Bill Coore's return to his Tar Heel roots
+ Mike Purkey tees off with his weekly nine questions; 'The Barstool' debuts; A Kentucky Derby state of mind.
THE STARTER
🏌️ Scottie Scheffler scorched TPC Craig Ranch Thursday, posting a 10-under 61 in the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, taking a two-shot lead. Any Scheffler doubters out there?
🏌️ Joaquin Niemann won his third LIV Golf title of the year, overtaking Bryson DeChambeau in Mexico City. Does Niemann still need major championship success to prove himself?
🏌️ After DeChambeau coughed up the final-round lead in Mexico City, he lashed out at the quality of the sand at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Should he have been looking at himself instead of the bunkers?
🏌️ Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee gleefully took a shot at DeChambeau, saying that because he makes so much money, DeChambeau should "quit complaining." Do you think Chamblee has ever complained about any aspect of his job?
🏌️ Chamblee also said LIV doesn’t "value the best conditioned courses," an apparent swipe at Chapultepec. Did anyone hear him criticize Chapultepec when it hosted a WGC event on the PGA Tour?
🏌️ Which poorly conditioned LIV courses is Chamblee talking about? Valderrama in Spain? Sentosa in Singapore? Hong Kong GC? Doral? Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Korea? Has he even attended a LIV event?
🏌️ According to reports, LIV is in serious discussions with the Official World Golf Ranking — again — about world ranking points. But OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman says LIV has yet to re-apply. Does LIV even have a chance this time, either?
🏌️ Collin Morikawa parted with longtime caddie J.J. Jackovac and hired Joe Greiner, Max Homa’s former caddie, who subbed for Justin Thomas’ injured man Matt Minister and won the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head. Is it the jockey or the horse?
🏌️ NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps along with TaylorMade President and CEO David Abeles have been mentioned as top candidates for the new position of CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises. Has anyone actually said what this for-profit company will do or how it will generate revenue?
:: Mike Purkey
THE BARSTOOL
We at The First Call | Extra love a good back-and-forth, so we are transitioning our weekly poll into a debate and comment format. Each week we will present a topic and you can weigh in either with a vote and / or a comment.
FEATURE
Evan Thompson: From the gridiron to the golf course
The former Kennesaw State football player and golfer joins host Nathan Moore to talk about his unique journey..
:: Content Clubhouse | 05.01.25 | Listen
Ranking golf's top-10 greatest players is no easy task
While there was mostly a consensus about Nos. 1 and 2, readers of The First Call shuffled around quite a few other great names to round out the top 10.
:: TFC Inbox | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads — and listens — that are sometimes about golf, but not always.
📖 And now, a sip of history: The mint julep, personified
The mint julep is, as Chris McMillian of the Library Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton hotel calls it, “the very dream of drinks, the vision of sweet quaffings.” Thousands of juleps are poured at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby, but any time is right for a sweet sip of bourbon from a metal cup. Don't forget the bouquet of mint, which provides an essential aromatic pleasure as you sip. — Pableaux Johnson
:: Pableaux Johnson | New York Times | 05.02.17 | Read || Recipe
📖 Steve Kornacki's guide to the Kentucky Derby: Biggest storylines, best bets
Will betting favorite Journalism come through? How will Bob Baffert's return go?
:: Steve Kornacki | NBC News | 05.02.25 | Read
📖 ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ turns 50 but still hasn’t grown up
The movie changed comedy forever. More importantly, it made us ask: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
:: Travis M. Andrews | Washington Post | 05.02.25 | Read
📖 ‘All we wanted to do was play video games’
Streamers such as Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt have more influence than ever. What are they really saying?
:: Spencer Kornhaber | The Atlantic | 04.25.25 | Read
📖 The Alabama landline that keeps ringing
Auburn University’s help desk is still answering the public’s calls 70 years on.
:: Emily McCrary | Oxford American | 04.23.25 | Read
THE LIBRARY
Recent drops to The First Call’s video and podcast section.
🎧 GCSAA’s Rhett Evans reaches new heights
Association's CEO joins co-hosts Jon Last and David Klein to talk about the evolving role of golf course superintendents.
