I wasn’t sure if Oakland Hills was going to happen – but man did I want it to. One of the most frequently asked questions on the trip was “How did you get on the private courses?” Medinah was pretty straight forward, Oakland Hills, not so much. The common answer: “It was a friend of a friends, dad’s business partner’s, business partner” – and that pretty much sums it up. I’m learning that a big part of the fun of going for the Top 100 is all of the cool people you meet along the way and the interesting circumstances…
Author: Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle
As the Founder of Breaking Eighty Sean has spent the last 10+ years reviewing the best golf products and golf courses in the world. He prides himself on only writing about products and courses he's experienced first hand, and helping others find exactly what they need to enhance their enjoyment of the game we all love so much.
Words can’t really describe what I was thinking before I arrived at Medinah Country Club. Lucky was an obvious one. Nervous another. But I think my pre-round feelings could mostly be summed up with the word “excited.” Earlier in the year I was speaking at an event in Chicago, and met Brian. We had quite a bit in common between the type of work we do and our love of golf. Turns out he was a member and said to let him know next time I was back in the area. So when I started hatching together the plans for…
Well after nearly 6 months of thinking, considering, debating, and more recently planning and booking, the Breaking Eighty 2013 Golf Road Trip is officially a go. As we speak I’m somewhere over Utah en route to Milwaukee by way of Chicago. This evening I’m going to hit a few hot spots recommended by friends in Sheboygan and then I won’t be wasting anymore time as I’ll be playing 36 holes tomorrow. First up is The Bull at Pinehurst Farms, the only Jack Nicklaus Signature course in Wisconsin, and then in the afternoon I hit Meadow Valleys at Blackwolf Run. Both…
When was the last time you said “someday I’ll do that?” Go skydiving? Someday. Start a business? Someday. Play all of the Top 100 Golf Courses? Man, that’d be cool, maybe someday. Screw someday. Let’s start doing things today. Introducing the 2013 Breaking Eighty Top 100 Road Trip. As you may know by now I’ve set a goal to play all of the Top 100 and Top 100 Public Golf Courses as created by Golf Digest by the time I’m 35 (I’m 28 now). Update December 2022: I’m now 37. Let’s just say, we didn’t hit that goal. And well, the goal…
Well it’s been awhile since I’ve done a proper course recap! I apologize for the lack of content lately, I’ve been busy with my primary business putting on our two year anniversary sale. But now that we’re through with that, time to focus on some golf for a change! Last week the day after the sale ended I invited my mom up to Portland to head out to one of the top public courses in Portland, The Reserve Golf Club and Vineyards. The Reserve is an interesting property. The club is semi private and features two courses, the North and…
Over the last year of playing more and more golf courses I’ve learned that there are two different types of golf outings: there are rounds of golf, and then there are golf experiences. To say that playing at The Golf Club at Black Rock is the latter wouldn’t be doing it justice. Black Rock, located just above the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is a private club that opened up in 2003 to a ton of praise, and even won best new private club that year – beating out some formidable competition. Any time you show up as a guest at a…
Knocking Crosswater Golf Club off my list of Top 100 Public Golf Courses was a pretty special one for me, actually. Growing up, my family had a house in Sunriver, and so every summer and winter I’d spent at least a week or two enjoying sun, snow, biking or hiking. It’s funny, I’m so into golf now, because I’d never played any of the Sunriver courses until recently. This was a slightly impulsive trip as well. Sunriver Resort had this unbelievable deal, where for $99/night you got a room at the lodge, and unlimited golf – including one round a…
It wasn’t easy, but I’m now sitting on my flight to Augusta where on Thursday I’ll be taking a trip to the Masters for my second year in a row (here’s last years recap). I’m not exactly sure why, but this year I’m even more excited to head down there than I was last year. Perhaps it’s because I’ll be playing 3 or 4 rounds of golf in Augusta and nearby Hilton Head. It could be because I know what to expect and I know just how unbelievable it really is. However I think the primary reason is that I’m just more…
I’ll admit, I’m generally speaking a big fan of Nike Golf. Maybe it’s the fact I grew up in the birthplace of Nike, or the fact that I have dozens of friends who work there, whatever it is, I play Nike Golf. Clothes, clubs, and a new bag that’s on the way soon – the one exception to this is Nike Golf Balls. Sure I’ve played the occasional sleeve, or random, but when it comes to balls I’ve always preferred Titleist. That said, I figured I’d see what I could do to change that. The Nike 20xi and 20xi-s golf…
I’ve always said I wouldn’t step back to the blue tees until I could shoot mid 80s on a regular basis from the whites. Whether that’s a good thought process or not is up for debate, but I figured if I could get confident playing a shorter course it would be much easier to make the transition to the longer tees. Today I had the pleasure of teeing it up with my buddy Dan Mclaughlin of The Dan Plan fame out at Heron Lakes in Portland, Oregon. For those of you who don’t know, Dan quit his job a few…