The Tie Podcast

As the money in golf continues to go up, the elusiveness of a major seems to only be accentuated. With so many great players these days, there is one thing that you can't just buy or get anywhere, and that's one of the 4 trophies that matter. More and more players are becoming the types of guys who just don't care very  much about what their paycheck looks like at the end of the wee...

We talk a lot these days about pace of play and it's importance to the professional golf product. How it make pro golf more or less enjoyable to watch, whether there are steps that need to be taken to speed the game up, and a whole lot more. The conversation that often gets lost on us all is how the pro game and the pace of play we see out there trickles down into lower competitive levels as...

Let's go ahead and get it out there. FAZ. It was a big week with the FAZ. That said, this episode is not meant to berating of Tommy Fazio and our less than favorable opinion of his architectural style. More so, we are here to talk about Quail as it pertains to competitive golf, as well as the architectural merits of the course. Is Quail our favorite golf course in the world? Nope. Would we wa...

Tie Course Reviews is back for more and today we have three new categories of courses for you all: First off, great fast paced golf courses. These are places where not only is fast play possible, but is highly valued by those who play the course. A joy of a walk that displays the simplicity of the game and how it doesn't take much to create a high quality experience. Second, courses that exam...

The turn house, such an integral part of a round of golf or a golf course itself. While most every good turn house has its novelties, its standard fare, and many things in between, we can always search for better and in the world of turnhouses, like anything else, there are things we could use more of, and most certainly less of. Today we are here to call out a few of the things in the world of tu...

Lets be honest, the Zurich has seen better days. Many of the guys in the field this week probably havent been a real part of the pro golf storyline in multiple years. To get this thing back on the rails, either we need more good players, or just some teams that make things more fun, so naturally we have gravitated toward the latter part of that conversation. Today we'll each be bringing to yo...

A great conversation today with Geoff discussing his new book, Golf Architecture for Normal People! This book really can have appeal to anyone who plays the game. Whether you have a passing interest in course architecture and are looking to learn a simple framework on how to evaluate the places you play golf or are deep in its intricacies, there is something to be gained from this book. Its a quic...

What an enigmatic character this man is. Its people like Phil who make sports interesting and after his incredible run at the Masters we figured we would hop on and have a more comprehensive discussion about what happened at Augusta and what we think we can expect from him for the rest of the year. We often apply rules in sports. Players can't do something after some age. No way you can retur...

We view golf course ratings and rankings a bit differently. To us, its all about how good is a course given the confines of how good it could be and how enjoyable it is to play each time you go. Not every course was given the piece of land nor investment to be a Pine Valley or Augusta National, and thats perfectly fine, because we don't like to talk about courses compared to all other courses...

One of the absolute coolest courses out there and a fantastic college golf event to catch this week on golf channel, The Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo is underway this week in Santa Cruz and we are here to prime you. Pasa is another Alister Mackenzie gem and is always a cool one to watch coming straight off The Masters as you will see many parallels between it and Augusta National. In toda...

We each own, follow, or believe in an assortment of brands that represent the way we see the game. Maybe it's the product itself, or the lifestyle it represents- but in the age of social media, the story can be just as powerful. Mike Norcia first got his hands on Maine sail fabric less than 3 years ago. He had the foresight to see an opportunity with head covers, accessories, and now half-set...

It lived up to the hype. The Tie Guys were on site for this past saturday's Augusta National Women's Amateur and my goodness was it a treat. All the charm and classic expectations of ANGC, with just a fraction of the crowds and a different set of players. What a treat to get to watch the best female amateurs in the world take on Augusta just before the pros get to. If you watched the eve...

Although not a part of the field this year due to shoulder surgery, Rachel has competed in 2 previous ANWAs, finishing one shot out of a playoff in 2021, so she certainly has plenty of knowledge of the golf course and tournament as a whole. Today, we talk a bit about Rachel's history at the tournament before parlaying that into some more specific questions about the golf course and what its l...

Rankings, what a concept. Everyone has their opinions of how to do it, who does it best, whether they actually matter at all, etc etc. We have been working on doing our own rankings for a long time as we have played so many courses and had lengthy conversations about every single one. That said, it is never easy to figure out to actually rank one course vs the next, so today we explain to you all...

Ian Critser joins us today from Beaverton, Oregon- a place he's called home for the last three years working for Mackenzie Golf Bags. I always enjoy hearing stories from others who are young in their careers and have attached themselves to interesting businesses. Mackenzie, in that regard, is fascinating. Mackenzie was a longstanding brand with a humble story. Nic Mulfler's (Owner) dad a...

Its the flavor of the week, and you bet that we're having it. Although we aren't super passionate about rollback from a standpoint of what the players think about it, etc. we do have a lot of interest in thinking about how this changes the landscape of the game with regard to where we play and how we play those places. There is a bit of an overlooked conversation in the game about the ob...

Gary Williams is one of the most experienced voices in golf today and after a long career in TV, radio, and now podcasting, Gary has started his own venture in an effort to create golf content that he is interested. There is so much to be said for doing exactly what you desire, and that is in essence what Gary is looking to do himself, and is empowering his partners at 5Clubs to do with their own...

The half par is such an integral piece of a good course. Because we do have established pars on every hole on every golf course, it makes it that much more interesting to implement some holes that straddle a couple different pars. It is always more interesting to watch players when they know there are strokes to be gained or lost on a given hole, and that is what half pars really bring out. A play...

HTT is back and this time with an absolute gun show! We are officially one month out from the Masters and to show our excitement for not only the first major of the year, at one of the best courses we saw all year on tour, but also the third, we are here to match the two up. LACC and Augusta at face value have very little in common. Different architects, opposite coasts, hyper urban vs rather rura...

The debate is nothing new, but the Players Championship only seems to get better every year and so the argument ripens on whether it should be considered the 5th big one? Majors are simply a classification and while they are NOT all created equal, we outline some of the reasons why the Players has all the makings to potentially be considered the 5th of them, but also highlight some of the reasons...

Kyle Harris is here! Kyle joins us after finishing his final day as Streamsong Resorts Golf Course Superintendent. So where is he going next? Nah, we're not playing that game. Kyle has a well-rounded perspective about maintenance, architecture, the business of golf, and its history. That alone makes this conversation worth listening to. We discuss Streamsong heavily- Red with Doak & team...

There are many types of courses out there, and not all of them are meant to wear every hat. That is to say, some courses are meant to be a fun enjoyable round for any golfer, some are meant to be a PGA Tour test, and some can do both. Today we will unpack these different types of courses, but the main emphasis will be on the tournament courses and what we believe makes a great tournament course. M...

John Eades is BACK! After winning the Charlotte City Amateur in 2022, it was nice to catch up again live in Tampa. John is in town for the Gasparilla Invitational, held at Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club- a Donald Ross design. But as the CEO at a growing leadership development firm, a father, and a member of the Charlotte community, golf gets less of him. So how does he prepare for big events? An...

The average age of a Masters Champions has been 32.2 years old, so, today at The Tie Podcast we are going to take our sides which side of the big 3-0 the winner will be this year. With so many great young players out there, there is a lot of reason to believe a twenty something will get it; however, history is on the side of the "old" guys, and there is plenty of reason to believe a more...

It's an exciting time to be a follower of amateur golf with so many great players doing great things and receiving awesome opportunities to showcase their talents. All the better, it is becoming more common to see amateur golf on TV. With 5 plus college events on TV this spring, the full USGA calendar of events, Amateurs competing in majors, and more. This all creates for a lot of opportuniti...