This Golfing Life

Rosie Bailey and Karen Crum arrived at golf from almost opposite directions. Rosie was a reluctant junior who became an elite player, represented Scotland and earned a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, where the late Nancy McDaniel and Anne Walker, who now coaches the all-conquering Stanford women's golf programme, became hugely influential figures in her life. 

Karen grew up immersed in sport and music in Northern Ireland, played competitive football and didn't seriously discover golf until her thirties. Nine years later, she plays off seven and describes it as the greatest sport on earth.

Their paths crossed through Tuesday Links, the golf travel company Rosie founded with broadcaster Iona Stephen to create experiences designed around women rather than simply adapting the traditional golf trip.

Karen joined its inaugural Scottish adventure as one of eight women aged between 36 and 70. What followed – culminating in an emotional walk up the 18th on the Old Course – reinforced something both women believe: golf's greatest gifts aren't necessarily found on the scorecard.

In this episode, Rosie and Karen join Dan to talk about golf as friendship, adventure, meditation and belonging; why walking alongside someone for four hours can create extraordinary conversations; and why golf still struggles to make women feel that the game belongs to them.

They discuss motherhood and the women golf loses, badly designed clubhouses, women's golf clothing – and the scandal of inadequate pockets – and whether golf has a branding problem or a product problem. Plus, Karen discusses her other obsession, music, and her forthcoming album Fault Lines, recorded under the name Von Burl.

Chapters 

00:00 – Introducing Rosie Bailey and Karen Crum 

02:19 – Rosie: from reluctant junior to Scotland golfer

04:01 – California dreaming: college golf at Berkeley

06:00 – “How you do anything is how you do everything”

08:31 – Karen's unlikely route into golf

11:18 – Illness, Wanstead and becoming obsessed

14:56 – Why are there still so few women?

17:15 – Rosie builds a career in golf

23:01 – Karen's other obsession: music

28:27 – The birth of Tuesday Links

32:38 – What do women actually want from a golf trip?

35:08 – Why four hours of golf creates friendships

38:13 – Golf as meditation

40:59 – The magic of St Andrews

42:09 – Eight women, eight stories

45:11 – Where does golf lose women?

49:08 – The stranger on a plane who inspired Tuesday Links

51:00 – Why does golf still feel uncool?

52:57 – Does golf have a branding problem or a product problem?

59:37 – Being allowed in isn't the same as belonging

1:03:25 – The unexpected power of belonging

1:05:43 – Tears on the 18th at St Andrews

1:07:58 – Walking in the footsteps of your heroes

1:09:29 – What is golf actually for?

1:12:25 – A golfing life

Links

Get 20% off you next Sounder Golf purchase with the code Pod20

Find out more about Tuesday Links, the women's golf travel company founded by Rosie Bailey and Iona Stephen

Read Karen Crum on Substack at Von Burl

Read Dan Davies on Substack at The Sacred Acre

Follow RNGC, Dan's backyard golf course, on Instagram

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In this special archive edition of This Golfing Life, we travel back to the spring of 2014 and Royal Liverpool Golf Club, where I sat down with three-time major champion Padraig Harrington ahead of that summer’s Open Championship at Hoylake.

Harrington had already established himself as one of the great links players of his generation, winning consecutive Opens at Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale in 2007 and 2008 before adding the PGA Championship just weeks after his second Claret Jug. Our conversation became a fascinating exploration of what links golf really demands: imagination, strategy, ball flight and the ability to manufacture shots rather than simply make technically perfect swings. Harrington explains why growing up on links courses teaches you to become a player, recalls the extraordinary way Tiger Woods conquered a baked-out Hoylake in 2006, and explains why even the world’s best golfers can take years to understand how links golf should be played.

We also revisit Harrington’s own major championship career: the moment he realised he really could win one; the extraordinary 48-yard pitch at Carnoustie after twice finding the Barry Burn; getting himself back into “the zone” when he thought he had thrown the Open away; the famous five-wood at Birkdale; and the strange experience of trying to defeat Greg Norman while almost everyone around him was willing the great Australian towards one final triumph. 

