Belvedere Golf Club superintendent Jordan Caplan joins the podcast to talk about the Willie Watson course and his role as the club's fourth superintendent in its almost 100-year history. Jordan and Andy Johnson discuss the challenges of course maintenance in harsh Northern Lower Michigan winters and the differences between the Belvedere job and Jordan’s past work at Philadelphia Cricket Club. They also chat about trends in golf architecture vs. building architecture, the abundance of quality golf in Michigan, and how to get your kids interested in the game. The Superintendent Series is brought to you by the Toro Company.
Andrew Green is one of the busiest golf architects in the industry. He recently completed a restoration of Oak Hill's East Course and a renovation of Congressional's Blue Course, and he's currently doing work at Scioto, Wannamoisett, and Interlachen. Andrew's best-known project to date may be his bold 2017 restoration of Inverness Club, a 1919 Donald Ross design that has hosted six major championships. Next week, Inverness will appear on your TV as the host of the Solheim Cup, so Garrett Morrison figured it was a good time to call Andrew up and chat about Inverness's strengths, its complicated architectural history, Andrew's approach to balancing restoration with renovation, and his affection for a well-executed chocolate drop.
Nick Nate, superintendent at South Bend Country Club, talks with Andy Johnson about his career in turf, which has taken him from his hometown in South Bend, Indiana, to the Old Course and back home again. They discuss Nick's start in the business at Warren Golf Course when it first opened, the perks of his internship at St. Andrews and his stint in Scotland, prepping Medinah Country Club for the 2006 PGA Championship, and the challenges and rewards of bringing South Bend CC back to its George O'Neil roots. Nick also shares his Notre Dame gameday tips and predictions for the upcoming college football season. The Superintendent Series is brought to you by the Toro Company.
Today, Homer Kelley's 1969 book The Golfing Machine is a standard text for those who study the science of the golf swing. Famous instructors cite it, as do tour pros like Bryson DeChambeau and Steve Elkington. But in 1982, The Golfing Machine was most associated with 23-year-old Bobby Clampett, who had been schooled in Kelley's system. Clampett had compiled a stellar amateur résumé, and after two rounds of the '82 Open Championship, he led by five shots. He was on the verge of validating what he had once told a reporter about The Golfing Machine: "It's the Bible of golf." In this edition of our audio documentary series, we tell the story of Homer Kelley, Bobby Clampett, and their quest to prove that science could solve the mysteries of the game.
Season two of Fried Egg Stories is brought to you by Precision Pro Golf. This episode was produced by Garrett Morrison and mixed by Cameron Hurdus.
With the golf competitions underway at the Tokyo Olympics, Garrett Morrison sits down with Michael Wolf (@bamabearcat) to learn more about Japan's distinctive golf culture. Michael is a golf architecture and history nut who has traveled and played golf extensively in Japan. He and Garrett talk about the customs of Japanese golf clubs, Michael's tips and tricks for traveling within the country, and the top courses he has played there, including Olympic host Kasumigaseki Country Club. They also discuss the historical origins of golf in Japan and the flowering of Golden Age architecture in the country that resulted from Charles Hugh Alison's visit in the early 1930s.
