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Sponsors get their first win of 2026

*based on Fedex points

My cousin and I are attending the FEGC Prairie Dunes event this summer and couldn't be more excited. We're starting to consider travel plans and will probably fly into either Wichita or Kansas City the day before and wondering if anyone has any recs for interesting golf in either of those areas or en route to Hutchinson.

I was considering a round at Swope Memorial in KC the day before the event, but the most recent update I see suggests they are targeting a July reopening after last year's renovation work. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Best

I received news that Michael Kaiser will be helping fund the renovation of Odana Hills.

1. does anyone have any information on how extensive the renovation of the course will be?
2. this would put Madison now at 2 public courses redesigned by Kaiser… could quickly become one of the best cities to play 18 holes of golf under $50

This might be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask because I don't know answer.

Re Brian Rolapp's scarcity plan, why does he believe that is the path to previously unrealized financial benefits and a higher profile for the Tour?

The Tour may save operational money by eliminating tournaments but it seems to me its TV contracts are based on the abundance Rolapp wants to eliminate. The Cognizant might not attract a great field, but it did attract 2.5 million viewers for NBC. That's a number networks will pay real money for, especially in this day and age.

I'm skeptical that only playing 27 tournaments (give or take a few) is suddenly going to lead to dramatically higher TV audiences and rights fees for the tour.

Getting ahead of this before next week. I have lived here 17 years and do not remember drought conditions this bad. Over/under 2.5 rounds with preferred lies despite historic drought.

Yesterday, Cameron and I went to check out the completed renovation work at Maggie Hathaway in Los Angeles. Neither of us had played the course before the project but we were both extremely impressed with what we saw. Tommy Naccarato, a longtime collaborator of Gil Hanse (who's firm waived their design fee) was onsite for the entire project and his passion for the work is evident in ground (he's calling it little LACC South). It's definitely one of the best sets of greens anyone can play for $9. The grand opening is March 27th and Garrett Morrison will have more on this project in next week's Design Notebook!

The venerable Zach Anderson and I are meeting up at Pine Needles this coming Wednesday to play the course for the first time for both of us. We have room for 1 more and would love to get a fellow egghead out with the group if anyone is interested! Feel free to shoot a text to 717-215-0976 if interested!

Ben

Whatʻs up guys!

My fiancee is really into needlepoint, and makes me custom needlepoint belts (which always turn out amazing, I feel so grateful!). However, she sends them out to get "finalized" (leather / belt attached) and we have had issues with the quality of the leather, ie. the leather dye often bleeds when sweating / during rain.

Does anyone have recommendations / experience on where we can send our next belt to a finishing service with high quality leather? Can you send a custom canvas to Smathers or another brand?

Thanks guys!

From today's SGS, via Michael Wolf aka BamaBearcat:

Masters Fun Fact: Augusta National almost had a 15 story tall radio tower on the property. Before Bobby Jones acquired the Berkman family estate, the property was briefly owned by Perry Stoltz. Stoltz was in the process of developing a string of resorts across the SE United States when he acquired the Augusta land. Each resort would have included a golf course and 15 story hotel with a large radio tower on top. Stoltz’s plan was to link together the towers at each resort to create one of the countries first radio networks. 

After listening to KVV's interview on the GD pod, I thought it would be a good time to start a thread about sharing the game we love with our kids.

Fellow eggheads - I’ve got my first “real” golf trip pegged for this summer. 5 days of Sand Valley, Lawsonia, and potentially Erin Hills. Growing up, I played enough to have a game until I graduated high school, but never competitively. The last ten years I’ve played a lot more and land between 15-25 rounds a year depending on life.

Last summer I walked 3 rounds in about 36 hours out at Pinehurst and Mid Pines. My swing started to abandon me a few different times on day 2, but with 9 left on the trip, I got an awful case of the lefts that I guessed was because my legs were shot. With my big trip this year (and a smaller 2.5 day one out to Aiken before it), I am really hoping to avoid my game vanishing for the trip.

What can I do to prep? Is it strength training with my legs and back? Something else? I’m in pretty solid shape for my mid 30s. I play a little tennis, run, and hit the stationary bike from to time.

I got into a spirited debate with a friend about equipment rollbacks needed. This person works in golf and respect tremendously. However, I got to defend the SGS positions of shrinking driver heads, reducing the ball by 20% and banning mallet putters. In my debate I dug up the Acushnet CEO's on record comments concerning a rollback and I died laughing at how poorly they have aged over the last three years.

