The Firm & Fast Golf Podcast

Iain Forrester is a Scottish Golf Professional who has been based in The Netherlands since 1988. He joined me recently for an extensive chat about Hickory Golf, Golf in the Netherlands and his life in golf. This is a story he forgot to tell us, thankfully I managed to press record again before we ended our time together. The preceding conversation was most enjoyable and will be released over the c...

Aspiring honorary Irishman, Richard Pennell, joins us on this episode to reminisce about four golf trips he undertook to Ireland over the past 12 months. The North Coast & Donegal featured heavily and rightly so. The intrepid traveller also found time to schedule two whistle stop visits to County Mayo on the very Wild Atlantic Way, while also visiting a smattering of what the Dublin area has t...

Mike Clayton joins me on this episode to provide us with an update on grow in at 7 Mile Beach, The Sandbelt Invitational, the Australian Summer of Golf and some local projects that Clayts, Harley Kruse and Lukas Michel have been working on recently. We also explore; the challenges that flatter sites present to the course designer, the relative under appreciation of English Golf, Tom Simpson, CDP i...

After a summer break filled with a research project (which is almost assuredly going to translate into an episode), F&F are back with a new episode recently recorded with Colin Byrne... Many listeners will recognize Colin's name as bag man supremo with more than 40 years logged thus far as a globe trotting golfing sherpa. He has caddied for many of the modern greats including Retief Goosen, Er...

A recent trip to Walton Heath afforded me an opportunity to meet with Philip Truett at his home at Walton on the Hill. Philip recently co-authored a biography on William Herbert Fowler, entitled 'A Matter of Course'. The book paints a brilliant picture of a life well lived, not without a modicum of drama. Fowler by all accounts was a by-product of his time and social standing, who undoubteldy left...

Recorded 1/5/2024 Nathan Bennett comes from counrty Victorian farming stock, so he's not afraid of hard yakka ('hard work' for non Australians). His can do approach has seen him on a green keeping journey which started in Murray Downs and would go on to include Metropolitan, Moonah Legends, The Sands and finally Royal Adelaide Golf Club. We take a look at Nathan's journey while also lingering upon...

The stars finally aligned recently in providing me with an opportunity to spend some time with Angela Moser - golf course architect, shaper and world traveller! There was no sign of either a dozer or a digger.... although I am absolutely sure that one of those is undoubtedly in her immediate future. In this episode we take a deep dive on Renaissance's only current Irish course, St Patricks Links @...

Angela Moser has just completed the #10 Course at Pinehurst for Tom Doak's Renaissance Golf Design - she joined me recently for golf at St Patricks Links (no surprise, she's a baller) and a number of conversations, one of which we recorded for your enjoyment. Our full conversation takes a look at Angela's career to date, which includes significant involvement at St Patricks @ Rosapenna, The Renais...

Royal Portrush hosted it's first Open Championship in 1951, with Max Faulkner triumphing over Harry Colt's Dunluce Course... at the time Bernard Darwin was minded to write that Colt's design of the Dunluce links was 'a monument more enduring than Brass'. As listeners will know the Open Championship returned to Royal Portrush in 2019. In advance of the 148th staging of the Championship MacKenzie &a...

County Sligo Golf Club celebrates 130 years of existence in 2024. Club members recently approved a course development plan, prepared by course designers M&E. In this episode we catch up with Council member David Dunne to hear about the scope of these plans, which will be implemented over the coming years. David has an interesting back story which we explore in parallel with our chat about the...

Friend of the pod Mark Millar, the Superintendent at County Sligo Golf Club, joined us for a chat in the Ewing Room in the clubhouse at Rosses Point during a recent visit to the home of the West of Ireland Amateur Championship. The Club has hosted the event since its inaugural hosting of the event in 1923. We take a look at the site at Rosses, discussing some of the challenges that Mark faces thro...

The First in a four part series that cover the F&F Spring Break to Counties Sligo and Mayo. Myself and a good mate set off from Dublin to the Atlantic West Coast of Ireland to explore the delights of links golf at Rosses Point, Strandhill, Enniscrone & Belmullet. Please take a look at the F&F Instagram page to view a number of reels showing County Sligo, Strandhill, Enniscrone and Carn...

