WEBVTT - Roaring Gap, Aiken, and Palmetto 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.600 Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:11.640 Today's episode is brought to you by b Dratty. This morning, 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:16.440 I was out at Wingfoot shooting for some US Open 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:21.000 footage and then checking out the golf course as well 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.000 as some in the area. Went on a tilling hast 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:28.800 binge with golf architect Jaeger Kovich. We uh we also 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.920 recorded a pod so that'll be out later. But it 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.120 was a chilli morning. It was a it was a 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.720 layering morning, pure fall morning. I was wearing my b 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:42.280 Dratty quarter zip. It was it was absolutely perfect. Quickly 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.520 it warmed up, I was, uh, you know, then shed 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.159 it and was wearing a b Dratty cotton shirt. So 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.279 I I highly recommend the quarter zip. It is a 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.480 you know, functional piece that you can wear so many 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.280 different ways, whether it's to the office, uh, on the 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:05.000 golf course or you know, out and about. So check 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:10.720 it out at bdradty dot com and yeah, look for 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:15.000 future wigfoot content coming up. That's actually where Billy Draddy's 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.520 a member, so great spot there. I'm really excited for 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.200 the next year's US Open. But in this pot Garrett 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.800 Morrison and I are back. We're continuing our conversation from 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.360 the last pot about our recent trip through the Carolinas. 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:35.040 So in this podcast we cover Roaring Gap, Aiken, which 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.520 is where we had the Thoroughbread so Garrett hadn't been 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.440 and we talk about that for a little while, and 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:47.800 then we also talk about Paul Mettow, which is a 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:51.040 Alister mackenzie design. You know, it's been worked on by 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.280 Tom Doak and Gil Hants in recent years. In Aiken. 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:01.680 It's a private club, but it also allows uh guest play, 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.680 public play. Really the week of the Masters, highly recommend 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.840 checking it out. Is phenomenal golf course if you can, 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.840 if you can swing the green fee, it is a 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:18.519 great place to experience a day at So without further ado, 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:24.399 here's Garrett and myself talking about our trip. I miss 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.160 a green, for example, I'm already upset. When I find 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.280 my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:29.880 I find my. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.720 Ball in a brid egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.360 egg Frida egg Frida egg bride egg Lie, I'm about 0:02:36.400 --> 0:03:07.919 ready to run off the gump, all right. So after 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.720 we saw Old Town Club, we had the opportunity before 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:17.640 heading over to Atlanta and Aiken. Later on for the 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:23.360 Thoroughbred Our event, we saw in the mountains of North 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.560 Carolina Roaring Gap Club, which is a nineteen twenty five 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:33.200 Donald Ross design that was restored around the same time, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:39.000 in fact, exactly overlapping with the restoration of Old Town Club, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.520 and the restoration chairman at Roaring Gap was again Dunlop White, 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.920 the golf chairman at Old Town Club who oversaw the 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:53.320 process of restoring Old Town as well. So Roaring Gap 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.920 is a really cool place, you know, It's kind of 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.320 this getaway in the mountains. It's got an interesting history 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:05.640 with the Pinehurst Resort and and a pretty unique golf course. 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.360 So what were some of your thoughts about about Roaring Gaps. 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.680 I mean, it's always cool play golf literally on a mountain. Yeah, 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.000 you know the I think I've been thinking about it 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.960 a lot. I it's just like a very fun golf 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.760 course to play. I think you you think about the place, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.960 it's it gets like sixty seven hundred rounds a year, 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:35.560 seven thousand, barely anybody plays it, and you think the 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:42.080 memberships probably shades a little bit older, and it's like 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.359 just like that's it fits what it is so well. 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:51.279 Because it's just it's not going to kill you, but 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:56.920 it's just like fun. Yeah, I mean, and you play up, 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.960 and you play down and around, you play right up 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.160 to the edge of the mountain and the land is 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:08.159 gets really, really, really good from I would say a 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:12.160 whole five five or six. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.040 The one that five is the one that goes that 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.719 goes down five five, which and then six is the volcano. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.880 I'd say five through twelve is where it is like 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.440 kind of the peak. It's interesting, though, the ninth were flipped, 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.720 and that's what I've been kind of fixated on in 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:35.520 my head, and I I tend to keep coming back 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.440 to the I wish that the night the routing would 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.800 go back to the other way. 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:43.120 Interesting why is that? 