Link to statement:

https://media.titleist.com/images/titleist/files/US/AcushnetCEOstatement12623.pdf?_gl=1*g02xqg*_ga*MTc0OTM3MzgyMi4xNzcyNDcyMTY3*_ga_NDEGCLSWHY*czE3NzI0NzIxNjYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzI0NzIxNzMkajYwJGwwJGgxMjM3MjgzMDY2*_gcl_au*MTA5Nzc0MjI1MS4xNzcyNDcyMTcz

"It is also Acushnet’s position that existing golf ball regulations are effective and stand the test of time."

"As we consider today’s R&A and USGA announcement against recent feedback provided by the World Alliance of PGA’s and the PGA TOUR, we are also concerned that the golf ball rollback overly impacts golfers and does not fully reflect the input of those closest to the game."

"Many important stakeholders do not see distance as a problem the way the governing bodies do"

"We support the position of the PGA TOUR and others that there are many areas of focus at the elite level, including initiatives related to golf course setup and conditioning, and other competitive variables which, if desired, can limit the effects of distance while also providing the opportunity for a diverse skill set to succeed at the highest level."

"We note that the mean of the fastest 1% of measured clubhead speeds on the PGA TOUR was flat from 2019-2021 and declined in 2022 and 2023. The mean of the fastest 5%, 10%, 20% and 50% of measured clubhead speeds has been flat since 2017. We consider that the average course playing length on the 2023 PGA TOUR is less than 7,200 yards, just as it has been every year since 2004. We also note that U.S. golf courses built during the period 2010-2020 averaged 6,652 yards - 274 yards shorter than those built between 1990-2010, which is at odds with the notion that equipment has forced courses to expand."

Not sure about the clubhead speed measurements but I doubt they are the same today, anecdotally it doesn't seem to hold up.

One of the things that may be subtle but seems incredibly disingenuous to me is how the alternate between PGA Tour studies and pro golf as examples then switch back to talking about the average players and the average golf courses. I have no reason to doubt that the stats they are listing are true but in my mind they are highly suspect to cherry-picking.

Hope y'all find this as funny and reprehensible as I did.

Hey everyone, after listening to the latest podcast where they were talking about old courses that used to host the Honda got me thinking, what are some courses from the past you would want to see back on tour? Could be good, bad, crazy, wacky, or all of the above haha. I wasn't a huge golf course fan back in the day so my opinions are pretty limited, but feel free to chime in!

The hottest shop in town just got hotter. Enjoy!

The title really says it all. With a personal passion for music, I was thinking about this the other day and would love to hear what others have to say. My list will certainly lean towards my own musical tastes, so I'm interested in how things vary across personal preferences.

Off the top of my head, these are what I came up with:

• Old Tom Morris --> Beethoven --> Largely credited with being the "founder" or the most influential early figure of their craft.
• Alister MacKenzie --> The Beatles --> While certainly not the first to the scene, indisputably one of the greatest of all time in their field. Their outputs are some of the most well-known in history, and garner interest from people both inside and outside the industry. Both being British legends certainly helps.
• C. B. MacDonald / Seth Raynor --> Bob Dylan --> Harnessed knowledge and expertise stemming from across the Atlantic. Changed how Americans perceived what this art could look and feel like.
• Stanley Thompson --> The Tragically Hip --> An incredible body of work, oftentimes looked over due to being from the North.
• Pete Dye --> Nirvana --> Came to the scene at an interesting time and when it needed some new energy. While a bit more challenging for some to understand / agree with, the talent cannot be argued.
• Mike Stranz --> Grateful Dead --> Can't say I'm anything close to a Deadhead, but feel like followers and supporters of these two artists and their less conventional outputs are some of the most devout out there! This was honestly one of the first I thought of haha.
• Tom Doak --> Oasis --> Young phenom(s) bursts on the scene. Confident in their abilities, often misunderstood and labelled as "arrogant" because of it. Thought of as a trailblazer who re-invented their craft, while bringing it forward to the next generation.
• Gil Hanse --> Taylor Swift --> Already thought of as once-in-a-generation, at a relatively young age. Could have also been Doak if we wanted to play into the young phenom lens, but felt like Gil, similar to Taylor, has a bit less of a reputation for being "direct" and "arrogant". Putting those in quotes as they certainly aren't my personal opinion of Tom.

Kanye West instantly came to mind for Doak, but due to recent events don't really think that's super appropriate to relate against.

P.S. If you don't think Taylor Swift should be on this list, you should probably seek medical attention. And maybe some self-reflection.