The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf

The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf

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The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf episodes

  • Why Nice Wins (with Karen Peek, Detroit's Muni Golf Boss)

    Karen Peek's first golf memory isn't a great shot. It's her mom and aunt on the lesson tee at Rackham, laughing to tears and hitting it terribly.

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co-host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. "The Professor") sit down with

    Karen Peek (Director of Golf Operations for Golf Detroit and an LPGA teaching professional) to talk about growing up on Detroit's municipal courses, chasing the LPGA Tour through four Q-Schools, and why being genuinely glad to see people is the best business decision a golf course can make.


    The conversation dives into:

    • Learning the game from Ben Davis at Rackham and Chris Williams at Palmer Park, the only two Black members of the Michigan PGA section at the time
    • Four tries at the LPGA Tour, never once feeling comfortable at Q-School, and a putting saga that runs from hypnosis to a new Scotty Cameron ordered two weeks ago
    • Why teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it, and why the boyfriend lesson ends the golf before it ends the relationship
    • The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park and why she isn't getting drunk on golf's boom
    • "Hey dude, what's up?", the private-club pro shop that never said hello, and why she can charge more because her courses are nicer
    • Ben Davis's legacy: humble, fierce, and always moving golfers off the range and onto the course

    Connect with our guest

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธโ€โ™€๏ธ Karen Peek โ€” Golf Detroit: https://golfdetroit.org โ€” ๐Ÿ“˜ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GolfDetroit/ โ€” ๐Ÿ’ผ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-peek-6a649712/


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Links & Partners

    โ›ณ Erin Hills: https://www.erinhills.com

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com


    The Bag Drop

    ๐Ÿ“บ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebagdrop

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Website: https://thebagdrop.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 Cold open: when your boyfriend is your golf teacher

    00:45 Welcome, and a bruised fall for Guardians and Bulldogs fans

    03:12 Best fall format: East Lothian rules vs. Steel vs. Rubber

    05:05 The team-event climax, plus First Tee Cleveland and Akron

    06:20 Meet Karen Peek of Golf Detroit

    07:56 The Professor's teaching: 20 minutes outside, less cortisol

    09:58 Erin Hills: the glaciers did the heavy lifting

    12:10 Karen joins: baseball first, and nothing for State

    15:18 A Cleveland-fan dad and a Tigers-fan daughter

    19:35 Mom's lessons with Ben Davis: so happy, so awful

    22:12 Free Press summer golf school: 400 kids, no golf balls

    23:39 Biking to Palmer Park and learning from Chris Williams

    25:07 Losing her dad at 14, and the comfort of the individual game

    27:51 Par was the standard, practice was the answer

    31:37 Four tries at the LPGA Tour, and advice from people who haven't been there

    36:43 Q-School: prepared until she got there

    38:45 Hypnosis, acupuncture, and a putter over the knee

    42:53 Lemons into lemonade: joining the LPGA to teach

    44:50 Teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it

    48:16 Six-foot-four students and "please don't apologize"

    52:41 What Carol Mann taught her: people need to know you care

    56:28 Horrific lessons and the boyfriend at the range

    59:35 Delivery over knowledge: listen first

    1:03:13 Get them on the course, the sooner the better

    1:04:14 Nobody knows what 300 yards looks like (hit one more club)

    1:08:49 The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park

    1:11:23 Don't get drunk on the boom

    1:13:19 Building comfort: staff who look like your golfers

    1:15:26 "Hey dude, what's up?"

    1:17:36 The private-club pro shop that said nothing

    1:19:23 "I can charge more because I'm nicer"

    1:22:55 Ben Davis: humble, fierce, always smiling

    1:26:26 Thanks, and the outro with Erin Hills


    What is NewClub?

    A golf club without the real estate. One membership, a rotation of great courses, tee times, competitions, trips already on the calendar, and people who love the game the way you do. We play as visitors of the clubs and courses that host us, and those relationships are the heart of what we do.


    What is The Bag Drop?

    Deeply researched audio documentaries telling the stories behind golf's greatest clubs, plus weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today. Hosted by NewClub founder Matt Considine and The Professor, Dr. Kevin Moore.

    1 hr 30 min
  • Shared, Not Gatekept (with Jeff Warne Founder New Holland Golf Club)

    Many private club models seem to rely on keeping somebody out. Jeff Warne would rather keep out those who want just that.

