The Fire Pit Podcast

After over 2,000 miles in 15 days, 12 courses, 50 Guinness, two goats, one trophy, a car ferry, spectacular cliffs, a dire wolf, a giant's causeway and lobstering in a mini wooden skiff, several members of the Fire Pit Collective get together to reflect on Covid, camaraderie, culture and the craic on the island of Ireland. You'll hear from dignitaries, tournament directors, directors of golf, cour...

The U.S. Amateur or the Walker Cup were always the Holy Grails,” says Josh Lesnik, President of Kemper Sports, who manages Bandon Dunes. Lesnik was also the first General Manager of the resort, where he started in his late-20s, and was literally in on the sand floor. “But to be honest, we never really thought about hosting anything like that until Mike Davis took a look and liked it. That’s a big...

One more time around the block as we get reflections and observations on what was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the Amateur Championship. Both competitors, their dads and a girlfriend, we heard from two announcers and Tom Bailey, who, over a chance encounter in December, set Laird Shepherd on a path to a life-altering adventure. But then there’s Monty Scowsill, who taught us all...

If you’re just joining us, we’re about to tee off on the first tee at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland. It’s a Saturday afternoon in mid-June, it’s the finals of the 126th playing of the British Amateur Championship in which two underdogs, who’ve both overcome adversity and physical issues getting here, are about to finish things off. Monty Scowsill, who made six birdies in the morning, is 7-up on Lair...

We collected over nine voices and 12 hours of interviews on the twists and turns of the 2021 Amateur Championship at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland. We track the path of Laird Shepherd and Monty Scowsill as they chase their dream of winning one of the most storied championships in golf. At halftime of the 36-hole final, Shepherd is 7-down. Is there still hope? It would take a miracle. Special thanks...

The British Amateur Championship is one of the oldest and greatest events in golf. The first, in 1885, was played at Hoylake in England.  Bobby Jones won the British Amateur in 1930 in what was then considered a part of his Grand Slam of championships. Other notable winners include Sir Michael Bonallack, who won it five times, Joe Carr, the great Irish Amateur, who won it three times, Jose Maria O...

So, by now, if you’re listening to this particular podcast, I’m going to assume you’ve either read or watched the Hayden Springer story on  TheFirePitCollective.com .  If you haven’t, I strongly suggest you read the story , which was written by Ryan French , and then watch the story, which was produced by Ben Van Hook, shot by Henry Lynk, and edited by Adam Showen.  As you all probably know by now...

Alan Shipnuck has covered Phil Mickelson for the entirety of their careers. He was there every step of the way at the PGA Championship, including when Alan and Phil were both almost trampled in the 72nd fairway. Shipnuck brings to life an unforgettable moment in golf history with probing questions by host Matt Ginella and further thoughts from Laz Versalles, the newest member of the Fire Pit Colle...

Here we are, almost exactly a week after Brad Hurlbut, the athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson and member of the local NCAA Championship committee who walked down the stairs of The University Club in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, put his hand on his chest and stomped on the hearts of the assembled crowd. In Part 1, we told the story of what happened last week. In Part 2, we covered what happened af...

Sam Bozoian, also known as Barstool Riggs, is the white knight who socially rode into Baton Rouge on a horse named Twitter, scooped up an assembled group of female golfers and their coaches out of the puddles of tears and broken dreams and is giving them an opportunity to finish their seasons, and in some cases, their college careers, ON the golf course. What a concept! Throughout this podcast, yo...

So, I can assume you’ve seen it by now; the video of a guy, walking down some stairs, puts his hand on his chest, and like a fire-breathing dragon, torches the hopes and dreams of an innocent gathering of female athletes. Then he turns around and disappears. The dragon is the NCAA, in this case, in the form of Brad Hurlbut, an athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson, who, from what I’m told, volu...

In this episode of The Fire Pit, Matt Ginella interviews Alan Shipnuck about his recent story on Saudi Arabia's attempt to buy some good global PR through golf and a few of the world's best players and architects, which includes Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus. With more than a billion dollars to spend, Saudi leadership is breaking away from the concept of the Premier Golf League...

Ryan French of “Monday Q Info” on Twitter joins The Fire Pit Collective, a modern media network. From a TV on fire to the Fire Pit, we welcome Ryan French to the Collective. A Robin Hood of golf and media, the humble and thoughtful stay-at-home dad found a platform and a purpose while tending to the responsibilities of a daughter and a son, who, at the age of 18 months, was diagnosed with Chiari M...

