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 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