Andy Staples positioned himself as one of the profession’s most creative architects with his throwback renovation of Meadowbrook Country Club near Detroit with its Willie Park, Jr. inspired early-1900s shaping. He moved into the 1920s with his green designs and shot strategies at The Match Course at PGA National Resort, opened in 2021, that pull from Macdonald/Raynor templates. He’s currently remodeling the South Course at Olympia Fields and consulting for numerous clubs in the U.S. and Canada.

Andy steps into the Salon to talk with Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and designer Jim Urbina about the economic tailwinds behind renovation work, whether the same amount of investment that’s been pouring into the private and high-end markets will find its way into public golf, the massive effect of television and the PGA Tour on golf design and the way golfers perceive the game, giving golfers the opportunity to experience different forms of the sport, the mundane instinctiveness toward par 72 courses, an emerging cultural taste for old style architecture and pre- and post-war green design.

Photos: Above, San Vicente Resort (sanvicenteresort.com); Title page, The Match at PGA Resort (pgaresort.com, )

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View Derek’s latest narration in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at The Country Club“

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 22, ft. Andy Staples appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Chris Cochran began his career building golf courses for Jack Nicklaus in the mid-1980s. With over 100 international projects completed, he is Nicklaus Design’s longest tenured senior design associate, and since the early 90s has arguably been the most significant mover behind Nicklaus Design’s global operation.

Cochran sits down with Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina to discuss his career working side by side with the Golden Bear. Specifically the conversation veers to Cochran’s love for hands on field work, the dynamics of interacting in the design process with Nicklaus, how Nicklaus valued a high “player’s IQ” in his design team, the early Nicklaus way of designing holes tactically through the lens of shot values, the shift into more artistic design and an intriguing new project in south Florida called Panther National that will allow for a rare degree of originality.

PHOTOS: Homepage–The par 4 5th at Quivira in Cabo San Lucas (nicklaus.com); above–Dismal River’s White course in Mullen, Nebraska (nicklaus.com).

View Derek’s latest narration in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at The Country Club“

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Feed the Ball Salon Volume 21, ft. Chris Cochran appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Joe Jemsek grew up with Dick Wilson. At least figuratively. In the early 1960s, Wilson, one of golf architecture’s most interesting and possibly misunderstood figures, designed the former America’s 100 Greatest Course Cog Hill No. 4 in Chicago, known as Dubsdread, for Jemsek’s grandfather. Few people knew Wilson or his former partner Joe Lee as well as the Jemseks, and the family remained close with Lee until his death in 2003. The younger Jemsek’s experience growing up on Dubsdread inspired him to dig deeper into the work of Wilson. Now an architect in his own right (the Jemsek family stills operates Cog Hill, along with several other facilities), Jemsek has poured through the Wilson/Lee archives and studied Wilson’s courses as closely as anyone in the profession.

Jemsek joins the Feed the Ball podcast to discuss how Wilson’s legacy has aged, the orchestrated prescription of shots he built into his designs, how Wilson’s courses helped revolutionize resort golf, the special shaping crew known as the All-Stars he used on his courses, the appeal of the “championship course” to golfers of the 1960s (and beyond), the role Lee played in the Wilson operation and how his approach to design differed, and the past, present and potential future of Dubsdread.

Photos: Above, Cog Hill No. 4, Hole 8 (courtesy coghillgolf.com); Cover page and below, Pine Tree GC, 1961

View the latest in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at Oakmont“

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

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Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Episode 80: Joe Jemsek on Dick Wilson appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Tim Liddy and Dave Axland have worked together on a number of projects including, most recently, Harrison Lake in Indiana, a remodel that included the addition of several new holes and a re-routing of the course. Liddy, the primary designer, was a longtime collaborator with the late Pete Dye and knows his mentor’s work and beliefs as well as anyone. Axland is the longtime associate of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and has been the “muscle” behind most of their best work since the early 90s. He’s also recently joined forces with Rod Whitman and Keith Cutten to create a new power firm, Whitman, Axland and Cutten, who have new builds under construction in Bend, Oregon and British Columbia.

Liddy and Axland join golf architect Jim Urbina and Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan for an entertaining and wisdom-filled talk about the nature of collaboration, the pitfalls of ego, the humility required to do the work and the most important lessons they’ve learned over the course of their long careers.

View some photos of Harrison Lake, and other lovely golf holes, at Tim Liddy’s website.

Photos: Cover, Harrison Lake Club, Tim Liddy. Above, Colorado Golf Club.

View the latest in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at Oakmont“

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 20, ft. Dave Axland and Tim Liddy appeared first on Feed The Ball.

In just the last several years, designer Andrew Green has played a prominent role in guiding back to their founding architectural spirit a number of prominent major championship courses, including America’s 100 Greatest Courses fixtures Inverness Club, Oak Hill East and Congressional Blue. He’s also brought back to life the most interesting features that had faded from over a dozen other clubs in the U.S. and Caribbean. His current work includes restorations of another 100 Greatest course with major championship heritage, Scioto Country Club in Ohio, and Second 100 Greatest ranked courses Wannamoisett in Rhode Island and East Lake in Atlanta, home of the Tour Championship.

Green joins the Feed the Ball podcast to talk to Derek Duncan about these projects, how he got his break as a solo designer, the line between renovation and restoration, projecting bold design and restoration visions to clubs, the excitement and the personal connection he feels when working with clubs with older architecture, and what we can learn about the game from the great writer-architects of the past.

Photos: Above, the par-4 8th at Congressional’s Blue Course (Derek Duncan); title page, the par-4 6th at Oak Hill’s East Course (Evan Schiller).

View the latest in the Golf Digest Every Hole at series with “Every Hole at Oakmont“

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Episode 79: Andrew Green appeared first on Feed The Ball.

