits down with Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina to discuss his career working side by side with the Golden Bear. Specifically the conversation veers to Cochran’s love for hands on field work, the dynamics of interacting in the design process with Nicklaus, how Nicklaus valued a high “player’s IQ” in his design team, the early Nicklaus way of designing holes tactically through the lens of shot values, the shift into more artistic design and an intriguing new project in south Florida called Panther National that will allow for a rare degree of originality. PHOTOS: Homepage–The par 4 5th at Quivira in Cabo San Lucas (nicklaus.com); above–Dismal River’s White course in Mullen, Nebraska (nicklaus.com). View Derek’s latest narration in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at The Country Club“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Feed the Ball Salon Volume 21, ft. Chris Cochran appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Joe Jemsek grew up with Dick Wilson. At least figuratively. In the early 1960s, Wilson, one of golf architecture’s most interesting and possibly misunderstood figures, designed the former America’s 100 Greatest Course Cog Hill No. 4 in Chicago, known as Dubsdread, for Jemsek’s grandfather. Few people knew Wilson or his former partner Joe Lee as well as the Jemseks, and the family remained close with Lee until his death in 2003. The younger Jemsek’s experience growing up on Dubsdread inspired him to dig deeper into the work of Wilson. Now an architect in his own right (the Jemsek family stills operates Cog Hill, along with several other facilities), Jemsek has poured through the Wilson/Lee archives and studied Wilson’s courses as closely as anyone in the profession. Jemsek joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss how Wilson’s legacy has aged, the orchestrated prescription of shots he built into his designs, how Wilson’s courses helped revolutionize resort golf, the special shaping crew known as the All-Stars he used on his courses, the appeal of the “championship course” to golfers of the 1960s (and beyond), the role Lee played in the Wilson operation and how his approach to design differed, and the past, present and potential future of Dubsdread. Photos: Above, Cog Hill No. 4, Hole 8 (courtesy coghillgolf.com); Cover page and below, Pine Tree GC, 1961 View the latest in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at Oakmont“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Episode 80: Joe Jemsek on Dick Wilson appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Tim Liddy and Dave Axland have worked together on a number of projects including, most recently, Harrison Lake in Indiana, a remodel that included the addition of several new holes and a re-routing of the course. Liddy, the primary designer, was a longtime collaborator with the late Pete Dye and knows his mentor’s work and beliefs as well as anyone. Axland is the longtime associate of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and has been the “muscle” behind most of their best work since the early 90s. He’s also recently joined forces with Rod Whitman and Keith Cutten to create a new power firm, Whitman, Axland and Cutten, who have new builds under construction in Bend, Oregon and British Columbia. Liddy and Axland join golf architect Jim Urbina and Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan for an entertaining and wisdom-filled talk about the nature of collaboration, the pitfalls of ego, the humility required to do the work and the most important lessons they’ve learned over the course of their long careers. View some photos of Harrison Lake, and other lovely golf holes, at Tim Liddy’s website. Photos: Cover, Harrison Lake Club, Tim Liddy. Above, Colorado Golf Club. View the latest in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at Oakmont“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 20, ft. Dave Axland and Tim Liddy appeared first on Feed The Ball.

In just the last several years, designer Andrew Green has played a prominent role in guiding back to their founding architectural spirit a number of prominent major championship courses, including America’s 100 Greatest Courses fixtures Inverness Club, Oak Hill East and Congressional Blue. He’s also brought back to life the most interesting features that had faded from over a dozen other clubs in the U.S. and Caribbean. His current work includes restorations of another 100 Greatest course with major championship heritage, Scioto Country Club in Ohio, and Second 100 Greatest ranked courses Wannamoisett in Rhode Island and East Lake in Atlanta, home of the Tour Championship. Green joins the Feed the Ball podcast to talk to Derek Duncan about these projects, how he got his break as a solo designer, the line between renovation and restoration, projecting bold design and restoration visions to clubs, the excitement and the personal connection he feels when working with clubs with older architecture, and what we can learn about the game from the great writer-architects of the past. Photos: Above, the par-4 8th at Congressional’s Blue Course (Derek Duncan); title page, the par-4 6th at Oak Hill’s East Course (Evan Schiller). View the latest in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at Oakmont“ Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Episode 79: Andrew Green appeared first on Feed The Ball.