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.760 I think it just tells a better story. I understand 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.840 why they flipped it. They flipped it because the seventh, 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.240 the current seventeenth plays right out to the cliff and 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.960 then eighteenth of par three that comes back to the clubhouse, 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.520 and you know, that's your kind of fairy tale ending 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.240 to your day at Roaring Gap. But it dismisses the 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:10.640 fact that the best land for golf. I think the 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.000 round is more cohesive the other way because you start 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.320 and the really good land and it gives you the 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:21.920 taste of what Roaring Gap is. Ten and eleven's a 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:27.799 bunker less par five that's just got these tremendous rolling 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.599 features that kind of like they cascade in from the 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.680 right and then the left, and the green sits up there, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:39.200 and so you kind of you get a taste of it, 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.280 and they take you away and they bring you out, 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.359 and they bring you out to that cliff, you know, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.479 and then they bring you back into the great Land 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.680 to finish, and I just think it's I just I've 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:54.840 thought about this is all I've been thinking about about 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.320 Roaring Gap is flipping the nines back, and I'm obsessed 0:06:58.360 --> 0:06:58.680 with it. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.920 Yeah, because you know, the counter argument to that would 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.240 be what you mentioned earlier that the round kind of 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.200 culminates out on this cliff that you that you go 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.880 through the woods, and then finally in those last few holes, 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.360 the landscape kind of opens up and then boom, you 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.160 reach the climax right out on the very top of 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.760 the mountain with that view over the valley. And then 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.000 there's a long part three that takes you back to 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.760 the clubhouse and there's a there's a certain dramatic appeal 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:33.920 to that. But I guess what you're saying is that 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:39.440 people may be mistaking what the actual best holes at 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.400 Roaring Gap are. Yeah, because seventeen is not the best hole. 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:44.280 I would say, I. 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.160 Would actually say seventeen is the weakest hole at Roaring Gap. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:49.040 Do you think, So why is that? 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:55.960 I just I think it's pretty it's just hit it here, 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:56.760 hit it there. 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.000 Yeah. I mean if you if you stay along the 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.560 right side, along where the bunkers are, you you have 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.040 there's a semblance of strategy right yeah there in the 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:08.960 in the fairway cants a little bit to the left. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:10.800 When you're down at the bottom of that, it's not 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.160 an easy shot, so there's a little bit of strategic 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.000 unity there. But the land is pretty flat. 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.960 Flastically and the greens very you know, because of the 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.080 I mean so many of the greens there are dictated 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.240 by the slope of the land because you're playing on 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.400 this mountain. So like a lot of times you'll look 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.920 at a hole and you're like, oh, that I'm hitting 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:34.199 into green that's front back to front, and and really 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.600 it's front to back because of the topography, like and 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:39.800 you know, you're either playing up or down the mountain, 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.040 and that is that is the flattest, least you know, 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:48.320 to me least interesting land on the golf course. And 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.160 it's it's green's not you know, the green's good. It's 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:53.600 and this is like not an indictment, it's it, you know. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.800 And you could never say that's the worst of the 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.600 week because of the view, but like in terms of 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.280 just pure golf. And and it makes me think a 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:06.040 lot about Cypress, right, you know, where there's like layers 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.600 to the routing right where you see the ocean right 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.880 off the first hole right you and then they take 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:18.640 you away from it. And and that's Roaring GAP's best 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:23.679 golf is in that section of the land that that 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:25.959 would be the start and the finish of the round, 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.480 you know. And then Cypress, you see the ocean, you 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.600 come back to the ocean to finish, right. The best 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:38.080 the Roaring Gap, well, the mountain is what people believe 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.440 to be the ocean. Their real ocean for golf is 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.200 the rolling hills that are that are situated on holes 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.440 five through twelve. 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.079 Yeah. Yeah, that's that's really well put and I think 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.960 I agree with that. That's that's what you really come for. 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.280 That's what's exciting at Roaring Gap is the land that 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.640 starts when you get to basically the top of the 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:06.920 mountain right holds one, two, three, four, play uphill and 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.960 at the highest point you see that building and I 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:15.240 know I should know what that building is. Yeah, that's right, okay, 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.320 And it's a cool it's a cool building, you know. 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.240 And then you get right up there basically to the 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.559 lawn in front of this building. That's the fourth green, 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.720 and then you walk over to the fifth te and 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.560 it's a spectacular short par four that plays downhill, dramatic 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.959 contours in the fairway that dictate the strategy of the hole. 