Blind Shots Podcast

Nearly one year after embarking on our Bandon Dunes adventure, Fred, Matt, and Dave reconvene one final time to tie the bow on our experiences on the Oregon coast. We discuss the highs and lows, what we loved and what we didn’t, and what we’d do differently on our next adventure out west. Matt also…

I’m taking my family to the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon this month. To prepare for our adventure, I called on long-time friend of the podcast and unofficial Scotland correspondent Kieran Clark to talk about what we can expect to experience, as well as the current state of Scottish golf. Kieran is a St.…

The boys finally get around to discussing Bandon Trails, which Matt and I were absolutely smitten with, from start to finish. A masterwork of routing and shaping from Coore Crenshaw set inland among the still-wooded dunes and logging trails, the course is almost the perfect mix of difficulty, beauty, and diversity for golf.

Golf course architect Brian Ross rejoins the show to discuss how Park Mammoth GC continues to evolve two years after its grand re-opening. With a new, permanent clubhouse under construction, a new short named “The Boneyard” that Brian is designer just announced, and the announcement of a new putting course to come, it’s an exciting…

In this conversation, I sat down with filmmaker Hagen O'Neil of Palmer Pictures to discuss the background and process of making his wonderful documentary film about the course, "From Red Clay to Fairways." Using the color personalities that form The Fields leadership team, Hagen brings the course's Phoenix-like rise to the screen, while exploring the principles of community and public golf writ la...

This is the Sheep Ranch episode. Perched against the coast on the bluff just north of the Pacific Dunes and Old Mac golf courses, the Sheep Ranch struck me as a bit different than the rest. A much ballyhood Coore Crenshaw masterpiece, it’s more familiar to other experiences than I felt on the rest of the Bandon Courses. Sure, it’s in a unique, almost magical setting, but it was flatter, with fewer...

The Kentucky State Park System is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2024. This episode is the first of a new series wherein I'll profile Kentucky's state park golf courses from time to time. To kick off this new endeavor, I was honored to sit down recently with the Commissioner of the Kentucky State Park System, Mr. Russ Meyer. We talk the breadth, mission, and funding of Kentucky's state park cou...

This is the Pacific Dunes episode, our fourth of this season’s “Americans in Oregon Series.” A golf course of almost unanimous acclaim, it’s the golf course that brought architect Tom Doak into the larger golfing public’s consciousness, that showed people how spectacular coastal golf in America can be, and what natural, minimalist golf architecture can…

Friend of the Show, Chris Boysel, PGA, returns to talk about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we think we’re going in golf in central Kentucky, and to an extent, in golf writ large. Chris oversees Tournament Operations and Player Development for Play Golf Lexington, the omnibus organization responsible for municipal golf in…

This is the Bandon Dunes episode, the one about the original course at the Bandon Dunes Resort, the one that started it all. This is where it began for Oregon as a golf destination, for the Keiser family golf empire, for golf architect David McKlay Kidd, for fun overtaking difficulty as the chief goal of…

Ethan Fisher, PGA, returns to the podcast to discuss his article over on OneBeardedGolfer.com revisiting the life and demise of the shooting star of Kentucky golf at the start of the 21st century, Old Silo Golf Course in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. It’s a fascinating, cautionary tale from the collapse of the most recent golf boom…

Our 2nd installment of the Americans in Oregon, discussing our experience on the Old MacDonald course, and the awe and wonderment of realizing the scale of the Bandon Dunes operation. Plus, a heretical idea so crazy I’d could only get away with it because it’s on the Internet.

In this first installment of the “Americans in Oregon” series, we set the scene at Bandon Dunes through our impressions of the Punch Bowl putting course, the 13-hole Bandon Preserve short course, and an examination of the resort’s vibe through our lodging and accommodations experiences.

Matt, Fred, and I reconvene at the Americans in Scotland round table to discuss whether golf trips truly need a “trophy course” to anchor a buddies golf trip. It’s big-picture discussion based on the small details we’ve accumulated in a decade or so of golf trip experience.

Today, I welcome back to the show author, journalist, and all-around good guy Hal Phillips. He is the author of Generation Zero: Founding Father, Hidden Histories, and the Making of Soccer in America. He weaves together the threads of the various growth, regression, and re-birth cycles that culminated in USA soccer arriving upon the world stage in earnest at the 1990 World Cup. We happen to be liv...

Golf course architect Nathan Crace ASGCA of Watermark Golf stops by to talk me through the USGA and R&A decision to "roll back" the golf ball in the coming years. Nathan is smart enough to make it make sense, even to someone like me.

I speak with Lie + Loft founder Luke Davis about his journey to and within golf. Golf art and golf imagery has come a long way in the past decade or two. Once the exclusive province of the coffee table books, luxury travel publications, and the architecture issues of the mainstream golf publications, artistic depictions of golf’s playing fields have been devolved to the people in the digital age.

On the ninth night of Christmas, I struggle with the fact that I am what is holding back my putting.

I contemplate how my local golf club professionals fulfill a role that I formerly found in my barber, my bartender, or my colleagues. Talker. Friend. Listener. Confidant. Fellow traveler. They are the fabric that binds me to my golf community, and the tie that binds that larger community together. And I'm better for knowing them.

Thoughts on the social and social media silo that I've landed in focused on golf swing speed and hitting the ball farther.

A playing partner, especially a randomly assigned one, can make or break a round of golf.

A rumination and three cheers for that collection of golf courses that are truly familiar, old haunts that are comfortable to play, no matter how long it's been since it was last played.

On the fourth night of Christmas, I ponder my golf present and future after a fourth month forced layoff from the game.

On the third night of Christmas, I spend a few moments reflecting on the role and importance of daydreaming in golf. Daydreams sometimes turn into plans, and, occasionally, even come true. That's enough to get me through, enough to keep me motivated, and the romance of the next adventure.

On the second night of Christmas, I reflect on what it means, if anything, that I played the best golf of my life in 2022. Can I continue to get better? Or is this as good as it gets? And will any of it ever be good enough? Happy Boxing Day, everybody