About Sam Williams

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So far Sam Williams has created 12 blog entries.

December 2024

280 – Lottie Woad

2024-12-10T06:49:57+00:00December 10th, 2024|Bruce's favourites, Golf Course Architecture, Players, Podcasts|

This week, Bruce and his better half—‘Cookie Jar Lady Captain’—Grace, found some time to catch up with Lottie Woad to talk about her truly stellar year in the game, with her win at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA), ascension to the top of the Women’s Amateur Golf Rankings, and, of course, being part of the GB&I side's victory in The Curtis Cup at Sunningdale. Lottie’s career has been one of the great stories of 2024, and it was great to have her on the pod to talk us through it all! Latest [...]

279 – 2024 Eclectic 18

2024-12-10T06:48:21+00:00December 10th, 2024|Golf Course Architecture, Podcasts, Tom's favourites|

Sam & Tom chat through the courses they have visited this year, and look at their composite Eclectic 18 scorecards in a straight up matchplay format. Who has made the best selection, you'll have to listen to the end to find out! Latest Products

278 – Bobby’s Open: The 1926 Open Championship with Dr Steven Reid

2024-12-10T06:53:56+00:00December 10th, 2024|Golf History, Player Profiles, Players, Podcasts, Sam's favourites|

Sam & Tom sit down in the members' bar at Royal Lytham & St Anne's Golf Club to meet with Dr Steven Reid, lifelong member at Lytham and author of Bobby's Open, charting the tale of how Bobby Jones came to win his first Claret Jug. He would go on to defend it successfully in 1927, as well as winning at Royal Liverpool in 1930 on his way to completing the 'impregnable quadrilateral'. Steven's book - foreworded by Jack Nicklaus - is a captivating read and brings to life in viivd detail the struggles Jones went through, not [...]

Secret Diary of a Club GM: vol. III – Course Closures

2024-12-06T11:56:44+00:00December 5th, 2024|Blog, Diaries of a GM|

He's at it again. Our mystery General Manager has found some time to tap out some musings on a sensitive topic... Course Closures! Winter Golf: Course Closed? Table of Contents Winter Golf: Course Closed? Ah, winter golf in the U.K. The days are shorter, the temperatures are lower, and the courses? Well, let’s just say they’ve entered “hibernation mode.” For the avid golfer, it’s like being handed a box of Ultras at Christmas when you asked for Pro V 1’s. Disappointing. But before you toss your clubs into the [...]

November 2024

The Berrie Portrait, words by Dr Steven Reid

2024-12-10T06:54:50+00:00November 29th, 2024|Blog, Golf History, Uncategorized|

Dr Steven Reid is a lifelong member of Royal Lytham & St Anne's Golf Club, an author and historian with more than a slight interest in the life of Bobby Jones. After our podcast discussing the 1926 Open Championship (brilliantly chronicled in his book; 'Bobby's Open', talk turned to the famous Berrie portrait which was commissioned by Wallasey member and ex-captain Sir Ernest Royden, and painted by John A.A.Berrie. In this excellent article, Steven takes us closer to how a portrait from 1930 came to become the most iconic image of Bobby Jones and one that we all [...]

Ocean’s Thirty Eight – The 38th Walker Cup at Ocean Forest

2024-11-24T20:12:06+00:00November 24th, 2024|Blog, Book Reviews, Uncategorized|

Following our recent podcast with Walker Cup legend Nigel Edwards, our very own Walker Cup correspondent and self-proclaimed Professor of Pace Putting - Dr Darragh Garrahy - took to his library and did some more digging on the 38th playing of The Walker Cup at Ocean Forest. 'Ocean's Thirty Eight' words by Darragh Garrahy A.K.A 'Dr Lag' Table of Contents The Lindy Effect Something called the Lindy Effect theorizes that the longer a non-perishable item is around, the more sure their future is- if a golf course has [...]

Secret Diary of a Club GM: vol. II – Annual Subscriptions

2024-11-15T08:22:28+00:00November 13th, 2024|Blog, Diaries of a GM, Uncategorized|

Amidst huge speculation among the golf community as to the identity of our mystery General Manager, our secret agent behind the desk has found time to tap out some more thoughts on a timely and particularly thorny topic… Annual subs as we head into Annual General Meeting (AGM) season here in the UK! Annual Subscriptions - The Elephant in the AGM. Table of Contents Members & Consumers Golf Club Committees and General Managers across the land will be in the process of drawing up their annual subscriptions for their [...]

October 2024

273 – Halloween Special Eclectic 18: Simon Haines (pt 2)

2024-10-30T21:41:32+00:00October 30th, 2024|Course Diaries, Eclectic 18, Golf History, Podcasts|

In this special two-part podcast, Simon unpacks his Eclectic 18 from holes that no longer exist. Please see our show notes on our blog here to view some of these holes, beautifully compiled by Simon. While the link to Halloween might be tenuous, we hope that doesn't deter you from enjoying what is an exceptional podcast. In the first part, we go through Simon's back nine. Par 32, 2,456 yards 10 - Sunningdale (New) - Par 3 - 160 yards 11 - Hangar Hill - Par 4 - 430 yards 12 - Chadwick Manor - Par 4 - [...]

Holes that No Longer Exist – Eclectic 18 w/ Simon Haines

2024-11-02T07:14:17+00:00October 30th, 2024|Blog, Eclectic 18, Golf History|

Simon Haines sat down with us to record this epic two-part Eclectic 18 special with us, chronicling some of the most interesting holes which ‘no longer exist’.   We are enormously grateful for the research and time taken to pull this together, especially these archive images which he has kindly shared with us for publication. The podcasts can be found on this page, and on all major podcasting platforms.  Simon Haines is a Midlands-man, a good friend of ours and one of the most respected golf course historians out there, who - over many many years now - has [...]

272 – Halloween Special Eclectic 18: Simon Haines (pt 1)

2024-10-30T21:39:18+00:00October 29th, 2024|Course Diaries, Eclectic 18, Golf History, Podcasts|

In this special two-part podcast, Simon unpacks his Eclectic 18 from holes that no longer exist. Please see our show notes on our blog here to view some of these holes, beautifully compiled by Simon. While the link to Halloween might be tenuous, we hope that doesn't deter you from enjoying what is an exceptional podcast. In the first part, we go through Simon's front nine. Par 34, 2,845 yards 1 - Prestwick - Par 5 - 578 yards 2 - Headingley - Par 4 - 407 yards 3 - Royal St George's - Par 4 - 267 [...]

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