:: Driver$: Inside the Golf Industry | 04.30.25 | Listen
ARCHIVES: 🎧 Podcasts | ▶️ Videos
BUSINESS
THE FIRST CALL
Week in Review: The industry’s names, news and notables making headlines. | Read
This week’s editions: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
Industry press releases | Industry press release videos | TFC / PR Newswire feed
Golf Industry Job / Internship Board
LIFESTYLE
THE STYLE LINKS
FootJoy’s “Legends Series,” a new collection of limited edition golf shoes, is designed to celebrate some of the game’s most iconic moments. This first drop is a Premiere Series Packard model — available this week. Subsequent drops in the series will be in May, June and July.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
19TH HOLE
“Course of Life” podcast co-host Alex Lauzon closes each episode with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole food and beverage experience.
Brittany Lincicome, on the Chevron Championship’s Champions Dinner: “I loved the wagyu filet. I mean how often do you get to have wagyu beef like that? Also I was surprised how much I liked the caviar."
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
A PICTURE TELLS …
“For those of us who resident inland over a very long winter, the condition of the golf courses was a joy to behold. From the painted starting time plates at the first to the Bovril-clad hut and beyond, ‘George’s’ was magnificent, the fescue turf firm and bouncy. Deal was in no less fine fettle; the tight run-offs confounding player after player … “
:: Words: Richard Pennell / Pitchmarks | Photography: Simon Pope
Image: Hole 16 (from in the air raid shelter), Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Deal England.
HOME FRONT
Kohanaiki | Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Listing: Hale ‘Alani.
Stats: 3960 square feet | 4 bedrooms | 4.5 bathrooms.
Price: $5,350,000.
About: Located on the seventh fairway of the Rees Jones-designed golf course, these residences are positioned to welcome warm sunrise views of Hualalai and Mauna Loa on those extra clear Kona mornings. Their proximity to the Sports Complex is ideal for pickleball, tennis and the Kohanaiki Course. A short golf cart ride brings you to the Ohana pool, beach bar and members beach. All residences are four bedrooms with four-and-a-half bathrooms and have a gourmet kitchen and bar seating, Wolf & Sub-Zero appliances, great room with vaulted ceilings, sliding pocket doors and nearly 600 square feet of covered lanai to enjoy the indoor/outdoor living that Kona is so well known for. The golf course stretches along the Kona Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, offering dramatic ocean views on nearly every hole. Blending seamlessly with lava flows and ancient Hawaiian archaeological sites, the course combines strategic shot-making with a deep respect for the land’s cultural heritage. Known for its impeccable conditioning and exclusive access, Kohanaiki delivers a world-class golf experience in a truly unforgettable setting.
Home Front Archive | Read
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN NOTES
Bill Coore’s Pinehurst homecoming — again
Pinehurst Resort announced on April 21 that Pinehurst No. 11, to be designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will begin construction at Pinehurst Sandmines later this year.
No. 11 joins Tom Doak’s design of Pinehurst No. 10 at the 900-acre site that for decades was mined for its deep reservoirs of sand.
Those past mining operations are still evident within the contours of the site of Coore & Crenshaw’s routing, which is expected to open in fall 2027. They are among the features that have drawn the pair to this area since their acclaimed restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 about 15 years ago.
“It’s such a wonderful site, just because of its inherent character,” said Coore, who marvels at the mixture of native elements and man-made remnants, some of which still remain from when The Pit Golf Links was open. “That character was essentially created, not all of it is natural, but it has all been reclaimed by nature. This land is left over from all that mining from the 1930s. The spoil piles are here, and Mother Nature provided the trees, and it’s all incredible. It’s not too often you get that kind of combination, and it creates a site that is extraordinarily interesting for golf.”
If anyone should know from one North Carolina golf parcel to the next, it is Coore. Approaching his 80th birthday, Coore grew up in rural Davidson County, some 30 miles south of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He learned to play from a neighbor, Donald Jarrett, who introduced Coore to the Donald Ross-designed courses at Pinehurst, including No. 2, in the 1960s.
