Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 1: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2: And when I find my ball.
Speaker 1: In a brid egg Frida egg the dread and Frida Egg,
Speaker 1: Frida Egg, fridagg Frida egg, bride egg.
Speaker 2: Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Frida Egg Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison.
Speaker 1: Today we're talking about golf in the Monterey, California area,
Speaker 1: where I lived for five years, and here to discuss
Speaker 1: that with me is Brendan Porath. Brendan, how you do?
Speaker 2: I'm great, Garrett, Thanks so much for having me excited
Speaker 2: to talk about this today.
Speaker 1: So the reason we're focusing on Monterey today is that
Speaker 1: this week the US Women's Open will be held at
Speaker 1: Pebble Beach for the first time. So we can start
Speaker 1: off just by talking about US Women's Open a little bit.
Speaker 1: Talk about Pebble Beach. You know, as this tournament is approaching,
Speaker 1: what are you looking out for? What storylines are you
Speaker 1: tracking going into the week?
Speaker 2: I think a prominent story and an obvious one is
Speaker 2: the venue, right, and you know we tend to focus
Speaker 2: that on that regardless at the Frida Egg and we're entering,
Speaker 2: or have entered, been, in this era of I think
Speaker 2: venues taking on an increased emphasis in prominence, certainly from
Speaker 2: the outside consumer, but also from the governing bodies and
Speaker 2: the organizations. And I think when I talk venue, I'm
Speaker 2: talking about the golf course itself. I'm not necessarily talking
Speaker 2: about infrastructure. I'd say the Ryder Cup remains kind of
Speaker 2: the lone wolf there where the primary concern is commerce
Speaker 2: and what can be achieved on the grounds. But the
Speaker 2: venue push has certainly morphed into the women's game, or
Speaker 2: transitioned over into the women's game. It's been a primary
Speaker 2: area of emphasis, with the PGA, the LPGA a little
Speaker 2: bit less so. But but the other bodies out, you know,
Speaker 2: the USGA being the primary one. And there's some cognitive dissonance.
Speaker 2: Why has this not happened? But you're you're happy to
Speaker 2: be there, You're excited about women's golf going to Pebble Beach,
Speaker 2: and I think it's it's, you know, something to celebrate,
Speaker 2: while also understanding it's twenty twenty three and the women
Speaker 2: should have been playing in the cathedrals of American golf.
Speaker 2: They should have been It shouldn't have taken until now.
Speaker 2: There's been some you know, championships here, but not a
Speaker 2: major like this, right, and not a modern era major.
Speaker 2: And I think it elevates the women's game in a
Speaker 2: way that it should have been before. But happy that
Speaker 2: it's doing so now. I saw you this is just
Speaker 2: a random aside. I saw there was someone was sharing
Speaker 2: Ted Williams's Hall of Fame induction speech on Twitter and
Speaker 2: I hadn't really seen it. I'd read it before, and
Speaker 2: he used it as a moment, kind of an amazing
Speaker 2: moment to advocate for Negro League's players, being like, this
Speaker 2: isn't a true Hall of Fame, this isn't like Satchel Page,
Speaker 2: like they never had an opportunity to play against me.
Speaker 2: Of course, women's golf is a separate league and a
Speaker 2: different sport, and I'm not suggesting, you know, they should
Speaker 2: be playing against the men, but it is the game
Speaker 2: of golf, and they should have had access to these
Speaker 2: kind of cathedrals. And we've seen it a little bit
Speaker 2: with Anwan now. But that's what I'm most excited about
Speaker 2: this championship, this sport being elevated and having this access
Speaker 2: in this stage.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and So there are two things that you know,
Speaker 1: you sort of keep present at all times. One is
Speaker 1: that we're happy that the US Women's Open is going
Speaker 1: to Pebble Beach. That's a great thing and it's a
Speaker 1: moment in history that needs to be recognized. At the
Speaker 1: same time, we also can feel a little bit of
Speaker 1: regret that for a long time, the US Women's Open
Speaker 1: did not go to worthy venues every year, and that
Speaker 1: history needs to be remembered as well. You know, this
Speaker 1: adjustment should have been made a long time ago, but
Speaker 1: it is good that it's being made now. So, Yeah,
Speaker 1: gonna be really cool to see Pebble Beach this coming
Speaker 1: week with a different set of players. Are so used
Speaker 1: to seeing the men play it. I'm very curious to
Speaker 1: see how it goes for the women. Are there any
Speaker 1: holes in particular for you that you're excited to see
Speaker 1: the women grapple with as opposed to how we've gotten
Speaker 1: used to seeing the men play this course?
Speaker 2: I think you know, six, obviously for me, is just
Speaker 2: the stunner hole, right, There's many stunners for me. I'm
Speaker 2: not kind of covering new ground here with suggesting six
Speaker 2: is a good golf hole, but I'm curious to see
Speaker 2: how they set it up, how the women, how you
Speaker 2: know where the tea box is, how they play it.
Speaker 2: I'd say for the men, it's largely, you know, smash
Speaker 2: it up the left, regardless of whether it's you know,
Speaker 2: fairway or not, and then you launch one to the
Speaker 2: front of the green right and runs on. I'm just curious, like,
Speaker 2: is that second shot a real sort of blind I mean,
Speaker 2: it's obviously a blind shot, but but what is how
Speaker 2: will that play? How far back will it play? Is
Speaker 2: it a real three shot hole, you know? Or is
Speaker 2: it that the second shot getting home a real heroic shot?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: To get there it's already a tough blind shot, but
Speaker 2: to get it there is it? Is it an extra
Speaker 2: bit of heroism that that maybe was intended? So I'm
Speaker 2: certainly excited about six. And then I'm curious generally, like
Speaker 2: where the tea boxes are positioned. You know, we've seen
Speaker 2: the PGA Tour dabble with that t at nine right
Speaker 2: that that's kind of to the right of eight, Like
Speaker 2: where do they experiment with this? So I my time
Speaker 2: to you, though you are intimately familiar with the venue.
