GHIN & Tonic, Vol. 7 (D.J.)

Welcome to the seventh installment of GHIN & Tonic. Our hope is that this space serves as a callback to the spirit of the original writing that appeared on No Laying Up dot com: unvarnished, wide-ranging, and somewhat random, but with golf as the loose thread. Some will be more golf-heavy, some golf-light - think TrapDraw Podcast with some golf sprinkled in. We’ll pass the ball around on these on a weekly basis and all will be personal in nature.

GHIN

First things first: Contrary to my general apathy and burnout about the week-to-week world of men’s professional golf, I’m so unbelievably excited for Pinehurst No. 2 and this week’s U.S. Open.

The reasons for this are mostly obvious and if you're reading this, I’m sure they align with the reasons you are excited. All the players are back together. It’s going to be a world-class execution test at a fascinating venue. The weather looks fantastic. Carnage is potentially looming. Plus, there is no better consistent agent of unpredictable chaos in the golf world than the USGA. Sign me up for all of it. I can’t wait.

But one of the reasons I’m most excited has to do with Pinehurst’s familiarity, both personally and within the world of golf. I’m not trying to pander here – I love watching championships at Oakmont and Shinnecock as much as anyone else – but I think there is something increasingly special about major championships held at public golf courses. Particularly, as in Pinehurst’s case, ones that are visited by so many hard-core golf fans each year.

Years ago, I remember having a drink on the patio behind the 18th green of No. 2 with a friend of mine who works at the resort who described Pinehurst as “the closest thing golf has to a National Park.” At first, this felt like kind of a hokey way to pull at people’s heartstrings and an uneven comparison – do the math sometime on how many National Parks you could visit for the cost of a round on No. 2. But the more I’ve thought about it, and the more times I’ve observed that scene around the Pinehurst clubhouse – people buzzing and laughing around Thistle Dhu, the Cradle, the driving range, the golf shops and the restaurants – the more apt I think it is and the happier that thought makes me. Throw in the addition of Pinehurst No. 10 and the revamped World Golf Hall of Fame (I have yet to visit, but enjoyed Geoff Shackelford’s write up about his first spin through) and I end up feeling really energized about the ways Pinehurst has continued to improve itself over the past decade.

A lot of this credit feels like it can go to the USGA as well, with its commitment to move its whole center of gravity to Pinehurst and likely driving some of the changes as a part of making Pinehurst an anchor site for the U.S. Open (it will host again in 2029, 2035, 2041 and, if the world still exists, 2047).

It's not perfect. And at the end of the day, I understand that we're still talking about a high-end expensive golf resort, not an aw-shucks mom-and-pop operation. But even if a round at No. 2 is out of your price range, as it is for many golf fans, Pinehurst and the USGA have still made a point of creating a lively, dynamic place with open doors where golfers can swing through for an afternoon and feel a little closer to the national championship. At a time when it's easy to find plenty of things wrong with golf at the highest level, I think Pinehurst (and the decision to make it an even larger part of one of the most visible golf events in the world) is a bright spot.

Sorry for the drive-by here, but contrast this with the PGA Tour’s treatment of the Hall of Fame over the past 20 years (burying the game's historic artifacts and legacies inside a bleak, failed commercial real estate development in the middle of nowhere and daring people to come visit). As of now, it’s easy for me to see which organization is focused on bridging the pro game and the recreational game and should be in charge of making actual fans like the actual game of golf.

Almost all my golf sicko friends have made a trip to Pinehurst at some point in the past decade. And with that, they vividly understand how boned you are behind the third green. Or how much the 13th hole plays uphill. Or how small the realistic landing area is on the 15th green. This is the stuff that makes golf watching incredibly sticky for a lifetime. There is no better feeling than seeing how the best players in the world save par from the place where you made a 7. (Actually, depending on your disposition, the only better feeling might be seeing them also make a 7.)

From a personal standpoint, Pinehurst also gives me a ton to think about and reflect on in my own career covering golf. 2014 was one of the first U.S. Opens I attended in person, so in addition to a lot of useless GoPro and panoramic photos, I also have a lot of memories.

Martin Kaymer’s blowout win isn’t just a concept or a series of scores spelled out on a Wikipedia page. I actually remember listening in person to how engaging and refreshing he was in the media center each day as he tried desperately to come up with new ways to explain why he was playing so freaking well. I remember watching him putt and bump shots from everywhere, which is something I’ve tried to implement into my own game as much as possible for the last 10 years.

I’ve spent so much time in media centers over the past 15 years (and heard so many third-person stories about “the last time we were here”), that’s it’s kind of a strange feeling when you get back to the top of the order yourself. And like doing any job, oftentimes it can be the cynical memories that tend to linger the longest (let’s be honest, especially in media centers). But Pinehurst and its focus on creating public golf memories feels like something worth getting excited about.

(Disclosure/Additional Context: Although they had no editorial involvement in this piece or any of our past content, Pinehurst Resort has been a longtime sponsor of No Laying Up.)

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Thinking about covering the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst made me go back into my cellphone archives to see if I had any pictures to tack onto that section. Obviously, to me, that U.S. Open feels incredibly recent. Here are some random photos from my phone to prove just how long ago that was.

Doing the Ice Bucket Challenge with Tim Finchem. I feel older than him somehow.

Matt Kuchar playing wiffle ball in Sea Island. I asked him who his favorite player was and I am 100 percent positive he said “Fred Griffey Jr.” which I’ve never stopped thinking about.

Getting ready to race Billy Horschel in a soap box car in Akron, Ohio. Like 60 percent of the photos are from Akron.

Coach Prime fishing off the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass. I do not remember how or why this was happening.

Haha, this is a good one. Flying to New York on a private jet(?) with Nick Watney(?). I believe part of this media tour was a stop in Manhattan at The Sports Authority(?), which means this was at least 50 years ago. Very nice guy. Big fan.

