Divots & Skins

Six courses. Two weekends. Lots of golf!

Episode 14 of Divots & Skins starts with Shane Lowry's dominant performance at the Irish Open before the guys turn their attention to the golf they've been playing themselves.

And there's been a lot of it.

Over Labor Day weekend, Jake and Brett joined US Am Tour Albany Region director Don to check out several courses that could potentially become future tour stops.

The trip started at Apple Greens Golf Course in Highland, New York, a unique layout built through an apple orchard with rows of apple trees lining portions of the course.

From there they headed to Western Massachusetts for Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Springfield and Chicopee Country Club in Chicopee before returning home and adding one more round at Top of the World Golf Resort near Lake George.

Top of the World provided one of the highlights of the weekend, including a spectacular par 3 overlooking Lake George and the surrounding Adirondack Mountains.

Four rounds in three days apparently wasn't enough.

The following weekend, Jake and Brett headed back into the Hudson Valley to play Casperkill Golf Club and McCann Memorial Golf Course in Poughkeepsie.

Jake put together one of his better rounds of the season with a 93 at Casperkill, while the course gave the guys a chance to talk about playing smart from heavy rough, avoiding hero shots and why keeping the ball straight can be far more important than hitting it a long way.

At McCann Memorial, they learn about the history of the course, experience possibly the most comfortable golf carts they've ever ridden in and eventually find themselves playing speed golf as they race to get their cart back before the deadline.

All of these rounds lead into a larger conversation about the US Am Tour and why Jake and Brett believe more everyday golfers should give competitive amateur golf a try.

You don't need to shoot in the 70s.

You don't need to shoot in the 80s.

Jake won a tournament this season with a 97.

Flighted competition gives golfers the opportunity to play against people at a similar ability level while experiencing courses, including private clubs, they might never otherwise have an opportunity to play.

The guys talk about the competition, friendships and community they've found through the tour and why the experience has changed the way they look at amateur golf.

Brett also brings a couple of complaints for Golfer Gripe of the Day, including golfers who wander into other fairways without paying attention and people who pick up golf balls that clearly might still be in play.

Then it's time for another Rule of the Day.

If another golfer is smoking a cigarette, can you watch the smoke to determine which way the wind is blowing?

Yes.

But intentionally creating smoke for the purpose of gauging the wind is another story.

*COURSES FEATURED:

Veterans Memorial Golf Course

Chicopee Country Club

Top of the World Golf Resort

Casperkill Golf Club

McCann Memorial Golf Course

*SPONSORS & PARTNERS:

The Luxury Box

US AM TOUR ALBANY REGION:

If you're an everyday golfer who loves discovering new courses, amateur tournament golf, golf course reviews, golf rules and honest conversations about trying to get better at this ridiculous game, you're in the right place.

SUBSCRIBE to Divots & Skins and come along for the ride.

And tell us in the comments: What's the hidden-gem golf course near YOU that we should know about?

Scottie Scheffler does it again, and Jake and Brett kick off Episode 13 with a look at another incredible performance from the world’s top golfer.

They talk about what separates Scottie from the rest of professional golf, his remarkable consistency, ability to avoid bogeys and the mentality that allows him to stay locked in regardless of where he stands on the leaderboard. They also discuss the other side of Scottie, including his interactions with fans, his family and why his personality away from the course has made them even bigger fans.

Then it’s back to the kind of golf Jake and Brett know best.

The guys made their first trip to Amsterdam Municipal Golf Course in Amsterdam, New York, and the course exceeded expectations. Great conditions, excellent greens, an interesting layout and even a par 3 with two different greens made it a memorable first visit.

They liked it enough to play another 18.

Brett followed an opening 86 with an 82 in the second round, and the experience leads to a bigger discussion about something every amateur golfer should consider: Are you actually playing the right tees?

Jake and Brett talk about choosing tees based on your game instead of your ego, why moving forward can make golf more enjoyable and how the US Am Tour determines yardages for different flights.

Brett also introduces his Golfer Gripe of the Day, and this time he has one simple request: Play ready golf.

That doesn’t mean rushing around the course. It means being prepared to hit when it’s your turn, paying attention to the golfers around you and doing the little things that can keep a round moving.

Then the Rule of the Day gets strange.

What happens if your golf ball somehow ends up inside the clubhouse? Under the right circumstances, the Rules of Golf may actually allow you to play it from inside the building.

Jake and Brett also look ahead to more golf at Brookhaven, Apple Greens, Veterans Memorial Golf Course and Chicopee Country Club as they continue exploring new courses, competing and finding out where their games take them next.

It’s PGA Tour talk, municipal golf, amateur golf strategy, golf etiquette, bizarre rules and plenty of the usual Divots & Skins conversation.

COURSES:

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

The Luxury Box - Queensbury, NY: https://theluxurybox.net

US Am Tour - Albany Region: https://www.bluegolf.com/amateur/programs/usamtour_nyalbany/index.html

Scottie Scheffler played through an illness that left him with blisters on his hands and feet. Gary Player is still striping fairways at 90 years old. And then Jake and Brett tried to survive their own battle at Wyndhurst Manor & Club.