And then the conversation turns to my own notoriously fragile short game. Padraig makes me a promise: if I do exactly what he tells me, he guarantees he can teach me to chip. So we head outside, surrounded by around 100 spectators, for a chipping lesson with a three-time major champion. It does not go according to plan.

Chapters / timestamps

00:00 — Introducing a 2014 encounter with Padraig Harrington at Royal Liverpool — and one of Dan’s more embarrassing experiences in golf

.02:15 — 2006: when Hoylake became almost unplayably fast02:45 — The genius of Tiger Woods at Hoylake

04:30 — Harrington's perfect links conditions

05:59 — Growing up on links golf

06:39 — What makes a golfer a “player”?

08:06 — Why great American golfers can still play links golf

10:05 — How Phil Mickelson learned links golf

11:04 — Harrington's first Open Championship

11:38 — Nothing like the 18th at The Open

12:09 — The major that changed Harrington's thinking

14:00 — The Carnoustie wedge shot in 2007

14:18 — “I think I've choked” - disasters in Barry Burn

15:05 — Getting back into the zone

15:35 — “Watch this” - Harrington’s gutsy up and down at Carnoustie to make the playoff17:25 — Why Harrington doesn't regard his 2008 5-wood at Birkdale as his greatest shot 

19:12 — Trying to spoil the Greg Norman fairytale at Birkdale in 2008

20:26 — Padraig guarantees he can fix Dan's chipping

21:04 — The Harrington cure for bad chipping22:00 — Time to put the theory to the test...

Follow RNGC, Dan's backyard golf course, on Instagram

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From Walker Cup heartbreak and Q-School pressure to European Tour glory, Richard Finch reflects on the highs, lows and near-misses of a life in elite amateur and professional golf. Plus the famous Irish Open plunge, Rory McIlroy at 15, Chubby Chandler, and rediscovering the fun of the game at RNGC.

Richard Finch’s route to the European Tour began on a municipal course in Hull, where an obsession with getting better once led him to spend the night in the junior room practising his putting. He became one of England’s leading amateurs, winning the Spanish Amateur, English Amateur and St Andrews Links Trophy, but his amateur career ended with the bitter disappointment of missing out on a Walker Cup place at Ganton.

Turning professional at 25, Finch initially came under the wing of a young Eddie Hearn before earning his European Tour card in dramatic fashion at Q-School. But by 2007 his career was in serious danger. In this episode, Richard revisits the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where he first met Dan, the extraordinary final round in Mallorca that saved his card, and the remarkable transformation that followed when he won in New Zealand just weeks later.

Five months after that first victory came the moment for which he may always be best remembered: winning the Irish Open at Adare Manor despite falling waist-deep into the water beside the 18th fairway. Richard also recalls playing with a 15-year-old Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods renaming him “Robert Finch”, the difficulties that eventually brought his Tour career to an end, and the joy of rediscovering uncomplicated, competitive golf at this summer’s RNGC Invitational.

00:00 — Introducing Richard Finch

01:49 — Growing up in Hull

03:52 — The junior who slept at the golf club

06:48 — Scratch golf and Yorkshire county days

08:16 — Deciding to become a Tour professional

09:26 — Family, expectation and Richard’s mum

11:17 — Dave Jagger, Pete Cowen and golfing mentors

14:01 — England golf and winning the Spanish Amateur

16:18 — English Amateur glory and Walker Cup heartbreak

20:00 — Turning professional with Eddie Hearn

22:26 — An 81 at Q-School — and somehow earning a card

25:52 — Discovering he belonged on the European Tour

28:58 — Characters, Chubby Chandler and life inside ISM

32:02 — Losing confidence in 2007

36:09 — The 2007 Dunhill Links

38:27 — Mallorca: “Just don’t shank it”

42:09 — From survival to victory in New Zealand

44:25 — Winning the Irish Open — from inside the river

48:35 — Wet shoes, police outriders and a Ryanair queue

52:14 — Rory McIlroy at 15 and “Robert Finch”

