Geoff Ogilvy on The Players, TPC Sawgrass, and Chasing Speed

In the second installment of our Great Courses series, we dive deep into the story of National Golf Links of America, C.B. Macdonald's masterpiece on Long Island. Garrett speaks with Chris Millard, the co-author of a 2016 history of NGLA, about Macdonald's background and personality, how he developed his idiosyncratic design philosophy in the first decade of the 20th century, his hugely important partnership with Seth Raynor, and the monumental effort he put into funding, building, grassing, and promoting National Golf Links.

21 Dec 20231h 14min

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll release the first few installments of what we're calling our "Great Courses" series. These episodes will tell the stories of some of the best and most influential golf courses in history. And where else could we start but with the Old Course at St. Andrews? Our guest is Scott Macpherson, a golf architect and historian, who recently published a revised edition of his fascinating, extraordinarily well-researched book St. Andrews: The Evolution of the Old Course. Scott joins Garrett to dispel some myths about the Old Course's history (no, it wasn't created solely by wind and sheep) and discuss how the links took on their modern form through a combination of natural and human influences. You can order your own copy of Scott's book on his website: St. Andrews: The Evolution of the Old Course.

19 Dec 20231h 9min

It has been the busiest, most exciting year in golf course development since Fried Egg Golf has existed, so Andy and Garrett sat down to talk about the best of what they saw in 2023. They discuss courses in three categories: 1) best new builds; 2) most exciting course renovations; and 3) most memorable older courses they played for the first time this year. Andy and Garrett wrap up with some chat about the golf course projects they're looking forward to seeing in 2024.

14 Dec 20231h 5min

Last week, Jon Rahm announced that he had signed a massive contract with LIV Golf. This is by far the most consequential signing yet for the Saudi-backed breakaway league. Andy is joined by Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) and Joseph LaMagna (@JosephLaMagna) to discuss what Rahm's departure means for the PGA Tour, how it affects the Tour's framework agreement with LIV, what the Tour needs to do to succeed going forward, and whether LIV will become significantly more interesting to watch. Andy, Shane, and Joseph wrap things up with a little rollback talk.

12 Dec 20231h 26min

The USGA and R&A announced today (Wednesday, December 6) that they plan to adjust their testing standards for golf balls, resulting in a small rollback across the game. To discuss this decision, Mike Whan and Thomas Pagel—the USGA's CEO and Chief Governance Officer, respectively—join Garrett to talk about the governing bodies' switch from bifurcation to universal rollback, why they expect the impact on average players to be minor, the feedback they've received from equipment manufacturers and professional tours, and what they hope the overall effect of the rule change on the game will be.

7 Dec 202356min

Don't call it an "emergency pod": Andy and Garrett throw out their plans for the week and sit down to discuss the late-breaking news that the USGA and R&A will soon announce a future universal rollback of the golf ball . Andy and Garrett talk about the events that have led to this juncture and address a number of common concerns, misapprehensions, and points of debate around the issue.

4 Dec 20231h 13min

Golf Channel senior writer Ryan Lavner joins Andy for some professional-golf chat. They check in on the status of the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian PIF, and they discuss how the Tour might need to change going forward. Then they offer some thoughts on Tiger Woods's presser at the Hero World Challenge and the state of his game. After going through some of their favorite memories from the 2023 season, Ryan and Andy finish up with some grill talk.

30 Nov 20231h 4min

Acclaimed musician Drew Holcomb joins the podcast to talk about music, golf, and the intersection between the two. Drew tells Andy about how he got into golf later in his life, the way his career in music progressed in relation to his golf game, and the new courses he has played this year (along with some musical artist comps for those courses). They also touch on music on the golf course, the holiday-music genre, and which major could use a theme song.

28 Nov 202358min