The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf

NewClub Golf Society
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Deeply researched audio documentaries that tell the definitive stories behind golf's greatest clubs + weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today.

  1. 5d ago ·  Video

    Why Nice Wins (with Karen Peek, Detroit's Muni Golf Boss)

    Karen Peek's first golf memory isn't a great shot. It's her mom and aunt on the lesson tee at Rackham, laughing to tears and hitting it terribly. In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co-host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. "The Professor") sit down with Karen Peek (Director of Golf Operations for Golf Detroit and an LPGA teaching professional) to talk about growing up on Detroit's municipal courses, chasing the LPGA Tour through four Q-Schools, and why being genuinely glad to see people is the best business decision a golf course can make. The conversation dives into: Learning the game from Ben Davis at Rackham and Chris Williams at Palmer Park, the only two Black members of the Michigan PGA section at the timeFour tries at the LPGA Tour, never once feeling comfortable at Q-School, and a putting saga that runs from hypnosis to a new Scotty Cameron ordered two weeks agoWhy teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it, and why the boyfriend lesson ends the golf before it ends the relationshipThe 150-yard markers at Chandler Park and why she isn't getting drunk on golf's boom"Hey dude, what's up?", the private-club pro shop that never said hello, and why she can charge more because her courses are nicerBen Davis's legacy: humble, fierce, and always moving golfers off the range and onto the courseConnect with our guest 🏌️‍♀️ Karen Peek — Golf Detroit: https://golfdetroit.org — 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GolfDetroit/ — 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-peek-6a649712/ Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Links & Partners ⛳ Erin Hills: https://www.erinhills.com 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com The Bag Drop 📺 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebagdrop 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Website: https://thebagdrop.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 00:00 Cold open: when your boyfriend is your golf teacher 00:45 Welcome, and a bruised fall for Guardians and Bulldogs fans 03:12 Best fall format: East Lothian rules vs. Steel vs. Rubber 05:05 The team-event climax, plus First Tee Cleveland and Akron 06:20 Meet Karen Peek of Golf Detroit 07:56 The Professor's teaching: 20 minutes outside, less cortisol 09:58 Erin Hills: the glaciers did the heavy lifting 12:10 Karen joins: baseball first, and nothing for State 15:18 A Cleveland-fan dad and a Tigers-fan daughter 19:35 Mom's lessons with Ben Davis: so happy, so awful 22:12 Free Press summer golf school: 400 kids, no golf balls 23:39 Biking to Palmer Park and learning from Chris Williams 25:07 Losing her dad at 14, and the comfort of the individual game 27:51 Par was the standard, practice was the answer 31:37 Four tries at the LPGA Tour, and advice from people who haven't been there 36:43 Q-School: prepared until she got there 38:45 Hypnosis, acupuncture, and a putter over the knee 42:53 Lemons into lemonade: joining the LPGA to teach 44:50 Teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it 48:16 Six-foot-four students and "please don't apologize" 52:41 What Carol Mann taught her: people need to know you care 56:28 Horrific lessons and the boyfriend at the range 59:35 Delivery over knowledge: listen first 1:03:13 Get them on the course, the sooner the better 1:04:14 Nobody knows what 300 yards looks like (hit one more club) 1:08:49 The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park 1:11:23 Don't get drunk on the boom 1:13:19 Building comfort: staff who look like your golfers 1:15:26 "Hey dude, what's up?" 1:17:36 The private-club pro shop that said nothing 1:19:23 "I can charge more because I'm nicer" 1:22:55 Ben Davis: humble, fierce, always smiling 1:26:26 Thanks, and the outro with Erin Hills What is NewClub? A golf club without the real estate. One membership, a rotation of great courses, tee times, competitions, trips already on the calendar, and people who love the game the way you do. We play as visitors of the clubs and courses that host us, and those relationships are the heart of what we do. What is The Bag Drop? Deeply researched audio documentaries telling the stories behind golf's greatest clubs, plus weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today. Hosted by NewClub founder Matt Considine and The Professor, Dr. Kevin Moore.

