The Golfers Journal Podcast The Golfer's Journal

Yes, in TGJ No. 14, Coyne chronicled the hellish battles he and four others had with substance abuse and how golf in a sober league became an unexpectedly vital part of their journeys to recovery. But in this pod, it's clear that busting each other’s chops is also a big part of it.

In a surprisingly funny and hopeful conversation, Coyne and two members of the league discuss golf’s longtime kinship with alcohol, their own roads to sobriety and why a sense of humor helps too.

What are you left with after 19 years as a communications executive for the PGA Tour’s biggest events? A jukebox of epic tales ranging from the parking-lot chase with Tiger at Doral, a front row seat for the Bradley-Jiminez greenside clash, and a late night meal at an Atlanta Waffle House where he shared a special drink with a stranger the night Arnold Palmer passed. Editor Travis Hill sits down with Chris Reimer to press play on his career with the Tour, and how it led to his piece in No. 14.

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Ben Rector writes from a place of vulnerability, forming a bond with his fans by letting them behind the curtain. And while he and host Tom Coyne have just recently met, they sound very much like old friends on this episode. During their conversation, Rector discusses the best places to peg it on tour, golf in the Nashville music scene, life as an independent artist and adds his expert opinion on one of golf’s hot-button issues: music on the golf course.

College football fans know the legendary writing, podcasting and Twitter rants of Spencer Hall. But what does he know about golf? Just enough to be dangerous. Hall joins TGJ Editor Travis Hill to discuss his story in TGJ No. 14 about Ray Ray Whitley, a virtual golfer Hall created to survive an early-quarantine sports black hole. They go on to workshop some golf takes like how Phil Mickelson is a walking hedge fund, why one Masters was enough for Hall, and why the Waste Management is the true U.S. Open.

If you’re open to it, the game can provide some life-changing surprises. So it is with Mike Madden and host Tom Coyne. Madden, son of HOF'er John Madden, and Coyne never knew each other before they teed off. Now, Madden is passing him secret turducken recipes and they’re talking about a trip to play in Ireland. This conversation retraces the steps of their round at Philly Cricket, Madden’s preservation of Muhammed Ali’s legacy, and his small role in the video game bearing his father’s famous face.

In the early 1950s, he was watching declassified rocket explosions filmed by his father. During the 1960s, in the shadow of Riviera, he learned the game from Willie Hunter by flying 4-irons into the Pacific. In 1964 he helped produce some of the first music videos, and by 1966 he was part of the revolutionary Bones Brigade that introduced skateboarding to Europe. In 2020, he wrote about it all in TGJ No. 13 and joined host Tom Coyne to explain his movie-script life. This is Jim Fitzpatrick.