53:52 — Winning twice, Ryder Cup talk and trying to improve

56:55 — Injury and the end of Tour life

1:00:36 — Rediscovering the fun at RNGC

1:02:16 — Why golf remains a great game

Links

Follow Richard Finch on Instagram

Follow RNGC, Dan's backyard golf club, on Instagram at @rngc2021

Read Dan Davies on Substack at The Sacred Acre

Get 20% of your next purchase from soundergolf.com with the code Pod20

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Few people have enjoyed a better seat from which to watch the story of modern professional golf unfold than Gordon Simpson.

A sports journalist from the age of 17, Gordon became golf correspondent of the Press & Journal in Aberdeen aged 21 — and promptly found himself walking every yard of the final two rounds of legendary 1977 Open at Turnberry as Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus fought out the Duel in the Sun. From there came football World Cups, Masters Tournaments, Ryder Cups and encounters with many of sport's biggest personalities.

In this episode of This Golfing Life, Gordon recalls the old newspaper world of hot metal, being desperately ill on his first morning at Augusta in 1996, watching Nick Faldo dismantle Norman six days later and then winning the press ballot to play Augusta National himself the following morning. A year later he watched Tiger transform the sport — and heard Earl Woods make predictions about his son that initially seemed preposterous.

Gordon later crossed what he calls the "Great Divide", becoming Director of Communications for the European Tour and seeing professional golf from the inside looking out. He shares memories of flying over North America on 9/11, Darren Clarke's emotional Ryder Cup at the K Club, Paul McGinley's obsessive attention to detail — and the excruciating moment Gordon invited Hunter Mahan to speak after the 2010 defeat at Celtic Manor, only for Mahan to burst into tears.

Finally, Gordon explains how a story told to him by a European Tour colleague provided the ending for his debut crime novel, Four Deadly Swings, which is set around a professional golf tournament at Wentworth, Gordon's professional home for many years.

Chapters

00:00 — Introducing this week’s guest and his connection to Wentworth

03:21 — Growing up surrounded by sport

05:43 — From junior reporter to golf correspondent at 21

10:13 — Drinking, smoking and hot metal: a different time for newspapers

17:52 — Turnberry 1977 and The Duel in the Sun

19:59 — Tom Watson: triumph, heartbreak and enduring class

25:00 — World Cups, Kenny Dalglish and an airport security scare

30:06 — Gordon's unforgettable first Masters34:24 — Playing Augusta National

38:39 — 1997: Tiger Woods changes everything

42:16 — Crossing the Great Divide

47:03 — The golfers behind the public personas

50:48 — Seve destroys Gordon's interview in two questions

54:36 — Flying over America on 9/11 and getting stranded in Canada

57:48 — The Ryder Cup press conference from hell01:00:47 — Darren Clarke and the K Club

01:06:06 — What makes a great Ryder Cup captain?

01:09:10 — ‘Four Deadly Swings’, Gordon’s new crime thriller set at Wentworth

01:15:13 — What golf has given Gordon Simpson

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In Part Two of our extended conversation with John E Morgan, we pick up one of golf's most extraordinary career trajectories. Within months of turning professional, Morgan wins on the Challenge Tour, earns his European Tour card and then heads to America, where — inspired by watching Tiger Woods at close quarters — he emerges from PGA Tour Q School with a second Tour card. Suddenly the docker's son from Bristol is sharing ranges with Ernie Els and meeting his childhood heroes, while still sufficiently starstruck to sprint across a golf course for Adam Sandler's autograph.

We hear about life in America, electric-blue hair, meeting Seve Ballesteros and the loneliness behind Morgan's relentlessly exuberant exterior. Then comes the extraordinary final round of the 2004 John Deere Classic: a back-nine charge, increasingly wild fist pumps and a 30-foot birdie putt at the last to force a playoff that could have changed his life. Morgan reflects candidly on what victory might have meant — and whether his personality could actually have coped with everything that would have followed.