  2. Oct 20 ·  Video

    Shared, Not Gatekept (with Jeff Warne Founder New Holland Golf Club)

    Many private club models seem to rely on keeping somebody out. Jeff Warne would rather keep out those who want just that. In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co‑host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Jeff Warne (longtime Director of Golf at The Bridge and founder of New Holland Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina). Jeff has been sketching his ideal club since 2001; now he's building it as a members' club with UK-style visitor access, in a market where most new builds lock the gate. He makes the case that good golf should be shared, explains the one-page doctrine that filters his membership better than any pitch deck, and gets into firm-but-slow greens, golf's distance problem, and 60 trips' worth of Scotland. The conversation dives into: Why good golf should be shared, not gatekept, and how visitor tee times in the gaps are meant to keep members' dues downThe one-page doctrine that doubles as a filter: hand it to a consultant or an AI and it comes back exclusive, luxury, manicured — the words that undo the whole ideaFirm but slow: why Brian Schneider's greens carry more slope, and why "we need more pin placements" usually means "slow the greens down"Sixty trips to Scotland, an unplanned run through Arran and Kintyre, and why to skip the famous-eight van tourThe distance debate, bifurcation, and why Al Geiberger's 59 still towers over today's 59 watchConnect with our guests ⛳ Jeff Warne — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/jeffwarnegolf | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-warne-37335811/ | 📧 Email: jeffwarne85@gmail.com 🌲 New Holland Golf Club — 🌐 https://www.newhollandgolfclub.com/ | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newhollandgolfclub Interested in New Holland? Jeff asks for an email, not a text, and he'd like you to read the doctrine first. Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Links & Partners 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Website: https://thebagdrop.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 00:00 Cold open: modern golf is being run backwards 00:31 Welcome, and the Professor's two-week research retreat in Scotland 01:43 When to play links golf: September, or the late-April sweet spot 02:54 Today's guest, and why New Holland stands out in Aiken's private boom 05:40 The Professor's teaching: Brad's Drink, BackRub and other names that didn't stick 09:13 Titleist: SM11 wedges, and getting fit before the clubs go away 10:35 Jeff Warne joins (with notes on everything we just said) 12:03 Sixty trips in: stop playing the famous eight 14:27 A missed qualifier, the Arran ferry, and Shiskine and Corrie to themselves 17:51 Walk-up tee times at Machrihanish and a lunch standoff at Dunaverty 20:58 The first trip: book a few big guns, then play Prestwick St Nicholas 22:44 The scale problem: courses built for Watson and Nicklaus 24:32 Bifurcation was the answer, and Geiberger's 59 still stands alone 27:41 Accessible golf at home: Myrtle Beach (really) and Maine nine-holers 30:24 New Holland's access model: members first, visitors in the gaps 33:19 Shared, not gatekept: members and visitors, not public and private 35:03 The doctrine: 25 years of notes, typed in 40 minutes 36:37 Exclusive, luxury, manicured: when the polished rewrite becomes the filter 44:05 Native vegetation, construction traffic and the jungle coming back 46:51 100% invested in less, and moving a third of the dirt 50:40 Any pressure to bend the UK model? 53:50 Want exclusive? Join somewhere else 54:49 Why established clubs can't open up: the bag room doubled 57:01 The hundredth property, and the Tree Farm that got away 1:01:50 Firm but slow, at 102 degrees and three-quarters of an inch 1:04:23 "We need more pin placements" means slow the greens down 1:06:46 Long Cove, grainy Bermuda and why fast greens are easy 1:10:38 The scene in 20 years, and why culture is the hard part 1:14:02 Handing The Bridge to Mike Sweeney 1:16:43 Public golf, Gold Hill and making the group big 1:18:31 Thanks and sign-off What is NewClub? A golf club without the real estate. One membership, a rotation of great courses, tee times, competitions, trips already on the calendar, and people who love the game the way you do. We play as visitors of the clubs and courses that host us, and those relationships are the heart of what we do. What is The Bag Drop? Deeply researched audio documentaries telling the stories behind golf's greatest clubs, plus weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today. Hosted by NewClub founder Matt Considine and The Professor, Dr. Kevin Moore.

