Candyroot Lodge, an under-construction golf resort an hour outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, announced the name of its first course: Milkstone.

"Milkstone at Candyroot."

Maybe a little much?

The important thing, of course, is that the golf course turns out well. With Mike Koprowski (of Broomsedge fame) at the wheel, I think there's a good chance of that happening. Check out his plan for the course:

Friend of the Program Geoff Shackelford has an excellent piece for his Substack newsletter The Quadrilateral about Pebble Beach's renovated 10th green (and about the history of the hole in general). It appears that, for the first time in decades, Pebble Beach has carried out a project that might accurately be called a restoration! Now if only the fairway were restored to its late-1920s width...

The latest Coore & Crenshaw design, Anson Point, opened earlier this week in the South Carolina residential community Palmetto Bluff. The course joins Palmetto Bluff's two other golf offerings, May River Golf Club (an 18-hole course designed by Jack Nicklaus in 2005) and Crossroads (a reversible nine-holer built by Tad King and Rob Collins in 2024). Here's a promotional video on the course featuring some commentary from the design team, and here's a flyover of each hole.

Anson Point is about 45 minutes from another Lowcountry Coore & Crenshaw joint, Chechessee Creek Club, and an hour from Harbour Town Golf Links.

Early images suggest that, like Chechessee Creek, Anson Point will be low-profile and elegant, with smallish, subtly contoured greens. This will set the course sharply apart from Crossroads, which is quite boldly shaped.

Pebble is scheduled to host the U.S. Open four times between 2027 and 2044. It's the shortest course on the PGA Tour, with insanely small greens (3,500 square feet) that have been systematically de-sloped and de-contoured so they can stimp at 14. Its bunkers frame resort-width fairways, and float 15 yards into the rough when the fairways are slimmed. A restoration or renovation is not financially practical when you factor in a year's worth of revenue lost. There is no incentive from a business perspective to shut the course down.

So my question is: since we know Pebble will be a U.S. Open course for the foreseeable future, how do you present the best version of it? What can realistically be done to create a compelling championship?

When your awesome wife is willing to foster your budding golf architecture obsession and gifts you these for your birthday. She even researched what to get on The Fried Egg. 🥹 Surprise handwritten foreword in The Golf Courses of the British Isles.

In the last 50 years, is there another location in the U.S. that's built as many independently owned courses over such a short period of time as Aiken? If you include Columbia and Augusta in the equation, we're getting to nearly double digits of just new builds! TTF, OB (3 courses), New Holland, Broomsedge, The Patch, 21 Club, The Chalk Mine, and maybe some more I'm missing. Do we think this trend is nearing it's end? Or is there a possibility for more courses, either private or public resort style?

If the answer is yes and you're interested in exploring it further, shoot me an email! grant.w.mcgrath@gmail.com

Cheers, Grant

Hello Fried Eggers,

Just watched the new Northwood Golf Club ASMR video, and got to say this is my favorite video TFE has ever made!

Northwoods was my home golf course during the COVID pandemic. Twice a week, my friend and I would meet in the early afternoon, make two loops, then eat a picnic dinner on the two Adirondack chairs up above the ninth hole. Since then, I've moved from Sonoma County to Michigan but I think about this little 9-holer a lot.

Y'all did a great job showing my favorite hole on the course, the par three 8th,and the MacKenzie bunkers surrounding the little green.

Thank you and kudos on the great video!!

Rory's comments at his Pebble press conference about the potential of him designing a course (thanks for the right up Joseph) got my mind turning.

The idea of a pro teaming up with a architect isn't new. Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye, and, of course, Coore and Creenshaw.

Who do you think playing now would make a great design pair with an active architect? Who's a good fit for Rory?

For Rory, I don't know why, but Kyle Phillips sticks out to me. I'm struggling to think of a name that fits for Scottie and the Fair Police. I haven't played David McLay Kidd course, would you say those are fair? Andrew Green?

Augusta National Golf Club announced today that Augusta Municipal Golf Course, locally known as "The Patch," will reopen for public play on April 15 after a 16-month overhaul of the facility. Tom Fazio and Beau Welling headed up the renovation of The Patch's 18-hole course, and Tiger Woods's firm TGR Design (for which Welling serves as a senior design consultant) handled the creation of a nine-hole short course called The Loop.

Resident green fees for both courses will be affordable. Locals will pay $25-35 at the 18-hole course and $15 at The Loop. ANGC did not specify out-of-town rates, but I would obviously expect them to be substantially higher.

The Patch will host limited pay for local community groups in mid-March before shuttering for "private hospitality opportunities" during the week of The Masters.

Check out a few photos of the new golf courses (the first two of the 18-holer, the third of The Loop) below:

Headed to Orlando for work the end of February and will have a day or two to play. Our work deal is down by the airport so looking for something close and not $1000.

Lads and Lasses of FEGC:

On the heels of TFE Sandhills Golf Guide and NLU: Nebraska, I bring to you another Nebraska Golf Trip Experience. My brother and I went on a dream Nebraska golf trip at the beginning of September 2025, and I finally finished writing it up. It's free and totally for your entertainment. Enjoy!

https://conorkearns.substack.com/p/out-and-back?r=1mjaqi

(Please remove if not allowed)

Hello! Very recent fried egg member attending my first event at Soule Park in April.

I'm an architecture student and greenskeeper at Wilshire CC in LA.

This summer I’m headed to Stockholm and Copenhagen for a wedding/vacation. Is there any courses suggestions I need to see while in the area? Not sure if I’ll have time to play but would at least like to walk a couple. Thanks!

The latest Designing Golf pod is up, and the topic is how to appreciate a golf course while you're playing it. This episode was partly inspired by a question from FEGC member Adrian Mazzarolo in this forum thread. Geoff Shackelford is the guest. I think it's a good one.

If you have any questions about or reactions to the episode, fire away.

Also, what do YOU do while you're playing golf to understand and appreciate architectural nuances?

I have been into TFE and SGS for a few years now and I rarely hear much about courses in my home state of Virginia. I also see there are no Virginia "Cartons" on this forum. It has plenty of courses I love, but I don't know if there are many good public options to plan a golf trip around. Is it simply the lack of good/interesting public golf that limits discussion about VA courses or maybe something else?

Content idea. I was looking over the Links Top 100 U.S. Ranking and it's...on the right track of what I'm looking for. I know the Fried Egg doesn't like rankings, but I'm basically looking for a collection of public courses that are egg-worthy. Could be 50. Could be 150. But I think what we are are looking for when we ask - hey I'm in so-and-so city, where should I play? - is what are the quality, strategic, egg-worthy or egg-adjacent courses that rankings don't properly capture? Even if there was just a way to sort public courses that have earned an egg, that would be an awesome start to this idea...

I am also happy to read about any nominations Fried Egg members might have.