Hey all,
I'm organizing a trip to Southern Pines this spring and hoping to get some thoughts on staying on property at Pine Needles. I've stayed at Mid-Pines before and that was a rustic experience. Wondering what I can expect across the street.
Hey all,
I'm organizing a trip to Southern Pines this spring and hoping to get some thoughts on staying on property at Pine Needles. I've stayed at Mid-Pines before and that was a rustic experience. Wondering what I can expect across the street.
While I have greatly enjoyed your All Grass is Local series, TFE's latest showing how Bandon has had to move into poa putting surfaces to keep up with golfer expectations was super interesting. Then in the newsletter today, you discuss the decline of student attendance in the turf program. I can't help but think how these two things are connected.
Golfer expectations in the private and public sector have never been higher. I am a public golfer. I primarly play at a very busy and popular spot that 95% of people find great value in. But 5% are disappointed, angry, and very loud that the conditions are not same as the private clubs in the area, or the club they spend 2X-3X more at. I also play 50% of my golf at private clubs. And whether they are top 100 or not, I would have to talk to a lot of members before I find one who doesn't start a conversation with "this is awful" or "they are way better down at club ABC", not realizing if they want something, they just need to pay for it as a membership. They rather just blame the superintendent and managmet. There 5% are primarly what the GM and Superintendent hear from. I think this is a micorcosm of most clubs. Loud, vocal minorities who drive change. Whehter that be to the course, or in the management team.
In the past two years, I have watched two of my closest friends be releived of their duties due to "poor course conditions" and as someone who knows turf, turf was certainly not the issue. I belive the issues at Bandon, while golfer driven become a non-issue (firings of turf staff) due to the strong ownership structure and culture aroud Dream Golf. I would think in most cases, these turf conditions would have resulted in a superitedent losing their jobs......which is wrong.
As of this moment, our regional assosciations job board has the following listed:
Assistant Superintendents positions - 14
Superintendent - 4
These are big numbers for us, and many of the jobs have been listed for months. We have 1 school offering turf in our region and they are producing roughly 20 students from their 2 year program and 30 from their 6 week short course program a year. But when you see the person who hired you get fired, you find somehting else to do as you do not see Golf Course Maintenance as a career.
I thought your Bandon video and todays newsletter encapsulates our industry right now. But not everone has the Keiser family to back you. I likely have not fleshed this out well, but I think my point is in here.
While I have greatly enjoyed your All Grass is Local series, TFE's latest showing how Bandon has had to move into poa putting surfaces to keep up with golfer expectations was super interesting. Then in the newsletter today, you discuss the decline of student attendance in the turf program. I can't help but think how these two things are connected.
Golfer expectations in the private and public sector have never been higher. I am a public golfer. I primarly play at a very busy and popular spot that 95% of people find great value in. But 5% are disappointed, angry, and very loud that the conditions are not same as the private clubs in the area, or the club they spend 2X-3X more at. I also play 50% of my golf at private clubs. And whether they are top 100 or not, I would have to talk to a lot of members before I find one who doesn't start a conversation with "this is awful" or "they are way better down at club ABC", not realizing if they want something, they just need to pay for it as a membership. They rather just blame the superintendent and managmet. There 5% are primarly what the GM and Superintendent hear from. I think this is a micorcosm of most clubs. Loud, vocal minorities who drive change. Whehter that be to the course, or in the management team.
In the past two years, I have watched two of my closest friends be releived of their duties due to "poor course conditions" and as someone who knows turf, turf was certainly not the issue. I belive the issues at Bandon, while golfer driven become a non-issue (firings of turf staff) due to the strong ownership structure and culture aroud Dream Golf. I would think in most cases, these turf conditions would have resulted in a superitedent losing their jobs......which is wrong.
As of this moment, our regional assosciations job board has the following listed:
Assistant Superintendents positions - 14
Superintendent - 4
These are big numbers for us, and many of the jobs have been listed for months. We have 1 school offering turf in our region and they are producing roughly 20 students from their 2 year program and 30 from their 6 week short course program a year. But when you see the person who hired you get fired, you find somehting else to do as you do not see Golf Course Maintenance as a career.
I thought your Bandon video and todays newsletter encapsulates our industry right now. But not everone has the Keiser family to back you. I likely have not fleshed this out well, but I think my point is in here.
Rory on the Year in Review????? No…. No. No way.