The topic is bunkers: should they be placed scientifically or randomly? Should there be more or less, or any at all? Has the naturalistic look become ubiquitous and overused? What about proper bunker depth? Are liners a waste of money? And are bunker still the hazards they once were, have they lost their importance, and have they become too expensive to maintain?

To discuss all of this, as well as answer questions about bunkers from listeners, is Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina. They’re joined by Ron Whitten, Golf Digest architecture editor from 1985 to 2020, a historian who is also a practicing designer with current projects going on in several states, including the new North Course at Corica Park in Alameda, California, with lead architect and builder Marc Logan.

More pertinent thoughts from Urbina about bunker myths can be found here: Urbina on Bunkers

Listen to Ron Whitten on The Green Awning golf podcast: Whitten

View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits”

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

Photos: Opening page, Claremont Country Club (courtesy Jim Urbina); Top, The Valley Club of Montecito (Urbina); Below, Corica Park South Course (Urbina); Bottom, Corica Park North Course (courtesy of Derek Duncan).

The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 19: Bunkers ft. Ron Whitten appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Like most architects, Steve Smyers has a deep reverence for the classical era and the strategic brilliance of Harry Colt, Alister MacKenzie, George Thomas and others. However, as an elite player as well as a veteran designer, he realized the basic strategic precepts that have existed since the early 1900s and have guided much of his own work might no longer apply to golf at the highest levels. Smyers joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan to discuss the a-ha moment that led to his evolving views on strategy and course design for the game’s best players, and whether or not a changing understanding of strategy symbolizes the end of strategic play as we’ve always known it.

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[Photos–above, Old Memorial, courtesy oldmemorialgolfclub.com; cover page–Pine Valley, Derek Duncan]

View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits”

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Episode 78: Steve Smyers and Rethinking Strategy appeared first on Feed The Ball.

In this Feed the Ball podcast, we get deep into some Wisconsin golf talk with golf course architect Craig Haltom. Haltom joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan to discuss recreating C.B. Macdonald’s The Lido at Sand Valley, how GPS technology has the potential to change the way courses are preserved and finished, how he located the Sand Valley property over a decade ago and brought it to the attention of Mike Keiser, renovating a municipal course in Madison with a crew of talented designers, the power potential of adventurous practice putting greens, and his new 18-hole course, The Club at Lac La Belle outside Milwaukee.

Photo, above: The par-4 5th, “Cape” at The Lido in Wisconsin. Cover photo: the wild par-3 4th at The Club at Lac La Belle.

View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits”

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

The post Episode 77: Craig Haltom appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Is it possible we take Whistling Straits for granted? Of all the spectacular builds in the history of golf, from The Lido to Calusa Pines, very little is spoken about how Pete Dye and Herb Kohler transformed flat farmland and an abandoned Army airfield into the wild, multilayered Irish-looking golf course gouged into the bluffs of Lake Michigan that is the 23rd ranked course on Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses ranking. How did Dye do it?

Mike O’Connor can tell us. While Dye is known for beginning the careers of many current designers and course builders, very few knew him like O’Connor did, who worked as Dye’s construction manager at a multitude of courses for over 25 years, including running the job at Whistling Straits. He essentially lived on site for several years, and in this podcast he shares his insight and recollections of what it was like to build the course, and what it took to pull off one of golf’s most dramatic land transformations. He also shares stories about working side-by-side with Dye, meeting and developing a friendship with Kohler, what the virgin property was like, discovering live rounds of aerial ammunition on site, how the course evolved from conception, the origins of the out-of-character par-5 5th, and one very strange but discarded idea for the famous par-3 17th.

View my narration of Golf Digest’s “Every Hole at Whistling Straits”

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

Photo: Early days at Whistling Straits (all construction photos courtesy of Mike O’Connor).

The post Episode 76: Making Whistling Straits appeared first on Feed The Ball.

Davis Love III needs no introduction. But just in case, he’s a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has logged over 20 PGA Tour victories, won the 1997 PGA Championship, was twice victorious at The Players Championship and is a two-time Ryder Cup captain. He’s also a tournament founder (the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic at Sea Island), philanthropist and golf course designer. Love Golf Design, which he operates with brother Mark Love, is a craft-oriented and highly creative design firm that has produced courses like Diamante Dunes in Cabo San Lucas, The Plantation Course at Sea Island, Atlantic Dunes at Sea Pines, and Kinderlou Forest in Georgia. They’ve recently completed projects at Birdwood Golf Club at Boar’s Head at the University of Virginia, and Belmont in Richmond in conjunction with The First Tee of Greater Richmond, consisting of the restoration of 12 original A.W. Tillinghast holes plus the conversion of six others into a dynamic short course, expanded practice area and Himalayas putting green.

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Love joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina to discuss:

–The Ryder Cup and setting up Whistling Straits;

–What makes a great match-play course;

–Preserving and fighting for the integrity of old courses;

–Working with talented creatives like Forrest Fezler, Paul Cowley and Scot Sherman;

–How to balance the needs of the skilled with the desires of the everyday player;

–How Pete Dye defined a golf course architect;

–And what types of courses attract him personally.

Subscribe to Feed the Ball on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio and Google Play

Twitter: @feedtheball

Instagram: @feedtheball

Derek Duncan discusses the breakdown of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses list with Aaron Abrahms and Jimmie James on the Golf Nuts Podcast, Episode 15.

Photos–Cover Page: The Plantation Course at Sea Island (photo: seaisland.com). Above: Dormant grass at Ricefields at Hampton Island Preserve; Below: more scenes from the abandoned Ricefields.

The post Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 18, ft. Davis Love III appeared first on Feed The Ball.