(Slightly More Than the) Year in Review

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself...

Golf at Canter, Sussex by Muirhead Bone

The name of this blog is an archaic colloquialism that means a fist fight between gentlemen, and I want to make sure I’m not immune to criticism. So, I’ve decided to do a year (and 3 months) in review; to briefly discuss the articles I wrote (less than one per month) and ask for feedback, especially constructive criticism. Please let me know what you thought of these articles, where I’m doing well, and where I could improve.

The Four-Hour Round is Bullshit

October 10, 2022

This article was far and away my most popular (by a factor of nearly 10x). Pace of play is a fraught topic, with dozens of confounding variables, that most people thoughtlessly treat as simple. Many people seemed to think that I was saying that individuals’ personal play speed does not matter, which is obviously not true. It obviously does matter. It’s just that individual pace gets effectively 100% of the attention when many, many other factors are at play. I really stand by this one, as the data speaks for itself. There certainly are some slow-pokes out there who should be more mindful of other players, but such obviously problematic practices like seven-minute intervals or beverage carts that wind their way backwards through the course… there just isn’t much thoughtful attention given to this issue, since most folks don’t understand how the course acts like an assembly line with constraints.

I would be thinking about this during the Fried Egg event at the Meadow Club later in the year, where there were some five-hour rounds (my group’s was nearly five hours), and the organizers seemed surprised. The research I’d done for the pace-of-play article made me nearly certain that the tournament conditions would lead to longer-than-expected rounds, mainly due to extra time on the green. I also figured this effect would be exaggerated at the club due to their highly contoured greens and high green speeds. Finally, with attendees paying so much money for two rounds, I assumed they would want to putt out everything. I also expected few concessions. I think my predictions were pretty accurate, even if it did leave me with five minutes for lunch. 

North Korea Has One Operating Golf Course

November 29, 2022

This was a pretty successful push to get people interested in the wiki. I scoured the internet for photos, and spent the time doing the mapping because I thought it was interesting. The only concern I have with this post is that it may seem like I’m giving kudos to a totalitarian regime. I hope it’s clear that I treat it more as a curiosity than an actual course.

A High Shot Hazard

December 22, 2022

This was meant to just be a fun post exploring ways to combat the dominance of the aerial game. This was before discussion of the golf ball rollback. I know this idea is not going to be implemented, but I actually think it’s a good idea in principle, it’s just that the golf ball is too dangerous and something like this could potentially lead to injuries. Still, while I see the golf architecture nerds constantly talk about courses without bunkers, few would entertain new hazards that affect play in different ways. And as someone who wishes golf were more regional, I wish they would. 

Quick Post: 0 Eggs

December 30, 2022

This was far and away the most difficult post for me and probably the most controversial and disliked. Probably because Fried Egg Golf is clearly doing the best work in golf media. Pretty much everything they do, and pretty much everything they say, is extremely well thought out, and on everything from rollback, to the issues of the Tour, to architectural design, I find myself nodding in agreement (and I don’t think I’m alone). I go to them before anyone else because they’re smart and are about having a good time, but they also clearly see a lot of problems in the golf world and want to fix them.

I think the announcement of their Egg rating system was the first time that I realized our vision and values in the golf world diverge a bit, and I was a bit disappointed. The title of the post was just a reference to the fact that “0 eggs is good” is an odd way to frame something imperfect, but that’s fair enough. 

I’ll definitely eat some crow here.

Where I think I got this very wrong was how TFE didn’t just seek out the “very best” (read: exclusive) clubs to profile. Their profiles of Dairy Creek (0 eggs), Pacific Grove (0 eggs), Ravisloe CC (0 eggs), Rustic Canyon (2 eggs), CommonGround (2 eggs), Aiken GC (2 eggs), and Wild Horse (3 eggs) show that they do have a commitment to truly accessible golf courses. Conflating their reviews with the myopic elitism I see in the top 100 lists was clearly a mistake.

Something else I also got wrong is that the egg system is not the crucial part of the profiles. These profiles are very good. If you ignore the rating system, each profile tells an interesting story about a course that’s worth knowing about because it’s doing something unique that other courses don’t or can’t. These pieces aren’t just blurbs like you’ll find on all the obsequious top 100 lists that I can’t stand.  