Speaker 2: I've been there, I've seen championships there, But for me,
Speaker 2: some of these part fives and six being prominent is
Speaker 2: what I'm looking at.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I suppose I am familiar with it
Speaker 1: at this point. But the funny thing is is that
Speaker 1: when I lived very close to Pebble Beach Golf Links, right,
Speaker 1: I wasn't all that familiar with it because I didn't
Speaker 1: spend that much time out there. I went to still
Speaker 1: Water Cove on picnics with my family, using the coastal
Speaker 1: access that they provide out there pretty frequently. So I
Speaker 1: saw a lot of holes four and five and seventeen,
Speaker 1: which are kind of the holes that you see when
Speaker 1: you go out to Stillwater Cove and use that sort
Speaker 1: of public portion or public access portion of the property.
Speaker 1: But I didn't, I mean, I didn't play Pebble Beach
Speaker 1: a whole lot. When I lived in Pebble Beach, I
Speaker 1: was living on the campus of Stevenson School, which is
Speaker 1: a boarding school where I used to teach. I lived
Speaker 1: in a house on campus with my family, and so
Speaker 1: we were right next to Spyglass Hill, right next to
Speaker 1: Poppy Hills, right next to Pebble Beach. But the place
Speaker 1: that I played was Poppy Hills. So but since then,
Speaker 1: you know, as a number of the golf media, I've
Speaker 1: gotten the privilege of playing the course a few times
Speaker 1: and that has been really exciting. And you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of critiques to be made of Pebble Beach,
Speaker 1: but you have to remember that at the base of it,
Speaker 1: this is an extremely stunning, remarkable golf course. One set
Speaker 1: of holes or one hole really that I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see the women play. And it's a set of holes
Speaker 1: in the sense that there are other holes at Pebble
Speaker 1: Beach that functions sort of like this, But focus in
Speaker 1: on the tenth hole, which is supposed to be a
Speaker 1: long brute of a par four right along the coast.
Speaker 1: The big challenge of the hole is not just that
Speaker 1: cliff and then Carmel Beach below it. You know, that's
Speaker 1: the the hazard that everybody focuses on. Your eye goes
Speaker 1: straight there when you're standing on that tee. But I
Speaker 1: think the real challenge of the hole is the left
Speaker 1: to right tilt of the fairway. That tilt is so
Speaker 1: significant there. That slope is a lot more severe than
Speaker 1: it looks on TV. On TV, it looks kind of flat,
Speaker 1: but when you're there, it's a very high left side
Speaker 1: to a very low right side. It's a little bit
Speaker 1: flatter the closer you get to the coastline. And that's
Speaker 1: a principle that you see throughout Pebble Beach. That's the
Speaker 1: same case on nine, it's the same case on six.
Speaker 1: So on ten you have that massive tilt right, and
Speaker 1: the more you play away from the coast off the tee,
Speaker 1: the more you have to grapple with that slope on
Speaker 1: your approach. The ball is going to be below your
Speaker 1: feet as a right hander, or well above your feet
Speaker 1: as a left hander, which is going to promote a
Speaker 1: ballflight that takes your ball to the right, which is
Speaker 1: toward the coast, and so everything is going to be
Speaker 1: pushing you that direction, especially if you play away from
Speaker 1: the cliffs off the tee. If you go a little
Speaker 1: bit nearer to them, then you'll have somewhat more level
Speaker 1: of a lie, and you'll also have a safer angle
Speaker 1: into the green which does open up from the coastline stretch.
Speaker 1: And so that's how the hole is supposed to function.
Speaker 1: Now for the men, ten has become a much shorter hole.
Speaker 1: That hole is just you know, it's not what it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be that should be like a driver three
Speaker 1: wood hole. And so I'm curious to see what it
Speaker 1: becomes for the US Women's Open, what teas they use,
Speaker 1: and what that hole is like for the distance that
Speaker 1: the women hit the ball, and whether the strategies of
Speaker 1: it having to do with the slope and the angles
Speaker 1: become more relevant for them. Uh.
Speaker 2: An interesting aspect to that for a championship like this too.
Speaker 2: And Jeff Ogilvie I think has mentioned this to Andy
Speaker 2: or somewhere in a podcast starting on ten split teas.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is is pretty dramatic difference. It is
Speaker 2: certainly a pebble beach, with the one and two being
Speaker 2: fairly gentle.
Speaker 1: Obviously, it's something that tour would do. The Patrick read right.
Speaker 2: Right right, Yeah, I mean you get that, you know,
Speaker 2: you get that first tea time, early morning tea, you
Speaker 2: go early at off ten and it's kind of a
Speaker 2: it's a real way to wake up, right, It's a
Speaker 2: real real way to kind of slap you in the
Speaker 2: face compared to going off one. Right, and you have
Speaker 2: some tough cold holes. Fourteen can kind of you know,
Speaker 2: punch you, and you know one through four aren't the hardest, right,
Speaker 2: It's a pretty dramatic difference, and so that I know
Speaker 2: Ogilvy has talked about that, it can be a pretty
Speaker 2: significant impact depending on what time you catch your off
Speaker 2: ten tea time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so you know that brutality of the tenth hole.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see whether that comes back. And I
Speaker 1: don't mean that in a sadistic way. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that's what the hole should be. It hasn't been that
Speaker 1: for a long time for fields in men's golf, and
Speaker 1: so I'm just curious to see if it comes back
Speaker 1: in that way. The same case for thirteen. A lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of similar dynamics are relevant there. And
Speaker 1: then eighteen. You know, like you were discussing with six,
Speaker 1: what is eighteen? Is it reachable at all? Is in
Speaker 1: an automatic three shot hole? Are the women going to
Speaker 1: be trying to play kind of close to the little
Speaker 1: cliffs there or are they going to shy away from
Speaker 1: it and take the long route around. I really would
Speaker 1: like to see the position of those balls in the fairway,
Speaker 1: and I hope that the telecast shows us some of that.
Speaker 1: But relying on things from the telecast, especially when it
Speaker 1: comes to women's majors, has become a little bit difficult, right.
Speaker 2: Sure does a tree come in to play there more
Speaker 2: prominently than it has obviously for the men. You know,
Speaker 2: Andy and I made a note often of Chez Rev
Speaker 2: playing that hole. I think it was like he hit
Speaker 2: at the exact same distance in twenty nineteen. It was
Speaker 2: like two seventeen or something deliberate sort of I don't know,
Speaker 2: hybrid of some sort. I'm not sure. But what how
Speaker 2: do they play that? How do they set it up?
Speaker 2: I think six eighteen. Certainly, it's just great to see
Speaker 2: a place that we are so familiar with play perhaps
Speaker 2: a little differently, and hoping the USGA and the telecast
Speaker 2: bring that out, bring that aspect.
