My Top 10 Golf Photos of ‘24 - Henry Shimp
While we know a large portion of our audience is basically here for at minimum 50% food/culture and the balance golf, we are also cognizant that we are (allegedly) a golf media outlet and therefore should drop some golf content “in the chat” as well.
So, inspired by our instagram posts of the top things we ate and drank this year, (if you haven’t, @thetiepodcast on the gram), please enjoy our 20 best golf photos from the year with some cursory thoughts and context to accompany!
#1: LAUNCHING (A WEDGE INTO A BUNKER) AT PINE TREE GOLF CLUB
Now, this should come as precisely zero surprise that this picture was actually taken by our creative director, Trey Wren, but I’m in it, so I own the rights? Don’t think that’s how it actually works, but I’m no lawyer!
This was actually the first time all 3 of us ever shared the fairways, so it was a somewhat important day and more importantly, playing PT is always an absolute joy. The place really hits the mark on all 3 of our tenets of culture, competition, and architecture.
Significantly, while the apt title of the photo is perhaps inauspicious, the author gave the Florida boys the work that day. A recurring theme of what was a great first year as a 3-man operation!
#2: TRYING TO CAPTURE SCALE ON THE FRONT NINE AT EASTWARD HO!
My “favorite new to me” golf course almost certainly goes to Eastward Ho! This is a golf course I had heard a lot about, particularly in the category of “shockingly good land movement” but had not had the pleasure until just this past summer. My god a pleasure it was.
Like most things in the world of scale, you truly must see it to be able to understand just how extreme it actually is, and I would honestly say the front nine in particular is as jarring as Augusta National in terms of the topography being so much more extreme that you would ever be able to understand through a photo or TV screen.
This photo for example was probably taken some 100 feet above the left edge of the fescue mound that sticks out into the middle of the frame. That of course doesn’t come out in the picture, but that is basically what the entire Cape Cod property presents to you. Coupled with many other wonderful architectural principles, the golf course is truly one of the more resolute and robust experiences I am familiar with.
#3: ATTEMPTING PHOTOGRAPHY AT OAK HILLS
While my two partners, Walker and Trey, have shot thousands of photos each on real cameras, I have only just gotten into the game in the year 2024. My first escapade with said camera was down to a somewhat hidden gem in San Antonio to hit a few shots and snap a few pics. Now, Texas road trips are really just an excuse to hit a Buc-ee’s if we are being honest, but the golf at Oak Hills was also quite a treat, as was the post round meal at Curry Boys BBQ.
I'm not going to sit here and pretend I understand “light exposure” and all the other terms I should know about photography but serve as further proof to my rudimentary knowledge of photography. That said, I thought this was a nice picture that captured the setting of the 9th hole well and also shows what this course is about. Clean, aesthetic bunkering, lots of beautiful live oaks, and the necessity to keep it between the lines. Only nit to this photo is I wish there was no cart path. The frame of the hole just doesn’t look right cutting the whole right side out.
#4: 64TH HOLE OF THE DAY AT BANDON PRESERVE
Next up we have Bandon Preserve, the best course on property, IMO. On a wind battered day that included Old Mac early morning, Bandon Dunes mid day, Pac Dunes in the late afternoon, and Preserve right before dinner, it was fitting to capture a few shots that were as stellar as that day of golf. Now, as is consistent with all my photos, someone who knows how to take pictures would have done a lot better, but a bad photographer taking pictures when the sun is low at Bandon Dunes is much like someone who is in great shape wearing terrible clothes. They’ll still make them look pretty good!
This is one of those days of golf where your stats (and we’re not talking golf) are insane. I recall 4 hot chocolates given the cold and wind, 7-8 (weak, I know) col’ beers, a dozen or more Bandon Balls, 3-4 cocktails, 3 meals, 55,000 steps, more than a few F bombs, and god knows how many attempts to stretch out the back as the day waned. It’s important to do some days like this when you’re still young because I know I won’t be able to when I’m 60. If you haven’t and still can do a bender like this, get a group and get it done.
#5: TERRAIN AND CONTEXTUALIZATION OF GARDEN CITY GOLF CLUB
I’ve been lucky to fall on the radar of the fine gentlemen of Garden City Golf Club for their annual mid amateur event, The Walter Travis Invite. This past year was my first go and I absolutely loved being able to be there and hope I can be so fortunate again in the future. Garden City is one of the top courses I think of when it comes to a place that is challenging, endlessly entertaining and engaging architecturally, and could be played every single day. You can easily loop this thing on foot with a fast couple group mates in 2:30 with no issues given the ease of walk and intimacy of the property.
I like a few things I captured here. One, it’s one of the course’s best holes. A 290 yard opener that offers endless options and decisions where ultimately you’ll have to execute at least one really good shot regardless of how you tackle it. Two, it shows what the land is like. Lots of sand and scrub, shortgrass, and bunkers. Finally, the contrast between a hyper exclusive men’s golf club and the Garden City hotel that can be seen overtop the flagstick shows that although very few Garden City (NY) residents have been within the club’s gates, it is not geographically exclusive like so many of today’s new clubs. It quite literally hides in plain sight of the sleepy long island town about 25 miles east of NYC. A cool place, and a picture that tries to explain at least a little bit of the place’s magic and aura.