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Jeff Warne (longtime Director of Golf at The Bridge and founder of New Holland Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina). Jeff has been sketching his ideal club since 2001; now he's building it as a members' club with UK-style visitor access, in a market where most new builds lock the gate. He makes the case that good golf should be shared, explains the one-page doctrine that filters his membership better than any pitch deck, and gets into firm-but-slow greens, golf's distance problem, and 60 trips' worth of Scotland.

    The conversation dives into:

    • Why good golf should be shared, not gatekept, and how visitor tee times in the gaps are meant to keep members' dues down
    • The one-page doctrine that doubles as a filter: hand it to a consultant or an AI and it comes back exclusive, luxury, manicured โ€” the words that undo the whole idea
    • Firm but slow: why Brian Schneider's greens carry more slope, and why "we need more pin placements" usually means "slow the greens down"
    • Sixty trips to Scotland, an unplanned run through Arran and Kintyre, and why to skip the famous-eight van tour
    • The distance debate, bifurcation, and why Al Geiberger's 59 still towers over today's 59 watch

    Connect with our guests

    โ›ณ Jeff Warne โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/jeffwarnegolf | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-warne-37335811/ | ๐Ÿ“ง Email: [email protected]

    ๐ŸŒฒ New Holland Golf Club โ€” ๐ŸŒ https://www.newhollandgolfclub.com/ | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newhollandgolfclub

    Interested in New Holland? Jeff asks for an email, not a text, and he'd like you to read the doctrine first.


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub

    Links & Partners

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Website: https://thebagdrop.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 Cold open: modern golf is being run backwards

    00:31 Welcome, and the Professor's two-week research retreat in Scotland

    01:43 When to play links golf: September, or the late-April sweet spot

    02:54 Today's guest, and why New Holland stands out in Aiken's private boom

    05:40 The Professor's teaching: Brad's Drink, BackRub and other names that didn't stick

    09:13 Titleist: SM11 wedges, and getting fit before the clubs go away

    10:35 Jeff Warne joins (with notes on everything we just said)

    12:03 Sixty trips in: stop playing the famous eight

    14:27 A missed qualifier, the Arran ferry, and Shiskine and Corrie to themselves

    17:51 Walk-up tee times at Machrihanish and a lunch standoff at Dunaverty

    20:58 The first trip: book a few big guns, then play Prestwick St Nicholas

    22:44 The scale problem: courses built for Watson and Nicklaus

    24:32 Bifurcation was the answer, and Geiberger's 59 still stands alone

    27:41 Accessible golf at home: Myrtle Beach (really) and Maine nine-holers

    30:24 New Holland's access model: members first, visitors in the gaps

    33:19 Shared, not gatekept: members and visitors, not public and private

    35:03 The doctrine: 25 years of notes, typed in 40 minutes

    36:37 Exclusive, luxury, manicured: when the polished rewrite becomes the filter

    44:05 Native vegetation, construction traffic and the jungle coming back

    46:51 100% invested in less, and moving a third of the dirt

    50:40 Any pressure to bend the UK model?

    53:50 Want exclusive? Join somewhere else

    54:49 Why established clubs can't open up: the bag room doubled

    57:01 The hundredth property, and the Tree Farm that got away

    1:01:50 Firm but slow, at 102 degrees and three-quarters of an inch

    1:04:23 "We need more pin placements" means slow the greens down

    1:06:46 Long Cove, grainy Bermuda and why fast greens are easy

    1:10:38 The scene in 20 years, and why culture is the hard part

    1:14:02 Handing The Bridge to Mike Sweeney

    1:16:43 Public golf, Gold Hill and making the group big

    1:18:31 Thanks and sign-off

    What is NewClub?

    A golf club without the real estate. One membership, a rotation of great courses, tee times, competitions, trips already on the calendar, and people who love the game the way you do. We play as visitors of the clubs and courses that host us, and those relationships are the heart of what we do.


    What is The Bag Drop?

    Deeply researched audio documentaries telling the stories behind golf's greatest clubs, plus weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today. Hosted by NewClub founder Matt Considine and The Professor, Dr. Kevin Moore.

    1 hr 19 min
  • Don't Shrink the Game. Educate It.

    A tragic argument in golf right now is whether the game needs to get smaller. Designer Sam Beckman has a different answer: educate.ย 

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co-host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. "The Professor") sit down with Samuel Beckman (owner and designer behind Emergency 9 Golf) to talk about building golf courses that clubs can actually afford to keep โ€” and about the high school coaching job that turned out to fill the void he missed from leading large teams in corporate America.