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.280 The next hole after that is the volcano par three 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:38.640 that I think a lot of people probably like taking 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:43.680 pictures of that falls off really severely on the right 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:50.280 side of the putting surface. And the seven is a 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:56.480 par five that again goes over incredible land. These are great, 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:01.960 great golf holes, and that basically continues until the that 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.800 that land. The terrain, the dramatic terrain in that section 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.040 of the golf course takes you all the way through 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.720 hole twelve and then and then there are some really 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:16.959 cool golf holes after that too. But you know, especially 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.200 on number eleven. The part five that you're describing earlier 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:26.920 that goes over those huge contours is just a wonderful 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:28.760 yeah design. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:33.000 Twelve twelve so neat too with that, you know. 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.240 I short part four kind of goes over the shoulder 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.280 of the hill and you can see the green from 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:40.280 some parts of the hole and other other parts of 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:40.960 the hole you can't. 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.920 I carry around a per Simon driver and I don't 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.400 use it all the time. And about four holes and 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.760 uh and do uh roaring gap, you just realize, like 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.840 it's a way more fun golf course to play with 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.280 the with the persim and driver, because that's a golf 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.640 course that modern equipment has really really take it a toll. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:03.440 But like if you put if you put it back 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.120 to the per Simon, like all of a sudden, all 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.360 the all of those features, Like the twelfth hole has 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.760 this huge cascading ridge that runs down the right side 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.640 of the fairway and we both ended up on it. 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:18.800 You do not want to be on it. It leaves 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.680 it's a very short part four, like three point fifty. 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.640 You have a wedge and you're just hitting from a 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.080 lie that's you know, ball way above your feet. You know, 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.559 it's very difficult to hit from. 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:32.680 And you have to cut it from there too to 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.520 get anywhere near the green. Yeah, your ball's way above 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:37.200 your feet if you're a right hander, and you've got 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:37.560 to cut it. 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.120 Yeah, and you know, if I was playing my regular driver, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.480 I just hit it right over that thing. You know, 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.000 I wouldn't have been even in the ballpark. But with 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.560 the persimon, I hit it right into it. I tried 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.600 to hit it over and didn't get there. So it's 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.960 that that golf course is so fun. And it's another 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.240 one where when the ball's like alive. We played it 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:00.960 at the end of the season and there's a lot 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:02.960 of moisture in the air, so it's a little soft. 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.720 But like when that ball is running, it's just got 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.360 to be so much fun to play. 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.959 Yeah that your your ball can travel hundreds of feet 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.640 even in in one role, and that's part of the 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:19.480 adventure of the course. And yeah, if you if you're 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.480 just hitting over those landforms, it becomes less fun, you know. 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.280 Since I since I'm a little bit shorter, the course 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.440 still works. It works for me with with modern equipment, 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.600 I think, but in any case, for the for the 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.760 eleventh hole, for instance, that par five. You know, the 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.560 big feature of that hole is the a ridge or 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:45.040 I guess uh you know this, uh, this diagonal slope 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.200 that cuts about one hundred yards in front of the 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.000 green and then the land goes down into the goal 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.640 into a goalie and then way up to the green. 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.600 And the question on that hole is where do you 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.520 want your second shot to end up? Do you want 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.719 to be on top of the ridge with kind of 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:03.960 a weird lie but you're on the same level the green, 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:05.320 or do you want to go ahead and hit it 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.280 past that and then have a blind shot up to 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.400 the green That that would be quite difficult as well. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.400 I think if you were playing modern equipment, you'd probably 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.160 get your ball around the green and two shots every time. 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.720 But rolling yourself back a little bit reintroduces some of 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.240 the questions that the hole is supposed to ask, and 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.920 it is. You know, it's a short course by modern standards, 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.760 it's sixty four hundred yards, but man, if you're if 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.560 you're hitting the ball off the tee not much more 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.360 than two hundred or two hundred and twenty five yards, 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:45.320 that course becomes really adventurous and difficult because of because 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.360 of how it just sits on this mountain and doesn't 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:52.600 hold back in terms of taking you over the biggest landforms. 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:59.640 What I would you say, what would you say? You know, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.200 what would do you like to see different there? 