Stephen Proctor has served as a senior editor at The Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Houston Chronicle. He is an avid golfer and has spent the past decade studying the history of the royal and ancient game. He is the author of Monarch of the Green (Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2020 Biography of the Year) and The Long Golden Afternoon (shortlisted for the Sunday Times 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Sports Writing, and the USGA Herbert Warren Wind Book Award) and lives in Malabar, Florida.

In this episode, we'll preview his 2025 release, Matchless: Joyce Wethered, Glenna Collett and the Rise of Women's Golf. Stephen is a meticulous researcher and scholar, and listeners will gain new insights into the legacy of women's golf, the predominance of early female players from the 1920s, and be concomitantly thoroughly entertained. Few golf historians are as fluid, knowledgeable, and quick witted as Stephen Proctor.

Matchless is published by Birlinn books out of Edinburgh, Scotland, and can be purchased outside the United States via Bookshop.org, or in the States (online) at BarnesandNoble.com.

Elmer Nahum, the author of Practical Clubmaking: A Guide to Long Nose Era Clubmaking, is a retired interventional radiologist who has a passion for traditional woodworking and golf history. Playing Bobby Jones’ home course of East Lake in the 1980s, which served as his college team’s home course, spawned Elm’s interest in golf history. Over the years, he has read a collection of golf books on the early history of the game as well as biographies of notable players.

His woodworking focuses on making 18th- and 19th-century furniture, primarily using hand tools with traditional methods. Nineteenth-century replica golf clubmaking is a natural offshoot of these two hobbies, with a club or two fashioned in between other larger projects.

The golf bug occasionally finds its way into some furniture manifested as a subtle golf motif. His woodworking knowledge stems from classes, books, the internet, and simply discovering while woodworking. Each attempt at making a replica 19th-century golf club offers a chance to gain new insights into the traditional methods and history of clubmaking and woodworking.

Roger McStravick is a golf historian, writer, editor and speaker, specializing in St Andrews, Old Tom Morris, and golfing legends from 1800 to 1920. His book, St Andrews-In The Footsteps of Old Tom Morris won the USGA's Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 2015. The author's book, St Andrews - The Road War Papers won the same award in 2020. At The Open Championship in 2016, he was presented with the British Golf Collectors' Society Murdoch Medal - the highest British honor for golf literature.

In 2019, Roger became editor of the British Golf Collectors' Society magazine, Through The Green. He enjoys giving talks both formal and informal about Tom Morris and golf history in general. In the last few years he has appeared in numerous TV and film productions including Loopers and St Andrews - The Greatest Golf Story Ever Told, and for documentaries on various networks including BBC and The Golf Channel. In addition to being a contributor to podcasts and articles for papers such as The New York Times, he has also written for various golf publications worldwide including Links and Golf Illustrated.

An avid collector of rare books on St. Andrews, he has a deep appreciation and passion for the town.

In 2024, McStravick released his newest authoritative biography on the life of golfing great, Allan Robertson (Allan Robertson of St Andrews, King of Clubs, 1815-1859). In this episode, he shares some of the insights into his process for researching and bringing 19th century golf history to life, and to the myriad ways his knowledge of St Andrews and its constant state of change influences his daily life in the global epicenter of golf.

Wisonsinites are known for their kindness, right? Think Bon Iver, Steve Stricker, Gene Wilder—you get the idea. Well, Clark Willard, now the head golf professional at The Lido Golf Club, part of Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin, has that positive vibe. Though not native, it makes him a great fit for the State.

Willard found religion (so to speak) in hickory golf. Like so many, the connection to history and the allure of the game—as it was meant to be played—got its claws into him. Now he's in a unique position to spread the word about the sport, and he's delivering on that mission in spades.

Clark set up a hickory golf workshop right in the pro shop at The Lido, and he encourages guests and members alike to have a go with the antique relics of the past. Whether first-timer or semi-pro golfer, all are welcome, and all Willard cares about is opening the gateway to experience a piece of the tradition and history of the game.

In this episode, we talk about his career path through several years at Pacific Dunes in Oregon, to its "sister resort" in Nekoosa, replete with layouts from Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Doak, Brian Schneider, David McLay Kidd and others. Sound familiar? Oh yeah...Sand Valley is also owned and managed by the Kaiser family, sons Michael and Chris.

Clark talks about his admiration for Old Tom Morris and his recent foray into agronomy and golf course maintenance in the last year, as well as the founding of Hickory Revival, focused on keeping the feeling of hickory golf going. They do this through research, playing, collecting, sharing, and reviving pre-1935 sticks, all part of Clark becoming one of the most well-rounded pros in the game today.

Gillian Kirkwood possesses a wealth of golf knowledge and business experience and is a past Ladies Golf Union (LGU) Councilor and past Chairman of the Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association. She is also a highly experienced rules official and, reflecting her keen interest in the history of ladies’ golf, chaired the Board of Trustees of the Women Golfers’ Museum.

She had the distinction of serving as President of the LGU during the time of its merger with the R&A in 2017. Together with her husband, David, she owns and operates the Heritage of Golf Museum in the pro shop of Gullane Golf Club in East Lothian.

I invited Gillian to reminisce about the early era of women's golf in Scotland and the British Isles, and to touch on the myriad projects she has had under her guidance seemingly every day since she was a lass. Her legacy in support of women's golf may be unparalleled in the modern era, and I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with her.

Gillian was also Captain of Midlothian County Ladies Golf Association from 1991-1993 and was the Ladies Captain of Broomieknowe Golf Club from 1982-84 and from 2004-2006, and was most recently Vice-Captain of Gullane Ladies' Golf Club.

