The Golfer's Journal Podcast

He wasn’t the biggest, flashiest or longest, but one look at Paul McGinley’s resume—four European Tour wins, three Ryder Cup titles as a player and one more as captain—clearly shows a legendary career in the game. But golf never came easily to the scrappy Irishman. McGinley spills his secrets for success to host Tom Coyne, reflecting on his love for Gaelic football, attending high school with Padraig Harrington, why he prefers watching Rory over Tiger, what it takes to gain the respect of a Ryder Cup locker room and how he purposefully hooked the most important putt of his life.

Sandbaggers, ball-droppers and lie-fluffers, oh my! Getting cheated in golf can stay with you—just ask host Tom Coyne, who still can’t forget an interclub incident from 1986. So we decided to name names: We speak with experts who break down golf’s various scammers (behold, the “cheating non-liar”) and investigate what exactly leads someone to cheat at the ultimate game of honor.  Along the way, we hear some of the wackiest cheating stories ever recorded, as submitted by listeners. Fingers crossed none are about you.

Yes, in TGJ No. 14, Coyne chronicled the hellish battles he and four others had with substance abuse and how golf in a sober league became an unexpectedly vital part of their journeys to recovery. But in this pod, it's clear that busting each other’s chops is also a big part of it. In a surprisingly funny and hopeful conversation, Coyne and two members of the league discuss golf’s longtime kinship with alcohol, their own roads to sobriety and why a sense of humor helps too. Because hey, it’s a lot easier to play 36 a day when you’re not hungover.

What are you left with after 19 years as a communications executive for the PGA Tour’s biggest events? A jukebox of epic tales ranging from the parking-lot chase with Tiger at Doral, a front row seat for the Keegan Bradley-Miguel Angel Jiminez greenside clash, and a late night meal at an Atlanta Waffle House where he shared a special drink with a stranger the night Arnold Palmer passed. TGJ Editor Travis Hill sits down with Chris Reimer to press play on his career with the Tour, and how it led to his piece in TGJ No. 14: A trip to King Island, golf’s next great bucket list destination.

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Ben Rector writes from a place of vulnerability, forming a bond with his fans by letting them behind the curtain. And while he and host Tom Coyne have just recently met, they sound very much like old friends on this episode. During their conversation, Rector discusses the best places to peg it on tour, golf in the Nashville music scene, life as an independent artist and adds his expert opinion on one of golf’s hot-button issues: music on the golf course.

College football fans know the legendary writing, podcasting and Twitter rants of Spencer Hall. But what does he know about golf? Just enough to be dangerous. Hall joins TGJ Editor Travis Hill to discuss his story in TGJ No. 14 about Ray Ray Whitley, a virtual golfer Hall created to survive an early-quarantine sports black hole. They go on to workshop some golf takes like how Phil Mickelson is a walking hedge fund, why one in-person Masters was enough for Hall, and his belief that the Waste Management is the true U.S. Open. Much like Ray Ray, Hall gives the traditional golf establishment a much-needed cage rattling.

If you’re open to it, the game can provide some life-changing surprises. So it is with Mike Madden and host Tom Coyne. Madden, son of legendary NFL coach and broadcaster John Madden, and Coyne never knew each other before they teed off. Now, Madden is passing him secret turducken recipes and they’re talking about a trip to play in Ireland. This conversation retraces the steps of their round at Philly Cricket, Madden’s preservation of Muhammed Ali’s legacy, and his small role in the video game bearing his father’s famous face. But really, it’s a story about how our game can turn strangers into fast friends. And one absolutely incredible bus.

 It’s been a hell of a ride. In the early 1950s, he was watching declassified rocket explosions filmed by his father. During the 1960s, in the shadow of Riviera, he learned the game from Willie Hunter by flying 4-irons into the Pacific. In 1964 he helped produce some of the first music videos, and by 1966 he was part of the revolutionary Bones Brigade that introduced skateboarding to Europe. Over the decades his love for golf took him from Pacific Grove to Carne and just about everywhere in between. In 2020, he wrote about it all in TGJ No. 13 and joined host Tom Coyne to explain his movie-script life. This is Jim Fitzpatrick. 

Fresh off his byline in TGJ No. 13, Golfer’s Journal Contributor Chris Solomon returns to the show to talk about the inspiration behind “Infinite Loop,” the brotherhood behind the traveling carry bag that’s now been around the world twice, how to properly pitch a TGJ story, and the fear that comes when putting pen to paper. 

This week on TGJ Digital we released “Now What?” — a new feature where contributing writer Will Bardwell asks a variety of golf industry members the big question: After golf’s biggest summer in decades, what will, and should, once-struggling golf courses do with their unexpected revenue? Assistant Editor Casey Bannon connects with Bardwell to go beyond the reporting of the piece, and further the conversation on what's next for golf.