The March Feature Interview is an audio round table, conducted by Connor Lewis at GolfClubAtlas world headquarters in late January. The participants are Connor Lewis of Talking Golf History fame, Kyle Franz (golf course architect), Matt Smallwood (Kyle’s primary shaper), Vaughn Halyard (GCA’s October’s 2016 Feature Interview re: the restoration at Cedar Rapids CC), Brad Becken (president of the Donald Ross Society and GCA’s January 2020 Feature Interview) and me.
The general topic is Donald Ross and Ross restorations and this discussion was triggered by the current restoration work taking place at my home course Southern Pines GC by Kyle & crew. For those that follow GolfClubAtlas Instagram, you are aware of the startling transformation currently underway.
Below is a picture of Matt making things happen along the right of the 8th hole last month.
The viewpoints in this podcast are diverse, which (hopefully!) makes the one hour and forty-five minutes hum along. You have Connor whose love of history is palpable both in this discussion and throughout his work on TalkingGolf.com (where this ‘gathering’ is presented as episode #63 and here is the link directly to it:
https://talkingolf.fireside.fm/63). There is Vaughn, who brings the perspective of a past board member whose club went through a wildly successful restoration, Brad whose steady hand at the Ross Society helps see it steer Ross courses in the right direction, Kyle who started off in 1999 doing grunt work at Pacific Dunes to having his own design firm today, Matt who has worked at places like the Vineyard Club and Seminole and now brings that level of expertise to my humble (former Elks) course, and me (architecture enthusiast whose home club is currently being restored).
As Connor notes at the end, there was no agenda per se other than people who love the game having a chin-wag. Hope you enjoy and a special thanks to Connor and Vaughn for their technical expertise in making this happen.
Best,