Speaker 1: Now, speaking of the USGA bringing it out, I have
Speaker 1: to mention some of the mowing lines that we saw
Speaker 1: at the media day for the US Women's Open. You know,
Speaker 1: it's pretty typical stuff for championships at Pebble Beach. We're
Speaker 1: familiar with the shrinking of the fairways that happens between
Speaker 1: the pro am and a US Open at Pebble Beach,
Speaker 1: Like this is not unprecedented. I had a little bit
Speaker 1: of hope that they wouldn't do the same thing for
Speaker 1: this field, that it wouldn't be as necessary in their
Speaker 1: minds to narrow the fairways because the length of pebble
Speaker 1: Beach is still a great defense, I think for the
Speaker 1: US women's Open field in a way that it's really
Speaker 1: not for a men's field. But when we went to
Speaker 1: the media day, we saw some mowing lines that, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, are just in the wrong place, and I
Speaker 1: understood why they did it, but I was still a
Speaker 1: little bit sad and stricken about it. They've brought in
Speaker 1: the mowing line from the left on number four. The
Speaker 1: left on that hole is the bailout away from the ocean,
Speaker 1: So they're essentially forcing players to play toward the coast
Speaker 1: on that hole. And fine, you know, you can do that.
Speaker 1: Maybe people will like seeing the players not get to
Speaker 1: bail away from the coast. But the way that hole
Speaker 1: works is that it should be an option that you
Speaker 1: play near the ocean right. That should be a choice
Speaker 1: that you make, a risk that you've decided to take,
Speaker 1: because if you go out to the left, that angle
Speaker 1: on your next shot into the fourth green is terrible,
Speaker 1: Like it's such a hard short iron or wedge from
Speaker 1: over there, it's really really difficult and so that's the
Speaker 1: punishment for going out to the left. But now that
Speaker 1: punishment has been doubled by the rough, and nobody would
Speaker 1: miss there intentionally, and so the choice has been taken away.
Speaker 1: It's not meaningful to play near the cliffs on that
Speaker 1: hole because everybody needs to and so that's my objection
Speaker 1: to that mowing line on four. They've also, maybe more tragically,
Speaker 1: brought in the mowing line on six from the right.
Speaker 1: The right side of six is the cliffs. Yes, so
Speaker 1: if you play near the cliffs, if you take the
Speaker 1: risk of playing near the ocean on the sixth hole
Speaker 1: in this tournament, then you're going to be in the rough,
Speaker 1: which is just backwards. You should be able to play
Speaker 1: out there for the reward of a more level lie,
Speaker 1: because if you play up to the left, the ball
Speaker 1: is going to be below your feet for a right
Speaker 1: hand or above your feet for a left hander, and
Speaker 1: it's just going to be trickier to try to reach
Speaker 1: that green in two. Now I get why for a
Speaker 1: men's field they might narrow that fair way and say,
Speaker 1: you know, nobody's going to be playing near the coastline anyway,
Speaker 1: we want them to have that challenging shot with the
Speaker 1: unleveled lie and see if they can execute it. They're
Speaker 1: probably going to be hitting an iron, and so we
Speaker 1: need to provide that extra challenge for them. But I
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to be irons for most of
Speaker 1: the women's field. I think it's going to be some
Speaker 1: headcovers coming off. And I would have loved to have
Speaker 1: seen them get to play near the coast, take that
Speaker 1: risk so that they have a better lie and a
Speaker 1: better chance of pulling out that four wood, that three
Speaker 1: wood and going after the green from near the cliffs.
Speaker 1: It would be it's it's such a great shot, like
Speaker 1: it's such such a great hole, and that that that
Speaker 1: new fairway line. It just sort of it. This might
Speaker 1: sound a little melodramatic, but it really it breaks my heart.
Speaker 2: What did they bring it in? Are we talking about?
Speaker 2: You know, fifteen twenty yards of rough now on the
Speaker 2: on the coastline there. That's right Tiger's shot in two thousand,
Speaker 2: right that the famous, not infamous, but famous shot was
Speaker 2: that was that was buried in rough? No where you
Speaker 2: kind of muscle is one up.
Speaker 1: To it might have been, Yeah, I mean he was
Speaker 1: definitely hitting out a rough there. That may have been
Speaker 1: the mowing line at the that might be the state.
Speaker 1: That may have been the mowing line at at that
Speaker 1: US Open. I'm not exactly sure. I'd don't think it
Speaker 1: was the mowing line at the twenty nineteen US Open.
Speaker 1: I believe that fairway was all the way out to
Speaker 1: the cliffs. Now, somebody can fact check me on that.
Speaker 1: I'll check it outter this podcast, because yeah, I could
Speaker 1: go back to the shot link. But pretty sure that
Speaker 1: was a new fangled thing as far as recent history
Speaker 1: is concerned at Pebble Beach, because we did talk to
Speaker 1: a couple of people who may have been involved in
Speaker 1: that decision, and they described it as as something that is,
Speaker 1: you know, fresh for this championship, we're forcing players to
Speaker 1: take on the bunkers on the left and go up there,
Speaker 1: and again it's just taking away that choice.
Speaker 2: Well, it's similar to what you just described about what
Speaker 2: you're excited for with ten right. I mean, there's an
Speaker 2: option there to play a flatter and.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine if they brought in that mowing line
Speaker 1: for I mean, they may have brought it in a
Speaker 1: little bit from the left so that there's less of
Speaker 1: a bail out over there. I'm not exactly sure on
Speaker 1: that one, but if they had brought that in from
Speaker 1: the right, on that little peninsula that's out there on
Speaker 1: the fairway, that would have been really tragic.
Speaker 2: Right right. I Just like with the best players in
Speaker 2: the world, we want to see them wrangle with variables
Speaker 2: that quite honestly, the rest of us don't. Like the
Speaker 2: rest of us just more often than not, hit it
Speaker 2: and try to successfully move the ball forward. We don't have.
Speaker 2: We rarely have the ability to execute the strategy we want,
Speaker 2: like playing to a flatter part or having to hit
Speaker 2: off an uneven lie. Like, we want to see them
Speaker 2: have to wrangle with those variables and make the choice
Speaker 2: between executing a strategy or executing an you know, a
Speaker 2: shot off and uneven lied. What's the choice there? And
Speaker 2: so I think we want to see that from the
Speaker 2: best in the world. And it's a little unfortunate to
Speaker 2: hear maybe that some of that is being taken away
Speaker 2: in favor of I don't know, brutality or score keeping,
Speaker 2: score protecting.
