Posts on courses, architects, the lefty experience, and the books that change how I think about golf. Specific over general. Honest over polished.
October 15, 2026 · Trip Report
75 Red, 77 Blue, and a rain-soaked third round. Three matches won. Craig Myroth chipped in from 44 yards to close the alternate shot 2up on 18. Handicap down to 2.9. The countdown series, resolved.
October 6, 2026 · Round Report
74 in the four-ball. 6 birdies in the scramble. Low gross champions. Names on the clubhouse board in gold ink. The last competitive reps before Streamsong — and the handicap dropped to 3.4.
October 1, 2026 · Anticipation
The lesson is done. The 9-hole test is done. The Henry Cup is the last competitive reps. Two range sessions and one putting session remain. The countdown enters its final week — and the final week is simpler than the last one.
September 29, 2026 · Practice
Three days after Dave Theise identified the steep downswing path, 9 holes to test the fix. Some errant shots. But the shape is visible. The plane mate drill meets the golf course.
September 24, 2026 · Anticipation
Seven days ago, the putter was the project and the practice tracker was empty. Then the Patterson Invitational: two 75s, the putter woke up (31 putts, +0.9 SG), and a Dave Theise lesson explained why the approach isn't always elite. The matchup hasn't changed. The data has.
September 22, 2026 · Round Report
Member-Guest with Matt Ammon, 1st Flight. Two rounds, two 75s — different paths. Round 1: approach +3.5 SG, 13/18 GIR, putter cold. Round 2: back nine 35 with 31 putts and 3 birdies. Then Dave Theise explained why the approach isn't always elite.
September 17, 2026 · Anticipation
The 28-day plan was clear: putting under pressure, driver release feel, walk every round, one lesson with Dave. Three weeks later, the practice tracker is empty. The approach is still elite. The plan hasn't been touched. The gap between knowing and doing is the only gap that matters now.
September 10, 2026 · Anticipation
Three weeks out. The qualifier data mapped onto the three courses: the Red matches up with the approach, the Blue with the driver, the Black with the putter. Where the game is ready, where it's not, and what the next four weeks look like.
August 27, 2026 · Anticipation
Six weeks out from Streamsong, the countdown post gets an update. Two Club Championship qualifiers from the tips reweighted the prep: the approach is a weapon (+4.2 SG), the driver is a fix in progress, and the putter is the entire gap between 81 and par. The data says the irons are ready. The trust is the project.
August 25, 2026 · Round Report
14/18 GIR from the tips. Approach SG +4.2 — elite again. Driver improved from -3.3 to -2.1. The lesson worked. But two four-putts, four missed 3-footers, putting SG -6.4. The putting IS the over-rating. Fix the putter and it's par from the tips.
August 20, 2026 · Instruction
85 from the tips in the Club Championship Qualifier. Driver —3.3 SG, putter —7.7. Both had the same root cause: holding off the release through impact. Two lessons with Dave Theise, two weeks apart — and the fix was the opposite of what I thought.
August 13, 2026 · Anticipation
Eight weeks out from the HSC Golf Club's 10th anniversary trip. Three architects, one mine, 54 holes. Where the game is right now — 4.8 HCP, career round at Patterson, putting setup work with Dave Theise — and what the next 56 days look like.
August 16, 2026 · Round Report
7,140 yards from the black tees. Club Championship Qualifier — every putt holed, no gimmes. 85 with two or three bad swings all day. 12/18 GIR from the tips. Putting SG -7.7. The margin from the tips is unforgiving.
August 7, 2026 · Round Report
Even par 71. Three consecutive birdies on 13-14-15. Approach SG +4.6 — career-level. 15/18 GIR. The putter cost 2.6 strokes. The ball striking is real. The putting is the last layer.
July 25, 2026 · Round Report
A 4-iron from 205 uphill to 7 feet on 6. A 315-yard drive and 7-iron to 15 feet on 18 — missed eagle by two feet. Two birdies, two different shots, one round. The 4-iron is becoming a signature shot.
July 18, 2026 · Photo Essay
I wrote the essay before I played the round. 78 at Crooked Stick, 5.0 diff, 4.8 HCP. The course where Pete Dye invented everything.
July 23, 2026 · Architecture & Instruction
Seth Raynor's 12th is a Cape template — water left, green angled away. A lesson with Dave Theise on the push-fade miss that keeps finding the creek — and what Broadie's dispersion framework says about why.
July 14, 2026 · Round Report
Three birdies on the back nine — holes 15, 16, and 18. Finally birdied 18. 32 putts, 36 on the back. The closing stretch that changes how the week feels.
June 3, 2026 · Course Notes
Three birdies, a Bryson bunker shot, and a missed 2-footer because everyone was walking to the bar. A round at RTJ Sr.'s Patterson Club.
May 16, 2026 · Architecture
Carved from coral by hand. Guarded by the sea. How Pete Dye built his first masterpiece beside the Caribbean — and chose to spend eternity at its 8th green.
