Feed The Ball

Paul Cowley has worn many hats in his golf career: land and landscape planner, structural architect, superintendent and construction engineer. The majority of his golf architecture career, however, was spent running projects and designing courses for Mark and Davis Love III. Known inside the industry as one of the most creative and original thinkers, Cowley helped the Loves build some of the most interesting and inventive courses in the Southeast, as well as Diamante Dunes in Cabo, where he now lives and works. Cowley managed the construction of Tiger Woods‘ and Beau Welling’s El Cardonal course at Diamante, and he currently runs all aspects of design, planning and construction for the resort.

Paul joins the podcast to talk about how Davis Love III took design inspiration from Seth Raynor and Donald Ross (“Rossnor”), the need for everyday “common man” golf, his tangled up in blue voyage as a young man from New York to New Orleans to Pebble Beach, the architectural petri dish that was Barefoot Landing, feeling like an explorer on his first visit to Diamante, the tragically unfulfilled possibilities of Fezler-Cowley Design, “high concept” architecture born of necessity, the role of land planning in modern architecture and the possibility of an original Shangri La design.

Derek also joined Tom Dunne on the McKellar Podcast, to talk about his story in Volume 2 on Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Listen to Derek discuss the future of golf design with Rod Morri and Adrian Logue on the iSeekGolf podcast, Episode 111.

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

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The post Episode 56: Paul Cowley appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Tom Dunne founded the independent golf journal McKellar in 2017. Featuring alluring artwork with a playful point of view and stories from the best writers in the business, McKellar has become one of the brightest stars of a much welcomed revival of boutique publishing. In the course of traveling extensively to explore different courses and cultures, Dunne has cultivated an original, incredibly researched outlook on golf and the many ways it’s presented and enjoyed around the world.

Tom and Derek get together to discuss and debate the merits of Atlanta’s new 9-hole reversible Bobby Jones Golf Course, whether the positives of community golf outweigh flawed architecture, the motivation to found McKellar Magazine, the fundamental satisfaction of possessing things that others don’t have, the mystifying allure of Veblen good courses, how highly cultured service can often be distasteful, the “commercial imperative behind a lot of subcultural activities,” the value of first-look criticism, the need for architecture to modulate excitement and the famous Mucklemouth Meg bunker.

Derek also joined Tom Dunne on the McKellar Podcast, to talk about his story in Volume 2 on Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Listen to Derek discuss the future of golf design with Rod Morri and Adrian Logue on the iSeekGolf podcast, Episode 111.

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Outro: “How to Rent A Room,” Silver Jews

The post Episode 55: Tom Dunne appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Dutch architect Frank Pont made a dramatic jump from the diverse worlds of engineering, corporate banking and mergers into golf course design in the mid-2000s. Since that time he’s become one of Europe’s most active and respected practitioners in historical restoration and remodeling. Through his work at some of the most prominent old courses on the continent and in the UK he’s become intimately familiar with the designs and tendencies of Harry Colt, Charles Alison, Alister MacKenzie, Herbert Fowler and Tom Simpson. He’s also done exceptional original work — see: Swinkelsche.

In this podcast Frank talks about the benevolent neglect many historic courses experienced, recreating the distinct greens and bunkers of Simpson, the need in historic restoration to leave ego at the door, the obstacle of “invincible ignorance” of club members, the “3-percent” problem of tree growth, the benefit of the robotization of maintenance, triangulation in routings, “jam session” golf design, the consistent craftsmanship of Colt, whether (and in what ways) the old architects would have used heavy machinery and his suggestions for two of the greatest golf trips in the world.

Listen to Derek discuss the future of golf design with Rod Morri and Adrian Logue on the iSeekGolf podcast, Episode 111.

Derek also joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 on Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Above Photo: Golf d’Hardelot, Le Pins Course, Hole 5 (Frank Pont)

The post Episode 54: Frank Pont appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Eric Iverson has worked with Tom Doak at Renaissance Golf Design since 2001. He’s widely viewed by his peers as one of the business’s most skilled and creative shapers and construction specialists. He helped craft such instant classics like Ballyneal, Cape Kidnappers, Barnbougle Dunes and Streamsong Blue. He also ran the Stone Eagle, Rock Creek Cattle Company and CommonGround projects, among others. He continues to work globally on projects for Renaissance, and will be spending much of the next year at Rosapenna in Northwest Ireland coaxing the new St. Patricks Course out of stunning seaside dunes.