  3. Oct 13 ·  Video

    Don't Shrink the Game. Educate It.

    A tragic argument in golf right now is whether the game needs to get smaller. Designer Sam Beckman has a different answer: educate.  In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co-host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. "The Professor") sit down with Samuel Beckman (owner and designer behind Emergency 9 Golf) to talk about building golf courses that clubs can actually afford to keep — and about the high school coaching job that turned out to fill the void he missed from leading large teams in corporate America. The conversation dives into: Why Sam came in at roughly half the master planning fee at Ridgeway, on purpose, and what "any budget" really costs the person who says itNorth Hills, where the greens had shrunk from six thousand square feet to three thousand, and every one of them is being rebuilt — from a single pin position to as many as sixteenThe tee boxes at Port Huron that Matt couldn't stop noticing, and why Scotland taught Sam that you play through a golf course rather than over itGlen Flora's restoration: two bunkers a year, built in-house with a Kubota front loader straight through COVID, and a membership that went from 160 to 275Why the superintendent is a co-author on every project, and the day one of them answered a steep bunker face with "we're gonna buy robots"Twenty-nine girls on the Lake Forest team, a Coaches Cup played for an old brass flower vase, and the freshman's video that got Sam through a bad dayConnect with our guests ⛳ Samuel Beckman — https://www.emergency9golf.com — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/emergency9golf | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emergency9golf/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-beckman-emergency9golf/ Links & Partners 💼 Inglewood: https://www.ingw.com/ Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Online: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 00:00 Educate the game, don't shrink it 00:20 Welcome to The Bag Drop 00:32 Post-trip depression and the two Kevins 02:23 Today's guest: Sam Beckman, a.k.a. The Mule 04:39 The Port Huron tee boxes Matt couldn't stop noticing 05:37 A shout-out to Andrew Bailey's Mid-Am win 06:33 The Professor's teaching: who actually makes America's beef 08:37 Ad read: Inglewood Associates 10:29 Twenty-nine girls, and a 59 at sectionals 14:43 How an architect ended up coaching high school golf 16:16 Coaching like a caddie, not an architect 18:17 "I hate your bunkers": hosting conference at Glen Flora 19:36 Ireland and Scotland, with Dad along for the ride 22:31 Lahinch in the snow, and going back anyway 25:57 Carnoustie isn't pretty, and that's the point 28:23 You don't play over a golf course, you play through it 30:41 Twenty feet up to every tee, and what it costs your legs 32:35 Port Huron's master plan is written into the bylaws 35:16 North Hills: the greens that lost half their size 38:27 From one pin position to sixteen 40:39 The superintendent is a co-author 44:18 No offense, Bob, but you're a dentist 45:58 Stress-testing "any budget" 47:27 Glen Flora: a Kubota, a pandemic, and two bunkers a year 51:05 Ridgeway: half the fee, and crews brought in as needed 53:20 Golf needs to be affordable — pick the model that fits 55:02 Waste not, want not: what David Savic taught him 56:46 Nationwide wasn't a bad fit 59:54 What he actually missed: building people 1:02:48 The pub outside London that restarted everything 1:05:04 Why Surrey should be your first trip, not your third 1:07:11 Huntercombe and Ridgeway: weird in the coolest way 1:09:44 Does Wisconsin need to chill out? "Double down." 1:12:39 The Coaches Cup and a brass flower vase 1:16:46 Nineteen seniors at a school of twelve hundred 1:19:32 Golf's quiet shortage: coaches 1:20:52 Smile when they walk in the door 1:22:36 Thanks, Sam — and Inglewood

