The Golfer's Journal Podcast

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. 

Inspired by the frightening story of Scotland’s Montrose Golf Links in TGJ No. 9, host Tom Coyne sets out to see how others in golf are confronting the very real effects of the climate crisis. He interviews Montrose story author and climate scientist Dr. Robin George Andrews, Cornell University turfgrass specialist Dr. Frank Rossi and Dani Creighton, the environmental manager at Glencoe Golf Club in Alberta, Canada, to ask what exactly is happening to golf courses worldwide. The answers are troubling—the game we love is no doubt changing—but he also discovers some surprising ways some are fighting back.

The latest TGJ Podcast finds Tom Coyne sitting down with actor and comedian Joel Murray at American Legion Post 42, following their round together at Chicago’s Canal Shores. The youngest of nine Murrays reminisces on his introduction to the game at Canal, its infamous snackbar, lessons his own caddie shack and of course, stories about Bill.

We celebrate the return of Sweetens Cove to the pages of TGJ with a conversation between Contributing Editor D.J. Piehowski and Sweetens Cove architect Rob Collins. They discuss the devilish fourth hole, which is featured in the Yardage Book section of issue No. 9, the foul-mouthed preacher behind its royal nickname, and just how tough it can play. They also get into the changes at the course and how a game of telephone between Brad Faxon, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning led to Manning joining its ownership group.

From music videos at Def Jam to Director of Diversity at the PGA of America, Wendell Haskins has built a remarkable life inside and outside the game. On the latest TGJ Podcast, Casey Bannon links up with Haskins and professional golfer Sadena Parks in New York City in advance of their Original Tee Golf Classic—a tournament celebrating the African-Americans in the game. Learn how one of the coolest guys in golf went from roommates with P. Diddy to Luther Campbell’s stylist to full-time grower of the game.