I really enjoyed the podcast with Garrett and Matt about the new openings that they are most looking forward to in 2026. As someone based in Scotland with regular travel to Melbourne, I was excited to hear them mention both National Long Island and the innovative plans OCM have for it, as well as Old Petty.

In addition to those, I wanted to mention two others that I'm excited to see in 2026 when I'm back in Australia for work (and golf). First is the opening of the Cliffs on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, a few hours south of Adelaide. It's a Darius Oliver primary design that is set for preview play soon with a full open later in the year. Darius was involved in Cape Wickham, but this looks like a less dramatic piece of land but one that still has loads of potential playing above the cliffs with views out south to ocean. Unlike 7 Mile Beach, they've been pretty minimal in their social media so it's hard to know exactly how the course will play.

Speaking of 7 Mile Beach, while it technically opened in late 2025, it's also worth a mention. I was lucky to play it with Mike Clayton a few days before opening, and it promises to be a must see for anyone travelling to Australia. The routing is exceptional, the land dramatic, and the course plays a bit more like an old world links than those at Barnbougle. I particularly enjoyed some of the less dramatic holes, including 6, 11, and 16 down near the water. They also have some interesting ideas like the two greens on 8, or the various tees that radically change the holes like on 2, 9, and 17.

Finally, a word for the renovated or restored Huntingdale by OCM. I was able to get a tour from the GM in December. The land is a bit more undulating than its neighbour Metro, although not as much as Vic, RM, or PK. The wallaby grass gives the course a really unique look in the Sandbelt, and it should return to some of its earlier glory. yYou an see more on my instagram @golfing_scotland about both Huntingdale and 7 Mile.

I hope this is the right sub-forum for this.

I play in a volleyball league that is pretty competitive, but in the offseason, the commish of the league is starting up a 5-week sim golf league, inviting people from all skill levels for screen golf. The commish doesn't know much about golf, so I'm trying to give him some tips. (For example, I asked him what the two-man format was, he said best ball. I pressed him further knowing full well he meant scramble) He claims the sim has almost any course we want and is excited to do courses like Augusta and Sawgrass. It sounds like there are going to be some beginner beginners in this. For example, they think I (an 18 index) am going to be one of the best players in the league (My teammate is a 2).

I think you see where I'm going with this. I think throwing newbies onto courses like Augusta and Sawgrass would be a complete disaster and unfun for all involved. Assuming they do indeed have every course in the world, any suggestions for ones I should suggest? I was thinking Mammoth Dunes, Kapalua Plantation, LACC, Trinity Forest, anything with wide wide fairways where people won't be hating life and quit.

My biggest takeaway from the latest Yoak was that nobody was willing to just say "here's the money, do whatever you want." Like, yea, I get it, when you're investing $25 million on a golf course, you really, really need it to make money and you're likely super worried about the outcome. But what there thousands of people putting in not much at all? With 10,000 investors, you'd only need $2,500 invested per person. I mean, that's a lot of money, yes, but the point is (1) if it's an investment, it's small enough to lose, and (2) if successful, any perks from that money could probably pay for the initial investment over the lifetime of the going concern.

Now, I know finance law prohibits just asking normal folks to invest in a venture without becoming a public company, and that has non-trivial costs attached. However, the cost is low enough that I think plenty of folks would be willing to be compensated through a kick-starter structure, that is, I assume I'll get zero return on my investment, but maybe I'd get to play golf at a steep discount, or get access to a locker/bar that is otherwise private when I visit. I mean, I'd happily pitch in for a Bandon-like entity to get built if I know I'll get discounted golf and preferred access going forward. I also wouldn't care at all what the course was like, because I genuinely think pitching in for a Doak-level masterpiece to get built would be worth it.

Maybe I'm totally out of touch with reality, but it just seems doable to me.

After heavy rainstorms slammed into the West Coast in late December, Soule Park Golf Course suffered significant flood damage. Multiple holes along the large barranca that runs through the Ojai, California, municipal course will need to be repaired or partially rebuilt.