Episode 12 of Divots & Skins starts with Scottie Scheffler and the grit it took to battle through the BMW Championship while sick. We talk about what makes Scottie so consistent, his ability to avoid bogeys and scramble for pars, and a lesson he learned from watching Tiger Woods bring the same intensity whether he was in contention or not.

Jake watched Bryson DeChambeau's Break 50 with the 90-year-old golf legend, and Player's game, fitness and energy are incredible. We get into his longevity, career, legendary approach to fitness and a golf term Jake hadn't heard before: "ham and eggs."

Can I Break 50 with a 90 Year Old? - https://youtu.be/2WwmlhkXE7k?si=nxX4AjNvFeHGMorh

The US Am Tour Albany Region wrapped up its 2026 local season at Wyndhurst Golf & Club in Lenox, Massachusetts. Jake was trying to break 100 and shot exactly 100, while Brett battled through illness, dizziness and his toughest tour round of the season.

It leads to a bigger conversation every amateur golfer can relate to: What do you do when the round starts falling apart?

Do you quit, or do you reset and keep grinding?

We also look ahead to US Am Tour Nationals in Oregon, the beginning of the 2027 tour season, our upcoming Myrtle Beach golf trip and Season 2 of Divots & Skins.

And Brett's Rule of the Day gets weird again.

What can you legally do when your golf ball ends up next to a cactus? You might be surprised by what the Rules of Golf allow you to protect and what you're NOT allowed to protect.

IN THIS EPISODE:

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

The Luxury Box - Queensbury, NY: https://theluxurybox.net

US Am Tour - Albany Region: https://www.bluegolf.com/amateur/programs/usamtour_nyalbany/index.html

Courses:

Have a course on the East Coast we need to play? Especially in Myrtle Beach? Drop it in the comments. We're building our list and want to hear where YOU think we should tee it up.

A fake hole-in-one, a real hole-in-one and a couple of tournament wins make for a packed Episode 11 of Divots & Skins.

Jake and Brett start with one of the craziest golf cheating stories they’ve heard. A former college golfer tried to claim a hole-in-one by dropping his ball into the cup when nobody was watching. Unfortunately for him, a nearby camera caught the entire thing. That leads to a bigger conversation about cheating in golf, questionable scramble scores and why integrity remains such an important part of the game.

Cheater Story: https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/49577068/golfer-resigns-club-admitting-fake-hole-one

From there, it’s back to their own golf. Jake and Brett recap a great day at the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Department charity scramble at Cronin’s Golf Resort, where their team finished third and had plenty of laughs along the way.

Then it’s time for the two-day Club Championship at their home course, Brookhaven Golf Course. Brett walked away as the net club champion, Jake finished fifth gross and their group witnessed Peter Taylor make a real hole-in-one on the fifth hole.

The US Am Tour Albany Region also took them to Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, New York, where Jake went into one of the tougher courses he’s played on tour simply hoping to break 100. He shot 97 and walked away with his second tour victory of the season. They also talk about getting an early look at Wyndhurst Manor & Club in Lenox, Massachusetts, ahead of their upcoming tour stop.

Plus, the Rule of the Day takes an unusual turn with a look at what the Rules of Golf say when your ball ends up near a dangerous animal, and what happens when that animal isn’t alive.

It’s another episode filled with amateur tournament golf, great courses, bad shots, good rounds, golf rules and the stories that keep bringing Jake and Brett back to the game.

COURSES FEATURED

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Bryson DeChambeau found himself at the center of a rules controversy, and golfers have plenty of opinions about it. Was his two-stroke penalty justified? Does intent matter? And what about his initial reaction to the ruling? Jake and Brett break it all down, including Rory McIlroy’s comments and why this particular rule isn’t as gray as it might seem.

Then it’s time for some golf of our own.

On the way to Turning Stone, we made an early-morning stop at Fox Run Golf Club in Johnstown, N.Y., for a head-to-head round. Eighteen holes later, we were tied at 92 and neither of us was ready to call it a draw. That meant extra holes, an unexpected hype man and a memorable finish to a course we’ve quickly become big fans of.

From Fox Run, we headed to Turning Stone Resort Casino for a massive US Am Tour weekend featuring 115 golfers from across the country and beyond. We talk about the atmosphere surrounding the event, our winner interviews and what makes Kaluhyat such a demanding target golf course.

We also get into Scottie Scheffler’s season, tournament golf, course strategy and why events like this show just how competitive and diverse amateur golf can be.

Courses mentioned in this episode:

Turning Stone Resort Casino Golf

Brookhaven Golf Course

Sponsors & Partners:

The Luxury Box

US Am Tour Albany Region

From PGA Tour controversy to our own amateur golf adventures, it’s another packed episode of Divots & Skins. Make sure you SUBSCRIBE!

In this episode of Divots & Skins, we sit down with Ryan Trueba, co-founder of Play It Foreward 518, a family foundation based in New York's Capital Region dedicated to supporting local children and families navigating serious illness and hardship. Ryan shares the deeply personal story behind the foundation's origin — inspired by his brother Joe's own health battle and the outpouring of community support that carried their family through it — and how that experience shaped Play It Foreward 518's mission of paying that generosity forward.

