The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

The final two days of the 2022 PGA Championship were generally a bit of a slog. The big names were going in the wrong direction, and the rest of the leaderboard wasn't producing much excitement. But then the final hour gave us Justin Thomas's playoff win, and all was forgiven. To recap the storylines of what ended up being a fun week, Garrett Morrison talks with three guests: Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn), sportswriter for The Athletic; The Fried Egg's own Andy Johnson; and Stephen Britton (@sbrittonturf), golf course superintendent at the Chevy Chase Club.

Time stamps:

(3:28) Brendan Quinn

(28:44) Andy Johnson

(54:30) Stephen Britton

After a day of walking around Southern Hills Country Club and watching the first round of the PGA Championship, Garrett Morrison and Meg Adkins convene in the media center (right next to KVV as he did a guest spot on The Shotgun Start!) to discuss it all. Garrett and Meg offer observations on the tournament, the course, and the fans, and they wrap up with a few things they'll be watching for over the weekend.

It's PGA Championship week! ESPN.com's Kevin Van Valkenburg (@kvanvalkenburg), who will be on site at Southern Hills, talks with Andy Johnson about all the major storylines heading into the second men's major of the year. From the challenges of the Perry Maxwell design to the players they think have the best chance to succeed, Andy and Kevin dive deep into all things PGA, including some suggested requirements for the club pros in the field this week.

Note: This podcast was recorded before it was announced that Phil Mickelson had withdrawn from the PGA Championship.

It's Flashback Friday: Fried Egg Edition! With the 2022 PGA Championship next week, Andy Johnson and Brendan Porath join Garrett Morrison to look back Phil Mickelson's victory last year at the Ocean Course. Andy and Brendan were on site at Kiawah Island all week. They reminisce about the lead-up to the event, the excitement around the venue, and the wild Sunday finish, which included a broadcast appearance by Andy himself. The group also reflects on what's transpired for Phil since his win and how the events of the past 12 months have colored their recollections of that historic week.

Today's guest on our Superintendent Series is Tyler Marcotte, the Head Superintendent at Brambles in Middletown, California. Tyler has one of the more interesting jobs in turf right now. He is currently overseeing the grow-in at Brambles, a new Coore & Crenshaw design just north of Napa Valley, and he has some unique co-workers: sheep! He shares details with Andy Johnson on how he plans to use sheep instead of mowers and what long-term benefits he hopes the sheep will bring. Tyler also provides an update on the grow-in and explains how his experiences working all over the country have aided him at Brambles.

The Superintendent Series is brought to you by the Toro Company.

With our fourth deep dive into the five 18-hole courses at Bandon Dunes, we arrive at Tom Doak’s Pacific Dunes, which opened in 2001. Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison discuss the course’s intricate strategic puzzles; its use of the “sandy bowl,” the “gorse plain,” and a spectacular stretch of cliff-side land; its collection of short par 4s; and the way that Pacific Dunes, more than any other course at the resort, demands smart, precise golf.  Tom Doak himself makes a cameo (16:30) to tell the story of how he discovered the portion of the property that would become the famous 13th hole. 

 The Bandon Deep Dives are brought to you by Zero Restriction.

Golf's accessibility problem isn't new, and fixing it won't happen overnight. Golf architect Christine Fraser (@cfgolfdesign) knows this, but she also believes that good course design can chip away at the issue. She talks with Garrett Morrison about how tee positions, fairway lines, maintenance practices, and even entrances into golf facilities can all be designed to encourage an inclusive culture. Christine has worked on courses all over the world, including Lahinch, Royal Birkdale, and the Toronto Golf Club, and as one of the few women in golf architecture, she offers a fresh and important perspective.

The 2022 PGA Championship, which starts in three weeks, will be held at Southern Hills Country Club, a 1936 Perry Maxwell masterwork that has recently undergone a historical renovation by Hanse Golf Course Design. In this episode, Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison talk about what makes Southern Hills an exciting major venue and chat with Gil Hanse himself about his team’s work on the course.

For the latest edition of our Superintendent Series, Andy Johnson talks with Justin DePippo, the Director of Golf Course and Grounds at Bel-Air Country Club. Andy and Justin discuss Tom Doak's recent restoration of George Thomas's design at Bel-Air, the unique challenges of maintaining turf in the California canyons, the complex logistics behind golf course construction, and a variety of other topics.

The Superintendent Series is brought to you by the Toro Company.

Happy Earth Day! As we did last year at this time, we asked Dr. Cole Thompson to come on the podcast and chat about golf's relationship with the environment. Cole is the assistant director of Green Section Research at the USGA, and he helps run the Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program. In this episode, Cole talks with Garrett Morrison about what may be the golf course industry's single biggest problem in the 21st century: water. Cole and Garrett address the optics issues around using water for recreational purposes in an era of climate change before delving into the many ways that golf courses can conserve more water and even offer H2O-related benefits to their communities.