  4. Sep 21

    Let Me Be Mad — Ryan Gerard

    Ryan Gerard hates losing more than he likes winning — and he'll tell you that's a feature, not a bug. Or, as he said to his caddy, JP, recently: “Just, Let Me Be Mad.” In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co‑host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Ryan Gerard (PGA Tour professional) to trace how a public course in Raleigh with no standing tee times built one of the tour's most interesting, unfiltered, and fierce competitors. Off a PGA Tour season with back-to-back runner-up finishes and a third at East Lake, Gerard is candid about what actually drives him, what he'd change about American golf, and how he keeps his head on straight when it isn't going his way. The conversation dives into: Why beating a friend seven straight times in a putting contest still wasn't enough — and how being the youngest, smallest kid at Wildwood Green built a competitor who "hates losing more than he likes winning"The pitch for a lighted, low-cost par-3 "kids course" in every major North American city, sparked by a course he stumbled onto in Gullane, ScotlandTed Scott's line about the best golf happening when expectations and reality line up — and how that explains the jump from irrational confidence to unconditional and real contentionWhy his coach will always protect his self-described “graffiti on a rail car” swing instead of popular wholesale changes or overly smoothing things out“Let me be mad”: the 20-second anger reset strategy we caught from Chasing Sunday, and why he thinks frustration is not a negative but one of his superpowersConnect with our guest ⛳ Ryan Gerard — https://www.pgatour.com/player/59018/ryan-gerard — 🐦 X/Twitter: [https://x.com/golfgerard | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golfgerard/ Community & Partners 🐝 NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com 🌐 Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Web: https://thebagdrop.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 0:00:00 The cold open: hating losing more than loving winning 0:00:55 Welcome to the Bag Drop 0:01:10 Did the Professor win his match at St. Andrews? 0:02:26 How St. Andrews club hosting actually works 0:07:40 Matt's marathon relay confession (and getting kicked off a muni) 0:11:03 Booking Ryan Gerard: the anti-homogenized golfer 0:11:47 Professor's Teaching: North Berwick, the oldest surviving course 0:13:46 Ad Read: Titleist Vokey SM11 wedges 0:15:30 Ryan Gerard joins the show 0:15:52 The Atlanta airport run-in with the Professor 0:17:42 The Scottish Open walk-and-talk that started it all 0:18:58 The Gullane kids course and golf's barrier to entry 0:22:23 Bringing Park Grind's lighted par-3 model stateside 0:23:21 Growing up at Wildwood: free reign of a public course 0:28:35 No standing tee times, unlimited junior golf 0:32:00 The pitch: a lighted par-3 course in every metro city 0:34:43 Violin, chess, and badminton club president 0:39:30 Where the competitive gene actually comes from 0:40:27 "I hate losing more than I like winning" 0:44:23 Ted Scott's rule: expectations meeting reality 0:48:15 Small gains, not a swing overhaul 0:54:05 The Mona Lisa and the graffiti on a rail car 0:55:31 Stealing Matt Wolff's bunker shot 1:08:19 "Let me be mad": the mental reset from Chasing Sunday 1:14:22 The Presidents Cup snub and process vs. outcome goals 1:20:34 Is competitive golf actually fun? 1:24:28 Takeaways and the upcoming deep dive series What is NewClub? The premier private golf society in the United States. NewClub blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions, and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, plus signature trips and exclusive perks. What is The Bag Drop? Deeply researched audio documentaries that tell the definitive stories behind golf's greatest clubs + weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today.