I will be traveling to Naples area in February and curious to get opinions on courses in that area. It seems the public scene is pricey and mediocre. I watched a bit of the Grant Thornton last week to see some of Tiburon, which looked good, just expensive.
Thanks for any input!
I will be traveling to Naples area in February and curious to get opinions on courses in that area. It seems the public scene is pricey and mediocre. I watched a bit of the Grant Thornton last week to see some of Tiburon, which looked good, just expensive.
Thanks for any input!
Talk about a Friday news dump.
At 8:21 p.m. on December 12, the Wall Street Journal published a major report about U.S. President Donald Trump's apparent efforts to wrest control of East Potomac Golf Links from the National Links Trust.
In 2020, the NLT signed a 50-year lease to operate and improve the three municipal golf facilities in Washington, D.C. The nonprofit group partnered with architect Tom Doak to explore the possibility of restoring certain elements of Walter Travis's original design at East Potomac. Also, as I noted last month, the NLT recently started the first phase of its ambitious, Gil Hanse-led renovation of Rock Creek Park Golf Course.
A few months ago, however, rumors began circulating that higher-ups at the Department of the Interior — including secretary Doug Burgum and solicitor general William Doffermyre — were encouraging President Trump to take a more active role in the management of the courses. Official news trickled out slowly. First, the Independent revealed that the President was "weighing" a potential "refurbishment and rebranding" of East Potomac Golf Links. Then, in early November, the Washington Post reported that White House was transporting excess dirt from the East Wing renovation project to East Potomac.
Now, the Wall Street Journal is telling the full story. Here’s what you need to know:
I'm not sure where to start with all of this. Feel free to discuss below.
Note: there were technical issues with the first version of this post, which we put up on Friday night. We decided to repost here and will attempt to regenerate the comments.
Talk about a Friday news dump.
At 8:21 p.m. on December 12, the Wall Street Journal published a major report about U.S. President Donald Trump's apparent efforts to wrest control of East Potomac Golf Links from the National Links Trust.
In 2020, the NLT signed a 50-year lease to operate and improve the three municipal golf facilities in Washington, D.C. The nonprofit group partnered with architect Tom Doak to explore the possibility of restoring certain elements of Walter Travis's original design at East Potomac. Also, as I noted last month, the NLT recently started the first phase of its ambitious, Gil Hanse-led renovation of Rock Creek Park Golf Course.
A few months ago, however, rumors began circulating that higher-ups at the Department of the Interior — including secretary Doug Burgum and solicitor general William Doffermyre — were encouraging President Trump to take a more active role in the management of the courses. Official news trickled out slowly. First, the Independent revealed that the President was "weighing" a potential "refurbishment and rebranding" of East Potomac Golf Links. Then, in early November, the Washington Post reported that White House was transporting excess dirt from the East Wing renovation project to East Potomac.
Now, the Wall Street Journal is telling the full story. Here’s what you need to know:
I'm not sure where to start with all of this. Feel free to discuss below.
Note: there were technical issues with the first version of this post, which we put up on Friday night. We decided to repost here and will attempt to regenerate the comments.
Just an alert that PGA Tour Q School is on. If it ended at this moment, there would be a 6-for-1 playoff. Could be an interesting watch. You also have Tosti and Spencer Levin in the mix.
Just an alert that PGA Tour Q School is on. If it ended at this moment, there would be a 6-for-1 playoff. Could be an interesting watch. You also have Tosti and Spencer Levin in the mix.
I am heading off to Air Force officer training school in the next month to become a Chaplain (where my lack of interest in fighting will now be legally binding as a uniformed non-combatant under the Geneva conventions) and as a member of the hottest club in town it's got me wondering about all these golf courses on military bases - are there any great US military base golf courses I should be on the lookout to play now that I have access? Any scruffy flight line courses with good bones I can support? What can the FEGC community tell me about what I've gotten myself into (golf-wise of course)?
I am heading off to Air Force officer training school in the next month to become a Chaplain (where my lack of interest in fighting will now be legally binding as a uniformed non-combatant under the Geneva conventions) and as a member of the hottest club in town it's got me wondering about all these golf courses on military bases - are there any great US military base golf courses I should be on the lookout to play now that I have access? Any scruffy flight line courses with good bones I can support? What can the FEGC community tell me about what I've gotten myself into (golf-wise of course)?