#6: CHALKMINE PAR 3
Picture no. 2 that I did not take myself (I’ll work on my skills next year of taking a picture and hitting a shot simultaneously). The Chalkmine is both a practice facility for USC Aiken and a First Tee facility and is maybe the hidden gem of the blossoming Aiken golf scene. The course has a very natural aesthetic and the way the holes sit within the scrubby property is really neat. Many of them are merely carved out of caverns of brush, low trees, and red clay fixtures. Not a ton of dirt looked to be moved and the focus was placed rather on finding cool shots and building cool greens. I am not a “binge golfer” and don’t necessarily fantasize about looping a par 3 or any other course over and over, but at The Chalkmine, I would happily do so.
Bonus points to have not only been given access to go play it (which apparently isn’t always easy), but to have been able to take 3 of my best friends from my college golf days. Top 10 afternoon of the year for me for sure.
#7: THE 12TH AT PRAIRIE DUNES
Maybe the winner of “best new course to me” this year was Prairie Dunes in Kansas. It’s one of those rounds that takes very little time to digest. I believe some courses that are highly thought of sometimes take some thought and consideration of their merits to be able to situate in your mind why people like them so much. Some you haven’t even finished the round and you fully get why they are known to be so good. Prairie Dunes is in the latter camp. The land, preparation, variety of holes, usage of natural trees, grasses, land forms, and sublime green complexes all make the course a top tier experience.
The best picture I snapped of the course was on the 12th hole, a wonderful short par 4 that is everything a short par 4 should be. The prevailing wind is down, so even though it tops out near 380, it can be almost reachable given that it also plays 25 or so yards down hill. As shown in the photo, the further you push it up to the green, the tighter the window is between the trees to drive it into. Essentially you are asked: are you taking your free wedge after a 4 iron off the tee? Or are you going to get aggressive and swing driver all the way up there and bring in a lost ball, double, day’s first blemish, and pure self hatred for your naivete? Completely theoretical in the second part. Not precisely recalling my efforts on this beauty of a golf hole…
#8: KOREAN LANDSCAPE AND SLEEZE REACTING TO A SNAPDRAGON
My best trip/event of 2024 was no doubt The Bridges Cup in Seoul, a 12 on 12 USA vs. International Ryder Cup style Mid-Am event. The idea is to fund guys who are good players, fun to be around, and members of some of the world’s best clubs to create an international fraternity, if you will, of like minded guys in the game. This was my first trip to South Korea which I thoroughly enjoyed and was blown away by how pretty the country is. It really feels a lot like being in the mountains of North Carolina.
One of my partners in a few sessions as well as closest messrs in the event was Drew Stoltz, better known as “Sleeze” from Golf’s Subpar. He was a ton of fun to hang with and a new friend I am glad to have made this year. I particularly enjoyed this photo seeing as his patented quick transitioning golf swing led to high toe contact and a ball that was sent quailing left of the bunkers that can be seen in the photo, never to be seen again among the Korean vipers we were told to avoid like the plague. Sorry, Sleeze. Too good a pic to not share!
#9: BACK TO BANDON DUNES. ENDING THE TRIP IN AN EIGHTSOME
The final few holes of the June trip I took to Bandon were played in the “not guaranteed to finish” tee time block, and 5 hour pace on Bandon Dunes didn’t help the cause. With about 6 holes to go and the entire group’s patience all but gone, we decided if we weren’t going to get it all in and as the caboose of the tee sheet, why not join up and play the final few we could get in as an 8?
Well, with some people (myself being chief among them) only halfway playing the remaining 5 or so holes due to the expected fatigue of 7 rounds in 2.5 days as well as the temperature feeling like it was about 37, we ended up getting in the 18th in almost complete darkness. What a cool way to end a trip, especially on perhaps the most scenic stretch of golf at the resort. I’ve been vocal about my lack of love for Bandon Dunes in comparison to a few of the other courses out there. And I’ll stand by that. But, if you can’t enjoy the views and experience of that place and get lost in a few of the architectural pieces I, and others, may have qualms with, you are doing it wrong. Just plain wrong.
*shoutout my guy BKats in the light blue golf shirt and shorts(!!!) standing there at all 5’11” 2(sexy) pounds of him feeling like a champ as my Texas blood freezes over the ball. Madness!
#10: A BANG AVERAGE PIC OF 17 AT TREE FARM
This is definitely not the best photo I snapped this year, but there are some things about it that have importance.
One, I really like the 17th at Tree Farm. A sometimes mid-short sometimes super short par 3 that can play anywhere between very easy and pretty damn hard. The hole has range not only in length and difficulty but also in aesthetic as the pines, sand, shortgrass, bunkering, wire grass, centipede grass, and topography capture a ton of the elements that give Tree Farm its character and can be wrapped up in one little hole like the 17th quite succinctly and elegantly.
Two, it’s been a process and a half, that carries on, to see the full vision of the club realized and this pic was snapped on my first overnight stay where I got to see the club operate at nearly its full capacity for the first time which was both fun and rewarding. I’ve spent a lot of brain cells on this club for the last few years so trip one of the overnight experience was a noteworthy one. Many more to come and much to look forward to!