The Golfer's Journal Podcast

If you know ball, have a teenage daughter or have seen a commercial in the last six months, then Jason Kelce needs no introduction. He’s currently one of the most famous people on Earth, and arguably one the most likable. But there’s a lot more than meets the eye with the 13-year NFL veteran and media personality. Behind the shirtless dancing, beer-chugging and howling laughter is a serious, thoughtful and creative version of Jason Kelce who plays multiple instruments, feels like an underdog, and really wants to break 80. We get to know all these sides on the Season 2 premiere of Mind Game.  Get 10 free AG1travel packs when you subscribe: https://drinkag1.com/event/bts24 Experience the new Titleist GT Driver: https://www.titleist.com/ Subscribe to The Golfer’s Journal: https://www.golfersjournal.com/ All Mind Game episodes: https://www.golfersjournal.com/category/mind-game-podcast/

You likely know longtime Hollywood actor Ed Burns for his turn as Richard Reiben in Saving Private Ryan. Since breaking through with his independent 1995 film The Brothers McMullen, Burns has found success both in front of and behind the camera. But after falling hard for golf during the pandemic, Burns has started to see the world, and his creative outlets, through the lens of the game. In this episode, recorded live from Sullivan County GC, Ed takes host Tom Coyne through the genesis and filming of Finnegan’s Foursome, his upcoming Irish golf film shot partially around Carne Golf Links in Belmullet, and digs into his new novel A Kid From Marlboro Road. It’s a rare peek behind the curtain at the creative process, as host and guest trade tales from the writer’s room to the film set, and Burns relates how scattering his mother’s ashes inspired a film about a family both bound and broken by golf. And if you’re one of those viewers who scoff at shoddily edited golf sequences, you’re in luck—Burns is right there with you. The Golfer's Journal and this podcast are made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here: https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT The Golfer’s Journal Podcast is presented by Titleist.

You’ve likely never heard of Warren Stephens—or his magnificent and critically acclaimed Arkansas golf retreat—and that’s by design. Recently, host Tom Coyne accepted a rare invite from Stephens to The Alotian Club, perhaps the quietest club ever to crack America’s top 100. The golf is eye-popping, with 18 rollercoaster holes slashed through the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, but the family behind it is where the real stories lie. You’ll meet Stephens, club founder and chairman of one of the nation’s largest privately held investment banks. You’ll hear tales from his father Jackson, a former chairman of Augusta National who presided over perhaps the most successful IPO in American history. And you’ll learn how the family is giving back to the game with the Stephens Cup, a collegiate tournament hitting a few small, out-of-the-way locations like Shoreacres, PGA Frisco and, yes, the Alotian Club. The Golfer's Journal and this podcast are made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here: https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT The Golfer’s Journal Podcast is presented by Titleist. 

 In 1989, IMG agent Hughes Norton showed up at Earl Woods’ front door. Tiger was 12—but Norton could see the future. He would go on to become Tiger’s first agent, inking the future legend to record-setting deals with Nike and Titleist before he hit one ball as a pro. But, as you’ll hear in Norton’s new sit-down with host Tom Coyne, all that fame and fortune came at a heavy price. In this interview, Norton pulls back the curtain to reveal the soaring highs and stomach-churning lows from his 35+ years as one of golf’s premier agents. Fleshing out tales from his new memoir, Rainmaker, Norton offers blow-by-blow accounts of previously unseen Tiger moments, sheds new light on Greg Norman’s decades-long grudges, offers an inside look at the birth of IMG and reflects on how history may just judge Arnold Palmer as the game’s true moral compass. The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Titleist ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