I do think I got some things right in this article, though. If they had stuck to their original egg system (one egg each category) a scruffy old muni like Gleneagles SF could theoretically receive two eggs (arguably for architecture and land), when a Pebble Beach only receives one. Even if Gleneagles deserves double digit negatives for presentation, it could still have an impressive score. I think it would have been super interesting to see that. However, that system changed. Now they use a more traditional rating system where the eggs are much more general, which makes me want to stand more by my initial impressions. 

Secondly, with 25 of 47 course profiles being private clubs, most of which are quite private, the lion’s share of reviews here aren’t particularly useful to a general audience beyond the story they tell. That is, of course, fine, but that was my point.

Finally, I write about Fried Egg Golf a lot (apparently) because it’s good. 

I didn’t write about the kerfuffle with the Planet Golf vs Golf Magazine Cape Wickham debate because both lists are stupid. The folks at Fried Egg Golf at least get it right in that by giving a number instead of a ranking, you can celebrate two very different courses without being forced into the dumb argument about which one is better. I understand that the big magazine rankings are supposed to be a bit of fun, but when real peoples’ livelihoods are made and lost because of these rankings (and they are), “just a bit of fun” in the access economy for golf’s most well-heeled isn’t something I have much interest in. I’d rather read about courses that people love deeply, despite their flaws. 

I’m very happy that Fried Egg Golf is changing the way we are looking at course rankings, even if I have a few small quibbles. I’m very glad they are profiling imperfect courses that people still love. I definitely shouldn’t have written the subtitle the way I did, and I probably shouldn’t have written this one at all. 

What Even Is a Private Golf Club and Why Are Most So Difficult to Play?

Mar 1, 2023

I learned so much doing this one. I’ve always thought it was so unfortunate that in Scotland, you can play nearly every private club you like, but in America, all the doors are closed by default. In the article, I spend a lot of time discussing whether and how the doors are closed, and how to get in. But my entire point is that all of this is just dancing around the idea that it seems obvious that privates should just be able to advertise and pay taxes on unaccompanied rounds. I think we should change the laws to provide this as a limited option for clubs if they choose it. The exclusive nature of some private clubs still makes me a bit uneasy, but understanding the tax code via this research has actually softened my stance significantly. 

The article was already pretty long, but if I had to write it again, I would have focused much more on the “it’s culture, not law” pushback I got in response. I strongly feel that if the culture is pervasive only where the law mandates it, it’s hard to argue that it’s really culture. I would contend that if clubs are ever in a tight spot financially, if they are allowed to open a few days a week to the public, they will, and they will probably never reverse that decision. 

Quick Post: a review of When Revelation Comes

Mar 27, 2023

It’s a good book; you should read it. Since this came out, No Laying Up put out a film of the same name that features many of the courses in the book, but the film only gently touches on the books content. The book itself is much more intense. I think the film is a decent epilogue, but not a substitute for the book.

One of the Biggest Stories in Golf Happened this Month and Nobody Noticed

May 23, 2023

This gets back to the topic of exclusion in some clubs and the gift/access economy that springs out of that. Pine Valley effectively admits to an absolutely egregious scandal, but they also happen to be the “#1 ranked course in the world” (and extremely invite only). Call me cynical, but when this club get treated with kid gloves in golf media, if it’s mentioned at all, I wonder whether access or relationships are influencing those decisions. Again, I think this is building to a general theory of the access economy in a future piece. But, yeah, I still think it’s completely outrageous that this wasn’t headline news in the golf world. 

Ironically, much later in the year I was playing with someone who “casually brought up” the fact that he had some limited access to this club, and when I chatted with him about the scandal, he sort of bragged about it, as though the ability to act in horrible ways and not care what anyone else thinks is somehow cool and/or desirable. At the end of the round, he was telling us get in touch if anyone was interested in the possibility of playing there, adding “except Matt” to overtly exclude me from that invitation. I suspect that being bothered by a club’s past (or in this case present) actions is breaking some unspoken rule of access. 

Golf for Non-Golfers: Getting from Zero to Golf Should be Fun

Jun 23, 2023

I think we need more chipping courses and fewer practice facilities. I understand that driving ranges are a huge money-maker for courses, but generally speaking, I think that if we care about growing the game, or even creating a general pipeline outside of direct intervention, then chipping courses should exist as municipal facilities in every major town. The interests of existing players, however, are often in conflict with courting new players. 

