The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

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

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

After a recent visit to Pastiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California, Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison figured it was time to dedicate a full podcast to this brilliant (and publicly accessible!) Alister MacKenzie design. From the underrated front nine to the controversial finishing holes, Andy and Garrett dig into the features that make the course a must-visit for any golfer. They wrap up their chat by turning an eye to the future and discussing their hopes and concerns regarding last week's news that Pasatiempo will undergo major rebuild of its heralded MacKenzie greens.

Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) has an unrivaled ability to present statistics and historical facts in a way that gives golf fans a better understanding of players and their performances. He and Garrett Morrison chat about Justin’s methods and his background in media before diving into the key storylines of the 2021-22 PGA Tour season so far. They explore some numbers and notes related to Scottie Scheffler’s rise, Collin Morikawa’s incredible early-career performance in majors, and Rory McIlroy’s [fire emoji] final round at the 2022 Masters. They also discuss some of the big questions they hope to see answered as the year unfolds. More of Justin's work can be found at Twenty First Group, where he is Head of Content, as well as on The Athletic and PGATour.com.

Scottie Scheffler played so brilliantly at the 2022 Masters that, for much of the final round, the outcome wasn’t in doubt. But what this Masters may have lacked in competitive tension, it made up for in rich storylines. To think through some of these deeper narratives, Garrett Morrison speaks with three guests: Jaime Diaz (@JaimeDiazGC), a veteran golf writer who is currently an analyst for Golf Channel; Bob Crosby (@Otey71), a golf historian; and Joseph LaMagna (@JosephLaMagna), the analytics whiz behind the Finding the Edge newsletter. For more reflections on the Masters from the Fried Egg team, go to our Masters hub. Timestamps: (3:40) Jaime Diaz interview (29:11) Bob Crosby interview (49:18) Joseph LaMagna interview

What should I know before going to the Masters? What are the most underrated and overrated vantage points at Augusta National? How can I best appreciate the course architecture? Should I actually avoid the merch tent? If you’re planning to attend the Masters sometime in the future, these are questions you might ask yourself. To get some answers, Garrett Morrison talks with Andy Johnson, Brendan Porath, and Michael Wolf (@bamabearcat), all of whom are deeply familiar with the lay of the land at Augusta National. They give recommendations for what a first-time Masters spectator should do (and not do), and they discuss their favorite spots on the property. For more Fried Egg Masters coverage, check out our Masters hub.

Masters week is here! To preview the upcoming action, Andy Johnson welcomes Shane Bacon (@shanebacon), co-host of Golf Today on Golf Channel and host of the recently revived Get a Grip podcast, to discuss the five things they're looking forward to seeing at Augusta National. From Scottie Scheffler to Justin Thomas to a potential Tiger return, Andy and Shane cover the top storylines going into the 2022 Masters.

With the Augusta National Women’s Amateur wrapping up tomorrow and the 2022 Masters approaching, Andy Johnson and Garrett Morrison sit down to discuss the latest changes to America’s most influential golf course. They touch on the tree removal along the right side of No. 11, the lengthening of No. 15, and the short-grass expansions on several holes. They also talk about which renovations they hope to see next, and how the club’s philosophy of course design and presentation may be shifting. Read Andy’s article on the changes at Augusta National and Meg Adkins’s piece on how the format on the ANWA could be improved.

The 2022 Augusta National Women's Amateur begins tomorrow, and who better to talk to about it than Emilia Migliaccio (@emiliamigliacc1)? Emilia played in the inaugural ANWA in 2019, finished second last year, and will be in the field again this week. She talks with Garrett Morrison about the unique aspects of the event, the different challenges of the two host courses, her strategies for negotiating Augusta National’s greens, and the lessons she learned after coming up short in a playoff last year. In addition to being an elite amateur golfer, Emilia is also an accomplished writer and a Golf Channel reporter, and she explains why she has decided to pursue a career in journalism instead of turning professional in golf.

Today we tell the story of one of the great lost elements of match-play golf: the stymie. A stymie occurred when one player’s ball on the green ended up between the hole and the opponent’s ball. Unless the balls were within six inches of one another, the ball closer to the hole could not be lifted. The player who was away simply had to figure out what to do next. When the governing bodies eliminated the stymie in 1952, more than a curious little quirk of match play was lost, according to our guest Stephen Proctor. In a conversation with Garrett Morrison, Stephen argues that the stymie embodied a larger attitude toward the game—an attitude that fell out of favor in the mid-20th century, but one that is worth remembering, and perhaps reviving, today. Stephen's book The Long Golden Afternoon is available for pre-order now.