Our first episode of the year brings Andy and Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) together to reminisce on 2023 and offer predictions for 2024. They look back on Wyndham Clark and Lilia Vu's breakout seasons, Viktor Hovland's evolution, and the feel-good story of the year in Hayden Springer's Q-School success. Looking ahead, Andy shares who he thinks will fall out of the OWGR top 10, and Shane offers makes a bold prediction about how will play in the Presidents Cup. Enjoy a lengthy discussion about New Year's Resolutions and the benefits of stretching at the top, and stay to the end to hear what Andy and Shane think about the still-vacant analyst seat at NBC.

2023 Memories and 2024 Predictions with Shane Bacon

A deeper level of golf: conversations and stories about golf course design, professional golf, and more from the team behind TheFriedEgg.com

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Four  months into the 2024 pro golf season, Andy and Joseph sit down to discuss the professional golfers whose stocks have gone up and down the most so far this year. First, though, they talk about what they are IN and OUT on this week, including reflections from a visit to Bandon Dunes and a bizarre ruling on the DP World Tour. Then they go through the golfers whose stocks have risen and fallen the most in 2024 and how the best players in the world stack up today. The episode closes with Recommendations.

Biggest Stock Movers of the 2024 Pro Golf Season

George Bryan IV is a professional golfer and YouTube star who, along with his brother Wesley (a PGA Tour winner), operates the popular Bryan Bros YouTube channel. In the midst of his preparation for the PGA Tour's Myrtle Beach Classic, which he will play in next week on a sponsor exemption, George joined Garrett for a wide-ranging conversation about his parallel careers in pro golf and content creation, his evolving mental approach on the course, his relationship with his brother, the rise of YouTube golf, and his and Wesley's plans to run a club in Columbia, South Carolina.

George Bryan on YouTube Fame and Tour Dreams

Andy and Garrett convene for their first golf architecture mailbag in a while, tackling questions about new courses they're excited to see in the next couple of years, which current tour pros might make good architects, how The Lido bucks convention, the holes at Yale that they're most eager to see restored, and the cultural forces that are shaping golf course design right now. As usual, they open the episode with In and Out, and they wrap it up with Recommendations.
Note: The Scottie Scheffler interview that Garrett refers to in this episode was conducted by Friend of the Program Sean Martin for PGA Tour dot com. Read that piece here.

Golf Architecture Mailbag: Exciting New Courses, the Yale Restoration, and the State of the Industry

Designed by Brian Schneider and Blake Conant, Old Barnwell near Aiken, South Carolina, is one of the best-reviewed and most buzzed-about new golf courses of the past several years. In this episode, Garrett sits down with Old Barnwell's founder Nick Schreiber to delve into the nuts and bolts of how the course came to be. They talk about Nick's early years as a caddie, his vision for a "mission-focused" private club, how he found the property, why he hired Schneider and Conant, and his plans for Old Barnwell's second and third courses. They also discuss the broader state of the golf course industry—specifically, whether the current surge in construction might prove to be a bubble.

How Old Barnwell Got Built

Following an exciting weekend of both men's and women's professional golf, Andy and Joseph convene to discuss the biggest storylines in professional golf. They start with what they are IN and OUT on, including appreciation for the dominance by Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda, along with qualms about tours stacking high-profile events against one another. Next, the two go through the biggest question marks remaining in the 2024 men's major championship season. Then Meg Adkins joins to provide her perspective on the Chevron Championship, Nelly Korda's ascension, and how women's golf should be prepared to capitalize on the momentum in women's sports. The episode closes with Recommendations.

2023 Memories and 2024 Predictions with Shane Bacon

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