This is the second time in three years that the course has taken a hit from rising waters. In the winter of 2022-23, portions of holes 12 and 14 were washed away. During the recent storm, the punchbowl green on the par-5 fifth hole took a particularly hard hit. Below are overhead photos of the green taken in 2022, 2024, and 2026, respectively.

Yeah. Yikes.

Soule Park has been vulnerable to floods throughout its 60-year history. In 2005, an especially intense storm left the course in a dire state. Fortunately, as I detailed in this 2019 piece, an ambitious leaseholder stepped in to rehabilitate the property and spearhead a renovation by Gil Hanse. In recent years, the course has seen a major uptick in play and media coverage.

Soule Park is near and dear to several of us at Fried Egg Golf. I grew up in nearby Goleta, California, and my dad and I played the course frequently in the late 1990s. Today, my colleague Cameron Hurdus lives about 30 minutes away.

Cameron visited Soule Park a few days ago and sent along these notes to me:

• "The plan is basically to try and recapture as much of No. 5 green site as possible and put 'something' back, but no one has been hired on the design side yet.... I think what they end up building will depend on how much land is recaptured."
• "There are a lot of areas that need to be addressed — just stabilizing spots and also potentially creating dams or buffers that might reroute water downstream slightly."
• "The river is getting very close to the pond on No. 1/No. 10, [and a breakthrough there] would be the worst-case scenario."
• "No. 12 will need some sort of stabilizing measure to keep it from eroding more."

This is all tough to hear. But I'm glad that the current leaseholder, Keith Brown, has remained committed to keeping the course open and preserving Hanse's excellent design work. All best to Keith and the team at Soule Park in their recovery efforts.

I'm brainstorming ideas for Golf Architecture 101 episodes and segments for the 2026 run of Designing Golf.

What basic questions do you have about golf course design? Or, if you're more advanced in your golf architecture knowledge, what 101-type topics would you like to see covered?

Let me know below.

In a New Year's Eve email, the National Links Trust announced that the Trump administration is killing the nonprofit group's contract with the National Park Service to operate and improve the three municipal golf courses in Washington, D.C. The administration has deemed the NLT in default of its lease — a finding that does not appear to have much basis in reality.

For the past several weeks, rumors and reports have circulated about the President's desire to seize control of the courses and transform East Potomac Golf Links into a professional-level tournament venue. Now the administration has made its first concrete, public move.

A few of my many questions about what will happen next:

• Will 80-year-old Tom Fazio, Trump's reported pick to lead the PGA Tour-grade makeover of the golf courses at East Potomac, actually take the job?
• What will the impact of this project be on the accessibility and affordability of golf at East Potomac?
• Which company will be hired to manage the three courses after the NLT exits? (Trump Golf? Surely not!)
• What are the administration's plans for D.C.'s two other municipal facilities, Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf Course?
• Will the in-progress renovation of Rock Creek Park, now on hold because of the NLT's ouster, get back underway at some point?

The National Links Trust is (was?) a bright light in the game. This is all terribly sad and stupid.

Here is my Eclectic 18 for 2025, all courses I played for the first time:

Eclectic 18 - 2025

Sheep Ranch 1 - 520 yards par 5

Royal Dornoch 2 - 180 yards par 3

Old Macdonald 3 - 345 yards par 4

Pacific Dunes 4 - 450 yards par 4

Bandon Trails 5 - 130 yards par 3

Pacific Dunes 6 - 295 yards par 4

Streamsong Blue 7 - 190 yards par 3

Bandon Dunes 8 - 350 yards par 4

Pacific Dunes 9 - upper green - 380 yards par 4

Pacific Dunes 10 - 160 yards par 3

St Andrews New 11 - 330 yards par 4

Bandon Dunes 12 - 155 yards par 3

North Berwick 13 - 340 yards par 4

Royal Dornoch 14 - 445 yards par 4

Yeamans Hall Club 15 - 450 yards par 4

Old Macdonald 16 - 435 yards par 4

Bandon Trails 17 - 180 yards par 3

Streamsong Blue 18 - 450 yards par 4

Morning! I apologize if this is already out there somewhere... but I am a new FEGC member just digging into all the content. As I am reading about various architects and also just the fundamentals of design, I would love to see a grouping of architects by similar styles and then highlight the key elements they predominantly use in their course design.