But just a week later Morgan suffered a serious seizure on a plane, and epilepsy became an increasingly destructive presence in his career. He tells us why he eventually had to walk away from professional golf, how broadcasting gave him another way into the game he loves, and why, despite everything he achieved, he remains convinced there was a Ryder Cup player inside him. It's a story of talent and what-ifs, but also enormous gratitude: as Morgan puts it, “At least I had a piece of the pie.”

Key quotes

“I definitely felt there was a Ryder Cup in me.”

“I was more starstruck than I was intimidated.”

“Whatever cloud I was on, I was on it and I felt like Monkey Magic.”

“It’s not just about me, it’s about everyone else.”

“At least I had a piece of the pie. At least I tasted it.”

“Do I think I'd be alive to tell this tale if that putt would have gone in? That's the truth.”

Chapters

00:00 — Coming Up: The John E Morgan Story Continues

01:12 — Turning pro and tearing up the EuroPro Tour

04:01 — Bowood: The tournament that changed everything

06:37 — The 40-footer that became “absolute fruit bat”

09:29 — From Challenge Tour winner to European Tour Player

11:04 — Taking a wild shot at PGA Tour Q School

11:50 — A seizure with four holes to play

13:20 — Watching Tiger and finding his swing

17:44 — Two tour cards in eight extraordinary months

20:42 — Hawaii, the PGA Tour and chasing Adam Sandler

22:28 — Starstruck but never intimidated

24:16 — Meeting Seve Ballesteros

26:13 — Why John dyed his hair electric blue

28:15 — Money, Miami and loneliness  in America

29:42 — The 2004 John Deere Classic

31:57 — Going mental on the back nine

33:25 — Fist pumps and a clutch 30-footer at 18

35:11 — The playoff that could have changed everything

39:33 — “Would I be alive if that putt had gone in?”

41:03 — When epilepsy took control

45:22 — Finding a second life in broadcasting

46:00 — What's been lost from modern pro golf?

47:55 — The happiest days of his golfing life

49:19 — “I had a Ryder Cup in me”

50:48 — No regrets, gratitude and treating people well

Links

⁠John E Morgan on Instagram⁠

⁠RNGC, Dan Davies' backyard golf course⁠

⁠Dan Davies on Substack⁠

⁠Get 20% of your next Sounder Golf purchase⁠ with code POD20

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on This Golfing Life, we begin a special two-part interview with former PGA Tour and European Tour pro John E Morgan — one of the game’s great characters, and a golfer whose rise was as unconventional as the man himself.

In Part 1, John takes us back to a working-class childhood in Portishead, growing up as the only son of a Bristol docker and falling hopelessly in love with golf. He talks candidly about dyslexia, bullying at school, the obsessive competitive streak that drove him on, and why his larger-than-life personality never quite fitted the blazer-dominated culture of elite amateur golf.

He also opens up about the epilepsy diagnosis that would shape his career, the moment he considered walking away from golf altogether, and the brutally simple advice from his father that changed his mind. The episode ends with an extraordinary twist in Spain: a £50 golf commercial, two holed shots, and a chance encounter with the man who would bankroll his professional dream.

Key quotes

“It’s hard to feel vulnerable when you feel invincible.”

“I had to be the jester. I had to be the one that brought the laughs. I had to be the crazy one that would do something off the wall.”

“I didn’t play ball. I was the jester and the menace. You told me to go that way, I’d go the other.”

“I was just loud and proud golf, mate. Loud and proud.”

“You’ve been given a chance, John. Go and use it.”
Chapters

00:00 — Introducing this week’s guest, John E Morgan:

Part 102:28 — Where golf first entered John’s life

03:11 — Growing up the son of a Bristol docker

04:40 — His sporting father and an unusual golf education

06:28 — A hole-in-one aged 10

08:32 — Seve, Sandy, Faldo and his childhood heroes

10:16 — Always looking for the outrageous shot

11:07 — Dyslexia, bullying and school

12:43 — The teacher who told him to stop talking about golf

13:48 — The scrapper and the will to win

15:24 — The making of his short game

18:42 — What separates the very best players

24:20 — Tiger, Vijay and life among the greats

29:09 — England golf and when your face doesn’t fit

32:44 — The jester, the menace and the night that changed everything

37:24 — Epilepsy and feeling vulnerable

44:00 — Dad’s reality check: golf or the docks?

