Jim Urbina returns to the podcast, this time back in the guest chair, for a free-flowing discussion about the proliferation of bunkers in contemporary design, the sameness of courses now, whether designers and developers are pushing a vision or emulating others, and how much William Watson he feels he needs to bring back to his remodel of the Ocean Course at Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Photos: Cover page, Pasatiempo. Above, Loblolly G.C., Hobe Sounds, Fla.

Music: “Photograph,” REM with Natalie Merchant.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 7th hole at Pebble Beach.

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Golf designer Jay Blasi comes on the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about the challenges and importance of good public golf, comparing building new holes on top of existing holes versus working new land, the expectations versus outcome of Chambers Bay, the challenge of having to deal with cart paths, the challenge of making it in a tough industry where you’re two calls away from being out of business and much, much more.

Photos: Cover page, Lakeside Country Club (Laurie Perez). Above, Poppy Ridge (Poppy Ridge).

Music: “24 Frames,” Jason Isbell.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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Ran Morrissett is the founder of GolfClubAtlas.com, the most influential golf architecture website of the past 25 years, which means, of all time. He’s a prolific writer and photographer, a consultant in course designs like The Roost at Cabut Citrus Farms in Florida, the former administrator for Golf Magazine’s top 100 U.S. and World courses, and one of the most eloquent advocates for pure, uncomplicated golf, which means walking courses in quiet environments with an absence of accoutrement or attitude.

Ran joins Derek Duncan to discuss golf in quiet places, the possibilities of bunkerless golf courses, the process of building The Roost with three different designers, the challenge of new designers routing courses, the highs and occasional lows of the Golf Club Atlas community and whether we shouldn’t be ranking courses based on experience versus architecture.

Photos: Cover page, The Roost at Cabot Citrus Farms (Carolina Pines Golf). Above, Barnbougle Dunes (Penelope Sattler).

Music: “The Unguarded Moment,” The Church.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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The post Episode 99: Ran Morrissett appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jeff Stein began his career shaping courses for Gil Hanse, Tom Doak, Jim Urbina and other designers. Now he has his own business consulting with clubs and a partnership with Brian Ross designing new courses. They recently opened Great Dunes on Jekyll Island in Georgia and are exploring other opportunities. Jeff talks with Derek Duncan about the unpredictability of the equipment available when building courses, combining the Walter Travis architecture at Great Dunes with parts of a Dick Wilson design, the happiest experience he’s had building golf, his unique job at Ohoopee Match Club and the intricacies of Devereaux Emmet.

Photos: Cover page, The Seawane Club (Larry Lambrecht). Above, Ohoopee Match Club.

Music: “24 Frames,” Jason Isbell.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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Golf architect Todd Eckenrode has built and re-built golf courses up and down California and knows the work of historic architects like Alister MacKenzie, George Thomas, William Watson and Max Behr as well as anyone. He joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss working at and learning to play at Pasatiempo, when to try to “restore” original architecture and when to make alterations, how his outlook on design has changed through time, if public courses can close the conditioning gap on private courses and how the early courses of California evolved into what they’ve become today.

Photos: Cover page, Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club (Channing Benjamin). Above, Diablo Country Club.

Music: “Los Angeles,” Phosphorescent.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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The post Episode 98: Todd Eckenrode appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Golf course designer and builder Jaeger Kovich, who has shaped projects for Gil Hanse and Tom Doak and now is establishing himself as one of the busiest remodel specialists in the business, joins Golf Digest’s Derek Duncan to answer 24 questions about his views on architecture.

Photos: Cover page, The Cradle (Pinehurst Resort). Above, Laurel Links (propergolf.com).

Music: “24 Frames,” Jason Isbell.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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Architect Tyler Rae is part of the next wave of major golf course designers. He joins Derek Duncan in the hot seat to answer 24 questions about golf, his career and his outlook on design.

Photos: Cover page, Old Sawmill (Tyler Rae). Above, Lookout Mountain, 11th hole.

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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Martin Ebert is one of the founding partners, along with Tom Mackenzie, of Mackenzie & Ebert, arguably the top golf design firm in Europe. Ebert has been the lead consulting architect, with Mackenzie, for most of the Open Championship courses as well as dozens of clubs in the U.K., Ireland and Europe. They also have several new courses currently under construction around the world.

Ebert joins Derek Duncan to discuss the company’s rise to the upper stratosphere of golf design, his impressions of golf in the U.S., how the cost of building and renovating courses in the U.K. compares to the U.S., the way Mackenzie and Ebert use advanced technology to produce plans, his insistence that green surfaces be constructed down to the most minute details of those plans and the trend of architects build too much contour into their greens.

Photos: Cover page, Royal Portrush (mackenzieandebert.com). Above, The Island (mackenzieandebert.com).

Outro song: Brendan Benson, “Metairie.”

Watch Derek Duncan break down the 16th hole at Cypress Point.

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The post Episode 97: Martin Ebert appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Jerry Pate burst into the golf world when he won the 1976 U.S. Open at Atlanta Athletic Club in just his second year on tour. From 1976 through 1982 when he won the first Players Championship held at the new Pete Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass he was one of the best players in the world, contending in other majors and earning a spot on the 1981 Ryder Cup team. Injuries forced him off the Tour and into other ventures including golf course design, pairing up with luminaries like Bob Cupp and Tom Fazio. He recently completed a major renovation of the Pete Dye masterpiece Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo in the D.R.

Pate joins the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about the work he’s done at Teeth of the Dog and his longtime connection to the resort, what Dye told him about architecture in 1974, the challenges of building Teeth, the penal aspects of the original TPC course, his short but illustrious television career and his real thoughts about National Golf Links of America.

Photos: Cover page, Teeth of the Dog (Enrique Berardi). Above, Kiva Dunes (Kiva Dunes).

Outro song: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Alabama Pines.”

Watch Derek Duncan break down the original Redan hole at North Berwick.

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Trey Kemp has been one of the most active and influential figures in public and municipal golf design in Texas for over 15 years. He spent much of that time working with John Colligan and now has his own firm, continuing to improve public courses while also pursuing new course commissions. He joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss the challenges and opportunities working in the public sphere, what courses have guided his design aesthetic, the value of Tom Fazio, if the Raynor resurgence is played out, the secret sauce to making public golf profitable and what it takes to break into the architectural elite.

Photos: Main page, Rockwood Golf Course (credit: fortworthgolf.org); Above, Texas Rangers Golf Club (courtesy of the club).

Outro song: Wilco, “How to Fight Loneliness.”

Watch Derek Duncan break down the original Redan hole at North Berwick.

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