We talk about the foundation's annual golf tournament, now entering its 11th year, along with some of the standout initiatives it's helped bring to life: a Make-A-Wish trip to TPC Sawgrass, a long-running partnership with the Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center, an honorary captain program with Siena College basketball that's now surpassed 100 honorees, and continued support for organizations like Double H Ranch. Ryan also reflects on what it means to build something rooted in family, community, and the belief that even small contributions can make a real difference. It's a heartfelt conversation about turning hardship into purpose — and the power of a community that shows up.

On this episode, we're catching you up from two different rounds, our Thursday league night at Brookhaven Golf Course in Greenfield, New York, and our trip out to Frear Park in Troy for a Capital District Golf Tour stop. I talk about coming one bad stretch away from finally breaking 80, and Brett explains how a positive mindset carried him to a birdie on 18 and a pocket full of skins money to go with it.

We also get into the bigger story from the PGA and LPGA this week, Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda both missing the cut on the same weekend, and why that says more about how hard golf actually is than it does about either of their games. Along the way we talk about Bryson DeChambeau's analytical approach to the game, why your best shots usually come on the range, and why nobody, amateur or pro, gets to skip the mental side of golf.

From there we head to Fox Run Golf Course in Johnstown for a great round that included a two hole playoff, and wrap up with a preview of the US Amateur Albany Region event at Turning Stone, where we'll be interviewing winners and losers straight off the course.

Courses mentioned in this episode:

Thanks to our sponsor, Blueprint Leadership Development (https://www.blueprintleadershipdevelopment.com). If you're looking for a business coach, Rob's info is in the show notes. And thanks to The Luxury Box (https://www.theluxury.net) for letting us record in their simulator room, if you're looking for a place to swing when the weather turns, that's the spot.

If you enjoy the show, follow us wherever you listen and leave a review, it helps more golfers find us and it means we can get to more tournaments.

Think you need to be a scratch golfer to play competitive tournament golf? Don Frame, director of the US Am Tour Albany Region, joins us to explain why that could not be further from the truth.

Don breaks down how the US Am Tour creates competitive opportunities for golfers of nearly every skill level through six handicap-based flights. He explains what tournament entry fees include, how live scoring works, how handicaps are monitored and how golfers earn trophies, prize payouts and Order of Merit points throughout the season.

We also discuss senior and women’s competition, qualifying for the national championship, traveling to play events outside your home region and turning tournament weekends into destination golf trips. Don shares how winning his first event changed his entire approach to the game and why tournament golf motivated him to practice, improve and explore courses he might never have played otherwise.

Later in the episode, we talk about standout municipal courses including Frear Park and Schenectady Municipal, preview upcoming Albany Region stops and share an unusual Rule of the Day involving the one situation where a golfer may legally hit a moving ball.

Whether you regularly shoot in the 70s, 80s, 90s or around 100, the US Am Tour may offer the competitive golf experience you have been looking for.

In Episode 7 of Divots & Skins, Jake and Brett break down a busy golf weekend that included league play at Brookhaven, a US AM Tour stop at West Point Golf Course and a trip to the Travelers Championship.

The episode gets honest as Jake talks through the frustration of feeling like his golf game is broken, from first-tee nerves to struggling through tournament rounds and trying to figure out what needs to change. Brett shares his perspective on pushing through golf slumps, focusing on fundamentals and remembering that even the best players in the world go through rough stretches.

The guys also recap Brett’s win at West Point, the importance of short game, what it was like seeing PGA Tour players up close at the Travelers, and why watching a pro hit a massive shank made every amateur golfer feel a little better.

Plus, the Rule of the Day covers free relief from manmade obstructions, including cart paths, rakes and temporary structures.

Honest amateur golf talk, tournament stories, PGA Tour reactions and plenty of reminders that this game can humble anyone.

Links:

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In Episode 6 of Divots & Skins, Jake and Brett cover a busy stretch of amateur golf filled with tough courses, tournament pressure, clutch putts and a few painful mistakes.

The episode begins with a surprise scramble at Brookhaven Golf Course, where the tight layout and difficult greens proved that even a four-person team can get into trouble. After shooting far lower at a previous scramble, the group quickly learned just how demanding their home course can be.

Next, they recap their latest US Am Tour Albany Region stop at Thunderhart Golf Course in Freehold, New York. They discuss the wooded layout, doglegs, elevation changes, hidden water hazards, drop zones and the importance of knowing what is waiting beyond a blind shot. The day also featured a dramatic comeback, clutch birdies, skins and another trophy added to the collection.

Jake then shares his experience filling in at the ALS Open at Van Patten Golf Course, where his long game struggled but his putter came alive. A 50-foot putt, several long birdie makes and key par saves helped the team finish six under while supporting ALS research and patient care.

The Rule of the Day explains when a missed swing counts as a stroke, why accidentally knocking a ball off the tee does not count, and when taking an unplayable lie may be smarter than attempting a hero shot.

The episode wraps with a preview of the upcoming US Am Tour regional event at West Point Golf Course and a trip to the Travelers Championship.

Links:

Sponsors: