The family had gone to bed last night, and I found myself with a quiet house. Having not seen much of Royal Melbourne ever, I was excited to turn on the television and watch a bit of the tournament.
what I was treated to was roughly an hour of guys putting. That’s it. Putts. A few bunker shots. Then miraculously there was a digital flyover of a hole after about 45 minutes, and someone hit an approach shot. And then right back to putting.
i’m curious if anyone else has watched the coverage and seen something better. I was disappointed to say the least.
The family had gone to bed last night, and I found myself with a quiet house. Having not seen much of Royal Melbourne ever, I was excited to turn on the television and watch a bit of the tournament.
what I was treated to was roughly an hour of guys putting. That’s it. Putts. A few bunker shots. Then miraculously there was a digital flyover of a hole after about 45 minutes, and someone hit an approach shot. And then right back to putting.
i’m curious if anyone else has watched the coverage and seen something better. I was disappointed to say the least.
40 y/o, married with kids, no interest in fighting!
I'll be in the Sarasota area over the holidays (week in between Christmas and New Years) on a family vacation and I'm looking to sneak out for a round or two. Any recommendations in the area? I'm looking at public courses, but I'm a member at a club in Chicago so any private courses that are accessible with the old pro phone call approach are also a possibility (have had mixed success with that in the past).
I'm looking for a fun and playable vacation round - I don't really care about conditioning or non-golf course amenities. University Park and the Ross course at Bobby Jones were the options that seemed to pop up most via google.
40 y/o, married with kids, no interest in fighting!
I'll be in the Sarasota area over the holidays (week in between Christmas and New Years) on a family vacation and I'm looking to sneak out for a round or two. Any recommendations in the area? I'm looking at public courses, but I'm a member at a club in Chicago so any private courses that are accessible with the old pro phone call approach are also a possibility (have had mixed success with that in the past).
I'm looking for a fun and playable vacation round - I don't really care about conditioning or non-golf course amenities. University Park and the Ross course at Bobby Jones were the options that seemed to pop up most via google.
We pushed out a few forum updates today and hopefully you've already noticed but if you haven't:
We added the comments feed that has historically lived in the Clubhouse to the homepage of the Forum. (note: we have not finished this update for mobile yet but should have it done in the next day or so at the most)
We added a new Sort By options for posts. If you'd like to sort posts by the ones with the most recent comments you can do so by opening the dropdown near the search bar in the forum home page and selecting the option for Recent Activity. This will sort order posts based on the timestamp of their most recent comment (sorted newest to oldest).
We're almost done with Post and Topic following. If you click on a specific post now you'll see a + FOLLOW button in the upper right hand corner of the page. Clicking this will subscribe you to email updates of comments made to that post. Topic following will follow shortly. Additionally, there was a small bug in this feature this morning that should be remedied but if you follow and don't get emails know that we'll squash the bug in short order.
Aside from that, I'll most likely make a change to the Clubhouse later today to make it more focused on members-only articles and course profiles and remove the thread of comments as they now live on the forum home page. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Cheers!
P.S. We're still working on many other forum enhancements (most notably being able to add images to comments) but as always I'm happy to hear any and all feedback.
We pushed out a few forum updates today and hopefully you've already noticed but if you haven't:
We added the comments feed that has historically lived in the Clubhouse to the homepage of the Forum. (note: we have not finished this update for mobile yet but should have it done in the next day or so at the most)
We added a new Sort By options for posts. If you'd like to sort posts by the ones with the most recent comments you can do so by opening the dropdown near the search bar in the forum home page and selecting the option for Recent Activity. This will sort order posts based on the timestamp of their most recent comment (sorted newest to oldest).
We're almost done with Post and Topic following. If you click on a specific post now you'll see a + FOLLOW button in the upper right hand corner of the page. Clicking this will subscribe you to email updates of comments made to that post. Topic following will follow shortly. Additionally, there was a small bug in this feature this morning that should be remedied but if you follow and don't get emails know that we'll squash the bug in short order.
Aside from that, I'll most likely make a change to the Clubhouse later today to make it more focused on members-only articles and course profiles and remove the thread of comments as they now live on the forum home page. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Cheers!
P.S. We're still working on many other forum enhancements (most notably being able to add images to comments) but as always I'm happy to hear any and all feedback.
Yesterday, as FEGC member Pearce Barringer noted in his own forum post, TGL announced that architect Gil Hanse had joined the screen-golf league's roster of hole designers. Accompanying the announcement was an awkward, faintly surreal video of a bemused Hanse making a WWE-like entrance into an empty SoFi Center. I'd love to hear the instructions the director of this piece of content gave him before hitting record.
TGL also unveiled one of Hanse's designs, a 590-yard par 5 called "Stone & Steeple." The hole features a few recognizable Hanse motifs: a threatening boundary wall, a lone bunker guarding the second-shot layup zone, and a rambling "Sahara" bunker, strewn with turf islands, cutting across the fairway. The neighboring graveyard even has precedent in Hanse's body of work: in his renovation of Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon, he moved the second green about 50 yards back so that it abutted a 19th-century cemetery.
The most striking aspect of Hanse's design is the double diagonal formed by the two sections of fairway on either side of the Sahara bunker. The basic idea, I gather, is that the farther players hit their drives without carrying the bunker, the more to the right they will end up, and the worse their angle into the green will be. On the other hand, if they want to make the long carry over the bunker on the left side and earn a shorter second shot from a better angle, they will need to bring the wall into play.
Classic strategic-school stuff, in other words. I think I'd enjoy playing this hole, if it were real. And you know what? It basically looks real. And that might be a problem.
So far, the reception of "Stone & Steeple" on social media has been chilly. There seems to be an emerging consensus among TGL viewers that the virtual-hole designs, unconstrained as they are by physical and economic realities, should be crazier, more video game-like, more purely inventive. As my colleague Joseph LaMagna put it on X, "TGL's biggest whiff is designing realistic holes. It makes zero sense to play holes like [Hanse's] in the one arena that's free from practical constraints."
That's probably right. The realism of Hanse's hole registers as a bit unimaginative.
But I have a hard time getting worked up about it because — confession time — I don't really care about TGL. I could barely make it through a single match in the first season. And this is not to say that the product is bad or that the people who enjoy it are rubes. It's just not for me. A huge part of what I love about golf is the relationship between the player, the course, and nature. When you strip away nature — the outdoors, the elements, the land — I lose most of my interest.
But what I'd like to hear Hanse address at some point is why he was interested in TGL. In a press release from the league, he said, "Starting with a relatively blank slate for TGL has been liberating. Designing holes for TGL has given us an opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and step into other aspects of golf course design in the virtual world."
As an architect who typically likes to derive inspiration from physical terrain, why was he compelled by the prospect of a "blank slate"? And in what sense did he stretch beyond his "comfort zone" here?
These are not passive-aggressive questions. I'd genuinely like to hear his answers.
Yesterday, as FEGC member Pearce Barringer noted in his own forum post, TGL announced that architect Gil Hanse had joined the screen-golf league's roster of hole designers. Accompanying the announcement was an awkward, faintly surreal video of a bemused Hanse making a WWE-like entrance into an empty SoFi Center. I'd love to hear the instructions the director of this piece of content gave him before hitting record.
TGL also unveiled one of Hanse's designs, a 590-yard par 5 called "Stone & Steeple." The hole features a few recognizable Hanse motifs: a threatening boundary wall, a lone bunker guarding the second-shot layup zone, and a rambling "Sahara" bunker, strewn with turf islands, cutting across the fairway. The neighboring graveyard even has precedent in Hanse's body of work: in his renovation of Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon, he moved the second green about 50 yards back so that it abutted a 19th-century cemetery.
The most striking aspect of Hanse's design is the double diagonal formed by the two sections of fairway on either side of the Sahara bunker. The basic idea, I gather, is that the farther players hit their drives without carrying the bunker, the more to the right they will end up, and the worse their angle into the green will be. On the other hand, if they want to make the long carry over the bunker on the left side and earn a shorter second shot from a better angle, they will need to bring the wall into play.
Classic strategic-school stuff, in other words. I think I'd enjoy playing this hole, if it were real. And you know what? It basically looks real. And that might be a problem.
So far, the reception of "Stone & Steeple" on social media has been chilly. There seems to be an emerging consensus among TGL viewers that the virtual-hole designs, unconstrained as they are by physical and economic realities, should be crazier, more video game-like, more purely inventive. As my colleague Joseph LaMagna put it on X, "TGL's biggest whiff is designing realistic holes. It makes zero sense to play holes like [Hanse's] in the one arena that's free from practical constraints."
That's probably right. The realism of Hanse's hole registers as a bit unimaginative.
But I have a hard time getting worked up about it because — confession time — I don't really care about TGL. I could barely make it through a single match in the first season. And this is not to say that the product is bad or that the people who enjoy it are rubes. It's just not for me. A huge part of what I love about golf is the relationship between the player, the course, and nature. When you strip away nature — the outdoors, the elements, the land — I lose most of my interest.
But what I'd like to hear Hanse address at some point is why he was interested in TGL. In a press release from the league, he said, "Starting with a relatively blank slate for TGL has been liberating. Designing holes for TGL has given us an opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and step into other aspects of golf course design in the virtual world."
As an architect who typically likes to derive inspiration from physical terrain, why was he compelled by the prospect of a "blank slate"? And in what sense did he stretch beyond his "comfort zone" here?
These are not passive-aggressive questions. I'd genuinely like to hear his answers.
Hey everyone. I thought it would be good to get this going for the NYC area. Always down to get out for a round and occasionally hit the sim in the winter. 31 married w/ no kids
Hey everyone. I thought it would be good to get this going for the NYC area. Always down to get out for a round and occasionally hit the sim in the winter. 31 married w/ no kids
Interested to see what Gil brings to the screen golf. I've only played two of Gil's courses, Sewanee and Mossy Oak, but like everyone, I've seen my fair share on TV and social media. Gil usually brings restraint and simplicity to his courses, with an emphasis on green complexes and their surroundings. Not exactly something you can implement in TGL.
Side note, is this a sign of things to come for a working partnership with the PGA Tour? I'd love to see Gil get his hands on a course or two. I know TGL and the Tour are separate, but in partnership with one another. One can dream.
Interested to see what Gil brings to the screen golf. I've only played two of Gil's courses, Sewanee and Mossy Oak, but like everyone, I've seen my fair share on TV and social media. Gil usually brings restraint and simplicity to his courses, with an emphasis on green complexes and their surroundings. Not exactly something you can implement in TGL.
Side note, is this a sign of things to come for a working partnership with the PGA Tour? I'd love to see Gil get his hands on a course or two. I know TGL and the Tour are separate, but in partnership with one another. One can dream.
I love sand based turf as much as everyone and understand the agronomy benefits. Who doesn't love blowouts and open/isolated spaces. That being said I kind of wish there would be a few new parkland style courses. Ones not suffocated by trees and housing, not restorations doing a bunch of removal, and not perimeter tree lined places where the trees don't really come into play. Would be interesting to see one of todays top teams have to route the land and trees without bulldozing the lot.
Maybe there are such places that have been built and I'm just not aware of them. (I know Sedge was kind of done this way but is still sand with no trees in play)
I love sand based turf as much as everyone and understand the agronomy benefits. Who doesn't love blowouts and open/isolated spaces. That being said I kind of wish there would be a few new parkland style courses. Ones not suffocated by trees and housing, not restorations doing a bunch of removal, and not perimeter tree lined places where the trees don't really come into play. Would be interesting to see one of todays top teams have to route the land and trees without bulldozing the lot.
Maybe there are such places that have been built and I'm just not aware of them. (I know Sedge was kind of done this way but is still sand with no trees in play)
A tradition here at Fried Egg Golf, we posted this year's Content Cornucopia this week, a collection of our favorite pieces of content from others in the industry. Of course, we can only fit so much in there. What else would you all add to the list?
A tradition here at Fried Egg Golf, we posted this year's Content Cornucopia this week, a collection of our favorite pieces of content from others in the industry. Of course, we can only fit so much in there. What else would you all add to the list?
Have the thought of going to a resort outside of London with my family. Would require a high end resort for my family. I dream of playing a round of golf in the morning while my family lounges around the resort and then going to a show in the west end in the evening. Is there such a place that is close enough to the city?
Have the thought of going to a resort outside of London with my family. Would require a high end resort for my family. I dream of playing a round of golf in the morning while my family lounges around the resort and then going to a show in the west end in the evening. Is there such a place that is close enough to the city?
Planning a trip to Cabot Citrus Farms in March. Anyone have a suggestion for a course near the PIE airport where we can play after a 12:30 arrival and get the round in before dark?
Planning a trip to Cabot Citrus Farms in March. Anyone have a suggestion for a course near the PIE airport where we can play after a 12:30 arrival and get the round in before dark?
I'm jazzed that I'm getting to play Landmand in Homer, NE in July. Have any of you folks played this season? What are your impressions?
I found the Egg article from 2023 and I THINK I recall it coming up on the pod, but I would love to hear anyone's thoughts...especially after it's had a season to grow in a bit.
I'm jazzed that I'm getting to play Landmand in Homer, NE in July. Have any of you folks played this season? What are your impressions?
I found the Egg article from 2023 and I THINK I recall it coming up on the pod, but I would love to hear anyone's thoughts...especially after it's had a season to grow in a bit.
I wanted to offer a sincere thanks for a wonderful year, even though it's not quite over yet. I started at Fried Egg Golf last October and, while very excited, was a little unsure what I was stepping into. What I've found has blown me away, and I wanted to share a little gratitude for that.
Everyone I work with is sincere, passionate, and curious—I cannot tell you how much that matters on a daily basis. And on the flip side, everyone I've met who is a member of FEGC has been a delight. It's so fun to have a job where people are excited about what you're doing because it truly brings them happiness. To that end, I wanted to recap a fun year and preview what could be in the future.
This year we built and launched some really fun features:
A new website (that came along with a very fun process of membership and content migration—thanks to all who patiently stuck with us through a few bumps in the road)
Major hubs to elevate our coverage of the year's most exciting events
A member clubhouse to house member articles and a feed of comments
A community forum that has allowed members to chat more freely amongst themselves
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but when I list them off, I'm pretty happy with the year we've had. Andy and I talk about our product a lot, and one thing we continually focus on is the process. Obviously the output matters, but we remain steadfast in our commitment to continually improve and deliver new and exciting features.
Looking ahead, I'm so excited for what 2026 will bring. It feels like the possibilities are almost endless. From my point of view, I continue to focus on how we can make your days just a little bit brighter by injecting some fun and insightful commentary into your lives (thankfully we have a world-class team of writers, podcasters, video producers, and social media savants to do the real work). To that end, we sincerely focus on bringing a true and earnest point of view and experience that we hope is unique and fresh. In addition to this, I've been so inspired by the community and fun I've witnessed at our events. Will does a tremendous job planning and hosting, and one thing I would like to do is capture a bit more of that magic in our membership's digital community. Obviously we have our forum, but I hope to make some additional strides in this area. Areas that I hope we can improve are our members ability to discover fun and interesting new places to play based on other members’ recommendations as well as continuing to help our members meet, connect, and play together.
If you ever have feedback, please share it with me. I sincerely want to know what we can do to make your golf more enjoyable.
To wrap this up, I want to reiterate how grateful I am for all of you. You truly allow us (and me) to do something we love. Cheers to a happy and safe holiday season!
I wanted to offer a sincere thanks for a wonderful year, even though it's not quite over yet. I started at Fried Egg Golf last October and, while very excited, was a little unsure what I was stepping into. What I've found has blown me away, and I wanted to share a little gratitude for that.
Everyone I work with is sincere, passionate, and curious—I cannot tell you how much that matters on a daily basis. And on the flip side, everyone I've met who is a member of FEGC has been a delight. It's so fun to have a job where people are excited about what you're doing because it truly brings them happiness. To that end, I wanted to recap a fun year and preview what could be in the future.
This year we built and launched some really fun features:
A new website (that came along with a very fun process of membership and content migration—thanks to all who patiently stuck with us through a few bumps in the road)
Major hubs to elevate our coverage of the year's most exciting events
A member clubhouse to house member articles and a feed of comments
A community forum that has allowed members to chat more freely amongst themselves
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but when I list them off, I'm pretty happy with the year we've had. Andy and I talk about our product a lot, and one thing we continually focus on is the process. Obviously the output matters, but we remain steadfast in our commitment to continually improve and deliver new and exciting features.
Looking ahead, I'm so excited for what 2026 will bring. It feels like the possibilities are almost endless. From my point of view, I continue to focus on how we can make your days just a little bit brighter by injecting some fun and insightful commentary into your lives (thankfully we have a world-class team of writers, podcasters, video producers, and social media savants to do the real work). To that end, we sincerely focus on bringing a true and earnest point of view and experience that we hope is unique and fresh. In addition to this, I've been so inspired by the community and fun I've witnessed at our events. Will does a tremendous job planning and hosting, and one thing I would like to do is capture a bit more of that magic in our membership's digital community. Obviously we have our forum, but I hope to make some additional strides in this area. Areas that I hope we can improve are our members ability to discover fun and interesting new places to play based on other members’ recommendations as well as continuing to help our members meet, connect, and play together.
If you ever have feedback, please share it with me. I sincerely want to know what we can do to make your golf more enjoyable.
To wrap this up, I want to reiterate how grateful I am for all of you. You truly allow us (and me) to do something we love. Cheers to a happy and safe holiday season!
Howdy folks. One of the goals of our community is to get members together on golf courses, enjoying each other's company and exploring new courses or revisiting tried-and-true favorites. To that end, I've created a new forum topic dedicated to housing playing opportunities: Filling Foursomes. We will greatly improve the process of posting playing opportunities and finding partners in our product over the long haul, but for now I hope this minimal change can help bring a little structure to the forum if you're trying to find a game.
As for posting in Filling Foursomes, please just be clear about when and where the tee time is and if there are any booking considerations (e.g., cancellations within 24 hours may incur a fee from the course). Additionally, I believe that everyone in our community always has the best intentions, but I'll state the obvious: this is not a place to resell or mark up tee times for a profit.
Howdy folks. One of the goals of our community is to get members together on golf courses, enjoying each other's company and exploring new courses or revisiting tried-and-true favorites. To that end, I've created a new forum topic dedicated to housing playing opportunities: Filling Foursomes. We will greatly improve the process of posting playing opportunities and finding partners in our product over the long haul, but for now I hope this minimal change can help bring a little structure to the forum if you're trying to find a game.
As for posting in Filling Foursomes, please just be clear about when and where the tee time is and if there are any booking considerations (e.g., cancellations within 24 hours may incur a fee from the course). Additionally, I believe that everyone in our community always has the best intentions, but I'll state the obvious: this is not a place to resell or mark up tee times for a profit.
Candyroot Lodge, a new public golf facility in the sand hills outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, marked the end of its first week of construction with an Instagram post. Mike Koprowski, who collaborated with Kyle Franz at Broomsedge Golf Club and joined Andy Johnson on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast last year, is designing Candyroot's first course.
Initially, Koprowski was engaged by Candyroot's owners to build a single course, tentatively named Downbonnie. Since announcing that venture in May, however, the owners have brought on additional investors and developed bigger ambitions. Koprowski now tells me that Candyroot will feature multiple regulation layouts (three or four), plus a short course. An architect has not yet been selected for the second course, but interviews are ongoing.
If Candyroot Lodge follows through on its plans, it would be one of the largest and most exciting public-golf projects of the 2020s undertaken by developers not named Keiser.
Candyroot Lodge, a new public golf facility in the sand hills outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, marked the end of its first week of construction with an Instagram post. Mike Koprowski, who collaborated with Kyle Franz at Broomsedge Golf Club and joined Andy Johnson on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast last year, is designing Candyroot's first course.
Initially, Koprowski was engaged by Candyroot's owners to build a single course, tentatively named Downbonnie. Since announcing that venture in May, however, the owners have brought on additional investors and developed bigger ambitions. Koprowski now tells me that Candyroot will feature multiple regulation layouts (three or four), plus a short course. An architect has not yet been selected for the second course, but interviews are ongoing.
If Candyroot Lodge follows through on its plans, it would be one of the largest and most exciting public-golf projects of the 2020s undertaken by developers not named Keiser.
Chocolate Drop New David Mclay Kidd Course Coming To Pasco Washington
Jan 22
[Discussing college options with my daughter]
Me: You should really consider Whitman
Daughter: Why?
Me: The golf
Daughter: I don't play golf.
Me: NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU
Kemper does a great job operating the Portland munis, but we could definitely use help, especially on the fundraising and nonprofit organizing side. Our properties have a LOT of deferred maintenance to catch up on.
NLT executive director Damian Cosby used to run the Cleveland Metroparks golf division, so it would make sense from that perspective. Sleepy Hollow and Manakiki are among the highest-potential munis in the country. I just don't know if Metroparks is looking for a partner. They have a pretty robust homegrown operation.
So, I've sketched out the hole to start thinking about a different design without moving too much stuff around. I have no idea what the contours are so I'm assuming it's just flat. My general thoughts are as follows:
1. It's quite clear that the holes have functionally been designed to keep players away from the roadways. This severely limits what is available to do.
2. The driving distances to interacting with the fairway hazards are nearly identical from the back tees. This is fine, but not super interesting and will advantage players that deviate from this driving distance.
Par 5 thoughts:
There is no functional reason to interact with the fairway bunker. Because the hole is not reachable in two, the play is clearly to lay up short or bail out long-right, and both plays end up with a nearly identical approach. If we want to reward interacting with the bunker, we first need to make the bailout right much more risky. The obvious way to do this is to add bunkering in the landing zone -- which may be fine if we're trying to actively discourage this -- but to me, the more interesting way to approach that is by adding features to the second landing zone.
Par 4 thoughts:
The par four is fine. The strategic architecture is perfectly serviceable. I wouldn't say I love it, but it's there. Play to the fairway bunker to have a better angle at the green.
I'll think about a redesign, but for now my simple (unserious) solution, which will improve almost every golf hole, is to add a stone wall as crossing hazard (also rough surrounding bunkers is for weenies). Here is my wall-based solution:
https://i.imgur.com/oZe1BLN.png
I think the two cities closest to my heart would be great partners with the NLT: Cleveland, OH and Portland, OR. Both cities have good existing organizations operating their golf courses but could take them to the next level with the expertise of NLT. And the courses that both cities operate have a lot of history and high ceilings.
Looked at this on Google Maps. The best solution is to shift the par 4 into the second of the par 3 corridors and move that second par 3 into the space between the two holes.
If you want something more concrete and sustainable in the course of an irrigation project.
Feel free to email me: eclecticgolfdesign@gmail.com
I have done similar work at Johnson City Country Club and Pinnacle Peak in Arizona.
Need ground level perspective and how much other area. We have on the rest of the course. Fixing 2 holes is a way to have a disjointed composition. So the solution to these 2 holes might be to reroute the rest of the course better to reduce the compression of this space.
I would love to see the Fried Egg team tackle this question with some longer form content. Ideal golf holes since 1995, or ideal golf holes from the most prolific architects of this era.
Fun topic. Andy wrote about the 7th at Trinity Forest a while back. Something C&C have used a few times: https://www.thefriedegg.com/articles/coore-crenshaw-template-hole
