Guests of the Pod
The Key Course Changes at Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale has a unique architectural lineage. Founded in 1889, the course as we recognise it today did not take shape until 1932, when the club set out to create the first purpose-built championship links course. Three generations of the Hawtree family have since shaped and refined the links, followed by Tom Mackenzie of Mackenzie & Ebert who's responsible for the latest phase of changes. As a result, the course now presents a slightly different challenge to the version seen during The Open Championship in 2017. In this video, we explore the key changes made to the 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th and 15th holes, before looking at why the 17th remains such an important part of Royal Birkdale’s championship test. A fascinating insight into how one of Britain’s greatest links continues to evolve while remaining true to its history and character. https://youtu.be/cOr2PfLiwp0
382 – Recovering from The Yips w/ Will Dugdale
Will Dugdale discusses starting golf as a child, playing junior, county, Oxford and Cambridge golf, and turning pro in 1999. He also covers early career ups and downs, the putting yips, changes to his grip, and his work helping other golfers.Will has a genuinely fascinating story in the game of golf, and his relationship with the flat stick will no doubt resonate with many. For those who want to learn more, we'd encourage you to head to Will's website, best-putter.com. Latest Products
381 – Final Qualifying Roundup
In this episode we cover final qualifying for the Open Championship across four venues, with reports from Dundonald, Burnham & Berrow, Royal Cinque Ports, and West Lancashire. We compare the atmosphere at each course, noting that the day drew strong crowds, with many volunteers managing scoring, marshalling, parking and course presentation.We discuss how the golf courses were set up and how the weather affected play. Burnham and Barrow was described as especially well presented, while West Lancashire played firm and fast with strong runoff areas and difficult greens. We also talk about how the draw and weather conditions made a major difference to scoring, especially later in the day.We go through several of the main qualifiers and near misses. James Nicholas qualified comfortably, Tom Sloman played well at home to get through, and Caleb Surratt, Alejandro de Castro Piera and Austin Truslow also advanced. At West Lancashire, Sam [...]
The Men Who Modernised Walker Cup Selection
Words by Dr Darragh Garrahy Depending on when this piece reaches you in mid-summer, the jostling for position on the Great Britain & Irish Walker Cup team will be reaching a crescendo. A large majority of the team will no doubt pick themselves based on form, experience and a sprinkling of data that will help Dean Robertson and his selectors put their best foot forward at Lahinch in early September. There is always interest in who makes the team and gets to breathe the rarefied air of a Walker Cup. The how of selection rightfully occupies a less interesting side-note but it might bear more similarity to the process instituted by Micklem & Oppenheimer than you’d think, having been shaken up in the 1950s from a place of nepotism and dubious picks based on society golf events and less on actual [...]
82 – Amateur Championship Reflections
We discuss the Amateur Championship at Hoylake and reflect on the conditions across the week. The course was as dry, firm, windy at times, and very consistent, with good weather throughout and strong television conditions.We explain how the greens were prepared and measured using GS3 ball data, with regular recording of moisture, firmness, speed, trueness and smoothness. We also talk about using wind tunnels to get accurate readings when the wind affected the roll, and how irrigation adjustments of only a few millimetres could change the stimp reading by about a foot.We then cover the work of keeping every green on a level playing field despite differences in age and construction. Some greens needed extra attention, including drill-and-fill work, and we note that modern tools now allow more precise management through data, nutrition, water and cutting plans rather than relying mainly on feel.We move on to the championship [...]
380 – Stuart Grehan
Sam chats with Stuart Grehan fresh of his Amateur Championship win at Royal Liverpool and West Lancs last week. The 131st Amateur was also the 19th time this event has been hosted at Royal Liverpool - more than any other venue. We talk about his wins in the knockout, the adjustments from 18 to 36 hole matches, as well some of the trickier matches that lay between him and his final against Matt Maloney which went all the way to the 36th hole. We also talk about his career, from pitch and putt as a kid, to turning professional, regaining his Amateur status and now looking forward to The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, a Masters invitation and a spot in the US Open next year at Pebble Beach. In the aftermath of his win, we also talk about some of the criticism Stuart has come in for from the [...]