Coore became proficient at the game. He helped form a high school golf team, then continued to play competitively while at Wake Forest University. It was at Wake Forest that he discovered the remarkable architecture at his college’s home course, Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, designed by Perry Maxwell. Coore has stated on multiple occasions that Pinehurst No. 2 and Old Town became the cornerstones of his understanding of golf architecture.
After graduating from Wake Forest in 1968, Coore spent several years in the Army, and right before his term of enlistment ended, he stumbled upon a public course in High Point, North Carolina, called Oak Hollow, being designed by Pete Dye. Intrigued by how different Dye’s methods and expressions were, he rang up Dye repeatedly, asking for work. Dye eventually engaged Coore’s services as a laborer and equipment operator at another course in the area he was building, the Cardinal Golf Club in Greensboro. That set the stage for Coore’s design career, both in Dye’s employ and then when he ventured on his own in the early 1980s.
Coore teamed with Ben Crenshaw in 1985 and although they weren’t overnight sensations, within 10 years their star was soaring, thanks to award-winning tracks such as Kapalua Resort’s Plantation course in Hawaii (1991) and Sand Hills in Nebraska (1994). Amazingly, as their roster of Top 100 courses expanded, it took until 2005 for Coore and his partner to break ground in Coore’s home state of North Carolina. However, the commission that made Coore and Crenshaw legends in the Tar Heel State didn’t occur until 2010.
In 2010 and 2011, Coore and Crenshaw were asked to restore fabled Pinehurst No. 2. It was an enormous risk for Pinehurst Resort ownership, dramatically altering the historic course that played host to the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens. Coore and Crenshaw yanked out the Bermuda rough and put back the hardpan, sandy scrub, pine straw and wispy wire grass that Ross had originally installed. The restored look and strategies wowed the critics and mystified the pros at the 2014 U.S. Open, all except Martin Kaymer, who romped to an eight-shot victory, when only three golfers finished under par.
To be sure, Coore and Crenshaw were tromping around a golf site in the Pinehurst area as early as 2005 — on ground that would open as The Dormie Club. However, ownership and recession issues prevented it from formally opening until 2010, and even then, confusion over its private-public status and the firm’s other high-profile job nearby basically kept the Dormie Club under the radar. Still, the course was so well regarded by those in the know that in 2012, Golf Magazine included it in its list of the Top 100 Courses You Can Play in the U.S.
Ultimately, Coore got one more bite of the other sweet architectural apple in his life, when he and Crenshaw were retained in 2013 to restore Old Town Club. It proved to be another hit, with Golf Magazine elevating it into the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. in 2015. And after yet another hiatus, this one of a dozen years, Coore and Crenshaw are back in North Carolina.
While Doak’s No. 10 commands attention for its elevation changes and expansive vistas, Coore & Crenshaw see something unique in No. 11. Then firm envisions a golf course that winds and twists while still being dramatic in shape and style, with jutting ridges and massive mounds to be played over and around.
“These two courses really couldn’t be more different, and we love that,” said Tom Pashley, president of Pinehurst Resort. “The designs of No. 10 and No. 11 complement each other so well by contrasting so much. Golf in the North Carolina Sandhills can be an experience unlike any other, and we believe the golf at Pinehurst Sandmines will be a great representation of that.”
Coore believes the landforms for No. 11 are unlike anything he has seen around Pinehurst.
“It’s this choppy, ridgey ground,” he said. “It’s not as much elevation change, but it’s so quirky with the ridges and the piles and the trees and the angles. This is going to be so intimate in scale. You’re winding your way through trees and over old piles and across ridges. We’re far, far from the sea, but we have these contours and features and landforms that remind you of spots in Ireland or Scotland. And yet here it is, in Pinehurst.”
Design Notes Archive | Read
Actually I kinda' appreciate Chamblee's irreverant sendups as well as his articulate commentary where golf history is concerned. Is it often polarizing, sure but isn't that what he & journalists get paid to do. I also remember a similar character from Golf Channel's original lineup - Peter Kessler. He was also a bit abrasive to some but was very impressive by his very articulate delivery of golf''s history. One can quibble with personality but intelligence should be acknowleged, in my opinion.
Chamblee actually does have a superb memory and knows more golf history than most, but sometimes his delivery leaves a lot to be desired.