During college in 1979, Tommy Hyland ran across a basic blackjack strategy book. Nearly a half century later, he is the kingpin of the world’s longest-lasting and most successful professional blackjack team, and one of the seven original members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Hyland’s gaming isn’t limited to the table, however—he is a longtime competitive amateur golfer within the Philadelphia section, and has qualified for five USGA championships. Hyland brings host Tom Coyne on a wild ride through his 50-plus years in gambling, including the highs (cleaning Vegas out during a 1982 prizefight) and lows (losing six figures in one night—without visiting a casino). Plus, Hyland elucidates the parallels between professional gambling and amateur golf, details his unlikely Lucas Glover US Open windfall, and duels Coyne in a live hand of blackjack, which was only going to end one way. The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by⁠⁠⁠⁠  @titleist ⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Jon Sherman has developed a career, and a +2 handicap index, out of teaching boring golf. As the strategic mind behind Practical Golf, Sherman has parlayed his common-sense lessons into a series of bestselling books and PGA Tour coaching gigs. We recently sat down with him for a BTS member-exclusive video series designed to elevate our members’ on-course decision making. But as Bobby Jones noted, golf and tournament golf are two very different things. In this new interview, host Casey Bannon chats with Sherman about his new book, The Foundations of Winning Golf, which focuses on the fundamentals of succeeding under pressure. The two spent time discussing strategies for leaning into tournament nerves, the value of putting your game on display and the alternative ways that Mackenzie Hughes defines success, among other insights. Tune in and start racking up Ws. Watch Jon Sherman's six-part master class: https://glfrsj.nl/PBG The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by⁠⁠⁠  @titleist ⁠⁠⁠ 

Northern Ireland was a different place when Scotsman Kevan Whitson took the Royal County Down head professional job in 1992. The country was still enmeshed in the Troubles, golf travel hadn’t yet boomed, and the club saw 1,500 visitor rounds a year. But Old Tom’s layout at this low-key members’ club strung along the Irish Sea has always been world-class, and RCD now rightfully claims its place as perhaps the greatest links in the world, as well as a fixture on every golfer’s bucket list. Host Tom Coyne sat down with Whitson to walk through the changes he’s overseen in his 30 years at the club, the balancing act between providing an elite visitor experience and serving the club’s membership, and his memories of hosting everyone from Jack and Arnie to Rory and Rickie. Plus, Whitson offers a few points of advice for anyone gearing up to take on the 2024 Irish Open host venue, and lays out how Royal County Down may just be golf’s answer to Emily Post, with every hole teaching players to mind their manners. The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by⁠⁠  @titleist ⁠⁠ 

If you know, you know: It’s Poosh! If that’s gibberish to you, pop in those earbuds and meet Micah Pueschel, frontman of reggae band Iration, published contributor in TGJ No. 29 and humble golf nerd well aware of the “insane” run he’s on. Before helping to lead Iration from a college bar band to a world-touring festival headliner, Pueschel grew up at a now-defunct nine-hole muni near his home on the Big Island of Hawaii. As he tells host Tom Coyne from the Iration tour bus outside Columbus, golf took a back seat for many years, but safe to say that the bug is back in a big way. Pueschel expands on his abiding love for Soule Park and its unpretentious SoCal character, runs down his eye-popping list of courses played this year, and opens up about his experiences with “the most nerve-wracking thing in the world.” Hint: it’s not playing shows.  The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by⁠  @titleist ⁠ 

Last week, TGJ became one of the first media outlets to visit ⁠TGL's performance lab⁠ (which is different from the SoFi Center where competition will be held) in West Palm Beach, FL and preview the first of roughly 30 new digital golf holes designed specifically for league competition starting in January 2025. Managing Editor Travis Hill sat down with golf course architect Beau Welling, one of three designers behind the development of what Tiger and Rory are hoping will become an entirely new style of golf.  So how were the courses designed? ⁠How does one play a hole?⁠ Will they play out of real fairway grass? How does this spinning green work? And will Tiger and Rory's ambitious new venture actually catch on? All these questions and more are answered on TGJ Podcast 169.  The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by  @titleist  

The Golfer's Journal is made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT⁠⁠ TGJ Podcast is presented by Titleist  George Solich, the youngest of five brothers from a lower-middle class family in Colorado Springs, grew up a caddie. A few decades later he has become a business titan, having developed and sold three successful companies in the energy sector. And to hear him tell it, everything leads back to golf. Today, Solich is the President and Chairman of Castle Pines Golf Club outside Denver, and on the eve of the PGA Tour’s return to this epic Jack Nicklaus design for the BMW Championship, host Tom Coyne sits down with Solich to learn how and why he brought pro golf back to Castle Pines after a lengthy absence. They also discuss the pivotal role that golf and caddying has played in Solich’s life—from his first loops at 13, to becoming an Evans Scholar, to giving back through his Solich Caddie and Leadership Program and the Western Golf Association. Solich’s story is a case study in the life-shaping power of the game, and one any golf fan will appreciate