Speaker 1: And we often hear from people who focus on data
Speaker 1: driven course management that angles as we're discussing them here
Speaker 1: aren't really relevant for elite pro players. Given their dispersion cones,
Speaker 1: they can't reliably aim at a particular spot and hit it,
Speaker 1: and so that affects the way that you should approach
Speaker 1: a golf course in terms of hunting angles. Now, when
Speaker 1: it comes to the players in the US Women's Open field,
Speaker 1: you know, what they can do is hit really accurate shots.
Speaker 1: They can be really precise. If they have a wide fairway,
Speaker 1: they can choose not necessarily a particular spot, but at
Speaker 1: least like a section of that fairway that is more
Speaker 1: aggressive or more conservative than another. And I think that
Speaker 1: if we gave this field wider fairways that they would
Speaker 1: get to make those choices a little bit and it
Speaker 1: would be interesting to watch. Now, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: there's an argument that, you know, narrow fairways for extremely
Speaker 1: accurate players, they can still work with those, And I
Speaker 1: think they'll still be able to work with a lot
Speaker 1: of the playing fields out it Pebble Beach. I think
Speaker 1: it'll be fine. It won't be something that's maybe even
Speaker 1: super noticeable to non nerd golf fans, but just had
Speaker 1: to note that it did. Yeah, it did make me
Speaker 1: a little sad to see some of those changes.
Speaker 2: Before we move off completely on four and six, and
Speaker 2: some of the mowing lines. Obviously those dispersion cones are
Speaker 2: a little tighter, as you mentioned for the women, that
Speaker 2: there's a little more accuracy there. On four. Do you
Speaker 2: think they set that up as drivable as it is
Speaker 2: for the men or maybe they did. Maybe they didn't
Speaker 2: intend for to be drivable in nineteen, but there were
Speaker 2: certainly most a handful of guys taking a rip and
Speaker 2: just trying to run it through that neck. I wonder
Speaker 2: if that's an element for the women, if there's a
Speaker 2: tea box they set up that makes it, in theory drivable,
Speaker 2: it's a good question.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm not sure where they would need
Speaker 1: to put that tea box. I think something like it
Speaker 1: probably exists because there are a lot of different teeing
Speaker 1: areas at Pebble Beach, given that it's a resort course. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to see that they do. They do
Speaker 1: love having, you know, a driveable part four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to make clear that you know, it's not
Speaker 2: driveable in the way that they're they're landing it on
Speaker 2: top of it. You know, there were guys taking driver
Speaker 2: and trying to run it up as far as they
Speaker 2: could some rent it onto the front edge. It's it's
Speaker 2: not a pure sort of you know, aerial attack there.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all right, Brendon, let's take a quick break
Speaker 1: for an ad and then when we're back we'll do
Speaker 1: a little Moderey Golf Guide. We'll kind of improvise it,
Speaker 1: but we're going to be talking about Monterey golf in
Speaker 1: general outside of Pebble Beach that's coming up. This episode
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Speaker 1: we're back to talk about Monterey golf in general. I
Speaker 1: have appointed myself the expert on this, and I apologize
Speaker 1: to everybody for doing that, but this is how it
Speaker 1: has turned out. I did live there for a while
Speaker 1: and fairly recently. This is is where I was living
Speaker 1: before I started working for the Fried Egg, and I
Speaker 1: was living in what was to me free housing. And
Speaker 1: so after I quit that job and decided to join
Speaker 1: the Fria Egg, which is a decision that I still
Speaker 1: very much endorse and am happy about. One of one
Speaker 1: of the downsides of that decision is that we had
Speaker 1: to move to another state because we couldn't we couldn't
Speaker 1: afford the real estate in California anymore, much less in
Speaker 1: Pebble Beach where we are living. So so that's that's
Speaker 1: the basic backstory for why I'm talking about golf in Monterey.
Speaker 1: Maybe we could start by talking about public golf courses,
Speaker 1: but I'll kind of maybe turn things over to you
Speaker 1: a little bit Brendan and and hear you know what
Speaker 1: you're curious about when it comes to moderate golf from
Speaker 1: the perspective of somebody who's you know, I think you've
Speaker 1: been there a couple of times, right, I have.
Speaker 2: I've been there, been there a few times. Obviously, was
Speaker 2: there in the nineteen US Open. Not played golf.
Speaker 1: You haven't played much around, That's what I was going
Speaker 1: to ask. Have you played like Pacific Grove or Poppy
Speaker 1: Hills or any of the courses around there.
Speaker 2: I walked Pacific Grove, I played played one course there
Speaker 2: that you would like to play play, played the probably
Speaker 2: the best one in the area. Oh yeah, that's right,
Speaker 2: Very fortunate to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course that might be considered the best course
Speaker 1: in America. I think we're talking about.
Speaker 2: But that's about it, I think. And I played Inland
Speaker 2: at the Preserve one day, so that was that. I
Speaker 2: had not played Pubble though. I guess I'm curious hearing
Speaker 2: you talk about living there. It's a very unique part
Speaker 2: of the country with unique clientele. Randomly quickly what's like
Speaker 2: the what is like the for lack of a better term,
Speaker 2: town gown relations between this giant resort that everyone wants
Speaker 2: and people who actually lived there. I presume that people
Speaker 2: who lived there, and I do like this is why
Speaker 2: I think you are an expert. You can be the
Speaker 2: self appointed expert because I think you look at it
Speaker 2: through a realistic, critical lens. Probably a lot of people
Speaker 2: who live there are drinking the kool aid and you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm not suggesting it's bad, but just objectively right,
Speaker 2: you are obsessed with Pebble Beach if you lived there
Speaker 2: and you think it's the greatest course that's ever been made,
Speaker 2: or you know the I just think you bring an
Speaker 2: objective lens to some of the drawbacks and certainly what
Speaker 2: makes it so great. I'm curious what it's like being
Speaker 2: a resident there and how you you know, this attraction
Speaker 2: of this world famous course that's also kind of this
Speaker 2: machine of a resort now.
Speaker 1: And a lot of people in the area work for
Speaker 1: the Pebble Beach Company, So that's another thing, like the
Speaker 1: Pebble Beach Company is a huge employer in the area.
