Golf course construction guru Mik Wells joins us this week to talk about his career in golf course construction, how that work has evolved in recent years as well as the influence he draws from the great golden age architects of yesteryear. Mik is such a fun person, we stayed wiht him up at the lodges in Cabot Highlands earlier this year and when we learnt he was over at Hinkley Golf Club doing some work to their bunkers during the off-season we couldn't resist going over for a bit of dinner and podcast! The work of Mik and the shapers are sometimes the most underrrated, the ability tio spoil any great concept or design, or equally bring to life something fairly mundane into some extraordinary. His latest project is building the new course at Cabot Highlands with architect Tom Doak and Clye Johnson, quite the task! In [...]

Sam, Tom & Bruce get together to recap the days major announcement from the USGA and the R&A related to the 'ODS' changes affecting golf ball performance. The latest rules will be implemented in 2028 (for elite players / tournament play only) giving manufacturers a healthy R&D window to perfect the ball which will now be tested at 125mph speeds, rather than the current 120mph level, with the same distance tolerance of 317 yards in place. In 2030 this will be implemented across all levels of the game and represents the biggest shift in equipment rules since the CoR changes which outlawed a number of drivers in 2005. The announcement follows the news in March that the USGA and the R&A were looking at a model local rule for specific tournaments where they could limit the distance the ball travels, and following a lot of pushback from various [...]

Sam, Tom & Bruce are held up in the warmth of the Woburn clubhouse as they talk about exhibition golf (following on from the latest and somewhat disastrous 'Netflix Cup', as well as shows like 'The Match') and talk about whether exhibition golf can ever be pulled off successfully. So we tuned into an episode of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf series, watched for ourselves and came back with some thoughts. It's a great episode this one which touches on equipment changes (announcement due from the R&A / USGA imminently), as well as course set up, green speeds, styles of play and much more. In November & December we have teamed up with Spornia.uk, the no.1 golf net as rated by MyGolfSpy and Golf Digest. For 10% the purchase of any golf net, as well as a free swing consultation & the chance to win a Garmin R10 launch [...]

Sam sits down with owner of National club Golfer - Tom Irwin - to talk about the history of Alwoodley Golf Club. The first design by Dr Alister Mackenzie who was part of a group of members that founded the club, how it came into being is one of the great stories in golf club history. A link to our Story of a Golf Club film can be found here In November & December we have teamed up with Spornia.uk, the no.1 golf net as rated by MyGolfSpy and Golf Digest. If you order now using the code 'cookiejar' you will receive: 10% or £50 off the retail price £25 golden ticket gift voucher 1 x free PGA teaching lesson Access to elite coaching programmes 4 x free eBooks by renowned PGA Instructor Ryan Mouque Latest Products [...]

A fresh course diaries takes Sam up to Huddersfield where he gets to visit Crosland Heath. A MacKenzie course which he's been keen to see for some time,  with the promise of heather, dramatic par 3's and some golden age. The club was founded in 1914 making this an early course for the good Dr whose work would span the globe and become the sistine chapels of golf course design. We talk about sustainability with the course, the work of MacKenzie, tje routing, the fog, Last of the Summer Wine and much much more. Head over to our blog for more about Crosland Heath here For the Mackenzie chronology please click the link here  In November & December we have teamed up with Spornia.uk, the no.1 golf net as rated by MyGolfSpy and Golf Digest. If you order now using the code 'cookiejar' you will receive: 10% or £50 off the [...]