The Golfer's Journal Podcast

If we eat, sleep and breathe golf, then we are bound to dream about it. From struggling to pull the club back to eating ice cream with Gary Woodland, golf dreams can manifest themselves in infinite ways. But no matter how wacky they get, a fundamental truth remains: Golf dreams reveal the deepest level of our golfing subconscious.  On Episode 97, we enlist dream analyst expert Lauri Loewenberg to decode some golf dreams submitted by TGJ Members. And while we’ll never know exactly why we find ourselves washing windows with Jordan Spieth or hanging with Tom Coyne in our childhood homes, we now know we can learn a great deal about ourselves—as long as we keep on dreaming. 

After winning a national championship at Morehouse College, Olajuwon Ajanaku set his sights on a professional golf career. Despite some early success, he found himself struggling to meet the financial demands of chasing the dream. Instead of seeking sponsorship, he went a different way: He created a logo of himself, slapped it on a Gildan, and started pushing it around downtown Detroit. Two years later, after joining forces with his college teammate Earl Cooper, Eastside Golf is pushing the boundaries of what a golf brand can be, and recently became the first brand to collaborate with Jordan on a signature golf shoe. The entrepreneur duo join us in the Broken Tee Society Discord server to discuss building a brand, the importance of being yourself, the definition of culture, hip hop’s influence, and much more.

Once upon a time there was a golf course called The Lido. Bernard Darwin called it “the finest golf course in the world.” And then? It disappeared. And now, there are three. On Ep. 95, Brett Cyrgalis, Gil Hanse and Brian Schneider take us on a journey to unravel how we lost such an important piece of golf history, and why we should be thankful that a group of true believers are putting it back together. 

Will MacKenzie has lived in an Alaskan cave for 30 days, worked as a kayak instructor in Montana, sold grilled cheeses at Grateful Dead concerts and won twice on the PGA Tour. He’s now found his footing as a caddie for the likes of Chris Kirk, where he grapples with thoughts of making a comeback and the reality that fishing sounds a lot more enjoyable than hitting range balls. He joins Tom Coyne between rounds at the RSM Classic at Sea Island to unpack his wild ride of a life, and to pinpoint why it always seems to lead back to golf. 

Greg Ohlendorf knows the secret. He is one of two people to have ever played Golf Magazine’s World Top 100 Courses, Golfweek‘s Top 100 Modern and Top 100 Classic Courses, plus a course in all 50 states. The biggest lesson he’s learned? Checking courses off a list doesn’t get the blood flowing. True golf adventure does. Ohlendorf, who wrote “The Road to Diùranais” in TGJ No. 17 about his wild ride to an under-the-radar Scottish nine-holer, joins host Tom Coyne to discuss the joys of finding new tracks, how on Earth he accomplished those lists and the flaws behind lists in general in this live recording from the main stage of the Broken Tee Society.

Greetings from the new online home of the Broken Tee Society! To kick things off, host Tom Coyne is joined by TGJ staff for a live town hall discussing the details of our newly launched private community. Open to every Member of the Broken Tee Society, people have already begun finding new playing partners, enjoying exclusive content, and even sharing advice on how to be a golf parent. The crew goes deep on our lofty plans for the new community and the critical role our Members will play going forward, along with a lively Q&A with the audience.

With appearances in nine Masters and two U.S. Opens, victories in the U.S. and British Amateur and five Walker Cup appearances, Vinny Giles is the most accomplished male amateur player alive. And—as you’ll hear—one straight shooter. On today’s podcast, host Tom Coyne travels to Virginia to sit down with Giles at Kinloch Golf Club, the course he co-designed and still regularly plays—and still goes low. They discuss the origins of Kinloch (5:00), his remarkable amateur career (10:14), a wild ride at his first Masters (21:45), his decision to not turn pro (28:30) and a few scorching-hot takes in a lightning round on the way out (37:49). Come for the classic southern drawl, stay for Giles calling a household-name track on the West Coast “the most overrated course in the world.”

Why are the Hollins tees at Pasatiempo—named for one of the longest hitters in women's history—so far forward? Why is putting the tee in the ground as a beginner so scary? How did Tom Coyne come up with the "Burger Dog Index?" Today's podcast guest comes ready with answers. Amidst a successful career at the New York Times, Katie Hafner has recently turned her lens toward golf after falling for the game. She joins the pod to discuss her piece in TGJ No. 17 on Pasatiempo and its founder Marion Hollins, the true impact pioneers like Hollins continue to have on the game, writing an early obituary for Golf in the Kingdom's Michael Murphy and much more.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even Michael Wolf who, just last week, took to Twitter to declare the 24 reasons he hates The Ryder Cup. After recovering from his initial shock (and perhaps some heartbreak), host Tom Coyne reached out to Wolf in hopes of unpacking his gripes against golf's most beloved biennial competition. The two go deep on the commercialization of The Ryder Cup, the PGA of America's motives, the viewing experience and its rightful place in golf history. You may not agree with him, but you have to admire the courage.

If you’re hungry for never-before-heard Ryder Cup stories, you’ve come to the right place. With stops at legendary clubs like Seminole, Merion and Hazeltine National, golf professional Chandler Withington has already lived a full golf life. And in a career full of them, perhaps his biggest highlight was being at the center of the action at the 2016 Ryder Cup. Withington joins host Tom Coyne and uses his Ryder Cup experience at Hazeltine—including the advice he gave then-captain Davis Love III on setting up the course, why Tiger Woods implored the 2016 U.S. team to celebrate and how he got Michael Jordan kicked out of the team room—to formulate his strategy for a U.S. victory this week.