  5. Sep 14

    Going Long on the Great Clubs

    Fittingly, we recorded our shortest episode ever to explain why the next ones will be much longer! Eight years in, The Bag Drop is biting off something new: fewer releases, deeper research, and three- to five-hour episodes on a single golf club’s history, strategy, and story. Matt and the Professor explain why the most fascinating untold stories in golf live at the club level, the question they brought home from Northern Ireland together at twenty and haven't shaken since, and the five rules they have set to do it faithfully. (PS. The weekly interviews and conversations are not going anywhere!) The conversation dives into: Why the untold stories in golf live at the club level, and why studying a golf club is really a way of studying peopleA trip around Northern Ireland at twenty, the question "why is this the way it is here?", and the Professor on why one round as a guest never tells you how a club actually worksThe Professor's numbers on the quiet comeback of long-form, and what hours of conversation can do that a two-minute clip can'tAdmiration for Acquired, and a five-hour episode that finally made the model make sense, and permission to go that deepFive rules for the new series!Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Links & Partners 🐝 NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com 🌐 Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf 🎧 Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 00:00 Welcome: one of us is practicing, one of us refuses 01:29 Beating balls, and taking the doubt out with Golf Blueprint 02:45 The four-ball partnership is off 03:41 Matt's real golf strength: recruiting 05:00 Professor's facts: long form is quietly coming back 08:01 A return to conversation after a decade of the algorithm 09:05 Ad read: Titleist GTS, unboxed at night and gamed by morning 10:40 The Professor is a seven-wood guy now 11:21 Fixing the top of the bag with a four wood and seven wood combo 12:41 A short episode about going long 14:07 Eight years of The Bag Drop, starting at the Merit Club 16:33 Three years of the Professor, and curiosity on steroids 18:32 The decision: fewer shows, deeper research, three to five hours 20:23 Why clubs: study a club, study the history of people 22:56 Northern Ireland, and why one round as a guest explains nothing 25:01 Not the historians, and why that is the advantage 27:26 Acquired, Costco, and learning through a narrative 28:18 Smart Brevity, and what short form can't do 30:16 A decade of hearing "there's a past here you don't know" 32:40 The rules: no AI list of facts, no embellishment, the pursuit of truth 34:24 Time to get to work What is NewClub? Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is making the game more meaningful for those who love it. What is The Bag Drop? The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community, and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, in‑depth discussions on all things golf.

  6. Sep 8

    Why Three of Four Beginners Quit

    Nineteen million Americans have tried golf since 2020. About one in four of them stayed. In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co‑host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Matthew Reagan, PGA (co-founder and general manager of Operation 36) to talk about why golf keeps losing the beginners it works so hard to attract — and what changed the day he stopped teaching the swing first and started people 25 yards from the hole. The conversation dives into: The year-four gut punch: a junior program running at 95% retention that still lost forty golfers, and the single thing the kids who stayed all had in commonA year of three-hour nine-hole rounds, a drive to Pinehurst, and the flip that turned into Operation 36 — start at 25 yards, shoot 36, back upWhy the environment around a beginner matters more than the technical ability of the coach, and what that says about how golf picks its heroesThe women who told him they had always wanted to play but had never been given permission to start that close to the greenOpening the app to everyone in 2027 — couch to course, course to coach — and what an app should refuse to pretend it can replaceConnect with our guests ⛳ Matthew Reagan, PGA — co-founder and general manager, Operation 36 — 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-reagan-op36/ 📱 Operation 36 — https://operation36.golf — how it works: https://operation36.golf/how-it-works/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/op36golf — 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/operation_36/ — 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/operation-36-golf — 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/op36golf/ Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Links & Partners 🐝 NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com 🌐 Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf 🎧 Web: https://thebagdrop.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 00:00 Cold open: the moment Operation 36 got its name 00:52 Welcome, and a fall morning in Athens 01:20 Ten kids under eight: not rested, but refreshed 03:35 Unplugging, the Slack away message, and the phone-off experiment 06:45 New York, Mumford and Sons, and whether you could live there 08:37 Today's guest: Matthew Reagan and Operation 36 10:10 What Op36 did to Athens Country Club 11:19 Scotland as the barometer: beginners go straight to the course 12:00 Professor's teaching: sampling versus early specialization 15:13 Ad read: Titleist AIM Enhanced and seeing the ball go in 17:18 Matthew joins The Bag Drop 18:16 Sixteen, upstate New York, and a course you could play for free 20:25 Campbell, Ryan Dailey, and deciding to coach 21:46 What actually turned him into a golfer, and it was not technique 25:28 Gamification, variability, and why golf hooks you 28:58 Three juniors at Keith Hills, and a program that grew to eighty 30:01 Ten levels, bag tags, and making a three-footer fun for an hour 32:19 Year four: forty golfers do not come back 33:59 North Carolina Long Term Athlete Development LLC 34:43 The one thing the kids who stayed had in common 36:09 A year of three-hour nine-hole rounds 38:08 The drive to Pinehurst, and the flip that became Operation 36 40:08 Teaching calculus to a seventh grader 42:01 Narrative, and the data nobody else in golf has 44:16 One in four: this is not a junior golf story anymore 45:42 Bootstrapping, licensing, and taking the junior out of the brand 49:15 Shrinking the variables until clarity becomes motivation 51:06 Competence, relatedness, autonomy 52:40 The women who never had permission to start close 55:33 The cultural headwind: America starts on the range 57:05 Aligning a club top to bottom, and Op36 at St Andrews 1:02:41 The ego of the young coach, and a $400-a-month membership 1:05:25 A gymnastics gym on every corner, and not a golf program 1:08:55 What a club needs before this works 1:12:23 If a recession comes, which programs survive 1:15:46 Opening the app in 2027: couch to course, course to coach 1:18:22 Golf Genius, and learning to run an engineering team 1:24:56 One thing you can do to make somebody's first nine better 1:31:07 Close: reviews, Titleist AIM Enhanced, and thanks What is NewClub? Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it. What is The Bag Drop? The Bag Drop...

