The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf

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 time Four 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 ago Why teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it, and why the boyfriend lesson ends the golf before it ends the relationship The 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 nicer Ben Davis's legacy: humble, fierce, and always moving golfers off the range and onto the course Connect 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: [email protected] 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.

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 down The 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 idea Firm 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 tour The distance debate, bifurcation, and why Al Geiberger's 59 still towers over today's 59 watch Connect with our guests ⛳ Jeff Warne — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/jeffwarnegolf | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-warne-37335811/ | 📧 Email: [email protected] 🌲 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: [email protected] 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.

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 it North 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 sixteen The 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 it Glen 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 275 Why 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 day Connect 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: [email protected] 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

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, Scotland Ted 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 contention Why 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 superpowers Connect 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: [email protected] 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.

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 people A 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 works The Professor's numbers on the quiet comeback of long-form, and what hours of conversation can do that a two-minute clip can't Admiration for Acquired, and a five-hour episode that finally made the model make sense, and permission to go that deep Five 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: [email protected] 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.