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The 15th at Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Country Club) 

I caught up with Olin Browne and Shigeki Maruyama out in the parking lot post round and they shared their thoughts on the setup at Pinehurst. JF: Olin, did you have more trouble with the rough today or the pronounced swales and chipping areas around the green? OB: Today I drove it poorly. Jay you know what the big problem is when you’re in the rough here? You...

I caught up with Ian Poulter and his caddie Mike Donagh pre-round. “For a great course outside London try Woburn Sands. It’s my home course and I play it all the time” Ian noted with a smile. Ian looked good in his pink and purple outfit today. Mike, who began caddying for Ian two and a half years ago when “we had some drinks together and he...

Swinging a “speed stick” in the parking lot to gauge his swing speed, Boston pro James Driscoll took the time to offer public golf travel tips. “I played Red Tail in the New England Amateur one year and all the players loved it. It’s more modern than many of the old Donald Ross courses and it’s in great condition. I especially liked its...

Remember 1980 and 1982 and 1983…Bill Rogers led and everybody wanted to know if he was going to run a marathon, then Jim Thorpe led and everybody wanted to see him do sprints, then George Burns led and everybody wondered if he handed out free cigars and told jokes.
Click here for my TravelGolf site. Lots of great content there too.

Hard at work, Jay at the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. 

I caught up with Sergio Garcia and Brandt Jobe outside the locker room after the round. Here are some excerpts: JF: How were the playing conditions out there? Sergio: Conditions were terrific for scoring. The rough could get tougher and the greens could get quicker. They can’t start too tough because then it’s hard to control, but they have control now...

Very quickly, tune into my travel golf site for up to the minute reports from the media tent and interviews live from the U.S. Open. Next, blogger had some trouble with the rest of my Brian Silva interview, so its to be continued soon. Please read that here. Last, before he passed away, Bunker Mulligan and I discussed the idea of a blog entry here about what its like...

Tune in to my Travel Golf site for this update on my talk with ESPN’s Andy North and other USGA officials about play conditions. I also posted my tourney preview and some random thoughts on the eve of the Open. The talk in the media tent is actually to watch out for Retief Goosen, who is a favorite of Jen Mario. Today’s practice round has been gorgeous.

Ian Poulter is his own head cover. Photo courtesy of AP.

So as I sit here getting organized for my trips to Cali and Pinehurst, I came up with a new term of art in describing golf course design that I think is important. I call it “architectural echo.” “Architectural Echo” means two different but equally important elements of a golf course. First, its the ability of a course or designer to take...

It will be a busy two weeks for the A Walk in the Park team. First, from Thursday to Sunday I will be in Northern California to play Mike Strantz’s latest two courses, Silver Creek and Monterey Peninsula GC, both of which are private. The golf world has been quick to hail MPGC as a candidate for a major championship in the near future. As many of you know, Mike...

For decades Dan Maples has designed highly acclaimed courses throughout the Carolinas, most notably The Pit, which for years graced numerous top 50 lists. Now his daughter Jennifer has helped carry the torch of egalitarianism, designing and offering wonderfully inexpensive golf packages to a wide palatte of course designs all conveniently located in the Pinehurst...