The Golfer's Journal Podcast

ATTENTION: TGJ Subscribers will be playing Bandon Dunes’ Sheep Ranch masterpiece before it opens to the public. You’re wondering how to get in on this? Publisher Brendon Thomas joins host Tom Coyne to cover everything you need to know.

Is a bad day on the course really better than a good day anywhere else? On episode 47 of the TGJ Podcast, host Tom Coyne puts that old adage to its greatest test. First he connects with Shane Bacon to recount his feature in TGJ No. 10, where he got his “teeth kicked in” at Scottsdale National’s Bad Little Nine. We then open the floor to some familiar names and fresh voices to hear their lowest points on the course. Listen in as Fore the Ladies’ Abby Liebenthal, Outside the Cut’s Trey Runkle and more rehash their personal challenge days. 

Where will we play? How much will we pay? How many holes, with what tools and what will we wear? Golf changed in so manys from 2000-2020, which led host Tom Coyne to wonder how the game will look two decades from now. On episode 46, a high-profile collection of experts including journalist Geoff Shackelford, Stanford women’s golf coach Anne Walker, Bandon Dunes architect David McLay Kidd, creative director Andrew Haynes and Streamsong Resort’s Director of Golf Scott Wilson to stare into the crystal ProV1 and predict where the game is headed. 

TGJ No. 10 introduces us to the Ohoopee Match Club—a discreet Georgia playground designed specifically to ignore par. Inspired by this concept, host Tom Coyne taps Ohoopee architect Gil Hanse to understand how the edict to eliminate a target score shaped his design process. Next, Tom dials renowned Scottish Historian Neil Laird to trace the origins of par itself. Finally, TGJ contributor Thomas Young passionately states his case for why golf is more fun without its most familiar scoring system. 

The greatest tournaments live on in our collective memories. But they also provide a sometimes shocking timestamp of the golf world at that time. Host Tom Coyne, No Laying Up’s Chris Solomon, PGATour.Com Senior Editor Sean Martin and TGJ’s Casey Bannon gather to look back on five days of golf that wrote legacies and history books alike: The 2008 U.S. Open. From practice round folklore to the birth of Rickie’s orange pants and 91 unforgettable holes, this one deserves a Re-Tee. 

From message board idea to functioning golf course to the pages of TGJ No.10, Brough Creek National is every armchair architect’s dream. In our latest episode, host Tom Coyne confirms the hand-built reality with a (temporary) course record, followed by a tour with Ben Hotaling, the course’s designer. Hole-by-hole, Hotaling discusses an array of tee-to-green options, obstacles that nearly prevented his finished product, selling national memberships in rural Kansas City, and how your yard can become Some Guy’s Backyard.

While reporting TGJ No.10’s, “The One Less Travelled,” contributor Jay Revell stumbled upon a treasure trove of unearthed footage featuring the late architect Mike Strantz during construction of his masterpiece, Tobacco Road. After sifting through hours of rare interviews and conversations, Revell and host Tom Coyne analyze some of Strantz’s most profound thoughts on visual intimidation, fine arts, fairway lines and the zen in shaping golf holes.

He’s watched Ben Hogan write checks to settle debts, walked off Arnie’s home course rather than breaking the King’s record and ran the merchandise tent at Oakmont while playing in the ‘83 U.S. Open. Bob Ford’s legendary career in golf continues today: He’s the head professional at Seminole Country Club. Host Tom Coyne tries to keep a straight face as Ford regales him with tales from 40 unforgettable years in the game. 

Who holds the rightful claim to America’s first golf club? How did three different players lose in match play after an ace? Which major champion was nearly arrested for slow play? Host Tom Coyne has questions, and Connor Lewis of the Society of Golf Historians has the answers. This rollicking conversation gets into some of golf’s true-life oddities, including a flatulence fine, a mid-round pizza delivery at the U.S. Open and the real-life Roy McAvoy.

Breathe. Rotate. Don’t blow it left. Don’t think about your ex. Get your hands to the proper spot. Shut the face. Be oily. Go blank. Whether they’re beautiful and effective or a form of psychological warfare, everyone has a swing thought. On our latest podcast, host Tom Coyne asks a host of players what’s going through their heads, and gets renowned golf psychologist Dr. Bob Winters to sort through them. Listen as PGA Tour pro Zac Blair, U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins, No Laying Up’s Big Randy and Tron Carter, course architect David McLay Kidd and more sit on the TGJ couch and bare their golfing souls for all to hear.