Researcher, author, and historian, Michael B. Morrison, published an exhaustive account in 2022 of the rise of golf in England which is a must-read for those who wish to better understand the origins of the modern game. In this episode, we speak about the process Morrison subjected himself to— over many years— in order to assemble the most complete record of the growth of the game in England, ever.

During the course of his work, Michael became able to draw conclusions about the advancement of the game that differs from conventional wisdom, and is based on empirical data that, while perhaps painstaking to amass, provides the foundation for the evolution of the sport within the changing social demographics, geographies, and economic circumstances between the years 1864 and 1914.

I feel confident that golfers everywhere will want to stop what they are doing, read-up on the fascinating and, in some ways, parallel development of the game to that in Scotland, and get to England as soon as possible to embrace the wealth of styles and historic golf courses that are today the envy of nations the world over.

To order his book (which is self-published), you may contact Michael directly, details for which occur at the 1-hour-6-minute mark in our episode. I hope you enjoy this insight into the Great English Golf Boom!

To see the BBC News interview with Michael on the course at Cambridge University, click here.

Since 2013, the Happy Hickory Golfers in Japan have been a force in hickory golf. We've seen them represented with great joy at the World Hickory Open, for instance, and marvel at their event photos from countless outings in their home country. Alex Bruce— a native Scotsman— is one of the founders of the group, and a deeply dedicated advocate for hickory golf, worldwide. "How dedicated?" one might ask. So dedicated that he has one of the world's only hickory golf retail stores and he has been a guiding hand in supporting the World Hickory Open and St. Andrews Golf Company, organizations with long associations to his home turf in Scotland.

In this episode, I speak with Alex about his upbringing, his second life in Japan (where he has lived and worked and grown his family for decades now), and the challenges of growing a national hickory organization to scale over nine regions, 47 prefectures, and in a country of more than 2,300 golf courses, the oldest of which (Kobe Golf Course) dates to 1903. We speak about the first-ever AsiaPAC Open, as well, which debuts September 3-5, 2023, in Australia.

One of the great things about national and international hickory golf events, is that one never knows whom one might meet along the way. In 2021, I flew out to Wisconsin to play in the Wisconsin Hickory Golfers Whistling Straights Hickory Challenge, as I had always wanted to see the course. Well, one of the nights, I ended up sitting at dinner with a table full of new friends I had never met before, one of whom—I came to learn—was Bert Coghill.

“Coghill? Did you say?” Yes…that Coghill. 

You see, Bert’s Great grandfather and his two brothers started Cog Hill Golf & Country Club outside of Chicago a few years before the Great Depression, and because of their keen abilities, they managed to keep the course open and thriving throughout the worst economic climate of the past 100 years. I learned that the hickory scene in Chicago is still fledgling, but with players like Bert, Peter Flory, and others sitting at the table, I knew I was in the presence of some serious talent.

On a trip to Chicago in the spring of 2023, I decided to call Bert to see if I could learn more about his life in golf in the Chicago region.

As a side note, this podcast is being released in June 2023. And as it happens, there is a completely engrossing and fascinating series out right now through The Fire Pit Collective, with Matt Ginella, detailing the so-called “Club Pro Crisis” which I highly recommend listening to, if you are not yet familiar with it. It is worth your time, and it is both comprehensive and extensive. Go to firepitcollective.com to find the full series which details the modern challenges with recruiting and retaining club professionals in today’s times.

As I edited my discussion with Bert, I could not help but to draw parallels and connections to that series. You see, Bert grew up in golf, and spent his entire career in one region… 7 days a week, tending to his customers, the family’s course, Silver Lake Country Club, in Orland Park, Illinois, and immersed in the day-to-day events that have undoubtedly brought so much joy to his members and their guests.  Before arriving at his home, I drove up to the clubhouse and took in the scene. Silver Lake boasts 45 holes over three courses that the public can play, with a robust set of leagues, youth programs, and professional instruction. If you’re a hickory player, and will be in the Chicago area, I suggest you book a time and see this fantastic Club.

When I contacted Jim McCormick to see if he would allow me to view his heralded private collection in Chicago, he was explicit. "Budget three hours for the tour," he warned, "four to five, tops." I'm embarrassed to say that I stayed seven-and-one-half hours— taking him away from his charming wife, Laura, for far too much time—yet, we probably only explored less than half of his priceless items. If that weren’t enough, I sheepishly asked if I could come back before I flew home to the West Coast two days later, and he granted me an additional 2.5 hours in order to share his extensive documents collection, the majority of which is too extensive (and rare) to display.

His isn't simply an impressive collection in golf, every item has a specific importance to the legacy of the game tied a definable event, a notable victory, the definitive origins of Scottish and English golfing societies, an exacting connection to a place, person, or a pivotal moment in time. Jim cares about history and the lives of those we can only now read about such as Vardon, Robertson, Park, Morris, Evans, Jones, Hogan, Barnes, Stranahan, and Locke, among scores of others. He cares for original works by Hodge, Rodger, Shortspoon, and Lees, among many others too…if you have to ask, you don’t know.

The Ladies' Golf Union (LGU) was the original governing body for women's and girls' amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded in 1893 and was based in St. Andrews, Scotland until merging with The R&A in 2017.

In this episode, Lauren Beatty, a Collaborative Doctorate Partnership student enrolled at Glasgow Caledonian University and working with the R&A World Golf Museum in St Andrews, discusses her oral history PhD project exploring women’s participation in club golf during the period 1945-1995. Beatty's research intends to explore women’s personal experiences of playing golf post Second World War in Scotland and aims to make these stories available to the public through the collections of the R&A World Golf Museum.

Lauren's research blog can be found here.

Finally, you can read about the R&A's Women in Golf Charter here.

Images property of R&A World Golf Museum