The topic is bunkers: should they be placed scientifically or randomly? Should there be more or less, or any at all? Has the naturalistic look become ubiquitous and overused? What about proper bunker depth? Are liners a waste of money? And are bunker still the hazards they once were, have they lost their importance, and have they become too expensive to maintain? To discuss all of this, as well as answer questions about bunkers from listeners, is Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina. They’re joined by Ron Whitten, Golf Digest architecture editor from 1985 to 2020, a historian who is also a practicing designer with current projects going on in several states, including the new North Course at Corica Park in Alameda, California, with lead architect and builder Marc Logan. More pertinent thoughts from Urbina about bunker myths can be found here: Urbina on Bunkers Listen to Ron Whitten on The Green Awning golf podcast: Whitten View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits” Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. Photos: Opening page, Claremont Country Club (courtesy Jim Urbina); Top, The Valley Club of Montecito (Urbina); Below, Corica Park South Course (Urbina); Bottom, Corica Park North Course (courtesy of Derek Duncan). The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 19: Bunkers ft. Ron Whitten appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Like most architects, Steve Smyers has a deep reverence for the classical era and the strategic brilliance of Harry Colt, Alister MacKenzie, George Thomas and others. However, as an elite player as well as a veteran designer, he realized the basic strategic precepts that have existed since the early 1900s and have guided much of his own work might no longer apply to golf at the highest levels. Smyers joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan to discuss the a-ha moment that led to his evolving views on strategy and course design for the game’s best players, and whether or not a changing understanding of strategy symbolizes the end of strategic play as we’ve always known it. Powered by GST Suvidha Kendra [Photos–above, Old Memorial, courtesy oldmemorialgolfclub.com; cover page–Pine Valley, Derek Duncan] View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits” Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Episode 78: Steve Smyers and Rethinking Strategy appeared first on Feed The Ball.

In this Feed the Ball podcast, we get deep into some Wisconsin golf talk with golf course architect Craig Haltom. Haltom joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan to discuss recreating C.B. Macdonald’s The Lido at Sand Valley, how GPS technology has the potential to change the way courses are preserved and finished, how he located the Sand Valley property over a decade ago and brought it to the attention of Mike Keiser, renovating a municipal course in Madison with a crew of talented designers, the power potential of adventurous practice putting greens, and his new 18-hole course, The Club at Lac La Belle outside Milwaukee. Photo, above: The par-4 5th, “Cape” at The Lido in Wisconsin. Cover photo: the wild par-3 4th at The Club at Lac La Belle. View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits” Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. The post Episode 77: Craig Haltom appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Is it possible we take Whistling Straits for granted? Of all the spectacular builds in the history of golf, from The Lido to Calusa Pines, very little is spoken about how Pete Dye and Herb Kohler transformed flat farmland and an abandoned Army airfield into the wild, multilayered Irish-looking golf course gouged into the bluffs of Lake Michigan that is the 23rd ranked course on Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses ranking. How did Dye do it? Mike O’Connor can tell us. While Dye is known for beginning the careers of many current designers and course builders, very few knew him like O’Connor did, who worked as Dye’s construction manager at a multitude of courses for over 25 years, including running the job at Whistling Straits. He essentially lived on site for several years, and in this podcast he shares his insight and recollections of what it was like to build the course, and what it took to pull off one of golf’s most dramatic land transformations. He also shares stories about working side-by-side with Dye, meeting and developing a friendship with Kohler, what the virgin property was like, discovering live rounds of aerial ammunition on site, how the course evolved from conception, the origins of the out-of-character par-5 5th, and one very strange but discarded idea for the famous par-3 17th. View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits” Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play Twitter: @feedtheball Instagram: @feedtheball Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15. Photo: Early days at Whistling Straits (all construction photos courtesy of Mike O’Connor). The post Episode 76: Making Whistling Straits appeared first on Feed The Ball.