Luck in Golf

Aug 15, 2023

The deepest dive and most interesting post of the year for me, but most people didn’t pay much attention to it. Richard Garfield is one of my favorite thinkers, and Magic: The Gathering and RoboRally speak for themselves. I would have been pretty let down by the piece if I hadn’t been surprised and delighted by the mixed response on Golf Club Atlas to the topic. Even if you’ve read it, I think this one is worth another look. 

The 16th at Cypress Point With a Putter

Oct 3, 2023

Just a fun little piece I wrote trying to explore how the changes in golf course maintenance and equipment might blur our understanding of anecdotes from previous generations. 

Fried Egg Golf at the Meadow Club

Nov 9, 2023

Probably too personal, but I was obviously thinking of my friend Patrick and I couldn’t help but focus on him while also explaining why I think bringing regular folks into private clubs is important. This is yet another piece that focuses on the two sides of the coin in the American golf paradigm. Here, I must applaud the folks at Fried Egg Golf for focusing on getting people onto architecturally significant private courses. Like I stated before, I think they are the only boutique golf media outlet that really understands the zeitgeist in the game, while also having something important to say about it. 

The golf was excellent, and the environment was incredibly welcoming. And it really was a pretty unbelievable experience for me. I obviously recommend their events if you’re able to make one, even though they are expensive . I’m honestly fine with the high prices. The events include much more than just golf, and netting out those extra costs, the prices are fairly competitive with high-end privates in Scotland. I’m especially happy that most of their events are open to the public. I know other golf publications have the occasional event as well, but Fried Egg Golf is making their ability to get normal folks onto private and exclusive courses part of their brand. It’s something that’s worth doing, and I’m very glad they are doing it.

A Preview of the Next Era at Golden Gate Park GC

Nov 14, 2023

It was honestly just luck that got me invited to this preview – an “I know a guy who knows a guy” kind of situation. Still, after reading many of the other articles about the course update, every single one had the author admitting to not knowing anything about the course before the update. As someone very familiar with the course, I was lucky to have been able to write about it with a deep understanding of the changes involved. I was even there the day before they closed to play it one last time before the remodel. I think the hole-by-hole analysis speaks for itself, and I’m still kicking myself for not taking a photo of #3. Jay Blasi and Josh Lewis were extremely kind and generous with their time and I really appreciated that.

Why I Am Still Concerned About Municipal Courses During this Golf Boom

Nov 29, 2023

This one was deeply personal, and some of the concerns I address in it are becoming even more personal these days. My home course, Gleneagles SF, may lose its lease and be converted into some alternate use in the near future. I’ll dive deeper into some of these issues in the coming year with a series I’m writing on Gleneagles. 

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What’s Been Happening at GolfCourse.Wiki?

2023 recap

At the end of the day, Wigs on the Green’s goal is to promote the Golf Course Wiki, the encyclopedia of golf courses I started in 2021. This year started strong, but then came to a screeching halt. Most folks might not even have noticed any significant changes apart from data entry. Most of the year was taken up by my progress on a live-play club tournament system, that allows people to actively keep track of scores while playing a course on the wiki. I want to build this so that less well off courses and clubs (especially munis) can run tournaments on the cheap (it’s just a complex math problem after all), and without being tied to the bigger organizations with the costs that are involved. It is not finished, but I've been nearly there for a long time. It’s mostly not finished because I had a series of life events in the second half of the year that have made casual coding nearly impossible. I think I will be able to finish it early next year. 

GolfCourse.Wiki has grown significantly, so much so that my costs went up about fourfold. They are still manageable, but I do need to focus on revenue, which is why I spent so much time on tournament functions instead of ease-of-use improvements in 2023. Two years in, I’m still proud of the numbers I pull in regularly, and I’m happy this site shows people what I’m trying to build.

As always, the goal of the website is for people to add strategic notes on all the holes of the courses they know well. The how-to-play notes for holes on local municipal courses are just as valuable as the notes for fancy courses. The goal is to give caddie-like advice for every hole on every course. If you can help out with that, it would be much appreciated. 

I really appreciate all the views, encouragement, and constructive feedback on the blog and website from the golf community over the last year. Most of all, I want to sincerely thank everyone who has added their home course to the wiki, taken the time to leave notes about specific holes, and really just put in the effort to help grow this community. I hope we can keep it up together in 2024.