Happy Friday everyone! I hope you're all gearing up for a nice holiday season and get to spend a little time with the ones you love.
If, on the other hand, you want to ignore the ones you love and find sanctuary with fellow golf sickos at the hottest club in town, boy do I have some good news for you! We just added a couple of small enhancements to the forum to ensure you can stay on top of the latest and greatest activity in the club.
If, for instance, you're an architecture junkie and want to be notified every time someone creates a new post in the Architecture topic, you can follow topics in our forum and we'll shoot you an email every time a new post is created. To do so, go to the topic page (ex: Architecture) and click Follow (as seen in the screenshot below).
Once you've done this, the button will update to Unfollow (as seen in the screenshot below). This will allow you to come back at a future date and unsubscribe from those notifications if you'd no longer like to receive email updates.
The same pattern is available for Post following if you want to be notified each time someone comments on a post you care about.
Okay, back to avoiding conversation with those special people in your life. Let's say you're at a holiday party, a spouse's work party for example, and you're really curious if there have been any new comments in the FEGC forum—boy do I have even more good news for you. Thanks to the coding elves in our north pole workshop, comments are now easily accessible on the mobile version of our site. When you load the Forum home page, you should see a toggle that will allow you to go back and forth between posts and comments. It looks like this (screenshot below).
Alright, I think that's all I've got for today. Maybe if I'm feeling cheeky, I'll drop a very heartfelt post in here before the holidays that moves you deeply and simultaneously gets you to spend more of your hard earned money with us! ;) Just kidding! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and close to your year.
Cheers!
Happy Friday everyone! I hope you're all gearing up for a nice holiday season and get to spend a little time with the ones you love.
If, on the other hand, you want to ignore the ones you love and find sanctuary with fellow golf sickos at the hottest club in town, boy do I have some good news for you! We just added a couple of small enhancements to the forum to ensure you can stay on top of the latest and greatest activity in the club.
If, for instance, you're an architecture junkie and want to be notified every time someone creates a new post in the Architecture topic, you can follow topics in our forum and we'll shoot you an email every time a new post is created. To do so, go to the topic page (ex: Architecture) and click Follow (as seen in the screenshot below).
Once you've done this, the button will update to Unfollow (as seen in the screenshot below). This will allow you to come back at a future date and unsubscribe from those notifications if you'd no longer like to receive email updates.
The same pattern is available for Post following if you want to be notified each time someone comments on a post you care about.
Okay, back to avoiding conversation with those special people in your life. Let's say you're at a holiday party, a spouse's work party for example, and you're really curious if there have been any new comments in the FEGC forum—boy do I have even more good news for you. Thanks to the coding elves in our north pole workshop, comments are now easily accessible on the mobile version of our site. When you load the Forum home page, you should see a toggle that will allow you to go back and forth between posts and comments. It looks like this (screenshot below).
Alright, I think that's all I've got for today. Maybe if I'm feeling cheeky, I'll drop a very heartfelt post in here before the holidays that moves you deeply and simultaneously gets you to spend more of your hard earned money with us! ;) Just kidding! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and close to your year.
Cheers!
Hello All,
I am pleased to let everyone know that we are going to be recording a big batch of Yolk with Doak episodes with Tom next week.
We will be doing a listener Q&A portion of the recordings so please fire away!
Hello All,
I am pleased to let everyone know that we are going to be recording a big batch of Yolk with Doak episodes with Tom next week.
We will be doing a listener Q&A portion of the recordings so please fire away!
While I am certain the Egg has better things to spend resources on, I would like the team to consider investing in attorney fees for a cease and desist - I believe TGL has begun to poach ideas from the Fried Egg community, and where will it stop unless the Egg sends a message?!
Last year, a number of us designed wild video game golf holes as part of a TGL themed contest. As part of that, I submitted a crazed version of the Golden Gate Bridge, complete with an arch that forced players to hit a punch shot underneath it.
Two days ago, TGL debut one of their new holes, and a key design feature looks awfully familiar (attached). I do not believe this is imitation is a form of flattery - this is outright thievery, bordering on audaciously putting someone else’s right protected photos behind your own paywall!
While, I assume the egg does not want to begin their second 10 years litigating with SoFi, Tiger and Rolapp, on behalf of the architecturally creative members of the Friday community, please at least consider protecting the intellectual property that we contribute, which of course has an inestimable worth, especially when the design bears resemblance to Michael Block
While I am certain the Egg has better things to spend resources on, I would like the team to consider investing in attorney fees for a cease and desist - I believe TGL has begun to poach ideas from the Fried Egg community, and where will it stop unless the Egg sends a message?!
