The Golfers Journal Podcast

Ken Kearney went from a decorated Irish amateur player to a career in finance to golf-course architect. For his next big challenge, he wants to shrink the game. 

Contributing Editor D.J. Piehowski makes his return to the TGJ Podcast—reading his thorough TGJ No. 11 profile on the reverse routing at remote Silvies Valley Ranch. Fellow TGJ contributor Neil Schuster joins him to add commentary and context from their homestead into Eastern Oregon’s rugged frontier. 

No place is safe from the ravages of the COVID-19 virus, even host Tom Coyne’s beloved Carne Golf Links on the remote Western coast of Ireland. The shutdown there has left scores unemployed and the course’s future in doubt. Carne chairman Gerry Maguire takes us there as he reads from the personal diary he kept during a week from hell.

Host Tom Coyne serves as our commanding general on this docu-pod exploration of golf through World War II in the 1940s—the last time golf was forced to mark and step away. 

Renowned sports psychologist Dr. Bob Winters returns, this time to answer subscriber questions about golf's new normal.

This is the 17th Players Championship for TGJ editor and grizzled vet Travis Hill. He gave newbie Casey Bannon one day to find a Sawgrass story he hadn’t heard. Challenge accepted.

Artist. Photographer. Tequila drinker. Soul surfer. Hickory player. Club maker. Linksoul Creative Director Geoff Cunningham refuses to let anyone put him, or the game he loves, in a box. On Ep. 49 of the TGJ Podcast, the man who created TGJ’s Broken Tee logo joins host Tom Coyne for a raw, emotional conversation that explores Cunningham’s career highs and personal lows, but somehow always finds its way back to his center.

ATTENTION: TGJ Subscribers will be playing Bandon Dunes’ Sheep Ranch masterpiece before it opens to the public. You’re wondering how to get in on this? Publisher Brendon Thomas joins host Tom Coyne to cover everything you need to know.

Is a bad day on the course really better than a good day anywhere else? On episode 47 of the TGJ Podcast, host Tom Coyne puts that old adage to its greatest test as he talks with Shane Bacon and friends about their lowest points on the course.

Golf changed in so manys from 2000-2020, which led host Tom Coyne to wonder how the game will look two decades from now. On episode 46, a high-profile collection of experts including journalist Geoff Shackelford, Stanford women’s golf coach Anne Walker, Bandon Dunes architect David McLay Kidd, creative director Andrew Haynes and Streamsong Resort’s Director of Golf Scott Wilson to stare into the crystal ProV1 and predict where the game is headed.

TGJ No. 10 introduces us to the Ohoopee Match Club—a discreet Georgia playground designed specifically to ignore par. Inspired by this concept, host Tom Coyne taps Ohoopee architect Gil Hanse to understand how the edict to eliminate a target score shaped his design process. Next, Tom dials renowned Scottish Historian Neil Laird to trace the origins of par itself. Finally, TGJ contributor Thomas Young passionately states his case for why golf is more fun without its most familiar scoring system.

The greatest tournaments live on in our collective memories. But they also provide a sometimes shocking timestamp of the golf world at that time. Host Tom Coyne, No Laying Up’s Chris Solomon, PGATour.Com Senior Editor Sean Martin and TGJ’s Casey Bannon gather to look back on five days of golf that wrote legacies and history books alike: The 2008 U.S. Open. From practice round folklore to the birth of Rickie’s orange pants and 91 unforgettable holes, this one deserves a Re-Tee.

From message board idea to functioning golf course to the pages of TGJ No.10, Brough Creek National is every armchair architect’s dream. In our latest episode, host Tom Coyne confirms the hand-built reality with a (temporary) course record, followed by a tour with Ben Hotaling, the course’s designer. Hole-by-hole, Hotaling discusses an array of tee-to-green options, selling national memberships in rural Kansas City, and how your yard can become Some Guy’s Backyard.

While reporting TGJ No.10’s, “The One Less Travelled,” contributor Jay Revell stumbled upon a treasure trove of unearthed footage featuring the late architect Mike Strantz during construction of his masterpiece, Tobacco Road. After sifting through hours of rare interviews and conversations, Revell and host Tom Coyne analyze some of Strantz’s most profound thoughts on visual intimidation, fine arts, fairway lines and the zen in shaping golf holes.

He’s watched Ben Hogan write checks to settle debts, walked off Arnie’s home course rather than breaking the King’s record and ran the merchandise tent at Oakmont while playing in the ‘83 U.S. Open. Bob Ford’s legendary career in golf continues today: He’s the head professional at Seminole Country Club. Host Tom Coyne tries to keep a straight face as Ford regales him with tales from 40 unforgettable years in the game.