Speaker 1: It's a funny little collection of towns out there, and
Speaker 1: it is collection of towns. There's Monterey, there's Specific Grove,
Speaker 1: There's Carmel by the Sea. As with the dashes is
Speaker 1: the full name of the town. Carmel is its own thing.
Speaker 1: Pebble Beach is also its own thing. It's the area
Speaker 1: within the gates, right, It's the Delmonti Forest. It's where
Speaker 1: Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, the links of Spanish Bay and
Speaker 1: Poppy Hills all are all those courses are, you know,
Speaker 1: in that area that we call Pebble Beach. Then there's
Speaker 1: the inland town of Carmel Valley. There's Seaside and Marina,
Speaker 1: which are the sort of outlying towns in the area,
Speaker 1: perhaps less picturesque, right, And so there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different experiences for people who live in the area. From
Speaker 1: the perspective of a golfer, the funny thing about living
Speaker 1: in the area is that unless you're a member of
Speaker 1: Monterey Peninsula Country Club or Cypress Point, then more than
Speaker 1: likely you're not playing golf at the most famous courses
Speaker 1: in the area. Instead, you're playing at a collection of
Speaker 1: different courses. Is And the thing is, some of those
Speaker 1: courses are really really good, and and so those are
Speaker 1: the ones I'm excited about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to ask you about that. So, so
Speaker 2: Pebble Beach is, you know, nominally an accessible golf course.
Speaker 2: You can get on it, you don't have to.
Speaker 1: You know, you can pay, you can book a t time,
Speaker 1: you don't have to. Yeah, it's not private. Is basically
Speaker 1: the only the only thing.
Speaker 2: But for me looking at it, it's it's it's a
Speaker 2: pretty if not inaccessible, it's a pain. It's going to
Speaker 2: be a painful trip cost wise and time wise for
Speaker 2: most people are probably traveling from a fair distance. And
Speaker 2: what I guess i'd want to know is what makes
Speaker 2: it worth your while? Where can you add sort of
Speaker 2: on top of that the accessible, making it making that
Speaker 2: trip really sing and pop? What what else is in
Speaker 2: the area beyond sort of the show piece of spending
Speaker 2: the money at Pebble Beach to really make your trip
Speaker 2: that time that you spend and getting out there a
Speaker 2: little more valuable and efficient.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I've got a list of courses here now.
Speaker 1: First of all, Pebble Beach is astonishing. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to tell people you need to go play it, because
Speaker 1: I would never tell anybody you need to spend two
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars on anything, right, because not every not
Speaker 1: everybody has that ability to just drop that amount of
Speaker 1: money on a golf course experience. You usually need to
Speaker 1: stay at the lodge in order to get a tea time,
Speaker 1: so that's another expense at it. On top of it,
Speaker 1: it is very pricey. I would say it's worth it,
Speaker 1: you know, if you can afford it, do it absolutely
Speaker 1: a once in a lifetime experience and get out there
Speaker 1: and do it. If the cost is too much for you,
Speaker 1: if you just don't want to spend that amount of
Speaker 1: money on a golf experience, totally understandable. I would say,
Speaker 1: try to go to a day of the at and
Speaker 1: T Pebble Beach pro am. You can get out on
Speaker 1: the course, you can go see every hole. It can
Speaker 1: be a fun tournament to watch that's spread out among
Speaker 1: three different courses. The crowds are sometimes not that heavy
Speaker 1: on the first couple of days of that tournament. If
Speaker 1: you're not going to play the course, that's a really
Speaker 1: good alternative way to experience it, all right. So what
Speaker 1: I'd recommend for the other courses, Like for me, the
Speaker 1: highlights of the region in terms of public golf would
Speaker 1: be Pacific Grove, which is the municipal course of the
Speaker 1: town of Pacific Grove. That place has what is now
Speaker 1: a back nine used to be the front nine that's
Speaker 1: in legitimate dunes. In fact, I would say it's probably
Speaker 1: in the best dunes in the area, aside from the
Speaker 1: dunes that are in one section of Spyglass Hill and
Speaker 1: a few holes at Cyprus Point. There's a little dune
Speaker 1: system that those courses occupy on some holes that's pretty
Speaker 1: stunning too. But the dunes at Pacific Grove are absolutely incredible,
Speaker 1: and the routing of that nine holes is so good.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of dud holes the tenth hole, the
Speaker 1: eighteenth hole, but every hole in between is just brilliant.
Speaker 1: And I love that golf course so much. It's my
Speaker 1: favorite place to be in play golf. Like literally, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't rather be anywhere else. If I had a last round,
Speaker 1: I might go and play that nine holes a couple
Speaker 1: of times. The inland holes are not as good. I
Speaker 1: think they can be a little bit underrated. They get
Speaker 1: bashed to a degree that I think is a little
Speaker 1: bit unfair. But the inland holes are the front nine.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit squeezed by the neighborhood. Now there's
Speaker 1: some trees that are there for safety reasons that limit
Speaker 1: the holes a little further, but One thing to keep
Speaker 1: in mind is that that nine actually existed before the
Speaker 1: Dunes nine, and it was designed by Chandler Egan, who
Speaker 1: did a famous renovation of Pebble Beach in nineteen twenty
Speaker 1: nine that gave Pebble Beach a lot of the strategic
Speaker 1: character that it has now. He was somebody who worked
Speaker 1: with Alistair mackenzie and really knew what he was doing.
Speaker 1: And I think that the nine holes that he designed
Speaker 1: at Pacific Grove were good and have been affected by
Speaker 1: what has grown up around it. So Pacific Grove is
Speaker 1: the first one I'd mentioned. I also think Poppy Hills
Speaker 1: is a great deal now. It was probably a better
Speaker 1: deal when I live there than it is now. Keep
Speaker 1: in mind that I lived there before the pandemic, and
Speaker 1: so a lot has changed in golf post pandemic. There
Speaker 1: are more crowds at golf courses, some of the green
Speaker 1: fees have gone up, etc. So I think there's still
Speaker 1: a good deal to be had at Poppy Hills, especially
Speaker 1: if you look at the twilight rate, which is almost
Speaker 1: always really solid, and if you're a Northern California Golf
Speaker 1: Association member, if you're an NCGA member, which I was,
Speaker 1: when I lived there. It's a fantastic value. That's an
Speaker 1: excellent golf course that got a bad reputation because the
Speaker 1: first version of that golf course was not very good.
