Advertise on podcast: VSGA‘s Golf in the Commonwealth Podcast

The 110th VSGA Amateur begins Monday, June 26 at Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg. Hear from defending champ Ross Funderburke, last year's State Open champ, Nick Taliaferro, two-time Fox Puss champion Ben Keefer, and the VSGA's Josh Coates as we prime you for the week to come.

Two guests join Chris Lang on this special U.S. Open preview episode. Hear from Isaac Simmons (starting at the 3:23 mark), one of two VSGA members who qualified for the championship. Michael Brennan was the other. Then, U.S. Open Championship director Charlie Howe joins (starting at the 26:05 mark). Howe discusses his path from Virginia Tech soccer player to his current role with the USGA and gives some good intel on Los Angeles Country Club, a first-time U.S. Open host.

The Club at Viniterra’s Josh Speight is one of 20 PGA members of the Corebridge Financial Team competing at this week’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Thanks to his T11 finish at the PGA National Professional Championship, Josh will get his second chance to tee it up against the world’s top players in a major championship, having previously compete in 2016. Chris Lang caught up with Josh prior to the tournament to hear his thoughts on his trip to Oak Hill.

College golf in Virginia doesn’t stop with the Commonwealth’s Division I schools. In this episode, we chat with VSGA members Robb Kinder and Alex Price, who have helped elevate Christopher Newport University into the second-ranked Division III team in the country. The duo will participate in next week’s DIII championship before heading south to Kiawah Island for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. Chris Lang speaks with the pair about how they got to CNU and their hopes of leading the Captains to a national championship, among other topics.

Brinson Paolini won four VSGA Amateur Championships before departing on a whirlwind professional career that took him all over the globe. He played tournament golf in 43 different countries in eight years before starting first a coaching business, and now, a business focused on the nutritional aspect of golf. Paolini chats with Chris Lang about some of his favorite VSGA memories and his new venture, Sharp Focus Nutrition, in this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth.

In wake of the USGA announcing major changes to the qualifying structure for several USGA championships starting in 2024, the USGA's senior director of championship administration, Brent Paladino, joins host Chris Lang on the pod. He discusses his time playing golf at William & Mary, the evolution of an important junior tournament he helped form, and of course, the major upcoming changes to USGA championship qualifying.

In this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth, Chris Lang chats with two members of the VSGA’s championships department – Kent Holubar and Amanda Braun – to preview the 2023 VSGA championship season. We talk venues, players and what’s new on the championship schedule in 2023.

In this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth, Chris Lang chats with U.S. Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis, who was in Washington earlier this week for the announcement that she’ll serve a second term as U.S. captain in 2024 when the Cup is played at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville. Lewis shares her thoughts on both playing and captaining in the Cup and talks a little bit about her unique golf journey and her advice to young girls who want to play competitive golf.

In this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth, Chris Lang is emptying the notebook, as they say in reporter terms. To supplement the recent Virginia Golfer story on Fat Perez, listen to the full interview with the man himself, otherwise known at Nick Stubbe. Learn more about his journey into golf and how Fat Perez came to be in this interview, which was conducted in November at Keswick Golf Club.

In this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth, we chat with Turner Lewis, founder of Fore Craft Cocktails, a Virginia beverage company that features a signature Transfusion drink that you’ll find in grocery stores and golf courses around the Commonwealth. Lewis, a VSGA member who is still a full-time radiologist, describes how the venture came to be and where he sees it going in the future.

In this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth, we chat with Lanny Wadkins, the World Golf Hall of Famer, Virginia Golf Hall of Famer, and lead analyst for Golf Channel’s coverage of PGA Tour Champions. Wadkins was back in Virginia to emcee the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony before he turned his attention to his Golf Channel duties for the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at CCV. Lanny talks about growing up at Meadowbrook Country Club in Richmond, his battles with some of Virginia’s golf legends, and his work at Golf Channel.

In this episode of Golf in the Commonwealth, we catch up with Darren Clarke, who is in Richmond for this week’s Dominion Energy Charity Classic. Clarke is one of four players to have won both The Open Championship and The Senior Open Championship, and he enters this week ranked 13th in the Charles Schwab Cup points standings as the playoffs get underway at The Country Club of Virginia. Clarke speaks of his role as brand ambassador for Abaco Club in the Bahamas, his relationship with Dr. Bob Rotella, and his win in this past summer’s Senior Open at Gleneagles.