46:56 — Spain, the buggy boys and a £50 commercial

49:39 — Two hole-outs and finding the golden goose

53:04 — Coming in part two: the meteoric rise

Links

John E Morgan on Instagram

RNGC, Dan Davies' backyard golf course

Dan Davies on Substack

Get 20% of your next Sounder Golf purchase with code POD20

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when you become the coach of an NCAA Division I college golf team with no coaching experience, only two golfers, and a season that has to be completed? For Harry Stokes, the answer was to recruit a triple jumper, a cheerleader and a football team manager, none of whom had ever swung a golf club, give them a crash course in the game and somehow get them through a college golf season.

What followed is one of the funniest — and ultimately most uplifting — stories we’ve featured on This Golfing Life.

A fourth-generation golf professional from Florida, Harry Stokes had become disillusioned with the game and stepped away from the golf industry altogether when an unlikely opportunity arrived: coaching the struggling women’s golf programme at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black university in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Harry recalls the team's first match that took seven-and-a-half hours to complete, a player taking over 20 shots on a hole, another becoming stranded in a bunker, and Renijah Howard hitting the opposition coach’s pushchair (with her toddler in it) with her opening tee shot — before later being forced to withdraw from the Conference Championship because she ran out of golf balls.

But underneath the comedy is a remarkable story about perseverance, perspective and what sport is actually for. Harry explains how players who could barely hit a golf ball learned to celebrate tiny victories, how he became determined that Bethune-Cookman would be remembered for its attitude rather than its scores, and why getting one of his players around the end-of-season Conference Championship in four-and-a-half hours while shooting 287 for 18 holes remains one of his proudest achievements as a coach.

The experience changed Harry, too. Once a player who allowed his score to define his relationship with golf, coaching beginners gave him a completely different understanding of the game. Golf stopped being something that validated him and became something to be enjoyed, shared and used to bring people together.

He also reveals just how important that seemingly hopeless first season was: Bethune-Cookman needed the women’s team to complete its eight events to help the university maintain NCAA sports sponsorship.

And, having initially wondered whether the experience had “broken” him, Harry stayed. He began rebuilding the programme, saw Bethune-Cookman start competing again and discovered that his real ambition as a coach was about far more than producing professional golfers or winning trophies.

For Harry, success is creating a team whose players will still be friends decades from now — connected by the experience of having worked, struggled and competed together.

This is a conversation about one of the worst teams in college golf — and why being terrible at golf might have taught their coach more about the game than being good at it ever did.

Chapters

00:00 Introducing this week’s guest, Harry Stokes

01:28 Two golfers in a team requiring five players to complete the season

04:14 Building a golf team overnight. A triple jumper, a cheerleader and a football coach

07:54 The first tournament: “I had no idea what was coming”

11:30 A first tee shot into the opposition coach’s pushchair

15:30 “Maybe we should set a limit here”

17:12 Huge scores, swarms of bugs and an ordeal the opposition had not anticipated.

19:20 Did somebody shoot 360? 

21:41 Learning how to be bad at golf

23:08 The SWAC Championship. The team’s first proper multi-school championship.

25:00 Shooting 287 in four-and-a-half hours27:45 “I ran out of balls”. Renijah’s SWAC Championship comes to a premature end 

29:03 “We were bad and had a great time”31:32 Celebrating the smallest improvements.