May 14, 2026 · Architecture
Cape Arundel and Walter Travis's wildly undulating greens — false fronts, chocolate-drop mounds, and why a 5,900-yard course still beats you up.
May 14, 2026 · Architecture
25 feet of sand, railway sleepers, and a blind second shot — the 16th at Southport & Ainsdale is named after the man who couldn't get out of it.
May 2, 2026 · Travel
Four days on the English coast — Royal Liverpool, Royal Lytham, Formby, Southport & Ainsdale. What links golf actually asks of you, and the lefty who once won here.
Apr 22, 2026 · Architecture
Redan. Biarritz. Alps. Eden. The four templates that built American golf architecture — and where to play each one.
May 23, 2026 · Architecture
Sweetens Cove, Landmand, Inness — how Rob Collins and Tad King broke from template, built a cult following from a gravel pit, invented the no-tee-time model, and changed what a golf course can be.
May 24, 2026 · Architecture · Heavyweight Contenders
One lets the land decide. The other decided for it. Two philosophies that reshaped American golf — from Kiawah to Streamsong, Blackwolf Run to The Loop.
May 9, 2026 · Industry
KSL bought Invited for $2.6B. Bain bought Concert Golf for $1.3B. Topgolf sold for $1.1B. Inside the wave of private equity consolidation reshaping who owns American golf.
July 6, 2026 · Architecture
Pete Dye's laboratory in Carmel, Indiana. Gil Hanse's renovation. The course where Dye invented everything — and the architect who restored it decades later.
July 9, 2026 · Architecture
Coore & Crenshaw, Tom Doak, Gil Hanse — three of the most important architects alive, each given a piece of the same Florida phosphate mine. The most architecturally significant resort in America.
May 8, 2026 · Course Stories
Cherokee (1900) and Seneca (1937): Kentucky's oldest muni and A.W. Tillinghast's public masterpiece where Gary Player won his first PGA Tour event. The story of Louisville's fight to save its municipal golf.
May 8, 2026 · Course Stories
Dyker Beach, Forest Park, Marine Park, and Silver Lake — four munis, four boroughs, one idea: golf belongs to everybody. The NYC public circuit that's been serving working golfers for over a century.
From Brooklyn to Louisville, America's oldest public courses are democratic infrastructure — not interchangeable assets on a spreadsheet. One anchor essay and nine course portraits.
May 11, 2026 · Muni Series
Cherokee fought off closure. Seneca gave Gary Player his first win. The Park proved restoration works. The case for treating public golf as infrastructure.
Louisville · 1900
The course that refused to die. Built against Olmsted's wishes. Saved by a high school golf team.
Louisville · 1937
Where Gary Player became Gary Player. Tillinghast designed. First PGA Tour win, 1958.
Louisville · 1937
Tillinghast's other Louisville muni. Same year as Seneca. Still in the shadows, still standing.
Bronx · 1895
Where American public golf began. First public course in the country. 130 years running.
Brooklyn · 1897
The muni that hosts weddings. Olmsted parkland. Brooklyn's second-oldest public course.
Queens · 1901
The course that absorbed the expressway. Bendelow on glacial debris. It never closed.
Brooklyn · 1964
RTJ Sr. on a reclaimed tidal flat. 7,000 yards, links-style. The wind is the defense.
Staten Island · 1929
The Working Man's Country Club. Pro shop is a trailer. Two par 5s. 95 years running.
West Palm Beach · 2023
When a city bets on public golf. $55M, Gil Hanse, NCAA regionals. Proof of concept.
August 6, 2026 · Instruction
A putting lesson with Dave Theise revealed the root cause of inconsistent misses: not a stroke problem, a setup problem. Eyes over the ball, handle thru impact, and the hockey analogy that fixed it.
August 1, 2026 · Book Review · ★★★★★
The range and the library are the same room. Newport's argument that focused, distraction-free concentration is a trainable skill — and that most practice is shallow work with a golf club in your hands. Why the phone goes in the bag.
July 19, 2026 · Book Review · ★★★★★
The book that told me my putting wasn't the problem. My 7-iron was. Broadie's strokes-gained data says the long game accounts for two-thirds of scoring differences — and the putting-wins-tournaments cliché is backwards.
May 10, 2026 · Book Review · ★★★★★
The book that teaches you how to read a golf course. Doak's philosophy before he built Pacific Dunes. Required reading for anyone who thinks about architecture.
Apr 18, 2026 · Book Review
Pia Nilsson's VISION54 philosophy. The mental game book that actually gives you something to do on the course.
Apr 18, 2026 · Book Review
Pete Dye's autobiography. How a life insurance salesman became the most controversial course designer in history.
Apr 17, 2026 · Essay
How I rank courses: a physical wall of golf balls, one from each favorite. When a new course earns a spot, everything shifts.
Apr 17, 2026 · Analysis
Analyzing my top 50 courses to find the biggest gaps. Where should the next trip go for maximum impact?
Apr 17, 2026 · Essay
Left-handed golfers face fewer equipment choices, fewer demo days, and less representation. Here's what's actually missing in 2026.