As we kick off Season 2 of The Fire Pit Podcast, just a short reflection on where we’ve been since March, 2020, which is when, while in quarantine, we hatched the idea of this podcast. Our first, which aired on what would’ve been Masters Sunday of last year, was the story of how and why John Ashworth caddied at the ’86 Masters for his childhood friend, Mark Wiebe.  One interview led to the next, Z...

We’re back at The Fire Pit dropping a podcast, which always feels good. We’ve been busy interviewing and editing season 2, which will start going live in a few weeks. Among other things, you’ll be hearing tributes to Charlie Sifford, Tony Gwynn and longtime colleague and friend, Tim Rosaforte. We’ll also be hearing from Jack Nicklaus, Nancy Lopez, Arnold Palmer and Lanny Wadkins on a $4-check from...

We started this podcast in April, not long after the country went into quarantine. And on April 18, we dropped episode two , a roundtable with industry leaders who provided perspective on the state of the game in the midst of a global pandemic. I was joined by the Presidents of Pinehurst and Kemper Sports , the owner of Forest Dunes , the manager of Goat Hill Park , and the CEO of an Irish-based t...

We’re back, and as we continue a short hiatus between seasons one and two of The Fire Pit, we continue to go through our first season of recordings and extract some relevant nuggets or unpublished stories from our distinguished list of guests.  With all that’s happening this week at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, most notably the U.S. Amateur, we’ve created another mini pod serving as a short tribute to...

Well, that was a blur and a blast. We produced 15 episodes (and a bonus) of this podcast, which wraps up Season 1. For the next few weeks, as a link to the start of Season 2, we’ll be dropping mini-pods, short stories or great golf jokes by the best storytellers I’ve met at fire pits all over the world. Thank you for all of your support, kind words and thoughtful reviews. It has been a true team e...

Every song is a story. This episode of The Fire Pit is a story about the making of a song, which happens to be the anthem we’ve adopted for this podcast. We listen in as Jacquire King , a Grammy Award winning producer works with Joe Horowitz on developing a song he started writing in 2016 at Matt GInella's wedding reception at Goat Hill Park. The inspiration: What has now become Horowitz's favorit...

At this fire pit, we get the second half of Sam "Riggs" Bozoian's 99-day quarantine at Pinehurst, which includes a scramble match against Kevin Kisner on Pinehurst No. 2. The four boys of the ForePlay podcast take on a PGA Tour player on a U.S. Open venue. Plus, we get details on an emotional goodbye. Check out the The Fire Pit shop for our new hats! More items in the works! Use promo MattyG25 at...

Welcome back to a special production of The Fire Pit. A mini mid-week episode, put together after my recent interview with Kevin Kisner, who’s coming off a third-place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Bryson DeChambeau (-23) won the tournament, Matthew Wolff (-20) finished second and Kisner (-18) made a run on Sunday. But to say Bryson “won” is to say he overpowered the course and...

The story we tell today is that of Sam “Riggs” Bozoian escaping New York City to quarantine at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. He stayed there, playing an assortment of Pinehurst’s 10 courses and others in the area for 99 days. At this Fire Pit we hear about Riggs' start in life and at Barstool, his ace on The Cradle, a heated match against a 12 year old and a moral compass. Sir Nick Faldo...

The story we tell today, sitting around an actual fire pit, is how and why Lew Thompson bought Forest Dunes in Roscommon, Michigan, the ridiculous deal he got, and then how he has made this remote location a legitimate destination. As Forest Dunes is setting record-breaking business days and gets set to open yet another golf course, we hear from Lew and Josh Thompson, Tom Weiskopf, Keith Rhebb and...

On this Father’s Day, a tribute to Joe Carr, who, along with his wife, Dorothy, raised six kids in a house overlooking the second green of Sutton Golf Club in Dublin, Ireland.  Carr won three British Amateur Championships and was a semi-finalist at the 1961 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach. He won six Irish Amateurs, 12 West of Irelands, 12 East of Irelands, three South of Irelands, played in 10 Walke...

We’re telling the story about John Ashworth, the man and the brand. From the trunk of a car to the No. 1 golf apparel company in the world, we hear from Ashy, Jim Nantz, Fred Couples, John Cook, Gerry Montiel and Hank Ashworth.✌🏼 The Fire Pit shop is here! Use promo MattyG25 at Linksoul.com for 25% off your next Linksoul order. Got a comment about this story or a tip on a story we should track do...