Golfweek reports that TPC Craig Ranch, host of the PGA Tour's CJ Cup Byron Nelson, has reopened after a renovation by Lanny Wadkins. Kudos to Tim Schmitt, the author of the article, for getting this startling sound bite from Wadkins about the brief he received from Invited, the course's owner: "Invited basically said they didn't want 30-under winning the thing anymore. And I told them, don't worry."

You're not supposed to say that kind of thing out loud, Lanny!

In any case, I do appreciate Wadkins's and Invited's honesty in admitting that they had little interest in making TPC Craig Ranch better.

Bounty Club, a new private retreat near Nashville, Tennessee, posted some footage of its nearly complete King Collins Dormer design. The course is looking good! KCD's stylistic signatures are in evidence — huge, undulating greens, along with even bigger and more intricate bunkers — but in slightly toned-down form. Since this is probably the most golf-ready land KCD has ever worked on, I wouldn't be surprised if the firm consciously decided to take a more restrained approach.

The Bounty Club project was announced back in early 2023, and the course is expected to open next year. The developers are 8AM Golf, owner of Golf Magazine and other well-known golf properties, and Justin Timberlake, avid golfer and seemingly-past-his-prime pop star. Naturally, Golf Magazine has provided regular coverage of the construction process.

Awesome podcast.

I am starting a thread on it and the courses we would add to the list.

I'll start with Lofoten Links. I've never been, and I'm not sure if it counts (it was 9 holes before 2010 but only extended to 18 in 2025). But I think if I'm going outside the US and Australia-New Zealand, it would probably be the top course to mention.

The other would be Mach Dunes for showing how one can do environmentally sensitive work in GB&I. If Coul Links gets built, its because of the trail Mach Dunes blazed. I think it's technically 2009, but close enough.

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.

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:

• In a meeting with President Trump and a handful of advisers on August 1, interior secretary Doug Burgum first pitched the idea of turning East Potomac into a "professional-level course" named "Washington National Golf Club." Trump has since expressed interest in hiring Tom Fazio to carry out the work.
• In an interview with the WSJ in the oval office on Friday, President Trump did not rule out playing a direct role in renovating D.C.'s municipal courses. "If we do them, he said, "we'll do them beautifully."
• Trump added that if his administration were to take over management of the courses, D.C. residents would still, in the WSJ's words, "pay a lower rate than other golfers." It's not clear which "other golfers" are being referred to here, or how the administration could make such a guarantee, given the apparent ambition of Burgum's East Potomac proposal.
• The conflict between the Trump administration and the NLT is beginning to revolve around details of the nonprofit's lease with the National Park Service. According to the WSJ, administration officials have claimed that the NLT "is in breach of its lease because it hasn't made enough progress on the renovations." In a statement posted on social media, the NLT said, "We respectfully disagree with the characterization that we are in default of our lease. In the five years since signing the lease, National Links Trust has worked hand in hand with the National Park Service through the extensive permitting and compliance processes required for these comprehensive renovation projects."
• The WSJ claims that the Trump administration told the NLT that if East Potomac Golf Links did not accept the dirt from the East Wing demolition, the group would risk defaulting on its lease. The NLT acquiesced, but in recent weeks, the administration has moved toward a finding of default anyway. "The Interior Department informed the group that it had violated a lease provision," the WSJ reports. "Interior then issued a formal default notice, a move that could lead to the termination of the group's lease, according to the people. Trump told the Journal that if the nonprofit doesn't address the alleged violations of its lease by the end of the month, then the courses will revert to the Trump administration's control."
• The WSJ article notes several times that East Potomac Golf Links occupies a valuable stretch of Washington real estate.

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.

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)?

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!