Guests of the Pod
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 [...]
100 Years On: The Greatest Upset in Amateur Golf
100 years ago, one of the strongest sides ever assembled travelled across on the RMS Berengaria from New York to Southampton to play in the 4th Walker Cup. The trip would allow the likes of Jones, Ouimet, and Sweetser to play in the Open Championship and The Amateur; however, as a bit of a warm-up, they arranged to play against The Moles Golfing Society in London. The event nearly didn't go ahead at all. Widespread strikes in May 1926 meant the country was in a state of almost lockdown, facing severe disruption ahead of what would become a pivotal summer in the history of the game. Luckily, The Savoy Hotel was very much open for business, and the Moles laid on some heavy hospitality. It was here that Jones became intimately familiar with the 'Bosom Caresser', a popular cocktail made of Cognac, Madeira wine, Orange Curaçao, Grenadine, and a fresh [...]
Isle of Arran eclectic 18, by Bernard DAIrwin
BY PETER HANDCOCK AND BERNARD DAIRWIN Table of Contents Three weeks ago, we visited the Isle of Arran and played every hole on the island in one day, raising money for Arran Cancer Support. The golf was exhausting, but the journey to and from Arran was equally that, so we found our two cars on the phone on the drive home, debating the only question that really mattered by that point: “What would your eclectic 18 on Arran be?” Naturally, this exercise came with a few challenges. Eclectic 18s are tricky enough at the best of times, with one change affecting the whole card in much the same way that moving an image in Microsoft Word ruins the entire document. This one was made even harder by the fact that Arran has seven courses made up of [...]
379 – US Open Roundup
In this episode we reflect on the US Open at Shinnecock Hills and the course setup, including the firm greens, the undulations, and how the test shifted the emphasis toward short game and putting. We discuss the USGA’s explanation of why the greens were managed the way they were, and how the event played gradually from Thursday through Sunday.We also talk about Wyndham Clark’s win, his reception from the crowd, and how he held onto the lead despite not playing his best golf at the weekend. We compare his performance with Scottie Scheffler’s, and we discuss the idea of players chasing a major-title milestone under intense pressure from a strong field.A substantial part of the conversation is about fan behaviour and whether golf should accept more crowd noise and needle at big events. We discuss the contrast with other sports, the difference between a normal tournament and a [...]
Amateur Hour – Curtis Cup 2026
AMATEUR HOUR BY HUGO CORNELL Table of Contents AMATEUR HOUR Following on from Nelly Korda’s now iconic lip-in at Riviera CC last weekend during the U.S Open, all eyes remained fixed on the West Coast for another storied, albeit different event. The U.S.G.A are decamping themselves to the iconic Bel Air Country Club for the 44th playing of the Curtis Cup. Great Britain and Ireland take on the United States of America in three days of high intensity matches. It is contested over two foursomes and fourball sessions and a final day of singles matches. The United States team has an overall record of 31 wins, 9 losses and 3 draws in the event to date… so you could say they’ve been a touch dominant during the event's history thus far. Though I have heard on the [...]
