The Golfer's Journal Podcast

Harry Higgs would like you to know that these are his opinions, and his alone. The PGA Tour veteran joins the pod to give his unfiltered thoughts on the USGA and R&A’s recent distance ruling, criticism from “Twitter warriors,” designated and no-cut events, LIV Golf, the emotional work he’s been doing to play better golf and much more.

You’ve watched JJ Redick knock down three-pointers since his freshman year at Duke two decades ago. These days, when the 15-year NBA vet isn’t talking hoops on your TV, he’s likely grinding over his short game. The legendary sniper joins host Tom Coyne to discuss how he’s redirecting his competitive fire into golf. He also nerds out on club logos, ponders the art inherent in golf course architecture, compares swing thoughts to shooting thoughts and fires off a truly NSFW Greg Norman take. Tom Coyne: https://twitter.com/coynewriter JJ Redick: https://twitter.com/jj_redick Casey Bannon: https://twitter.com/CaseyFBannon

Five years after they first started recording their quest to a 0.0, Mike & Eli of Chasing Scratch are still doing exactly that. The co-hosts of golf’s favorite game improvement buddy podcast join host Tom Coyneto to unpack their up-and-down journey to this point, and help our audience avoid any pitfalls along the path of better. For example: Are training aids a scam? Is speed necessary? How many wedges do you actually need to hit to get better? This lively back-and-forth includes a live Q&A with Broken Tee Society members participating in The Index Experiment, and will have you itching to rededicate yourself to the grind.

Should I attack this pin or play it safe? How do I move on from a bad shot? How do I get better during the offseason? For the answers to these and many other questions from Broken Tee Society members participating in The Index Experiment, we turn to Practical Golf’s Jon Sherman. As a self described "player coach," Sherman is less concerned with your swing than he is with what you do before, between and after them. He joins host Tom Coyne to answer questions submitted from within the members-only Discord server, and covers everything from course strategy to managing expectations to the surprising utility of foot spray.

Charlie Warzel writes about technology’s effect on culture, people and ideas for The Atlantic. This makes him the perfect person to ask the question: Why are we all addicted to watching the Trents and Big Randys of the world play golf on YouTube? Warzel consumed “a weapons-grade amount of YouTube golf” for his story in TGJ No. 23, and joins the podcast to unpack it all with Tom Coyne. They also discuss the future of AI and writing, the work-from-home movement, Warzel’s Index Experiment goals, and characters he’s befriended through covering golf.

Nearly 20 years ago, TGJ Senior Editor Tom Coyne put life on hold, moved to Florida and dumped everything he had into chasing his dream of playing pro golf. He chronicled his journey in the NYT best-selling book Paper Tiger, and recently sat down with TGJ contributor Matt Chominski to reflect on what he learned whilst doing so.

This February, pro golf will receive the F1 treatment thanks to Full Swing: an eight-part Netflix docuseries showcasing what life as a pro golfer was really like in 2022. Vox Media's Chad Mumm—a Broken Tee Society member known to pop into our Discord server—is the man behind it all. He joins Tom Coyne on TGJ Podcast 126 to give a behind-the-scenes look at making the show, the process behind getting access to players, and why fans have a certain multi-major champion all wrong. 

Mike DeVries has learned from the best. The Michigan native first picked up the game at Crystal Downs, trained under Tom Doak and worked for Tom Fazio. He's since made a name for himself by designing celebrated modern courses like Kingsley Club, Cape Wickham and Greywalls to name a few. On TGJ Podcast 125, DeVries joins host Tom Coyne from the site of his next project in Tasmania to speak to what makes for "engaging" golf," his personal top five and why, for him, everything comes back to Crystal Downs. 

It’s not easy to pin down Bill Murray, but one way to do so, as podcast host Tom Coyne learned, is to ride shotgun with him across Georgia. In this candid conversation from the midst of a golf road trip to Ohoopee Match Club, the two discuss what they love about golf, where they love to play it, and with whom. It’s Bill Murray as you haven’t heard him before–not the movie star but your pilot across the low country, both of you late for a tee time.

Andrew Green has become one of the hottest names in golf course architecture thanks to his renovation work at Inverness, Congressional, Oak Hill, Scioto, Wannamoisett and many other golden age classics in need of a refresh. But does he want to build something from scratch? He joins Tom Coyne on the TGJ Podcast to discuss his passion for history, his start in golf course design, love for his job and why William Flynn is his spirit animal.