Iverson joined Derek to discuss the difference between minimalism and naturalism in golf architecture, the effect phones and digital cameras have had on design, the obligation of marrying a design to soil type, considering how a golf course will be viewed by both spectators and on television, the satisfaction of the Rock Creek project, golf on the Front Range of Colorado, the easy 85-percent of work that would improve almost every golf course, setting reasonable goals for public course revitalization and the keys to creating compelling par-5’s.

Listen to Derek discuss the future of golf design with Rod Morri and Adrian Logue on the iSeekGolf podcast, Episode 111.

Derek also joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 on Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

“Shrink the Game” by Ken Kearney

“Language Matters” by Jason Way (geekedongolf.com)

Above Photo: Rock Creek Cattle Company

The post Episode 53: Eric Iverson appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Canadian Trevor Dormer has been in the golf construction business since the early 2000’s and has become a prominent member of the industry’s talented “under-40” (for now) group of construction specialists and shapers. He’s worked around the globe with, among others, Nicklaus Design, Rod Whitman, Ron Prichard, Bill Coore, and Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. Dormer has spent the majority of the last year and a half in Thailand, working on Hanse Golf Design’s new Ballyshear course at the Ban Rakat Club, an homage to the lost C.B. Macdonald “Lido” course on Long Island.

Trevor and Derek spoke about the unnaturalism of Donald Ross, the “tells” that shapers often leave behind in their work, how an artist’s raw early work is often their best, the collaboration gene that his generation of designers share, the pressure to produce with limited opportunities, the Christmas card from Mike Keiser, whether naturalism in architecture is what golfers always want, how architects may be pre-wired toward creating naturalistic landscapes, building the Lido in gumbo clay and the robust culture of international insect cuisine.

Listen to Derek discuss the future of golf design with Rod Morri and Adrian Logue on the iSeekGolf podcast, Episode 111.

Derek also joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 about Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

The post Episode 52: Trevor Dormer appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Bruce Charlton joined Robert Trent Jones II in 1981 and the two have been building courses across the globe for nearly 40 years. The firm has earned considerable acclaim for their entire body of work, but their undisputed masterpiece is Chambers Bay near Seattle, site of the 2015 U.S. Open (won by Jordan Speith). Built on an abandoned sand and gravel mine on the shore of Puget Sound, the course is an eccentric ode to links golf with bouncy fescue fairways, heavy undulation and grass covered sand dunes.

Charlton joined the podcast to talk extensively about the creation of Chambers Bay, how the design team transformed the messy and derelict site into a U.S. Open-worthy venue, the importance of mining permits, the balance between working with existing landforms and creating original golf features, how the firm has carried forth the lessons of Chambers Bay into their subsequent work and how golf architecture lost its way in the 80s and 90s.

Listen to Derek discuss the future of golf design with Rod Morri and Adrian Logue on the iSeekGolf podcast, Episode 111.

Derek joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 about Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

The post Episode 51: Bruce Charlton appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Dave Axland and Rod Whitman, two of modern golf’s most skilled and admired construction men, met in the 1980s through Bill Coore. Axland has been an associate and project manager for numerous Coore-Crenshaw courses since the mid-1990s including Sand Hills, Talking Stick, Friars Head, Old Sandwich, Chechessee Creek plus numerous others, and has designed Wild Horse and three more courses alongside Dan Proctor. The Canadian Whitman, a protégé of Pete Dye as well as Coore, is the architect behind Cabot Links in Nova Scotia, considered one of the world’s best seaside courses.

The two architects joined the podcast from on location at Cabot to talk about their work on the resort’s new 10-hole short course, how Rod first put Dave to work at Wolf Creek when he showed up with Proctor, the early days of the design-build movement, the art and freedom of building short courses, the art of collaborating in the field, the secrets of Friars Head, the push and pull between drawing from precedent and designing authentically, and their picks for the most strategic holes they’ve designed.