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.560 Well, we talked about this a little bit during the round. 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.960 It would be it would be cool to see the 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:15.280 turf in the fairways especially come to its full potential. 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.120 And we saw it toward the end of the season. 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.080 We saw it in October. That course closes down at 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:25.120 the end of October, right basically three weeks was it 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.560 the last week? So even earlier the course is essentially 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.240 shut down at this point, its season is over. And 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.120 I'm sure if we saw it earlier in the summer, 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.080 we would have seen different realities in terms of the turf. 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.680 But yeah, it was it was soggy and the ball 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:46.480 wasn't running like clearly it normally would. And you know, 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.040 I do think that there probably could be some stuff 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:50.920 done so that the turf is a little bit more 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.400 lively through the season. Another thing that I noticed as 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.520 I was playing the course is that maybe some of 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:02.080 the mowing lines aren't aren't quite they could be, you know, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.960 their whole number seven comes to mind, specifically where on 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.120 the right side, there's a mowing line that kind of 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:15.800 cuts into some area where that you might want to 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.760 play with strategically getting your ball out there and seeing 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.640 it roll. I think that's the case on a few holes. 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:23.960 Yeah, some trees too. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:28.440 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's on the on the front nine 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.800 or the current front nine especially, would you say. 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.360 Yeah, I'd say that. And then you know on the back, 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.800 like there's one between seventeen and eighteen the tree there's 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:40.520 a pine tree that a fair way that could be 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.720 extended over on the left that would make the hole 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.400 much better. But you know, for the most part, it's 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.840 it's really good, you know, And I don't think I 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:56.480 don't think that course it for what it is. It's 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:57.720 really good, right. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:01.920 And what do you think it is? What do you 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:03.240 think it's it's trying to be. 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:07.280 I mean, it's just like a lax place to go 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.040 hang out that everybody that's a member there is like 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.600 a second or third club, you know, and to a 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.880 certain extent, like golf is just a part of you know, 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:19.680 being up in the mountains, right. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:26.720 Yes, yeah, I agree, you know, it's I think Donald 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.600 Ross delivered exactly what the intention of that course was. 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:36.119 Was it's a pleasant getaway from busier places down on 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.960 flatter land, you know. It was. It was designed as 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.679 an adjunct to the Pinehurst resort, and it sort of 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.040 functions that way. It's it's although it's on a mountain, 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.480 it's not too taxing. It's just it's just really pleasing 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.800 and a fun, fun place to play golf. But I 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.119 wouldn't call it, and I don't know if this is 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.040 even a good term. I wouldn't call it a major course, right, 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.239 not in terms of major championship But it's not a 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:06.439 major work in Donald Ross's body of work. It's uh, 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.400 you know, Oakland Hills and Pinehurst number two, those are 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:14.840 those are his big, huge statements, roaring gap and I 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.119 made this comparison in a discussion we had afterwards. But 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.240 if you're going to compare Donald Ross's courses to Bruce 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:25.000 Springsteen albums, I don't know why you'd want to do that. 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:29.880 It just jumped to mind. But Pinehurst number two, uh, 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.800 and and his uh, the current Donald Ross major championship 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.120 courses are kind of his born to run or born 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:40.320 in the USA, those big statements and big loud, you 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:45.679 know albums that that have a lot of instruments and 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:49.920 h and spectacular songs. Roaring Gap is more like Bruce 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:54.399 Springsteen's album Nebraska, which is a cute, acoustic, stripped down 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:59.919 beautiful and you know, it's a beautiful, lovely album that 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:04.040 shows a different side of Springsteen, but it's not a 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.320 major statement and it doesn't intend to be. I think 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.760 that you can sort of see Roaring Gap the same way. 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.800 It shows a different dimension of Ross's talent as an architect. 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:20.640 Yeah, I agree with that. It's it's it's like it's charming, 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.280 you know, yes, that's the way. It's just a it's 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.560 a very enjoyable place to go play golf, right, you know. 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:31.760 Yeah, yeah, I'm glad we went there. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:36.359 Yeah. So yeah, then uh then you got to go 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.800 see Achin. Now for a quick word from our sponsor. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.639 Today's episode is powered by tdum rhor Trade. Whether on 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:45.639 the course or in the market, it helps to have 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:47.760 a second set of eyes to keep you on your game. 