Speaker 1: It was referred to as sloppy poppy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it generally derided. So I think this means something
Speaker 2: to have somebody like you put your voice to it,
Speaker 2: because it's often been maybe that that's just a prior
Speaker 2: history that it's not or you know, people aren't up
Speaker 2: to speed on what's happened.
Speaker 1: It underwent a complete renovation in the mid twenty tens,
Speaker 1: and in fact that that renovation was actually by the
Speaker 1: same firm that initially built it, Robert Trent Jones Junior.
Speaker 1: But they kept most of the routing but completely changed
Speaker 1: the golf holes. They sandcapped the entire site so it
Speaker 1: plays really firm out there, and redesigned the holes so
Speaker 1: that there's a lot of strategy, a lot of width,
Speaker 1: a lot of fun, a lot of character. I think
Speaker 1: that's an excellent golf course. Now since I've been there,
Speaker 1: they've built some houses around it that weren't there before.
Speaker 1: I think maybe it's you know, it's going downhill instead
Speaker 1: of going uphill. But if the golf holes are still there,
Speaker 1: then I think it's a fantastic place there. There are
Speaker 1: some holes out there that you're just like, name your
Speaker 1: hot current architect, they would have been happy to design
Speaker 1: a hole that's this strategic and this fun. And then finally,
Speaker 1: I'd recommend going to Pasa Tiempo. You know, you got
Speaker 1: to drive. It's in Santa Cruz. It's in a different area,
Speaker 1: but we've talked about Pasa Tampa before on the podcast.
Speaker 1: We probably don't need to go in depth here, but
Speaker 1: if you go to Monterey, make the trip again. The
Speaker 1: green fees going up, So I don't know how much
Speaker 1: longer I'm going to be saying to people you need
Speaker 1: to play Pasa Tiempo, because it might get to the
Speaker 1: point where I'm like, I don't know if I want
Speaker 1: to recommend a course that is this expensive to play,
Speaker 1: but still right now it is very, very worth it.
Speaker 1: It's one of the best golf courses in California, one
Speaker 1: of the best golf courses in America. Go see it.
Speaker 2: I'm not asking you to savage anything. Are there any
Speaker 2: that you may not It's obviously there's a lot of
Speaker 2: options in the area. I've always heard about Spanish Bay
Speaker 2: being a particularly I don't know, it's costly to get
Speaker 2: punched in the face if you're not a great golfer.
Speaker 2: Views hotel I hear are fantastic and all that. But
Speaker 2: is there anything that maybe I don't want to suggest
Speaker 2: is overrated or you should not play you cannot go,
Speaker 2: but something that you would not choose to put in
Speaker 2: your itinerary.
Speaker 1: All right, let me break this down into two categories. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're just taking a trip to Pebble Beach, you
Speaker 1: don't want to play a maybe course. More than likely
Speaker 1: you don't want to play a course that somebody is like, uh,
Speaker 1: you could play that, or maybe don't. The maybe courses
Speaker 1: on my list are Spyglass Hill, Carmel Valley Ranch, and
Speaker 1: Monterey Pines. Now Monterey Pines doesn't really belong in this category.
Speaker 1: It's an affordable military golf course that I played most
Speaker 1: of my golf at because it has the cheapest green
Speaker 1: fee in the area and I really like it, and
Speaker 1: so I just wanted to mention it. But if you're
Speaker 1: on a trip to the area, maybe play moner A Pines.
Speaker 1: Like there's probably got other things on your itinerary that
Speaker 1: are that are more urgent, is.
Speaker 2: That the one with the airplane lights or the trip
Speaker 2: on it in the middle of the course, And I.
Speaker 1: Love those, Like it's one of those little things like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it has it's right next to the right, next to
Speaker 1: like the airport where all the pj's like land. Right,
Speaker 1: It's a golf course that you see when you're when
Speaker 1: you're fancy and flying into that airport and you drive
Speaker 1: out of it and you see a few of the holes,
Speaker 1: and I just always really love playing golf there. I
Speaker 1: think the superintendent there does such an awesome job. My
Speaker 1: buddy Austin Daniels, and so I just wanted to mention it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, if you're on if you're on
Speaker 1: a dream trip, you're not going to Monterey Pines, all right.
Speaker 1: The other maybe courses would be Spyglass Hell and Carmel
Speaker 1: Valley Ranch now spy Glass Hill. It's a classic. I
Speaker 1: don't ever want to see anybody go there and say
Speaker 1: I want to get rid of the Robert Trent Jones
Speaker 1: here and install more fashionable architecture, Like I think that
Speaker 1: course should stay just as it is, because it is
Speaker 1: a of its era and of its architect Robert Trent Jones.
Speaker 1: The holes in the dunes get mostly attention, and I
Speaker 1: think that's partly because they're extremely beautiful close to the ocean,
Speaker 1: in spectacular dunes, and also they're fun holes to play like.
Speaker 1: They're kind of they're shorter because the property is sort
Speaker 1: of limited around there. They have some quirky greens. The
Speaker 1: fourth green is so odd and fun. It's like this
Speaker 1: really narrow strip with some undulation in it. It's like
Speaker 1: nothing else Robert Trent Jones built. And then you go
Speaker 1: to the rest of the course and it's more familiar
Speaker 1: Robert Trent Jones stuff, with the greens up on ridges,
Speaker 1: fair ways that go down and then up some ponds
Speaker 1: in front of greens. You know, if you've seen a
Speaker 1: Robert Trent Jones course pretty much anywhere, then you'll be
Speaker 1: familiar with what you get in the inland portions of
Speaker 1: Spyglass Hill. It's not to say that it's bad. It's
Speaker 1: a really good test of golfing ability. It's tough, but it's
Speaker 1: very very so I'd say that if you're going to
Speaker 1: Monterey for a few days, that Spyglass Hill is a
Speaker 1: maybe Carmel Valley ranch kind of the same deal. That's
Speaker 1: a peat Die golf course. It's in Carmel Valley. People
Speaker 1: don't talk about it very much. I really like a
Speaker 1: lot of the golf holes out there. There's some fun
Speaker 1: Pete Die stuff. Main problem with it from my perspective
Speaker 1: is that you cannot walk it. It is impossible to walk.
