Guests of the Pod
Markers in Time
Words by Simon Skeldon Simon is a good friend of Cookie Jar, and someone with a particular penchant for the small little discs we use to mark our own balls on the green. He put pen to paper for this short but thoughtful examination with these small little hunks of metal we wander the links with in our pockets. Table of Contents "Markers in Time", by Simon Skeldon I love playing golf. Fifty years after making my first swing, I am still addicted to hitting shots that come from the ‘middle of the middle’ of the club, seeing a putt track online, or indeed that feeling of competing in a tight match or closing out a low score. I owe the game a lot. A few years ago, I set about clearing some old ‘stuff’ that was [...]
310 – Course Diaries: Royal Wimbledon w/ Anthony Wolfe
Sam & Tom sit down with Anthony Wolfe, the club archivist of Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, to talk about its history in the game which dates back to 1865. It has had three separate golf courses and its now full time home on the other side of camp cottage from Wimbledon Common, is the product of Harry Colt which has recently undergone huge work by Mackenzie & Ebert in recent years. Some of the game's greatest names have travelled through Royal Wimbledon, and we sit down with Anthony to talk about it all. Latest Products
5 holes I can’t stop thinking about
Words by Peter Handcock Five Holes I Can’t Stop Thinking About It’s no secret that I live and breathe golf. As someone who works at the Jar, and a fully-fledged golf nut for over a decade prior, I spend a lot of time immersing myself in the world of courses and design. But what truly captivates me is the variety within the sport — how, at the best courses, rarely do two holes ever feel quite the same. I find myself thinking about specific holes all the time. Earlier this month, I took a short trip to Scotland to play Crail, Elie, St Andrews New, and a revisit to Royal Aberdeen — a course I hadn’t played in seven years. The front nine is often hailed as the star, and it was the sixth hole specifically that had remained at the forefront of my mind since then. I [...]
309 – Persimmon Woods & Joe Powell w/ Scott Redman and John Morgan
Sam sits down with Scott Redman and John Morgan at The Bristol Golf Club who have in recent years acquired the Joe Powell Persimmon company. Scott is an equipment nerd and creative wizz who has spent decades around the game and John Morgan is a broadcaster for SkySports and played professionally on The PGA Tour. When the opportunity came up to acquire Joe Powell, they just couldn't say no, and their story, much like the company itself is a fascinating one. Huge thanks to The Bristol for having us last week, and looking after us so well! Latest Products
308 – GB&I Top 100 Reaction
Sam and Tom are joined by Half Par to dive into the newly released GB&I Top 100 from Top100GolfCourses.com — plus the other big three UK rankings from Golf World, Golf Monthly, and National Club Golfer. We get into the work that goes into these lists, what makes each one unique, the biggest movers (both deserved and controversial), the new entries, and whether rankings really matter at all. We also chat about our updated Rank of Ranks, where we’ve combined all four lists to create the ultimate guide — fully filterable, so you can slice and dice it however you like. If you fancy killing some time on the Rank of Ranks, you can find it here. Latest Products
Rank of Ranks – 2025
We first ran this feature all the way back in 2020. Since then, much has happened in the world of golf, none more so than the rampant demand to play some of the finest and most storied venues across all corners. So, given the GB&I rankings have each been updated in recent months, with Top100GolfCourses.com changing theirs this week, we thought we’d see what's happened and how they all stand up against each other. As a recap for those that weren’t with us back in 2020, here’s a refresh on how this is calculated: We take the rankings from each of the four ranking panels across GB&I (Today’s Golfer, National Club Golfer, Golf Monthly, and Top100GolfCourses.com). We attribute their ranking from each of those panels. Where a course is not ranked it receives a notional 115. As there are 129 courses among all four lists, this number feels [...]