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.800 That's why tedum ror Trades Trade Desk is here to 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.400 help gut check your strategies so you always feel confident 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:58.480 teeing up a trade. Visit tedomritrade dot com slash fried 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.959 egg to learn more about what the trade desk can 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:05.639 do for you member SIPC. Now back to Aichen. 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:12.200 Oh man, this was quite a trip. Actually, it felt 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:14.879 like it happened pretty quickly, but we covered a lot 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:15.320 of grounds. 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.320 I'm so tired at the end of it. 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:20.919 Oh yeah, yeah, we did quite a bit of driving. 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:26.120 But yeah. We we got over to Aiken and had 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:30.560 our event there, played three rounds at Aiken within a 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:37.040 day and a half and that was a completely delightful experience. 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.719 Achin Golf Club. You've written about it on the website, 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:46.000 but it's just a wonderful local golf course that just 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:51.320 shows what you can do if you have an ownership 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:58.200 that that commits themselves entirely to making the golf course 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:02.200 as good as possible and where they know what they're doing, 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.160 you know they and they just turned that golf course 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:11.480 into a design that is better than it has any 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.239 business being so really fun to play there. It was 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.520 I think the event worked out really well. But yeah, 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:20.800 great great place. And then in the same town you 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.240 have Palmeto Golf Club on the on the on the 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:28.439 private side, and it makes Aiken one of the best 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.600 small towns for golf that I've ever seen maybe the best. 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.040 I actually think it is the best. I don't think 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:40.960 there's a there's a town, even a city, even cities 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:47.320 that have a better private public combo. I was actually 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:52.040 I was a little nervous before Aiken because I feel like, 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.960 you know, I don't know, I had this like self 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.399 doubt creep in where I was just like, maybe, like, 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.200 maybe this golf course isn't as good as I think 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.679 this golf courses because like just I feel like not 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.000 that many people had been to it, you know, like 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:13.120 there wasn't like a I don't know, like Tom Dok 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:17.080 hasn't been there, you know, and there's like a little 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:21.360 doubt that and but then like you know, everybody got 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:24.080 there and played it and everybody was like blown away. 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.800 It was like quite relieving, and it was like, Okay, 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.760 I did think like I wasn't losing my mind or something. 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.879 And totally understand. I've been that way about golf courses before, 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:37.960 where nobody else is talking about them, you think it's 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:41.000 really great, and you're like, oh, have I just gone insane? 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:43.120 Yeah, Well, it was like the fact that all these 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.080 people are going I'm like, I hope it's not as 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:48.919 good as I think it is, you know, but like 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.080 I was re refferred because you know the commentary afterwards. 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:56.000 But you know, there isn't a with a public golf course, 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:01.000 like there aren't many public golf courses that can map like. 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:05.760 There are plenty of private courses that match Palmetto, but 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:08.280 I can't think of any town that's got a public 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:12.119 that even comes in the close in the stratosphere of 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:13.919 of akin. 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:18.800 Yeah, it's pretty stunning, how good it is. So what 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:21.359 were you hearing from people after they play it? Played it? 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:23.560 What were what were some of the comments that you heard. 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.919 I'm curious, you know, people just it was just, you know, 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.639 how wildly unique it is, how incredible, Like I mean, 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:32.040 the greens are just incredible. 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:36.720 Yeah, yes, every green's different, and and there are green 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:41.120 concepts out there, just ideas for what you could do 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.800 with the total entity of the green that I just 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:47.640 haven't seen before. Yeah, and I just literally haven't seen 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:50.800 someone design a green like that before. That's that's what's 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:52.040 out there at this golf course. 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:55.360 Well, it's because the guy never designed, agreed before he designs. 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.600 Usually that that situation doesn't work out like that. It's 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:05.160 just it's such a cool place. The the other thing 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.879 is the way it's connected to the town makes it 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:13.480 a little bit more special too. Where you can it's 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:16.159 a two minute walk from downtown Aiken, which is a 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:21.080 nice town. It's a it's a very nice town. You know, 0:24:21.119 --> 0:24:22.879 I haven't been there a couple of times now, Like 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:26.800 I Aiken's a really nice town. And you you just 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:29.879 can walk from downtown and then there's this golf course 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:33.440 that's weaved in through the neighborhood. You cross roads and 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:36.520 you go out and back and it's just and and 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:39.280 the best is, like it takes so little time to 0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:41.879