    The conversation dives into:

    • Why Sam came in at roughly half the master planning fee at Ridgeway, on purpose, and what "any budget" really costs the person who says it
    • North Hills, where the greens had shrunk from six thousand square feet to three thousand, and every one of them is being rebuilt โ€” from a single pin position to as many as sixteen
    • The tee boxes at Port Huron that Matt couldn't stop noticing, and why Scotland taught Sam that you play through a golf course rather than over it
    • Glen Flora's restoration: two bunkers a year, built in-house with a Kubota front loader straight through COVID, and a membership that went from 160 to 275
    • Why the superintendent is a co-author on every project, and the day one of them answered a steep bunker face with "we're gonna buy robots"
    • Twenty-nine girls on the Lake Forest team, a Coaches Cup played for an old brass flower vase, and the freshman's video that got Sam through a bad day

    Connect with our guests

    โ›ณ Samuel Beckman โ€” https://www.emergency9golf.com โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/emergency9golf | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emergency9golf/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-beckman-emergency9golf/


    Links & Partners

    ๐Ÿ’ผ Inglewood: https://www.ingw.com/


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Online: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 Educate the game, don't shrink it

    00:20 Welcome to The Bag Drop

    00:32 Post-trip depression and the two Kevins

    02:23 Today's guest: Sam Beckman, a.k.a. The Mule

    04:39 The Port Huron tee boxes Matt couldn't stop noticing

    05:37 A shout-out to Andrew Bailey's Mid-Am win

    06:33 The Professor's teaching: who actually makes America's beef

    08:37 Ad read: Inglewood Associates

    10:29 Twenty-nine girls, and a 59 at sectionals

    14:43 How an architect ended up coaching high school golf

    16:16 Coaching like a caddie, not an architect

    18:17 "I hate your bunkers": hosting conference at Glen Flora

    19:36 Ireland and Scotland, with Dad along for the ride

    22:31 Lahinch in the snow, and going back anyway

    25:57 Carnoustie isn't pretty, and that's the point

    28:23 You don't play over a golf course, you play through it

    30:41 Twenty feet up to every tee, and what it costs your legs

    32:35 Port Huron's master plan is written into the bylaws

    35:16 North Hills: the greens that lost half their size

    38:27 From one pin position to sixteen

    40:39 The superintendent is a co-author

    44:18 No offense, Bob, but you're a dentist

    45:58 Stress-testing "any budget"

    47:27 Glen Flora: a Kubota, a pandemic, and two bunkers a year

    51:05 Ridgeway: half the fee, and crews brought in as needed

    53:20 Golf needs to be affordable โ€” pick the model that fits

    55:02 Waste not, want not: what David Savic taught him

    56:46 Nationwide wasn't a bad fit

    59:54 What he actually missed: building people

    1:02:48 The pub outside London that restarted everything

    1:05:04 Why Surrey should be your first trip, not your third

    1:07:11 Huntercombe and Ridgeway: weird in the coolest way

    1:09:44 Does Wisconsin need to chill out? "Double down."

    1:12:39 The Coaches Cup and a brass flower vase

    1:16:46 Nineteen seniors at a school of twelve hundred

    1:19:32 Golf's quiet shortage: coaches

    1:20:52 Smile when they walk in the door

    1:22:36 Thanks, Sam โ€” and Inglewood

    1 hr 24 min
  • Let Me Be Mad โ€” Ryan Gerard

    Ryan Gerard hates losing more than he likes winning โ€” and he'll tell you that's a feature, not a bug. Or, as he said to his caddy, JP, recently:ย โ€œJust, Let Me Be Mad.โ€

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Ryan Gerard (PGA Tour professional) to trace how a public course in Raleigh with no standing tee times built one of the tour's most interesting, unfiltered, and fierce competitors. Off a PGA Tour season with back-to-back runner-up finishes and a third at East Lake, Gerard is candid about what actually drives him, what he'd change about American golf, and how he keeps his head on straight when it isn't going his way.