  7. Aug 31

    The Best Course in the World Is a Par 66

    Jim Hartsell will tell you the best golf course in the world is 4,800 yards and a par 66. He is not being cute about it. He would like you to come after him. In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co‑host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Jim Hartsell — architect, three-time Bag Drop guest, and author of A Round of Scottish Courses — for a conversation about what thirty years of returning to the same small Scottish clubs teaches you about why golf places matter, and what a golfer owes a place once he starts telling everyone about it. The conversation dives into: Why Dunaverty — 4,800 yards, par 66 — is his answer to "best course in the world," and why he thinks the question is usually asked wrongWhat choosing eighteen favorites instead of eighteen best freed him to write — and how a chapter actually gets built, including the sheepdog trials that unlocked a lost course on ArranThe night the Old Course put a flag on the 18th green made from a drawing his nine-year-old son had left on his laptopThe green-fee trap: why North Berwick and Brora keep going up, and why tour operators refuse to take a £30 course seriouslyWhether writing about Dunaverty, Askernish and Isle of Harris is quietly changing them — and what the members themselves say about thatThree rules for being a good guest at a Scottish club, including the one about tipping too muchConnect with our guests 📚 Jim Hartsell — https://jhartsellgolf.com — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/JimHHartsell](https://x.com/JimHHartsell) | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimhartsell/ 📕 A Round of Scottish Courses (Back Nine Press) — https://back9press.com/products/a-round-of-scottish-courses 🎧 The Duffer's Literary Companion (Jim & Stephen Proctor) — https://tdlcpodcast.podbean.com Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Links & Partners 🐝 NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com 🌐 Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/633c8703-5880-4522-bd6d-5967b45fc777/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: thebagdrop@newclub.golf Chapters 00:00 Cold open: the anticipation is half the fun 00:41 Welcome, and the Professor's new office 02:16 A love letter to the game: who your club introduces you to 03:01 Caddie School for Soldiers and thirty days at the Home of Golf 04:31 Jim Hartsell, third appearance, third book 06:34 Professor's teaching: quiet eye and gaze duration 11:29 Ad read: Titleist T-Series and the three Ds 13:52 Three books, one thread 15:09 The course gets you in the room; a person carries the story 16:32 The high school English teacher who started all this 19:31 Calling Rob Collins with a crazy idea 23:29 Fifty interviews, an outline, and meeting Jim Sitar 26:40 The books that made him: Wind, Bamberger, Morton, MacVicar 31:18 When Revelation Comes, and the notebook that read like a book 35:25 Patric Dickinson's eighteen best, and Jim's eighteen favorite 38:53 Dunaverty is the best course in the world: 4,800 yards, par 66 42:07 Soup, clubhouses, and the whole lived experience 45:40 Sheepdog trials, and when history earns its place in a chapter 49:56 What do you have against the Scottish east coast? 51:44 Frankfurt, a lost day, and a morning inside the R&A 54:33 Dark hours on the Old with a persimmon driver 56:52 The flag on the eighteenth green 1:00:35 Why the most famous place in golf did not have to do that 1:02:21 Does writing about these places change them? 1:06:40 North Berwick, Brora, and being too cheap to be taken seriously 1:07:46 Would the veneer wear off if you moved there? 1:12:14 Three rules for being a good guest (and don't over-tip) 1:14:41 Calendars, course guides, and Jordan's junior program 1:19:27 Close: subscribe, review, and the Titleist T-Series

