The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

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.

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.

For the second of our two Thanksgiving-week Yolk with Doak installments, Andy and golf course architect Tom Doak tackle some more listener questions. Among other topics, they discuss Doak's recent Sedge Valley and Pinehurst No. 10 projects, designing short par 4s and shot courses that challenge elite players, difficult vs. "fun" courses, a wild idea for an Olympic course, and the pros and cons of blind shots.

Tom Doak is back for the first of two new episodes. In this first one, Tom addresses a variety of listener questions. He talks about the revival of his original High Pointe design outside of Traverse City, Michigan, and how it has been a unique project for Renaissance Golf Design. Andy and Tom then discuss the takeaways Tom has from Lido after a few days on site in October.

Former PGA Tour pro Roberto Castro joins the podcast to discuss the TGL, the indoor, tech-infused golf league featuring the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that will launch in January next year. Roberto has been helping the TGL design its gameplay, and he provides information and perspective on the league's genesis, format, and potential. Before digging into this topic, however, Roberto and Andy discuss Roberto's recent experiences playing with retro equipment. Toward the end of the episode, they talk about the direction of the PGA Tour in the "Framework Agreement" era.

Bruce Hepner, former Vice President of Tom Doak's Renaissance Golf Design, was at the forefront of many current trends in golf architecture, from the Golden Age restoration movement to the revival of the design-build method. So we figured he would have an interesting perspective on the evolution of modern golf course design. Bruce and Garrett start by chatting about Bruce's passion for music and his recent renovation of Percy Warner Golf Course, a municipal nine in Nashville. They then discuss Bruce's epoch-spanning career, touching on his work in the early 1990s with Ron Forse, his experiences on Doak projects like Pacific Dunes and Ballyneal, and his thoughts on how the golf course restoration game has changed in recent years.

A couple of weeks ago, Garrett spoke with architect Gil Hanse in front of an audience at the Pearl Street Warehouse in Washington, D.C. Their conversation was part of the National Links Trust Symposium on Municipal Golf, so they focused on Gil's résumé of municipal designs, from Rustic Canyon and Soule Park in the early 2000s, to the recently opened Park in West Palm Beach, to his ongoing projects at Maggie Hathaway in Los Angeles and Rock Creek Park in D.C. Garrett and Gil touch on a variety of larger topics, such as the importance of architectural minimalism to affordable golf course development and the recent changes in both the golf architecture industry and Gil's own workload. Many thanks to the National Links Trust for asking Garrett to be involved in this year's symposium, and for letting us share this conversation with our listeners. Find out more about the NLT's work HERE.

Garrett joins Andy, aka "Sheddie Hackett," in the Fried Egg Golf Shedquarters for the first multi-person pod recorded entirely within the four uninsulated walls of Andy's backyard shed. They celebrate this momentous occasion by picking a "Dream 18" for Sand Valley in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. They select their favorite holes at each number (1 through 18) from the resort's five existing courses: Coore & Crenshaw's Sand Valley, David McLay Kidd's Mammoth Dunes, Coore & Crenshaw's Sandbox, Tom Doak and Brian Schneider's re-creation of C.B. Macdonald's Lido, and Tom Doak's Sedge Valley. Andy also gets in a few digs at large flagsticks.

Australian golf architect Mike Cocking returns to the pod for the first time in five years. Along with OCM design partners Geoff Ogilvy and Ashley Mead, Mike has been working more in the U.S. recently, so he and Andy have a lot to catch up on. They cover a variety of topics, including the best Ben Hogan story Mike heard while renovating Shady Oaks Country Club in Texas, how to design and build site-specific bunkers, the differences between Sandbelt golf and American golf, and some off-the-wall design concepts he'd like to try . Mike and Andy also dig deeply into two of OCM's current projects: an ambitious renovation of Course 3 at Medinah Country Club, which will debut at the 2026 Presidents Cup; and a 36-hole new build in Georgia, which will feature both a heathland-style and a Sandbelt-style course.

With the Ryder Cup in the rearview mirror and the competitive season winding down, Andy brings on Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) and Kyle Porter (@kyleportercbs) for a rollicking discussion of the year in golf. They rank the top five people and things that golf has been best to in 2023, and the conversation veers in a variety of directions, touching on playing Augusta National, coaching vs. parenting, and of course Blockie.

Dan Hixson is a golf architect based in Portland, Oregon, who has designed and built several excellent golf courses in the Pacific Northwest, including Bandon Crossings, Wine Valley, the reversible Craddock/Hankins layout at Silvies Valley Ranch, and the new Bar Run. Sitting in his home office, Dan tells Garrett about his varied career in golf course design. He begins by talking about his ongoing renovation of Lake Oswego Golf Course, a municipal facility in the Portland suburbs. He then delves into how he got interested in golf architecture as a kid, his foray into international competitive golf, his time as a club pro, and his sudden transition into golf course design. In the second half of the episode, Dan and Garrett touch on some of his most significant design projects—all of which are open to the public.