    The conversation dives into:

    • Why beating a friend seven straight times in a putting contest still wasn't enough โ€” and how being the youngest, smallest kid at Wildwood Green built a competitor who "hates losing more than he likes winning"
    • The pitch for a lighted, low-cost par-3 "kids course" in every major North American city, sparked by a course he stumbled onto in Gullane, Scotland
    • Ted Scott's line about the best golf happening when expectations and reality line up โ€” and how that explains the jump from irrational confidence to unconditional and real contention
    • Why his coach will always protect his self-described โ€œgraffiti on a rail carโ€ swing instead of popular wholesale changes or overly smoothing things out
    • โ€œLet me be madโ€: the 20-second anger reset strategy we caught from Chasing Sunday, and why he thinks frustration is not a negative but one of his superpowers

    Connect with our guest

    โ›ณ Ryan Gerard โ€” https://www.pgatour.com/player/59018/ryan-gerard โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: [https://x.com/golfgerard | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golfgerard/


    Community & Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Web: https://thebagdrop.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/


    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/


    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    0:00:00 The cold open: hating losing more than loving winning

    0:00:55 Welcome to the Bag Drop

    0:01:10 Did the Professor win his match at St. Andrews?

    0:02:26 How St. Andrews club hosting actually works

    0:07:40 Matt's marathon relay confession (and getting kicked off a muni)

    0:11:03 Booking Ryan Gerard: the anti-homogenized golfer

    0:11:47 Professor's Teaching: North Berwick, the oldest surviving course

    0:13:46 Ad Read: Titleist Vokey SM11 wedges

    0:15:30 Ryan Gerard joins the show

    0:15:52 The Atlanta airport run-in with the Professor

    0:17:42 The Scottish Open walk-and-talk that started it all

    0:18:58 The Gullane kids course and golf's barrier to entry

    0:22:23 Bringing Park Grind's lighted par-3 model stateside

    0:23:21 Growing up at Wildwood: free reign of a public course

    0:28:35 No standing tee times, unlimited junior golf

    0:32:00 The pitch: a lighted par-3 course in every metro city

    0:34:43 Violin, chess, and badminton club president

    0:39:30 Where the competitive gene actually comes from

    0:40:27 "I hate losing more than I like winning"

    0:44:23 Ted Scott's rule: expectations meeting reality

    0:48:15 Small gains, not a swing overhaul

    0:54:05 The Mona Lisa and the graffiti on a rail car

    0:55:31 Stealing Matt Wolff's bunker shot

    1:08:19 "Let me be mad": the mental reset from Chasing Sunday

    1:14:22 The Presidents Cup snub and process vs. outcome goals

    1:20:34 Is competitive golf actually fun?

    1:24:28 Takeaways and the upcoming deep dive series


    What is NewClub?

    The premier private golf society in the United States. NewClub blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions, and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, plus signature trips and exclusive perks.


    What is The Bag Drop?

    Deeply researched audio documentaries that tell the definitive stories behind golf's greatest clubs + weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today.

    1 hr 30 min
  • Going Long on the Great Clubs

    Fittingly, we recorded our shortest episode ever to explain why the next ones will be much longer!

    Eight years in, The Bag Drop is biting off something new: fewer releases, deeper research, and three- to five-hour episodes on a single golf clubโ€™s history, strategy, and story. Matt and the Professor explain why the most fascinating untold stories in golf live at the club level, the question they brought home from Northern Ireland together at twenty and haven't shaken since, and the five rules they have set to do it faithfully. (PS. The weekly interviews and conversations are not going anywhere!)


    The conversation dives into:

    • Why the untold stories in golf live at the club level, and why studying a golf club is really a way of studying people
    • A trip around Northern Ireland at twenty, the question "why is this the way it is here?", and the Professor on why one round as a guest never tells you how a club actually works
    • The Professor's numbers on the quiet comeback of long-form, and what hours of conversation can do that a two-minute clip can't
    • Admiration for Acquired, and a five-hour episode that finally made the model make sense, and permission to go that deep
    • Five rules for the new series!

    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Links & Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH
    ๐ŸŽง Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf

    ๐ŸŽง Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 Welcome: one of us is practicing, one of us refuses

    01:29 Beating balls, and taking the doubt out with Golf Blueprint

    02:45 The four-ball partnership is off

    03:41 Matt's real golf strength: recruiting

    05:00 Professor's facts: long form is quietly coming back

    08:01 A return to conversation after a decade of the algorithm

    09:05 Ad read: Titleist GTS, unboxed at night and gamed by morning

    10:40 The Professor is a seven-wood guy now

    11:21 Fixing the top of the bag with a four wood and seven wood combo

    12:41 A short episode about going long

    14:07 Eight years of The Bag Drop, starting at the Merit Club

    16:33 Three years of the Professor, and curiosity on steroids

    18:32 The decision: fewer shows, deeper research, three to five hours

    20:23 Why clubs: study a club, study the history of people

    22:56 Northern Ireland, and why one round as a guest explains nothing

    25:01 Not the historians, and why that is the advantage

    27:26 Acquired, Costco, and learning through a narrative

    28:18 Smart Brevity, and what short form can't do

    30:16 A decade of hearing "there's a past here you don't know"

    32:40 The rules: no AI list of facts, no embellishment, the pursuit of truth

    34:24 Time to get to work


    What is NewClub?

    Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is making the game more meaningful for those who love it.


    What is The Bag Drop?

    The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community, and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, inโ€‘depth discussions on all things golf.

    33 min
  • Why Three of Four Beginners Quit

    Nineteen million Americans have tried golf since 2020. About one in four of them stayed.

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Matthew Reagan, PGA (co-founder and general manager of Operation 36) to talk about why golf keeps losing the beginners it works so hard to attract โ€” and what changed the day he stopped teaching the swing first and started people 25 yards from the hole.


    The conversation dives into:

    • The year-four gut punch: a junior program running at 95% retention that still lost forty golfers, and the single thing the kids who stayed all had in common
    • A year of three-hour nine-hole rounds, a drive to Pinehurst, and the flip that turned into Operation 36 โ€” start at 25 yards, shoot 36, back up
    • Why the environment around a beginner matters more than the technical ability of the coach, and what that says about how golf picks its heroes
    • The women who told him they had always wanted to play but had never been given permission to start that close to the green
    • Opening the app to everyone in 2027 โ€” couch to course, course to coach โ€” and what an app should refuse to pretend it can replace

    Connect with our guests

    โ›ณ Matthew Reagan, PGA โ€” co-founder and general manager, Operation 36 โ€” ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-reagan-op36/

    ๐Ÿ“ฑ Operation 36 โ€” https://operation36.golf โ€” how it works: https://operation36.golf/how-it-works/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/op36golf โ€” ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/operation_36/ โ€” ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/operation-36-golf โ€” ๐Ÿ“˜ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/op36golf/


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Links & Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH
    ๐ŸŽง Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf

    ๐ŸŽง Web: https://thebagdrop.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 Cold open: the moment Operation 36 got its name

    00:52 Welcome, and a fall morning in Athens

    01:20 Ten kids under eight: not rested, but refreshed

    03:35 Unplugging, the Slack away message, and the phone-off experiment

    06:45 New York, Mumford and Sons, and whether you could live there

    08:37 Today's guest: Matthew Reagan and Operation 36

    10:10 What Op36 did to Athens Country Club

    11:19 Scotland as the barometer: beginners go straight to the course

    12:00 Professor's teaching: sampling versus early specialization

    15:13 Ad read: Titleist AIM Enhanced and seeing the ball go in

    17:18 Matthew joins The Bag Drop

    18:16 Sixteen, upstate New York, and a course you could play for free

    20:25 Campbell, Ryan Dailey, and deciding to coach

    21:46 What actually turned him into a golfer, and it was not technique

    25:28 Gamification, variability, and why golf hooks you

    28:58 Three juniors at Keith Hills, and a program that grew to eighty

    30:01 Ten levels, bag tags, and making a three-footer fun for an hour

    32:19 Year four: forty golfers do not come back

    33:59 North Carolina Long Term Athlete Development LLC

    34:43 The one thing the kids who stayed had in common

    36:09 A year of three-hour nine-hole rounds

    38:08 The drive to Pinehurst, and the flip that became Operation 36

    40:08 Teaching calculus to a seventh grader

    42:01 Narrative, and the data nobody else in golf has

    44:16 One in four: this is not a junior golf story anymore

    45:42 Bootstrapping, licensing, and taking the junior out of the brand

    49:15 Shrinking the variables until clarity becomes motivation

    51:06 Competence, relatedness, autonomy

    52:40 The women who never had permission to start close

    55:33 The cultural headwind: America starts on the range

    57:05 Aligning a club top to bottom, and Op36 at St Andrews

    1:02:41 The ego of the young coach, and a $400-a-month membership

    1:05:25 A gymnastics gym on every corner, and not a golf program

    1:08:55 What a club needs before this works

    1:12:23 If a recession comes, which programs survive

    1:15:46 Opening the app in 2027: couch to course, course to coach

    1:18:22 Golf Genius, and learning to run an engineering team

    1:24:56 One thing you can do to make somebody's first nine better

    1:31:07 Close: reviews, Titleist AIM Enhanced, and thanks


    What is NewClub?

    Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.


    What is The Bag Drop?

    The Bag Drop<...

    1 hr 33 min
  • The Best Course in the World Is a Par 66

    Jim Hartsell will tell you the best golf course in the world is 4,800 yards and a par 66. He is not being cute about it. He would like you to come after him.