  8. Aug 17

    3D-Printed Putters and the Science of Feel

    What happens when a guy with a Wall Street background decides he’d rather make putters than climb the corporate ladder? For Al Vikmanis, the answer has been a winding path through Arccos, data analytics, custom putter design, metal 3D printing, ferrules, and whatever comes next. The common thread is a willingness to follow the rabbit hole wherever it leads, and a belief that the journey itself is the point. In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co‑host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Al Vikmanis, Founder of 3DP Design to talk about the science and craft behind modern golf equipment, from why MOI matters in a putter to how sound actually becomes feel, why 3D printing opens up design possibilities traditional manufacturing can't, and why a ferrule can become a surprisingly personal piece of golf gear. Along the way, he gets candid about leaving Wall Street, embracing work that feels meaningful, learning from spectacular failures, and building a career around curiosity rather than a five-year plan. The conversation dives into: Al's early days at Arccos, helping turn enormous amounts of shot data into something golfers could actually useMOI explained without the engineering degree, including why more forgiveness isn't automatically better for every golferHow sound becomes feel in a putter, and why putting with headphones on might be costing you more than you realizeThe unlikely path from smuggling putters into a Wall Street office to teaching himself CAD and eventually 3D printing golf clubsWhy custom ferrules have become a form of personal expression, more like putting stickers on a skateboard than simply changing the cosmetics of a golf clubThe failures behind Al's work, including a collection of enormous 3D-printed mallets that looked like the Starship Enterprise and sounded like tuning forksConnect with our guests Al Vikmanis —  💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-vikmanis-3755671/🌍 Website: https://3dp-design.com/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3dp_design/ 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083121141361# Follow The Bag Drop 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebagdrop 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/thebagdropgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBagDropGolf Listen to The Bag Drop 🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Transistor: https://thebagdrop.transistor.fm/ Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Support our Partners 🐝 NewClub: https://www.newclub.golf 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com 🌐 Golf Blueprint: https://www.golfblueprint.com Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ Chapters 00:40 - Welcome to The Bag Drop11:08 - Al Vikmanis joins the show12:12 - From Arccos data to custom putter design18:51 - What Al learned from working at an early-stage startup21:03 - Leaving Wall Street and finding meaningful work24:21 - MOI explained30:33 - Why sound is feel34:11 - How Al got into making putters37:44 - Why custom 3D-printed equipment doesn't scale41:20 - How metal 3D printing actually works43:32 - Where 3D printing fits into the future of golf equipment47:20 - The early failures of 3D-printed putters51:08 - Learning from bad ideas54:09 - How Al and Patrick Boyd started working together56:52 - Why golfers love custom ferrules59:24 - Ball markers, divot tools, and personal expression1:02:21 - The creative side of Al Vikmanis1:10:53 - What's in Al's golf bag1:18:12 - What comes next for golf equipment1:20:12 - “The journey is the point” What is The Bag Drop? The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, in‑depth discussions on all things golf. What is NewClub? Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.

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Deeply researched audio documentaries that tell the definitive stories behind golf's greatest clubs + weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today.

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