18 Opportunities Podcast on Golf 18 Opportunities Podcast

Billy welcomes Conner from the Society of Golf Historians and Talking Golf History podcast to replay Hole #5 and explore Golf as a Game of Tools.  We explore Connor's love and obsession with hickory golf clubs, his collection of Rut Irons and Sand Wedges and explore how the evolution of the guttie and wound ball led to club innovations, specifically irons, and the magic of bounce and the Sand Wedge with Hagen and Sarazen in 1932 British Open.

"Why 18 Opportunities?" This episode introduces Billy and Drew to the listeners, as we explore why we love golf through the lens of history, culture, science, and evolution.  Billy explains the origin of 18 Opportunities from the book Concerning Golf by John Low and his Eastmoreland 100 history project.  Together they lay out the purpose and structure of the 18 hole journey with the goal to persuade Malcolm Gladwell's to reconsider his avowed hatred of golf in "A Good Walk Spoiled" from the Revisionist History Podcast (owned and produced by Pushkin Industries)

On the opening hole of the 18 Opportunities Podcast, Billy and Drew explore the origin of sports specifically melee games and target games, and how both golf and football were banned in 1457 by the King of Scotland.  

This episode features long friend and competitor Vinny who joins Billy to discuss the appreciation of the Match, specifically match play, making a wager and some American versions played in Texas called Wolf Hammer.  This is an episode that will have you making a tee time and digging into the wallet for some cash. 
 
Note: we skip Hole #2: Golf is Made by the Land because we are on our way to Bandon for the Oregon Coast Cup match play event. That episode will include some of the exploits of our annual pilgrimage.

Hole #2 Golf is Made By the Land explore how golf was made by the land, specifically the links of Scotland. The game was one shaped more by the land itself then by any theoretical constructs of gameplay, like court games. The game evolved to follow the natural contours and make a game of what nature provided. The episode explores how golf can co-exist with open space and natural areas that live on the edges of civilization. This episode is a combination of multiple recordings, from Billy's initial foray into podcasting, snippets of a discussion with Drew on newer golf courses built on reclaimed land, and closing with some golfing at Black Mesa Golf Course in New Mexico.  

Hole #4 Billy and Drew explore how Golf is a Ball Game and unique from other games, in that the evolution of the ball was a critical element to the evolution of the game itself.  Learn about the original wooden golf balls pre 15th century and the origin of the featherie- the first "modern golf ball" in 1603.  Then discover how the Hindu God Vishnu is connected to the Guttie - first natural rubber golf ball made of gutta-percha.  The episode ends with the introduction of the India-Rubber Ball the  Haskell or "Bouncing Billy" then we break for Part 2 following the golf ball space race of the early 20th century. 
The snippet featuring Malcolm Gladwell comes from "A Good Walk Spoiled" Episode 1 of Season 2 of Revisionist History Podcast produced and owned by Pushkin Industries.