Speaker 1: I'm somebody who walks almost every course. Even if I'm
Speaker 1: told in the pro shop, like you probably shouldn't walk
Speaker 1: this course. I'd always always try to walk Carmel Valley Ranch.
Speaker 1: You can't do it. There's like ten minute drives in
Speaker 1: the golf cart between certain greens and teas and so, Yeah,
Speaker 1: just wanted to mention a lot of people don't know
Speaker 1: there's a peat Die golf course in the Moderay area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm giving you maybe a curve ball here.
Speaker 2: You've mentioned you know Egan, You've mentioned Trent Jones, You've
Speaker 2: mentioned now Pete Die Die.
Speaker 1: Like.
Speaker 2: There have been eras of in continuous development, right there
Speaker 2: was a centerpiece like Pebble Beach and Cyprus Mackenzie like
Speaker 2: these originals, and obviously a lot has sprung up and
Speaker 2: developed around there. You're talking about houses still being built
Speaker 2: on poppy hills. What is Is there any opportunity left?
Speaker 2: Is there a no? Is there anything understanding? California regulatory
Speaker 2: environmental costs is a challenge. And I told you I
Speaker 2: went to the preserve. Is there like an inland preserve?
Speaker 2: Is you know, a different kind of deal of an
Speaker 2: interesting round there? Definitely not walkable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have not played the preserve, so so you've
Speaker 1: you've definitely been a place that I haven't been. It's
Speaker 1: a Tom Fazio course. It's it's in a beautiful location,
Speaker 1: right yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like one of those it takes a mile,
Speaker 2: you know, you feel like you're gonna fall off the
Speaker 2: side of the mountain get in there. It takes a
Speaker 2: you know, twenty minutes to go a mile because of
Speaker 2: the drive. I played that round with Brandle. Pretty interesting
Speaker 2: on there with the preserve.
Speaker 1: To take this discussion off line, try.
Speaker 2: To remember that that that round in my head now,
Speaker 2: h my goodness. But but that is like that's a fuzzyo.
Speaker 2: Like you know, golf is a part of the area.
Speaker 2: It has all the land. Has it been maxed out?
Speaker 2: Do you feel like when you were driving around there
Speaker 2: as a resident, Wow, that could be an actual new
Speaker 2: great golf course. Whether it's public or whatever, it may
Speaker 2: be part of the resort. Do you feel like maybe
Speaker 2: a modern era, there's an opportunity to keep building on
Speaker 2: that sort of the legacy of golf in the area.
Speaker 1: There's plenty of open land around. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of it. You've been to the preserve, that's basically
Speaker 1: nothing but open land out there. Right now. I don't
Speaker 1: know how they built the preserve. I don't know how
Speaker 1: they accomplished that. I really it's a mystery to me
Speaker 1: that they were even able to do that. And I
Speaker 1: just don't think that you can do that anymore in
Speaker 1: that area, not because there's not enough land, but just
Speaker 1: because of the regulatory environment and just the fact that
Speaker 1: there's not really any golf courses being built in California
Speaker 1: except for some sections of Napa Valley. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that we've got basically all the golf courses that
Speaker 1: were going to get in that area. But things could
Speaker 1: change in the future. We'll see. I can't predict what
Speaker 1: it's going to be like to develop golf courses in
Speaker 1: California in the twenty thirties, and so things might change,
Speaker 1: But right now, I really don't see much potential for
Speaker 1: new stuff being built that more or less stopped, I
Speaker 1: think with the Preserve and if I'm missing a more
Speaker 1: recent course than my mistake. But it's been a while now,
Speaker 1: I didn't quite get to the courses that I think
Speaker 1: you should avoid actively when you go out to moder Ay.
Speaker 1: One of those is Spanish Bay. And you know, I like,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that this is a terrible golf course.
Speaker 1: You're looking at the ocean all the time. There's something
Speaker 1: to be said for that. I have all the respect
Speaker 1: in the world for Sandy Tatum, who has involved in
Speaker 1: the design of this course, and for Tom Watson, who
Speaker 1: is also involved. But I just don't, you know, especially
Speaker 1: at the price point, I don't think it's worth going
Speaker 1: out there when there are so many other better options.
Speaker 1: And also you can go out to Spanish Bay, walk
Speaker 1: onto the golf course in the evening and listen to
Speaker 1: a bagpiper. Go see the bagpiper. It's a little bit touristy.
Speaker 1: You might you might be cringing at this. You might
Speaker 1: be saying, ah, that that sounds sounds a little bit lame.
Speaker 1: But I'm telling you, if it's a nice night and
Speaker 1: a good sunset, and you go out there with the
Speaker 1: daily bagpiper in the evening, you're going to feel some things. Now,
Speaker 1: public courses, I don't I don't want to make a
Speaker 1: habit of like bashing public courses that are accessible, But
Speaker 1: there are a couple of courses that get held up
Speaker 1: as kind of hidden public gems in the Monterey area,
Speaker 1: and I just want to be honest with people and
Speaker 1: say that I don't think that these are the places
Speaker 1: that you should go for public golf in the area. Delmani,
Speaker 1: which is owned by the Pebble Beach Company and is
Speaker 1: not exactly affordable, not much of a golf course there,
Speaker 1: but it is kind of the original golf course in
Speaker 1: the area. I think it's the oldest one, and so
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it used to be, but there's
Speaker 1: there's not much there now that I would recommend. And
Speaker 1: then the one that really gets kind of whispered about
Speaker 1: by some people saying like, ooh, this is you know,
Speaker 1: you might you might hear about Pacific Grove and Pasa Tiempo,
Speaker 1: but go to Bayonet and black Horse this it's a
Speaker 1: thirty six hole public facility. I don't recommend it, don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think the design is very good, a lot
Speaker 1: of catch basins, not a lot of not a lot
Speaker 1: of coherent strategy out there. I don't think it's I
Speaker 1: don't think they're very good golf courses. And again I
Speaker 1: praise them for being a public facility where people can
Speaker 1: play on a consistent basis. But if you're choosing among options,
Speaker 1: go to Pacific Grove, go to Poppy Hills, go to
Speaker 1: Quail Lodge, long before you go to Baynett and Black Corse.
Speaker 1: So those are those are my takes. There anything else
Speaker 1: here you're you're curious about, Brendan uh No.