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Jim Hartsell โ€” architect, three-time Bag Drop guest, and author of A Round of Scottish Courses โ€” for a conversation about what thirty years of returning to the same small Scottish clubs teaches you about why golf places matter, and what a golfer owes a place once he starts telling everyone about it.

    The conversation dives into:

    • Why Dunaverty โ€” 4,800 yards, par 66 โ€” is his answer to "best course in the world," and why he thinks the question is usually asked wrong
    • What choosing eighteen favorites instead of eighteen best freed him to write โ€” and how a chapter actually gets built, including the sheepdog trials that unlocked a lost course on Arran
    • The night the Old Course put a flag on the 18th green made from a drawing his nine-year-old son had left on his laptop
    • The green-fee trap: why North Berwick and Brora keep going up, and why tour operators refuse to take a ยฃ30 course seriously
    • Whether writing about Dunaverty, Askernish and Isle of Harris is quietly changing them โ€” and what the members themselves say about that
    • Three rules for being a good guest at a Scottish club, including the one about tipping too much

    Connect with our guests

    ๐Ÿ“š Jim Hartsell โ€” https://jhartsellgolf.com โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/JimHHartsell](https://x.com/JimHHartsell) | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimhartsell/

    ๐Ÿ“• A Round of Scottish Courses (Back Nine Press) โ€” https://back9press.com/products/a-round-of-scottish-courses

    ๐ŸŽง The Duffer's Literary Companion (Jim & Stephen Proctor) โ€” https://tdlcpodcast.podbean.com


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Links & Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH
    ๐ŸŽง Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 Cold open: the anticipation is half the fun

    00:41 Welcome, and the Professor's new office

    02:16 A love letter to the game: who your club introduces you to

    03:01 Caddie School for Soldiers and thirty days at the Home of Golf

    04:31 Jim Hartsell, third appearance, third book

    06:34 Professor's teaching: quiet eye and gaze duration

    11:29 Ad read: Titleist T-Series and the three Ds

    13:52 Three books, one thread

    15:09 The course gets you in the room; a person carries the story

    16:32 The high school English teacher who started all this

    19:31 Calling Rob Collins with a crazy idea

    23:29 Fifty interviews, an outline, and meeting Jim Sitar

    26:40 The books that made him: Wind, Bamberger, Morton, MacVicar

    31:18 When Revelation Comes, and the notebook that read like a book

    35:25 Patric Dickinson's eighteen best, and Jim's eighteen favorite

    38:53 Dunaverty is the best course in the world: 4,800 yards, par 66

    42:07 Soup, clubhouses, and the whole lived experience

    45:40 Sheepdog trials, and when history earns its place in a chapter

    49:56 What do you have against the Scottish east coast?

    51:44 Frankfurt, a lost day, and a morning inside the R&A

    54:33 Dark hours on the Old with a persimmon driver

    56:52 The flag on the eighteenth green

    1:00:35 Why the most famous place in golf did not have to do that

    1:02:21 Does writing about these places change them?

    1:06:40 North Berwick, Brora, and being too cheap to be taken seriously

    1:07:46 Would the veneer wear off if you moved there?

    1:12:14 Three rules for being a good guest (and don't over-tip)

    1:14:41 Calendars, course guides, and Jordan's junior program

    1:19:27 Close: subscribe, review, and the Titleist T-Series

    1 hr 21 min
  • 3D-Printed Putters and the Science of Feel

    What happens when a guy with a Wall Street background decides heโ€™d rather make putters than climb the corporate ladder? For Al Vikmanis, the answer has been a winding path through Arccos, data analytics, custom putter design, metal 3D printing, ferrules, and whatever comes next. The common thread is a willingness to follow the rabbit hole wherever it leads, and a belief that the journey itself is the point.

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Al Vikmanis, Founder of 3DP Design to talk about the science and craft behind modern golf equipment, from why MOI matters in a putter to how sound actually becomes feel, why 3D printing opens up design possibilities traditional manufacturing can't, and why a ferrule can become a surprisingly personal piece of golf gear. Along the way, he gets candid about leaving Wall Street, embracing work that feels meaningful, learning from spectacular failures, and building a career around curiosity rather than a five-year plan.