Last year, a number of us designed wild video game golf holes as part of a TGL themed contest. As part of that, I submitted a crazed version of the Golden Gate Bridge, complete with an arch that forced players to hit a punch shot underneath it.
Two days ago, TGL debut one of their new holes, and a key design feature looks awfully familiar (attached). I do not believe this is imitation is a form of flattery - this is outright thievery, bordering on audaciously putting someone else’s right protected photos behind your own paywall!
While, I assume the egg does not want to begin their second 10 years litigating with SoFi, Tiger and Rolapp, on behalf of the architecturally creative members of the Friday community, please at least consider protecting the intellectual property that we contribute, which of course has an inestimable worth, especially when the design bears resemblance to Michael Block
The recent SGS Year in Review episode got me thinking about collections. First of all, I would be very interested in PJ's real answer to KVV's question - what is his favorite sports card currently in his collection?
I seem to collect collections. In golf, I collect pencils, ball markers, tees, Scotty Camerons, and headcovers. Outside of golf, I collect books, U.S. quarters, and magnets.
I have no idea how I ended up where I am, it's kind of ridiculous. However, as someone who can appreciate a good collection, I would love to hear from PJ on others about what they collect and value.
The recent SGS Year in Review episode got me thinking about collections. First of all, I would be very interested in PJ's real answer to KVV's question - what is his favorite sports card currently in his collection?
I seem to collect collections. In golf, I collect pencils, ball markers, tees, Scotty Camerons, and headcovers. Outside of golf, I collect books, U.S. quarters, and magnets.
I have no idea how I ended up where I am, it's kind of ridiculous. However, as someone who can appreciate a good collection, I would love to hear from PJ on others about what they collect and value.
Have a card that grants me the ability to play rounds at most private clubs in Oregon and SW Washington. Can have others join for the same price as the guest fee (course dependent). Would be happy to use it to help anyone interested in seeing a specific club.
Have a card that grants me the ability to play rounds at most private clubs in Oregon and SW Washington. Can have others join for the same price as the guest fee (course dependent). Would be happy to use it to help anyone interested in seeing a specific club.
I'm heading to Pinehurst for a 16 person b-day/bachelor party in March and want to propose some games to keep things light and fun. Most of the golfers aren't serious (ie - no GHINs) but there are a few ultra serious tip-out, stroke play sickos in the group. Not sure if I can convince them to not hit every shot over 4-6 rounds, but would appreciate some ideas.
Shamble, Scramble, 6-6-6, i'm aware of.
Thanks!
I'm heading to Pinehurst for a 16 person b-day/bachelor party in March and want to propose some games to keep things light and fun. Most of the golfers aren't serious (ie - no GHINs) but there are a few ultra serious tip-out, stroke play sickos in the group. Not sure if I can convince them to not hit every shot over 4-6 rounds, but would appreciate some ideas.
Shamble, Scramble, 6-6-6, i'm aware of.
Thanks!
Decided to book a time for this Sunday at Hansen Dam. I have 3 spots open let’s grab a game and maybe a dinner after.
Decided to book a time for this Sunday at Hansen Dam. I have 3 spots open let’s grab a game and maybe a dinner after.
Ladies and germs,
It's time for the final Virtual Hangout of the year! This month, I've got what we refer to as the "Architecture Team" on tap to review the courses they saw in 2025 and the holes that made an impact on them this year. Andy, Garrett, Cameron, and Matt will hop in studio on Monday, December 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET and their discussion will be posted in FEGC afterwards.
In addition to their talk, we want to answer a few questions from you all. Please feel free to drop a question in here and we'll have them answer a few during the hangout.
Details
Date: Monday, December 15
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Ladies and germs,
It's time for the final Virtual Hangout of the year! This month, I've got what we refer to as the "Architecture Team" on tap to review the courses they saw in 2025 and the holes that made an impact on them this year. Andy, Garrett, Cameron, and Matt will hop in studio on Monday, December 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET and their discussion will be posted in FEGC afterwards.
In addition to their talk, we want to answer a few questions from you all. Please feel free to drop a question in here and we'll have them answer a few during the hangout.
Details
Date: Monday, December 15
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