Tony Cunningham is a long standing member at County Sligo Golf Club at Rosses Point. While visiting recently we sat down with him to explore the origin story of ine of the grand old dames of Irish Golf. Founded by members of the Sligo Militia in 1894, the club celebrates 130 years in 2024. The Club has hosted the West of Ireland Championships since its introduction/inception in 1923 - the West her...

Leo Barber the GM and Course Manager at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club on the Kapiti Coast of the North Island of New Zealand joins us for this episode. I have had the great pleasure of playing the links at Paraparaumu Beach on a number of occasions, over the course of 4 rounds there, thus far, the washboard fairways and associated dunescapes really resonated with this self confessed links junkie. Le...

In this final instalment of my chat with Pat Ruddy we take a look at his work in County Donegal - revising Eddie Hackett's work at both Murvagh and Ballyliffin, revising Morris, Vardon and Colt at Rosapenna, creating muscular modern links courses at Ballyliifin (Glashedy) and Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) and a revitalisation project at the Colt and Alison designed County Sligo Golf Club. Apologies for...

This is part two of my chat with Pat Ruddy (final part due in a few weeks), we hope you enjoy our conversation! In this episode we focus on the origin story of The European Club which is located in Brittas Bay in County Wicklow - how the site was eventually found, the opening day, a course of 20 holes, sleeper shod bunkers and a 127 yard green..... it's a cracking story.... well told! Apologies fo...

Pat Ruddy may be known to many of you as the owner and course designer of The European Club located at Brittas Bay, Co. Wicklow. That association is central to his story, however, it does not tell the full tale. In addition to course design Mr Ruddy is a Golf Journalist, Author, Bibliophile, Historian and Magazine publisher. A native of Ballymote, Co. Mayo, Ruddy would often cycle 20 miles from hi...

Mike DeVries joins us from a wintery Michigan in advance of what may be his final construction visit to the 7 Mile Beach Golf Development that he is currently building for Mat Goggin in Hobart, Tasmania. We discuss his early influences at Crystal Downs in Michigan, restoration work at the Meadow Club, The Addington & Royal Dublin. We take a quick look at both the Addington in London and the 7M...

Gordon Hobson joins us in this episode to focus upon a story, arguably unprecedented in the world of golf. Calvin Peete was born into to a family of migrant laborers in 1943, dropping out of school in the eighth grade he went to work picking crops....not a familiar springboard for PGA Tour success, particularly when you realise that he played his first game of golf at the age of 23! Dedication and...

Ally McIntosh joins us for a slightly delayed review of our respective 2023 golfing years. We catch up on renovations at Strandhill and Ally's plans at Carne Golf Links in 2024. Take a look at some of the Irish golfing highlights to come over the year to come and compare notes on various courses that we have visited over the course of the past year and locations we are eyeing up for the year to co...

Over the course of researching the history of golf in the Netherlands two golf related stories have really resonated with me. In this episode we are joined by Stephen Zivin and to investigate the initial history of a Charles Hugh Alison design at De Wildhoeve in The Hague, now the home of the Royal Hague Golf Club. The story is intertwined by its' original owner, a gentleman by the name of Daniel...

Robin Bargmann joins us for the final time, as we explore how the game of golf in the Netherlands started on the private estates of the aristocratic and mercantile families of Holland. We take a look at some of these early pioneers, that brought the game to the dunescape and heathland of the lowlands. Over time the custodians of the first clubs, engaged notable names such as Harry Colt, Hugh Aliso...

'I think you always have to go to the context, to understand something' R. Bargmann. Robin Bargmann joins us for the second instalment on the back story to dutch golf. Today we touch on some Dutch history including the Spanish Armada, the fall of Antwerp and subsequent rise of Amsterdam, the Dutch masters and the Burghers, the demise of the game of colf, not to forget the foundation of the Dutch R...

Robin Bargmann joins us on this episode to begin an exploration of early golf and the influence that the European lowlands had on the modern game of golf, founded in Scotland in the 15th century. Robin is widley recognised as one of the leading golf scholars in The Netherlands and has written a number of books including Serendipity of Early Golf which traces the many connections between Holland an...

In this second installment of our docupod series we take a look at the creation of the grounds for golf in the Netherlands. Stepping into a geological time machine with the help of Robert Hack we take a look at the geography, geology and underlying history of the low countries and how natural forces and the hand of man have conspired to create a dunescape, sandy interior and polderland that is uti...