    The conversation dives into:

    • Al's early days at Arccos, helping turn enormous amounts of shot data into something golfers could actually use
    • MOI explained without the engineering degree, including why more forgiveness isn't automatically better for every golfer
    • How sound becomes feel in a putter, and why putting with headphones on might be costing you more than you realize
    • The unlikely path from smuggling putters into a Wall Street office to teaching himself CAD and eventually 3D printing golf clubs
    • Why custom ferrules have become a form of personal expression, more like putting stickers on a skateboard than simply changing the cosmetics of a golf club
    • The failures behind Al's work, including a collection of enormous 3D-printed mallets that looked like the Starship Enterprise and sounded like tuning forks

    Connect with our guests

    Al Vikmanis โ€”ย  ๐Ÿ’ผ https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-vikmanis-3755671/
    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://3dp-design.com/
    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3dp_design/

    ๐Ÿ‘ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083121141361#


    Follow The Bag Drop

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebagdrop
    ย ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/thebagdropgolf
    ย ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBagDropGolf


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Support our Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com

    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/


    Chapters

    00:40 - Welcome to The Bag Drop
    11:08 - Al Vikmanis joins the show
    12:12 - From Arccos data to custom putter design
    18:51 - What Al learned from working at an early-stage startup
    21:03 - Leaving Wall Street and finding meaningful work
    24:21 - MOI explained
    30:33 - Why sound is feel
    34:11 - How Al got into making putters
    37:44 - Why custom 3D-printed equipment doesn't scale
    41:20 - How metal 3D printing actually works
    43:32 - Where 3D printing fits into the future of golf equipment
    47:20 - The early failures of 3D-printed putters
    51:08 - Learning from bad ideas
    54:09 - How Al and Patrick Boyd started working together
    56:52 - Why golfers love custom ferrules
    59:24 - Ball markers, divot tools, and personal expression
    1:02:21 - The creative side of Al Vikmanis
    1:10:53 - What's in Al's golf bag
    1:18:12 - What comes next for golf equipment
    1:20:12 - โ€œThe journey is the pointโ€

    What is The Bag Drop?

    The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, inโ€‘depth discussions on all things golf.


    What is NewClub?

    Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.

    1 hr 23 min
  • Building the Gilroy: Old Barnwell's Second Course

    What does a piece of land owe the people around it once the golf stops paying for itself?

    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Blake Conant (golf course architect; co-designer of Old Barnwell and the Gilroy) to talk about the second course he is building in the dirt right now โ€” and the master's thesis he wrote a decade earlier arguing that some golf courses should stop being golf courses.


    The conversation dives into:

    • Why a painting degree and three months running equipment with Tom Doak at Dismal River turned out to be the right education for golf architecture
    • Building the Gilroy next door to a course everybody already loves, and the Snoop Dogg rule Blake uses to keep from chasing it
    • The 90-acre parcel Nick Schreiber bought so the routing would work, and why Blake says architects are simply greedy
    • A kids course with a tunnel and a ramp, built on Brian Schneider's premise that kids do not actually want to putt
    • The 2013 thesis on bankrupt courses: what Blake got right about supply, what he missed about demand, and why the courses that closed were the wrong ones
    • The arithmetic that decides whether affordable public golf gets built at all โ€” roughly ten dollars of green fee for every million spent

    Connect with our guest

    ๐ŸŽจ Blake Conant โ€” https://www.dundeegolf.com/ ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/Dundee_Golf โ€” | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dundeegolf/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-conant-90566a37/

    โ›ณ๏ธ Old Barnwell โ€” https://oldbarnwell.com


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Links & Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf

    ๐ŸŽง Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/


    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/

    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธContribute to the show! โ€” ๐Ÿ“ง email: [email protected]


    Chapters

    00:00 "Make sure your first one is your worst one"

    00:49 Welcome, and kudos to the R&A for actually enforcing the rules

    04:19 Who Blake Conant is, and how the Professor found him

    07:45 Teaching of the week: "Build a Course Today" and the overbuild

    09:30 Titleist Vokey SM11

    11:11 Conant, Conant, or Conan the Barbarian

    12:18 House paint, big canvases, and actually selling art

    14:44 Art school to landscape architecture to Dismal River

    17:42 The doubts he probably should have had

    19:20 Following Old Barnwell: the Snoop Dogg rule

    20:53 Was a second course always the plan?

    23:12 Nick Schreiber, and hiring people you then leave alone

    27:19 The kids course: they don't actually want to putt

    29:56 Tunnels, ramps, and a train that isn't there yet

    30:37 Who the Gilroy is for, and greens that sit on the ground

    33:11 Still testing the good player, just differently

    34:41 Buying the purple parcel

    37:09 Buy the land before anybody knows you're building

    38:59 The 2013 thesis on bankrupt golf courses

    41:58 What are we measuring: social, environmental, economic

    47:39 The wrong courses closed

    48:58 Repurposing, HOAs, and grand ideas that don't pencil

    51:05 Should a new project pass the test before opening day?

