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I was lucky enough to get drawn for the old course reversed. Essentially less than a 1% chance to get drawn I believe. Played it a few days after the gang did but was in the town at the same time. Very excited for all content that is going to be coming out. Have a few days off to get back on schedule and thought I'd share a few thoughts and do an AMA.

The package (for us non influencers or Links Ticketholders) included 3 rounds, Castle, Reversed and Old. We added Eden and did a warm up round at Balgove one morning. I used hickories for the Eden, Balgove and Old Course regular. I agree with Andy from the Bacon pod, you should submit to the lottery every year and make it happen if drawn. What an experience. Hard to put into words but I'm going to try over the next week. It makes you appreciate TOC so much more and firmly ranks it as a top 3 course in the world for me. Playing hickories on the Old and a half set (odds) on the reverse was a true brainexploading.gif. We also brought our wives who enjoyed the town while we played. Let me know if you have any questions on anything.

I have seen some Mixed Bag related content show up on my social feeds this week, but the podcast feed is empty since early March. Is something going on with the feed? I can say I prefer for podcast related things to be in one place, and that one place not being YouTube, considering the amount of podcast listening I do while working or driving.

Hey FEGC — With the PGA at Aronimink approaching, I'm prepping an episode of Designing Golf all about Donald Ross. I'd like to devote a section of it to any questions you have about Ross's life, architectural philosophy/style, business, specific courses, or whatever else. Fire away!

If you had 400 acres of sand and wanted to build affordable public golf, would this way of raising funds for construction find any audience at all?

Founders

100 National Founders at $40,000 or 200 at $20,000

Founder Days- 12 days a year are selected after a yearly founders vote and course is open only to founders and their guests.

No greens fee for life, family members included

No annual dues

Green fees cannot increase by more than 3% year over year

Foundership is permanent and fully transferable

Founder’s guests half price green fee

Founder tee time blocks

First chance at homesites

First chance at future projects

Thanks

I figured I'd help PJ by starting a thread for suggestions for Zurich walkout music.

"I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy - Ryan Palmer and Chan Kim. An ode to Palmer's former partners.

"The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry - Ryan Gerard and Sudarshan Yellamaraju. Lamenting the loss of a potential Yellamaraju/Sweeney power couple.

"Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer - Jason Dufner and Austin Cook. Couple of MC merchants step out to the most famous MC song.

"Hotline Bling" by Drake - Haotong Li and Jordan Smith. This one is maybe a bit of a stretch, as it would take a rerecording by Jordan Smith to work, with new lyrics. Maybe he'd be game. The lyrics would be "I part-ner with Haotong Li/bet-ter than Jor-dan Spith"

With all the talk of re-vamping the schedule, it seemed inevitable that the PGA Tour was going to move away from starting the season in Hawaii. I guess we'll have to see what the new version looks like as a whole before passing judgment, but I'm really bummed I won't be able to watch Kapalua in January anymore.

I am very sad because my course is starting to transition all the bunkers to white sand. The members and ownership basically feel that your course isn't nice until it has white sand. And the best players at the course are all part of the fair police squad because they think it has 'better consistency' when in actuality they were embarrassed by hitting poor shots because the lie wasn't 'perfect'.

I'm inevitably going to be asked my thoughts. I hate white sand and I'm not good at lying. What are some good arguments against white sand that I can use without offending these people?

Thanks!

I'm interested in picking up a FEGC Shapland bag the next time they are restocked, but I've seen limited reviews online. Any thoughts/anecdotes? Looking to upgrade from a Linkslegend bag that the legs are wearing out on.

I thought it was an interesting discussion, but there was a piece missing for me. Specifically, when talking about "where the money goes" on expensive club renovations, they didn't really talk about the underlying problem -- which is that there isn't really a place in the market for "middle class golf clubs" anymore.

Clubs that aren't Top 100 courses need to become upscale, lifestyle country clubs that offer a lot of amenities (and some prestige), or they're gonna be in financial trouble. There doesn't seem to be much of a market for a decent golf club with few other amenities and low initiation/dues. Those clubs, at least where I live (in CA) are dying (even in the golf boom).

So hiring the big designer and doing the big project is, at least in part, an attempt to leapfrog up a tier or two in the club hierarchy more than it's about bunker drainage and fairway corridors, etc.

Just a thought while I was listening to the episode, which I really enjoyed.

Howdy friends,

We've been in the kitchen cooking this spring, and have a pretty significant project that we're about to deliver to FEGC members. While I love the forum and the community it helps us build, I also saw some pretty glaring weaknesses in it. With that, we've spent a lot of time and effort building an entirely new app for FEGC members. The app was built to be fully native on mobile, but it will also have a really great desktop companion for those of you who prefer larger screens (or who like to have a side screen going at work).

To that end, while I'm very confident in what we've built, I'd like some last mile validation and user testing from you all. Sometimes you get so close to something that you can't see the obvious flaws in it, and I'm sure that's the case here. Help me find any last remaining bugs, give me your thoughts on anything you find confusing or bulky, and last but not least, just give me your honest take. Nothing is set in stone, and everything can be updated and changed if we think it's the right thing to do.

If you're interested, drop a comment here and I'll follow up with instructions.

Cheers,

Beau

One of my favorite old fried egg series was the Bang for Your Buck discussions they would do for each state. Since we have a forum now, I think it'd be worth while to have it as a thread. I don't want to limit anything to being "it has to be cheap" I just think it's about value.

I'll start:

#1 for me is probably Machrihanish. I really was blown away by that course, and at £160 in the high season, it's downright affordable when compared to other Scottish classics. They even sell a weekly ticket that ends up making it cost about £90 per day, which seems like an absolute steal.

The Aon team wins this signature event.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/john.cusick/viz/PGA_Signature_Events/Summary

Iʻm having my bachelor party in Palm Springs, CA in a couple of weeks, where we will be playing 36 holes + 18 hole par 3 course. Thereʻs 12 of us - with a pretty large gap in player ability (1 "scratch", 4 single digit, 4 15ish, 3 guys who canʻt complete a round with their own ball)

Looking for game suggestions that are fun for the whole crew, but also competitive enough for the better players to compete / stay interested (no scrambles)

We will play a CTP but looking for round and weekend game suggestions. Thanks gang!

P.S. - See yʻall at Soule this weekend!!

Was watching some of the Western Intercollegiate this week and noticed that Pasatiempo chose to use a different grass type for the green surrounds (very noticeable on overhead shots). I’ve played the course years ago before the restoration and don’t recall that setup. Does anyone know the purpose of this and which grass type used?

Happy Friday FEGC Members!

The pro shop is moving to a new warehouse in the coming weeks, so we're having a one day sale with some big time deals to be had. Check out our Sale Collection which is filled with tons of new products marked down as much as 40% off. Plus, every purchase of a sale item gets a free bag of tees. Just add them to your cart and they'll be marked free when you checkout. No codes needed. Sale ends at midnight.

Shop the Warehouse Sale

***FEGCMEMBER Code cannot be added to Sale Collection purchases.***