The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

Andy Johnson is joined by two golf architects on this week's Fried Egg Golf Podcast. Before the architecture conversations, Andy shares his thoughts on Eugenio Chacarra's comments regarding his experience playing on the LIV Golf Tour and his interest in obtaining a PGA Tour card. From there, Andy first chats with Agustin Piza of Piza Golf, one of the three designers of the holes for the first season of TGL. Augie and Andy discuss what it was like designing holes in a virtual landscape, how the TGL's one green hampered some designs, and what Augie's learned from his experience in the metaverse that he's now applying to his designs in reality. To close this episode, Andy sits down with William Carlson, a freshman at Cal Poly who helped lead a restoration effort tat Northwood Golf Club in Sonoma County, California. Will spent his summer restoring a bunker at the Alister MacKenzie course and plans on making a career in golf course architecture.

In this two-part podcast, Andy Johnson is first joined by Fried Egg Golf's Joseph LaMagna to discuss the first PGA Tour stop of the 2025 season, Hideki Matsuyama's record-breaking win at The Sentry. With Matsuyama taking down the PGA Tour's 72-hole record for score-to-par, Andy and Joseph discuss whether the game has moved past the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort. The two debate whether changing the course to a par 72 as opposed to the current par 73 iteration would make things any better and how the PGA Tour could possibly add some teeth to a course that lacks defense when the wind isn't blowing. For the second part of this show, Andy chats with golf architect Jaeger Kovich about the most pressing issues for the golf course industry in 2025, such as rising building costs and the continued growth of resort golf.

Andy Johnson kicks off 2025 an episode looking at the year to come in professional golf, both virtually and on actual courses. To start, he's joined by Gabby Herzig of The Athletic to talk through some major storylines for the game in the new year. Andy and Gabby discuss the potential PIF-PGA Tour deal, the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, how the LPGA can grow under new leadership, and more. With TGL kicking off next Tuesday, Andy brings on Fried Egg Golf's Joseph LaMagna and PJ Clark for a preview of the simulator league. The three share thoughts on the league's TV deal with ESPN, the gameplay, and the lackluster design of most of the holes found in the metaverse. Check back next Wednesday for a new episode as the Fried Egg Golf Podcast shifts to a new schedule in 2025.

On the final Fried Egg Golf Podcast of 2024, Andy Johnson is joined by Fried Egg Golf's Brendan Porath and The Quadrilateral's Geoff Shackelford to rank the best events in golf this year. The trio pick their five favorite events of the year and discuss each at length, covering tournaments such as the men's U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, the Women's Open Championship at the Old Course, and the men's Olympic competition at Le Golf National. Andy, Brendan, and Geoff also cover some architectural trends that took shape in 2024 before ending the episode with what they're looking forward to in 2025.