34:06 Get 20% of your next purchase at Sounder Golf

34:24 The toll on Harry

36:42 Rediscovering his love of golf

38:30  “You might have broken me”. Why Harry almost walked away 

40:00 The conversation that changed everything

41:00 Another novice arrives but Bethune-Cookman at last has foundations

44:21 Why the team embraced its weakest player

46:34 What terrible golfers taught Harry about golf

47:33 Falling back in love with the game. How coaching beginners changed Harry’s relationship with golf.

51:57 “We’re really not a bad team. ”The moment Bethune-Cookman begins to compete

54:30 The season that helped save Bethune-Cookman athletics

55:07 Rebuilding a university and a team56:30 What success really looks like — friendships and memories that last longer than scores.

58:58 Harry and Dan reflect on what this extraordinary team ultimately reveals about golf, coaching and belonging.

Links

Bethune-Cookman's women's golf team

Dan Davies on Substack

RNGC, Dan Davies' backyard golf course

Get 20% of your next purchase at Sounder Golf using code POD20

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Former European Tour winner and Sky Sports Golf commentator Robert Lee joins Dan Davies for a warm, funny and deeply reflective conversation about a lifetime in the game.

Robert traces his journey from a 10-year-old discovering golf on a pitch-and-putt course in Bournemouth, through his formative years at Richmond Park and Royal Mid-Surrey, to competing against legends including Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam during one of the strongest eras in European golf. Along the way, he explains why he trained as a watchmaker before turning professional, how he learned to survive the brutal Monday qualifiers of the early 1980s, and why winning on Tour required a complete change in mindset.

Robert also shares colourful stories from Tour life, including the truth behind his famous love of "discos", why he couldn't bear sitting alone in hotel rooms, his mischievous friendship with Mark Roe, and how he ended up winning the Cannes Open after a night out that finished at 2am. He reflects on his memorable Open Championship debut at Royal St George's in 1985, falling foul of the R&A in 1987, the pressures of keeping a Tour card, and why the real stress in professional golf isn't winning tournaments – it's simply surviving.

The conversation concludes with Robert's second career behind the microphone, his philosophy on broadcasting, the joy of family life, and why, after more than 40 years in the game, golf still remains his greatest passion after his wife and daughters.

Key Topics

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to this week’s guest, Robert Lee

01:17 Robert Lee’s early golf memories

05:05 Rob’s journey through junior golf

13:27 Going low and knowing he was good enough to turn pro

16:05 Finding his feet on the European Tour

18:15 The class of '83: Rob's circle of close friends on tour

19:23 The lure of nightlife and Rob's dislike of hotel rooms

23:16 Why the DP World Tour gives players a better grounding

25:34 Get 20% off your next Sounder Golf order

26:26 1985: Rob's breakthrough year

30:28 His first win on tour and a big night out in Cannes

33:31 The shots that remain in Rob's heart and mind

35:26 Shooting a 61 en route to win number two

36:53 Drawing the ire of the R&A and Honorable Company at the ‘87 Open

42:42 The players Rob loved to watch

45:29 The lean years, resilience and learning about himself

52:04 Rob's second career as a TV golf commentator

56:37 The importance of offering a player's perspective

59:13 The most interesting characters he's met on tour

Links

Robert Lee on Instagram

Robert Lee on Twitter

Get 20% off your next Sounder Golf purchase with code POD20

Dan Davies on Substack - The Sacred Acre

RNGC - Dan Davies' backyard golf course

Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club

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Broadcaster, journalist and lifelong golf fanatic Gordon Smart joins Dan Davies for one of the most entertaining and revealing conversations yet on This Golfing Life.

From hosting Jon Rahm and Tom Grennan at The Open to following Scotland at the World Cup, Gordon shares remarkable stories from a life spent at the heart of sport, music, broadcasting and Fleet Street. But beneath the laughter lies a deeply personal story of resilience.

Gordon reflects on growing up in the golfing heartland of Fife, learning the game with his grandfather, the magical pull of St Andrews, and why golf remains unlike any other sport. He also opens up about the devastating period that saw him lose his voice, his radio career and much of the life he'd built during the pandemic — and how walking the fairways of Kinross Golf Club became the therapy that helped him rebuild.