Speaker 2: I mean I think development was a big one. I
Speaker 2: was kind of thinking of as you've risked rattled off
Speaker 2: these kind of eras and and to be to be clear,
Speaker 2: like I think I try to you know, I I
Speaker 2: operate in this world with you guys, obviously with Andy
Speaker 2: and you and being really sharp minds on the architectural front.
Speaker 2: I also then try to like go and talk to
Speaker 2: my neighbors and like what do what do what do?
Speaker 2: Like you know, just guys going on a trip, like
Speaker 2: they want the bagpiper they want, Like I don't think
Speaker 2: there's there's something to be said for like the meaning
Speaker 2: they get for just walking out on Pebble Beach and
Speaker 2: playing it and taking a picture and saying they played it,
Speaker 2: and that there is a weight to that that I
Speaker 2: try to appreciate beyond. And I'm not saying you guys
Speaker 2: don't eat. I'm not saying you don't either, But like when.
Speaker 1: We missed it, right, we are. We are deep in
Speaker 1: the weeds on this stuff, and sometimes that makes you
Speaker 1: not notice things that, like, you know, right, for lack
Speaker 1: of a better term, normal people might prioritize the one.
Speaker 2: The one I always come back to with this is Oldhead,
Speaker 2: quite honestly, like Old Head is architecturally offensive, it's a
Speaker 2: it's a ripoff. It's expensive, and there's so much great
Speaker 2: golf you can play in Ireland and around, but like
Speaker 2: these guys that go there, it means something and it's
Speaker 2: it's cool to them, right they said, I played on
Speaker 2: the edge of the cliff and it was stunning, And yes,
Speaker 2: there we can tell them why it shouldn't, you know,
Speaker 2: there's better options, and why they were ripped off, But
Speaker 2: like that is not always the purpose of some of
Speaker 2: these trips. And I think when we talk about the
Speaker 2: Monterey and Pebble Beach area. A lot of people are
Speaker 2: going there for some meaning that gets beyond just their
Speaker 2: strategic enjoyment or their enjoyment of the golf even itself,
Speaker 2: just the golf itself, and you know, there's a pushback
Speaker 2: on why that's the case.
Speaker 1: So yeah, absolutely, And from that perspective, you might promote
Speaker 1: Spyglass Hill in the recommendations. That's a course where they
Speaker 1: play a big PGA Tour tournament every year, that's by
Speaker 1: a designer that a lot of people know the name of,
Speaker 1: and that's really challenging and impressive to look at. So
Speaker 1: Spyglass Hill, I've often heard from people is their favorite
Speaker 1: course in the area. You know, especially when I hear
Speaker 1: from really good players who don't necessarily consider themselves architecture walks,
Speaker 1: I often hear from that type of player, man, spy
Speaker 1: Glass Hill is so pure. I hear that word a
Speaker 1: lot associated with Spyglass Hill Pure. So if you know
Speaker 1: of a golfer who is you know, tends to refer
Speaker 1: to certain golf courses as pure as the highest thing
Speaker 1: that they can be. And I think usually what they
Speaker 1: mean by that is that the conditioning is really good
Speaker 1: and it's pretty and it's challenging. Spyglass Hill is all
Speaker 1: of those things. The conditioning is absolutely aces for what
Speaker 1: they're going for there.
Speaker 2: Well, I hear that refrain a lot, what you just
Speaker 2: spoke of, And I never even lived in the area, So.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, love Spyglass that like it better than Pebble Beach,
Speaker 1: you know, you do. You hear that a lot, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, you gotta you've got to give some airing
Speaker 1: to to that feeling about the place for sure. All Right, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much Brendan for for bearing with me
Speaker 1: through the Monterey Gift Guide. I thought, I hope that
Speaker 1: was informative and fun for people to hear about. It's
Speaker 1: an area that I really have a lot of affection
Speaker 1: for and I can't wait to see the US Women's
Speaker 1: Open go there. So thanks a lot, Brendan. Talk to
Speaker 1: you soon, all right, Thank you. This episode of the
Speaker 1: Frida Egg Podcast was edited by Matt Rusius. Thank you, Matt.
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a moment here at the end
Speaker 1: to talk about an upcoming event that the Frida Egg
Speaker 1: is holding. It's called the Junction. It's on August eighteenth,
Speaker 1: and it's being held at common Ground Golf Course. Near Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 1: Common Ground is to me one of the most special
Speaker 1: places in American golf. First of all, it's an extraordinarily
Speaker 1: well designed public golf course. Tom Doak and his crew
Speaker 1: reimagined this course on a low budget and just did
Speaker 1: so many interesting things out there, like genuinely innovative things
Speaker 1: that you have to see. You have to see these greens,
Speaker 1: the way they built the bunkers, the way they figured
Speaker 1: out the strategies of the holes on a fairly quiet
Speaker 1: piece of ground. I mean, there's just so much fascinating
Speaker 1: design out there that I think goes beyond like just
Speaker 1: being good public golf. This is really great modern golf design,
Speaker 1: and I think anybody who's interested in where architecture is
Speaker 1: going next should go see common Ground. The other part
Speaker 1: of Common Ground that's so special to me is the
Speaker 1: caddie academy that they have there. If you go to
Speaker 1: common Ground, you can get a young caddy to go
Speaker 1: out and carry your bag, and these kids are just delightful.
Speaker 1: You know. I really like having a caddy who's a
Speaker 1: teenager and somebody who's just getting started in life and
Speaker 1: who's out there trying to do things, and that really
Speaker 1: characterizes the common Ground caddies that I've had. I think
Speaker 1: it's a model for what a caddy program can be
Speaker 1: in the twenty first century. So not only do you
Speaker 1: get a really fantastic golf course, but you also have
Speaker 1: access to the experience of a caddy in a way
Speaker 1: that you very rarely get in public golf. So those
Speaker 1: are two things that I really love about common Ground,
Speaker 1: and two reasons that going out to this event at
Speaker 1: the Junction I think would be a great idea for
Speaker 1: anybody who's able to go. It's on August eighteenth, and
Speaker 1: it's right around the US Amateur, so you if you're
Speaker 1: going to go to the US Amateur in Cherry Hills,
Speaker 1: which is not far away, then going to this event
Speaker 1: would fit right into the itinerary. So search for it online.
Speaker 1: You can find more information about the Junction event a
Speaker 1: common Ground on our Friday Events page at golf Genius,
Speaker 1: So check that out and we hope to see you
Speaker 1: out there all right, thank you for listening, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you against s