The interest and intrigue in season two of LIV Golf has waned throughout the year and in the aftermath of the bombshell that was the “Framework Agreement” with the PGA Tour. As its season winds down, LIV is front and center again and Golfweek’s Adam Woodard, who has been on the LIV beat the last two years, joins Fried Egg Golf’s Garrett Morrison to discuss the recent denial of OWGR points and how interest has dropped off severely in its second year. They also discuss the tenuous nature of that framework deal with the PGA Tour and the potential consequences if it does fall through at the year-end deadline. Will we see another round of player movement and defections between the two leagues? And how is that deal uncertainty impacting LIV and its future? They also catchup on the league’s season ending events for both team play in Miami this week and individual play in Saudi Arabia last week.

Mathew Goggin has had one of the most interesting careers in golf and he's not yet old enough to play on the Champions Tour. Growing up in Tasmania as the son of legendary golfer Lindy Goggin (née Jennings), Mat played frequently at Royal Hobart Golf Club, which is close to the Hobart International Airport as well as a strip of sand dunes and pine trees called Seven Mile Beach. Mat often wondered why there wasn't a course on this landmass, amid the spectacular dunes. Future Tassie golfers will no longer have to wonder: with the help of architects Mike Clayton and Mike DeVries, Mat is developing a new public golf course at Seven Mile Beach, set to open in late 2024. In addition, he has already begun to plan a second course next door, this one called 5 Mile Beach. Matt gives Garrett the lowdown on these projects and also talks about his outstanding competitive career, highlighted by a victory at the 1995 Australian Amateur, five wins on the Korn Ferry Tour, and a very close call at the 2009 Open Championship. (Yes, that Open—the Tom Watson vs. Stewart Cink one.) Mentioned in the episode: Mat's excellent essay "10 years and counting...," a reflection on his late grandfather's influence on his life in golf

Another European Ryder Cup, another "surprising" loss for Team USA. In this episode, Garrett offers some analysis of Europe's 16.5-11.5 victory in Rome as well as a few big-picture takeaways. First he is joined by Joseph LaMagna, a Fried Egg Golf contributor and the author of the Finding the Edge newsletter, to perform an autopsy of the U.S. team's performance. For a discussion of the European squad's successful week, Garrett brings on Ben Coley (39:38), the deputy head of content at sportinglife.com. Both Joseph and Ben touch on players who thrived at Marco Simone, players who faltered, and the strategic decisions that led to Sunday's result.

Happy Ryder Cup Eve! As the first day of action in Rome approaches, Garrett checks in with three members of the Fried Egg Golf team—Andy Johnson, Brendan Porath, and Joseph LaMagna—to get their predictions for which team will win at Marco Simone, what the final score will be, and who will prove the most and least valuable players. For the second part of the episode (34:15), Garrett is joined by Shane Ryan, author of The Cup They Couldn't Lose, to discuss how the Ryder Cup has changed over time. Garrett and Shane provide historical context for this week's event by exploring how Europe gained the upper hand on the U.S. team starting in the late 1980s, and how Team USA has only recently begun to match its opponent's level of organization and leadership.

CBS lead golf analyst Trevor Immelman joins Andy to preview this week's Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy. The two discuss the big storylines heading into the Ryder Cup, including top-tier European players, the depth of the U.S. team, Justin Thomas's prospects, and Team USA's predictable pairings.

This episode focuses on the APGA Tour, which seeks to bring greater diversity to golf by helping African Americans and other minorities to gain access to careers in the game. First, Andy speaks with APGA founder Ken Bentley about how he started the tour, what his original goals were, and what the tour has become. They also touch on some stories of APGA players. For the second half of the episode, APGA Tour and PGA Tour Canada member Aaron Beverly joins Andy to discuss his life in golf (57:45). Aaron talks about how his years of experience in ballet helped his game, and about his path from watching Tiger Woods every weekend as a kid to winning the Charlie Sifford Award and joining Tiger on a panel.

Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, outside of Rome, Italy, is this year's Ryder Cup host. In preparation for this rather high-profile gig, Marco Simone underwent a redesign by European Golf Design, in cooperation with Tom Fazio II. European Golf Design's lead architect for this project was Dave Sampson, and in this episode, Dave joins Garrett for a deep dive into the course. Dave talks about the most attention-getting holes at Marco Simone, the thought that went into building the spectator and hospitality infrastructure at the venue, whether he believes the course will actually favor the Europeans over the Americans, and some of the criticism Marco Simone has received from European Tour players. Garrett also asks Dave about his general philosophy of championship course design, including his take on the role of narrow fairways and thick rough in challenging elite players.

Shane Bacon joins Andy to draft their own Ryder Cup teams: Team Egg vs. Team Bacon. They do a schoolyard pick, drawing from the pool of American and European pros who will compete in the Ryder Cup later this month, ranking them 1-24, and offering insights and critiques on individual players. Banter ensues.

First, Andy and Garrett cover some mailbag questions they didn't get to in last Friday's pod. They try to decide whether upcoming Ryder Cup venue Marco Simone is "good," list some of their favorite fairways in golf, and discuss the importance of tee-box design. In the back half of the episode, Garrett is joined by Will Benson (40:52), the facility manager and golf superintendent at Laurelwood, a nine-hole municipal course in Eugene, Oregon. Over the past several years, Will has carried out significant design upgrades at Laurelwood, and he tells Garrett about how he made these projects happen efficiently and cheaply.