Along the way, there are tales of Sean Connery and Michael Caine's legendary clubhouse nights, Alan Hansen's house at Royal Birkdale, playing The Old Course in reverse, Fleet Street excess, Scotland's unforgettable World Cup adventure, and why golf is ultimately about far more than the scorecard.

This is a conversation about friendship, identity, resilience and why the game we love has an extraordinary ability to heal.

In this episode

Chapters

00:00 Introducing this week’s guest, Gordon Smart

01:43 Hosting Jon Rahm and Tom Grennan at The Open

03:03 Tom Grennan's extraordinary journey to golf

04:47 Alan Hansen, Kenny Dalglish and Open week at Birkdale

07:21 Why The Open is golf's greatest championship

08:13 Growing up between St Andrews and Gleneagles

10:25 The magic of St Andrews and unforgettable Open memories

12:56 Jim Leishman, the R&A and golfing royalty

15:40 Why elite sportspeople become obsessed with golf

18:31 Learning the game in Kinross

22:45 Scotland's hidden nine-hole gems

24:12 Golf tours, Jimmy Nesbitt and surviving Portrush

26:12 Losing everything during the pandemic

30:42 Golf as therapy, memory and healing

35:18 Football dreams and choosing journalism

38:09 Fleet Street, celebrity culture and life at The Sun

43:41 The impossible balance of celebrity journalism

49:37 Playing The Old Course... backwards

53:08 Scotland, the World Cup and the Tartan Army

57:54 France '98, football memories and what sport means

Links

Gordon Smart on Instagram

Dan Davies on Substack

RNGC - Dan Davies’ backyard golf course

Kinross Golf Club

Get 20% of your next purchase at SounderGolf.com with code POD20

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A far-reaching and candid conversation with American author Jim Hartsell, who talks about his profound love for Scottish golf, his personal journey from playing with generations of his family in Alabama, the tragic loss of his son Jordan, and how the people, the golf culture and the less-heralded courses of Scotland provided sanctuary n his darkest times. Jim discusses how these experiences have shaped his writing and also shares stories behind Tennessee's cult 9-hole course Sweetens Cove, his books, and the deep cultural ties that make Scottish golf uniquely special.

Key Topics
The significance of the 1977 Open Championship to Jim

The connection between family and golf across generations

The story behind Sweetens Cove and its architectural philosophy

Jim Hartsell's books: The Secret Home of Golf, When Revelation Comes, and A Round of Scottish Courses

The importance of small, historic Scottish courses and their preservation

Chapters

00:00 Introducing this week's guest, Jim Hartsell

01:42 1977 Open at Turnberry: Jim’s first Scottish golf memory

04:50 Growing up playing golf in Alabama

08:12 First Scottish golf trip with Dad in 1994

14:45 The spiritual pull of Machrihanish and Dunaverty

19:35 The Secret Home of Golf: Sweetens Cove

27:08 King Collins - Golf architecture philosophy

32:26 Get a 20% discount on your next Sounder purchase

32:39 Family tragedy and Jim's second book

39:51 The kindness and empathy of the Scottish people

44:22 Author Stephen Proctor and The Duffers' Literary Podcast

45:19 Jim's latest book on the "tiny chapels of Scottish golf"

52:29 Recapturing the joy of childhood play on Scottish courses

55:47 Dan invites Jim to Royal North Devon, The Cradle of English Golf

01:00:17 Jim Hartsell's deepening connection with Scotland through golf

01:02:58 A shout out to Jim at Back Nine Press

Links

Jim Hartsell on Twitter

Jim Hartsell’s website

Sweeten's Cove Golf Course

The Secret Home of Golf by Jim Hartsell (Back Nine Press) 

When Revelation Comes by Jim Hartsell (Back Nine Press)

A Round of Scottish Courses by Jim Hartsell (Back Nine Press) 

Dan Davies on Substack

RNGC backyard golf course on Instagram

Get 20% of your next purchase with Sounder using code POD20

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