The Fire Pit Podcast

So, I can assume you’ve seen it by now; the video of a guy, walking down some stairs, puts his hand on his chest, and like a fire-breathing dragon, torches the hopes and dreams of an innocent gathering of female athletes. Then he turns around and disappears.The dragon is the NCAA, in this case, in the form of Brad Hurlbut, an athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson, who, from what I’m told, volunteers for this particular NCAA Committee, which was running a five-day Regional tournament at The University Club, home to the LSU Tigers.  In Part 1 of tracking down the story of how and why the Women’s Golf Regional in Baton Rouge was cancelled and six teams and three individuals will be going to play for a National Championship without ever hitting a shot, I spoke to three coaches, five players and other members of the media. There were emotions, frustrations and a lot of anger over the organization and communication of the people in charge. Some could even call it corruption.Visit the The Fire Pit Collective to check out everything we are doing.Use promo Firepit25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Fire Pit, Matt Ginella interviews Alan Shipnuck about his recent story on Saudi Arabia's attempt to buy some good global PR through golf and a few of the world's best players and architects, which includes Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus. With more than a billion dollars to spend, Saudi leadership is breaking away from the concept of the Premier Golf League and trying to lure away top players into what is now being called the Super Golf League. Meanwhile, all of this talk of competition to the PGA Tour is giving its players some leverage to improve their situations, pad their bank accounts and they might even end up making a better product. Plus, Matt and Alan provide more insight and understanding as to how and why they were able to hire Ryan French, the curator of the Twitter handle, "Monday Q Info." Visit the The Fire Pit Collective to check out everything we are doing.Use promo Firepit25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan French of “Monday Q Info” on Twitter joins The Fire Pit Collective, a modern media network.From a TV on fire to the Fire Pit, we welcome Ryan French to the Collective. A Robin Hood of golf and media, the humble and thoughtful stay-at-home dad found a platform and a purpose while tending to the responsibilities of a daughter and a son, who, at the age of 18 months, was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, a rare brain condition that required surgery. With a supportive family and friends who he made along the backroads of scruffy mini-tour venues, French launched a Twitter handle @acaseofthegolf1, more commonly referred to as “Monday Q Info,” which recently surpassed 50,000 followers. One of them is Aaron Rodgers, who slid into French’s DMs in order to support Monday qualifiers. Monday Q Info is one of the best stories in golf right now, and it’s because of the stories he’s compelling all of us to care about. See Michael Visacki, Corey Conners, and the guitar-playing lasso champion who competed in the Byron Nelson pre-qualifier. What’s French’s relationship with the PGA Tour? They, like everyone else, are taking notice. And rightfully so. Visit the The Fire Pit Collective to check out everything we are doing.Use promo Firepit25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we kick off Season 2 of The Fire Pit Podcast, just a short reflection on where we’ve been since March, 2020, which is when, while in quarantine, we hatched the idea of this podcast.Our first, which aired on what would’ve been Masters Sunday of last year, was the story of how and why John Ashworth caddied at the ’86 Masters for his childhood friend, Mark Wiebe. One interview led to the next, Zoom calling with Nicklaus, Griffey Jr., Walter Iooss, Fred Couples, Jim Nantz, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Coore, Mike Keiser, David Kidd and so many more, and here we are again, with an expanded Fire Pit Collective but the same objective, which is to tell compelling stories.  As for the story we tell today—a trip to LaTrobe to sit with The King—it’s one of my favorites, but it’s bittersweet. The events that took place U.S. Open week at Oakmont in 2016 which afforded Gary Williams, Damon Hack and I to not only have lunch with Arnold Palmer, but to get time with him in his office, now all seems like a dream. What you’ll hear is that story. And you’ll listen to phone footage from that day that I’ve only shared with a select few in small settings. Plus, Gary Williams, Damon Hack, Doc Giffin and Bob Ford will add their perspectives. Not to mention Arnold Palmer, who tells his Roger Maris story one more time.Visit the The Fire Pit Collective to check out everything we are doing.Use promo Firepit25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re back at The Fire Pit dropping a podcast, which always feels good. We’ve been busy interviewing and editing season 2, which will start going live in a few weeks. Among other things, you’ll be hearing tributes to Charlie Sifford, Tony Gwynn and longtime colleague and friend, Tim Rosaforte. We’ll also be hearing from Jack Nicklaus, Nancy Lopez, Arnold Palmer and Lanny Wadkins on a $4-check from Ben Hogan. In the meantime, we’re supporting our friends at Linksoul as they honor and celebrate the life of Barry Grimes, John Ashworth’s co-creator of the Ashworth brand. Grimes, 61, died of brain cancer in 2020. He is survived by his wife Kristin and his two sons, Paul and Charlie. Ashworth changed the golf apparel industry forever, not only in the look and feel of the clothes, but also the look and feel of the imagery and marketing around the brand. And that, in large part, was because of Barry Grimes.In this podcast, you’ll hear from Ashworth and Geoff Cunningham the co-creator of Linksoul and you’ll hear from Fred Couples, Jim Nantz and John Cook, three of the original Ashworth ambassadors.After some setup and stories about Grimes’ artistry, impact and famous photo shoots, you’ll get a chance to help his family by buying a shirt.We appreciate your support.The Grimes Tee. All proceeds from this t-shirt will goto Barry's family.Visit the The Fire Pit Collective to check out everything we are doing.Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We started this podcast in April, not long after the country went into quarantine. And on April 18, we dropped episode two, a roundtable with industry leaders who provided perspective on the state of the game in the midst of a global pandemic. I was joined by the Presidents of Pinehurst and Kemper Sports, the owner of Forest Dunes, the manager of Goat Hill Park, and the CEO of an Irish-based travel company that customizes buddies trips.If you go back and listen to it, it’s somber. It’s as if the group is in shock, and fair to say, they were scared for their business and had concerns for the future of the game. But if there was one common denominator, it’s that they all said that if they could get open, they had a chance. They knew that as long as they could get a set of sensible regulations, the game could ride a safe and responsible wave of opportunity all the way to the beach. And by June, or shortly thereafter, they were all open. And it’s as if golf is our only option for a safe outdoor activity. Mike Stachura of Golf Digest recently tweeted that Golf Data Tech reports rounds played in July were up 20-percent over last year. U.S. golf equipment sales reached the all-time greatest single month in retail sales since the company started tracking data in 1997, the year Tiger won his first Masters. As Stachura said in his tweet: “If it’s not nailed down, it’s selling.”And so I got the buddies-trip of roundtables back together again to check in on the game and their business.Check out the The Fire Pit shop for our new hats! More items in the works!Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re back, and as we continue a short hiatus between seasons one and two of The Fire Pit, we continue to go through our first season of recordings and extract some relevant nuggets or unpublished stories from our distinguished list of guests. With all that’s happening this week at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, most notably the U.S. Amateur, we’ve created another mini pod serving as a short tribute to owner Mike Keiser and all that he has done to golf in America and for golfers all over the world. We hear from Keiser, David and Jimmy Kidd, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and more.Mick Peters feature.Bob “Shoe” Gaspar, Director of Outside Happiness feature.Check out the The Fire Pit shop for our new hats! More items in the works!Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, that was a blur and a blast. We produced 15 episodes (and a bonus) of this podcast, which wraps up Season 1. For the next few weeks, as a link to the start of Season 2, we’ll be dropping mini-pods, short stories or great golf jokes by the best storytellers I’ve met at fire pits all over the world.Thank you for all of your support, kind words and thoughtful reviews. It has been a true team effort from the start, and I couldn’t have done any of it without Alex Upegui and Rex Lint, who’ve spent endless days and nights helping me tell the first set of stories.In some cases, we’ve recorded up to 400 minutes of interviews from as many as 11 voices to help produce one 40-minute story. In other words, there’s a lot left over. Which brings us back to Sir Nick Faldo, who we interviewed as one of the voices to help us tell the two-part podcast on Riggs of Barstool quarantining for 99 days at Pinehurst, episodes 13 & 14 of The Pit. As we said goodbye to Sir Nick, he shared a story about playing the role of a fire hydrant...Check out the The Fire Pit shop for our new hats! More items in the works!Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every song is a story. This episode of The Fire Pit is a story about the making of a song, which happens to be the anthem we’ve adopted for this podcast. We listen in as Jacquire King, a Grammy Award winning producer works with Joe Horowitz on developing a song he started writing in 2016 at Matt GInella's wedding reception at Goat Hill Park. The inspiration: What has now become Horowitz's favorite fire pit.Check out the The Fire Pit shop for our new hats! More items in the works!Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At this fire pit, we get the second half of Sam "Riggs" Bozoian's 99-day quarantine at Pinehurst, which includes a scramble match against Kevin Kisner on Pinehurst No. 2. The four boys of the ForePlay podcast take on a PGA Tour player on a U.S. Open venue. Plus, we get details on an emotional goodbye.Check out the The Fire Pit shop for our new hats! More items in the works!Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order.Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track down?You can reach me on Twitter (@mattginella) or on Instagram (@matt_ginella).For bonus visuals and some behind the scenes of The Fire Pit podcast production, go to The Fire Pit YouTube Channel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.