    52:49 Golf as a Trojan horse: programming, foundation, community

    55:45 Aiken's building boom and a healthy kind of competition

    59:38 The public course he'd like to build without donors

    1:03:49 Wrap and thanks


    What is NewClub?

    Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.


    What is The Bag Drop?

    The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, inโ€‘depth discussions on all things golf.


    1 hr 6 min
  • Can Every City Build a Place Like The Park?

    Can a golf facility be fun, affordable, and welcoming for the local community while maintaining an elite course and golf experience that attracts committed golfers from around the globe?ย 


    Brian Conley knows it can; he sees it every day, and he believes it starts long before any of them hit their first tee shot.


    As the General Manager of The Park in West Palm Beach, Brian has helped build one of the most celebrated public golf experiences in the country. But this conversation goes well beyond architecture or rankings. It's about creating a place where people feel welcome, where every decision serves a mission, and where golf becomes a vehicle for community rather than exclusivity.


    In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and coโ€‘host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. โ€œThe Professorโ€) sit down with Brian Conley (GM at The Park) to discuss why "fun" became the north star for The Park, what public golf can learn from private clubs (and vice versa), how to think about pricing without compromising accessibility, why walking matters, and whether this model can realistically spread to more cities.

    If you've ever wondered why certain golf courses become gathering places while others remain just another tee sheet, this one's for you.

    The conversation dives into:


    โ€ข Why every successful golf project needs a clear "why"
    โ€ข The philosophy behind The Park's "Open Golf" approach
    โ€ข Stripping away unnecessary traditions without losing what makes golf special
    โ€ข The balance between accessibility, sustainability, and premium public golf
    โ€ข Building community through programming, leagues, events, and local ownership
    โ€ข Why walking-first golf creates a better experience for players and operators
    โ€ข Lessons learned from Bobby Jones Golf Course and bringing those ideas to West Palm Beach
    โ€ข Whether The Park is a one-of-one or a blueprint for the future of public golf

    The Park
    https://theparkwestpalm.com


    Follow The Bag Drop

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebagdrop
    ย ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/thebagdropgolf
    ย ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBagDropGolf


    Listen to The Bag Drop

    ๐ŸŽง Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006

    ๐ŸŽง Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH

    ๐ŸŽง Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/


    Join the NewClub community

    ๐ŸŒ Website: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/

    ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf

    ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub


    Support our Partners

    ๐Ÿ NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf

    ๐ŸŒ๏ธ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com

    ๐ŸŒ Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com

    Connect with Matt & The Professor

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Matt Considine โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/

    ๐Ÿ“š Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") โ€” ๐Ÿฆ X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ“ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | ๐Ÿ’ผ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/


    Chapters

    00:00 The why comes first
    01:07 Back in love with golf: swing video, flow state
    09:00 Professor's time fact: plants can tell time
    11:25 Partner break โ€” Titleist AIM golf balls
    13:13 Brian Conley joins the show
    15:11 The only non-negotiable: fun
    16:31 Stripping out the norms โ€” what "open golf" actually means
    19:19 Coming up in golf, and learning to be different
    22:42 Why golf is so afraid to test and fail
    24:26 Pricing without apology: the Mercedes problem
    27:50 Protecting the locals in a transient, premium market
    34:42 The recruitment: a 20-minute tour, a January phone call
    39:20 Does the model travel? Scale vs. replicability
    46:16 Sustainability, philanthropy, and funding The Path
    50:41 A 50-year city lease โ€” and a new event teaser
    52:17 Mission over profit, and living outside the box
    56:20 Walking-first in the heat: caddies, loops, and the data
    1:03:35 The Professor's cart confession
    1:06:16 Serving every kind of golfer at once: culture and people
    1:07:03 The kid in the tank top and the Augusta member
    1:13:16 The fake version: how to spot an imposter
    1:17:59 What keeps him up: culture and getting the word out on The Path
    1:20:49 The parrot: the story behind the logo

    What is The Bag Drop?

    The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, inโ€‘depth discussions on all things golf.


    What is NewClub?

    Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions, and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is in the business of belonging, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.

    1 hr 26 min

About The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf

From the publisher's feed

Deeply researched audio documentaries that tell the definitive stories behind golf's greatest clubs + weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today.

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