Ten years later, this photo is a pretty fun time capsule. It was a rain delay at TPC Boston, where I believe the tournament had brought in a professional ping pong player for guys to test their skills against. This photo was after a long rally between him and Kuchar. Dufner is not impressed.

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As for my own golf game, I’ve only been out to play a few times. We are wrapping up our busiest stretch of travel and editing of the year, so that, combined with the weather getting comically good in Wisconsin should lead to much more golf to write about in the next few weeks.

I was able to get to The Lido at Sand Valley a few weeks ago, which was incredible to see. It’s a lot and it’s the definition of a place I need to see three or four more times before having much of anything interesting to say, so for now, here are a few photos.

We had the most benign afternoon possible out there, but I could imagine that when the wind gets up and the greens get firm, it will be an incredible test. I can’t wait to go watch some of the U.S. Mid-Am in 2026 to see how much they can turn up the golf course and how it responds to some really high-level players.

I’m not sure we’re getting a men’s major here in Wisconsin any time soon, but between the Women’s Open at Erin Hills in 2025 and the Mid-Am at Sand Valley in 2026, there will be great tournament action the next few summers.

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TONIC

This month marks my tenth wedding anniversary to my lovely wife, Justine. To celebrate, we decided to take a vacation – an actual vacation, not a “I’ve got some work stuff there anyway so maybe we tack on a few days on the back end and also can you hold this camera?” type of vacation, as we have been fortunate to do a few times the past few years.

Planning a trip like this is very fun, but also incredibly daunting. The world is a very big place and we have a very finite amount of vacations in our lifetime. You can start to spin out trying to decide between the value proposition of four radically different places (as if one is objectively better than another). We had been squirreling away miles and credit card points for a decade, waiting for JUST THE RIGHT TIME to use them, which is, of course, paralyzing.

Whenever we are at a great golf destination, we always joke internally about Tron’s running line about wanting to “come back here and not even play golf.” But ultimately, that’s exactly what we did. I had such a good time on our Tourist Sauce: Scandinavia trip that all I could think about was coming back and going a little deeper on each place.

We started in Copenhagen and spent a few days wandering around the city having the types of 2-hour lunches and dinners that aren’t possible during a content shoot.

After Copenhagen, we flew up to Lofoten, Norway. Obviously during our Tourist Sauce trip, we were focused largely around the town of Hov, the home of Lofoten Links. This time around, we found a great Airbnb in Leknes, which left us pretty centrally located and allowed us to pick a different direction each day to go drive and explore. We did some hiking and had some great dinners, but my favorite parts were just listening to music and driving around for hours at a time with our jaws dropped taking in the scenery, which somehow continued to improve all the way to the southern end of Lofoten.

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Top Five Meals From Vacation

I am by no means a food expert. Everything I know about cooking I learned from Top Chef or as a busboy at the Country Club of Peoria. I obviously knew this area of the world had a major food renaissance in the last 20 or so years, but it was fun to learn how and why that came about with a number of Scandinavian chefs returning to their home countries and vowing together to set a new standard for how they could use the incredible ingredients that naturally grow near their homes.

With that said, here are the meals that will stick with me.

In no particular order:

Cinnamon Bun, Unstad Arctic Surf, Lofoten, Norway

There was a sign outside this little surf hotel that advertised the “World’s Best Cinnamon Buns.” This is obviously a bold claim to make, but I think it might be true? We drove an hour out of the way to have another one the next day.

Vækst, Copenhagen, Denmark

Mostly vegetarian dishes inside of a greenhouse-feeling space in the middle of Copenhagen. Some of the freshest food I’ve ever tasted and everything was light and immaculate. Fresh peas, poached white asparagus, pickled kohlrabi, celery foam, scallops with apples in a yuzu broth. Incredible. Highlight for me was this potato salad that had cucumber, crispy rye bits and some sort of cheese foam. They’re years ahead of us over there.

Barabba, Copenhagen, Denmark

This was the one that we blew out. Seven-course tasting menu of Italian dishes. Buttered spaghetti with caviar, stuffed gnocchi in tomato water, rabbit ravioli, all kinds of tarts. Really just baller, provocative stuff.

Restaurant Karoline, Nusfjord, Lofoten, Norway

Nusfjord feels like a little model train fishing town and inside of it is this restaurant with what has to be the best table I’ve ever sat at. Karoline is the centerpiece of the village and the food was simple, but perfect (great fresh seafood, a few banger desserts and some wildly crispy lagers). Massive shout out to the opener – fish roe on a potato cake with creme fraiche.

Hart Bakery, Copenhagen, Denmark

Across the harbor from Nyhavn was this heavyweight bakery that just blew our doors off. There is nothing flashy about it – it’s just simple bakery items done absolutely perfectly. In doing a bit more reading about it after the fact, the heavyweight bonafides were confirmed. This is from Vogue World: “Hart Bageri has made waves in the food world since its opening in 2018 by legendary bread man Richard Hart, who is perhaps best known for popularizing the sourdough loaf in America while serving as head baker at the iconic San Francisco bakery Tartine. When Hart decided to move to the Danish capital, he received the support of the world number one restaurant Noma—because, of course, they had to have the best bread for themselves. (Hart Bageri began baking out of Noma’s kitchens in the east of the city.)”

I also feel like as alums of the Year of the Process, this quote from Talia Richard-Carvajal, one of Hart’s leaders and bakers, resonated deeply: “Richard taught me that we might only achieve the perfect bake twice a year,” Richard-Carvajal says, “but it is in the pursuit of that perfection that we find something, often, better.”

Thank you for reading. If you have thoughts or recommendations related to GHIN & Tonic, email me at dj@nolayingup.com.