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.

Hello All

My name is Mark and I am a PGA golf professional and a full time club fitter.

So, if any of you have any fitting questions I would love to help you all out. Especially with all the new drivers now costing well over $1000 if you get a fancy shaft.

Hoping to hear from others about their favorite events they’ve attended and any they’re looking forward to. Personally, I haven’t gotten to Michigan yet to play, so I am hoping to get to the Belvedere/Kingsley (king dere?) event this fall.

Hi Folks,

Soliciting advice from people who've continued their golfing careers after welcoming life into this world. We're expecting our first in early March and I'm wondering what people have found successful as far as continuing their golfing life post-parenthood. I know things will be hectic and crazy the first few weeks/months and the clubs will have to continue collecting dust, but interested to hear what methods people have found successful in the past that don't involve neglecting my partner and newborn child.

Hi all -

As part of our next Fried Egg pod, we're planning to do a mailbag segment similar to what we did a few times at the end of 2025. We'll keep this as a running thread for questions for the year, with the first installment coming on Wednesday, January 28th.

Have a question for Andy? Ask away!

Thanks, as always, for your participation.

Curious if there’s a FEGC contingent of superintendents or turf professionals willing to share some perspective.

I’m 34, married, no kids, and no interest in fighting. About a year ago, I left a flying career with the Air Force to pursue my passion for golf. I’m currently on the agronomy team at a private club in the Denver metro area and fortunate to be learning under a great superintendent who’s been generous with mentorship and GCSAA exposure. I’m also starting Penn State’s turfgrass management program this January.

While that guidance has been invaluable, I’d love to hear from people with different paths especially those who care deeply about golf course design and architecture. It often feels like the industry rewards the “hard chargers” chasing PGA events or ultra-private, blank-check clubs. I respect that path; I’m just not convinced it’s mine.

I’m drawn to the idea of working on a Golden Age course, or one with architectural significance. I want to work extremely hard for good people and a good course, but I also value a healthy culture over constant high-pressure environments. With internships on the horizon and a later start into the industry, I’m trying to be intentional rather than impulsive.

Am I naive, or is there a realistic lane in turf for someone wired this way?

Is it too soon to start asking which courses will be featured in volume 2? Volume 1 was just delivered this week but slid it under the tree for a Christmas gift. Really excited to get into it. Here's a list of courses I'd love to see (warmer weather places as I'm already over winter).

Cal Club

Abaco Club

The Park

WP9

Tree Farm

Chechessee

Austin Golf Club

SFGC

Streamsong Blue

Pinehurst 2

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!

After Garrett's last Designing Golf Podcast, I put it to my mind that I wanted to read Concerning Golf. However, to out myself as a not-good-at-sitting-down-and-reading person, I'm typically a fan of audiobooks or Alexa reading me an ebook (while I do chores). Only occasionally do I try to get through a book quickly in a weekend.

The book was published in 1903. It's been in the public domain forever. Has there never been an ebook edition made? There is a rough copy on Google Books is a PDF with no OCR, but there is no not even a Project Gutenburg entry. If anyone has an EPUB, let me know. I'm hoping someone in the golf publishing industry can quickly put out a kindle edition!

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?

Requirements:

-High end spa/resort

-Enjoyable golf

-Close to city

I had the great pleasure of meeting up with four FEGC members yesterday at Golden Gate Park GC. Myself along with Chris Brooks, Ray Gobberg, Brett Hochstein, and Jamie Hiteshew had a great round. We snuck out at 3:00 and played as a group of five. Rounds like this are truly what fill my tank.

There were plenty of good shots to recount, but my favorite moment of the day was when Brett, who is a wonderful guy and who also happened to do a lot of work on Golden Gate Park during the renovation, recommended we all hit low runners into the seventh green, which he shaped, to try to catch the contours in the ground and sling balls into the back right pin. For those of you who haven't played GGPGC, the seventh has an awesome green with three distinct quadrants. Each quadrant is relatively small, but there is a lot of mounding to work the ball into tight spaces. It's phenomenal work that Brett did and provides an equal amount of fun and challenge. I've added a couple of photos below.

The pin shown above is in the back left quadrant, whereas we were playing to the back right (just over the bunker in this picture).

Here's a more aerial view of the entire green. If you choose, you can run shots into the green using the ground and mounding on the left to feed balls hard to the right.

My highlight from the day, though, was when Jamie tried to snipe a 4i into the green and got a wee bit aggressive with his swing and sent the ball sailing onto the next tee box, coming to rest at the feet of the group of golfers in front of us. At that very moment, I remembered reading a lot of member intros where most identify as "not interested in fighting." Thankfully for us, Ray's immediate comment was something to the effect that there are five of us and only four of them AND they look old, so we can totally take them.

So I guess the TL;DR here is that Ray Gobberg is interested in fighting!

There's been a growing interest in pre-1935 hickory clubs and 1950-1990 steel shaft persimmons & irons. Let's exchange info on makers, how to build a set, connections to people that do restoration and reproductions, etc.

I'll start with hickories since I restore & play them. A number of states have active hickory groups who are very knowledgeable & helpful. The first organization I recommend joining is The Society of Hickory Golfers, tremendous resource for all things hickory including posting hickory scores & a hickory handicap system. Only $65/year: https://www.hickorygolfers.com/membership-join/

I've started dabbling in vintage/retro clubs with sets from 1958 (MacGregor) & 1970 (Hogan). Garage sales, auctions, 2nd hand/thrift shops, eBay are just some places to find gear. There's quite a few sites on IG for retro/persimmon, etc. aficionados too.

I'm in WI & you can find me on IG at: the pond is good for you or X at: golf69ski88

Andy, instead of lotteries for oversubscribed courses, how about waiting lists? It worked for Bozo Circus (parents used to get tix as baby shower gifts cause there was a 6-8 year wait) and my Cubs season tix (was #87,000 & took 8 years to get a call). At least that way you can make plans months/years in advance. If there’s AI/bot concerns, go old school and only accept mailed entries. Whaddaya think? - Perry Rouches