Derek joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 about Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Derek also recently joined Ricky Lee Potts on The Wednesday Match Play Podcast, Episode 131

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Outro: The Sundogs, “Up to the Sky”

The post Episode 50: Dave Axland and Rod Whitman appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Rees Jones has spent nearly 35 years preparing, modifying and remodeling golf courses for major championship events. In addition to the 100 original courses and dozens of renovations he’s orchestrated, he’s infused his vision into such venerable American tournament courses as Pinehurst No. 2, Oakland Hills, Medinah No. 3 and The Country Club for the staging of nearly 25 U.S. Opens and PGA Championships. He’s also overhauled a number of his father Robert Trent Jones’ most noteworthy major championship courses including the Atlanta Athletic Club, Hazeltine and Bellerive.

Jones joins the podcast to discuss Bethpage Black (site of this year’s PGA Championship) as a tournament course and how the setups for the PGA and an upcoming Ryder Cup will differ, how equipment and swing technology have altered his approach to renovations, his opinion about the use of a tournament golf ball, the necessity of rough for the professional game, why Tiger Woods has had so much success on his re-designs, how Robert Trent Jones’ aesthetic evolved and the importance of trees on golf courses.

Photo: Bethpage Black (reesjonesinc.com)

Derek joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 about Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Derek also recently joined Ricky Lee Potts on The Wednesday Match Play Podcast, Episode 131

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Outro Music: “Keep Together,” Wasted Potential Brass Band

The post Episode 49: Rees Jones appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Kye Goalby, one of the most accomplished design and shaping specialists in the construction business, is at the top of the call list of just about every A-list golf architect when exceptional feature work is needed. For the last 20 years he’s worked on some of the world’s most unique projects alongside Gil Hanse, Brian Silva, Tim Liddy, Dan Hixson and Tom Doak, with whom he’s helped build over a dozen courses (including Ballyneal, Old Macdonald, Tara Iti and Rock Creek Cattle Co.). He also operates his own full-service design and renovation business, working with clients and clubs across the country.

Kye takes a moment from his hectic schedule to talk about syringes of bull juice and other tales from the road, dealing with The Shark at Abiko Golf Club, getting inside the concepts and methodology of historic bunker building, the urge (or non-urge) of golf architecture to break free from the past, true minimalism, his father Bob Goalby’s influence in creating the modern Champions Tour, tales from the Masters, his thoughts on the evolution of Augusta National and what his most memorable Doak project has been.

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Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Listen to Derek discuss the legendary book, “The World Atlas of Golf” on the Good-Good Golf Podcast.

Photo above: West Bend Country Club (westbendcc.com)

Main page photo: Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club, Hole 3

Outro Music: The Clean, “Anything Can Happen”

The post Episode 48: Kye Goalby appeared first on Feed The Ball.

David Marcucilli’s first passion is his hometown of Newtown, CT, where he’s attempting to orchestrate the funding and design of a new all-season public green space that will include his conception of innovative, non-traditional golf. He hopes it will become a place of sociability, togetherness and pride for a town that is still suffering from the unspeakable trauma and loss of the Sandy Hook shootings six years ago. Though still in his 30’s, Marcucilli already has experience in almost every aspect of the golf business. He holds a degree in agronomy and turfgrass management, was an assistant superintendent at one of the country’s largest private clubs and is currently Design Coordinator at Nicklaus Design.

David talks to Derek about how he got into the golf business, his vision for the community golf project tentatively called Pootatuck Meadows, the need to sell the idea not as golf but as a parks and recreation amenity with substantial environmental benefits, the importance of creating recreational opportunities for the families and children of his hometown, exploring the concept of paying green fees by time or number of holes played, introducing cool season grasses into certain desert environments and some new/old inspirations at Nicklaus Design.

Derek joined Tom Dunne, publisher of McKellar Magazine, to talk about his story in Volume 2 about Dave Axland–listen here and here.

Derek also recently joined Ricky Lee Potts on The Wednesday Match Play Podcast, Episode 131

Finally, read about some of Derek’s favorite public golf courses at UKGolfGuy.com

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Feed the Ball on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Main page photo: Renegade Course at Desert Mountian (nicklaus.com)

The post Episode 47: David Marcucilli appeared first on Feed The Ball.