Talking GolfGetaways: Your Golf Getaways Podcast · Mitch Laurance and Darin Bunch

Mike Strantz, Tot Hill and more stories with Robbie Wooten

·1 hr 17 min·5 clips

Talking Golf Getaways opens with Mitch Lawrence and Darren Bunch back in the booth, promising a special show and setting the table with a sponsor mention. Mitch stays in his question-first lane while Darren does most of the answering, and that familiar back-and-forth gives the conversation its shape. Robby joins the show for a deep look at the course and the work that went into bringing it forward again. The talk does not rush. It settles into restoration, memory, and the plain reality of keeping the original design intact while making it playable. Robby explains that the goal was to restore, not change. That idea stays at the center of everything that follows. Roughly 1,500 trees came out, but the way he frames it, the work was about reversing years of overgrowth rather than redesigning the golf course. The hosts spend time on the small things that matter, like tee boxes that had been swallowed by dirt and roots. They also linger on a par 3 where the creek had nearly disappeared behind the trees, which is the kind of detail that shows how far the property had drifted from its original state. The conversation widens when the protected national forest comes up, because that boundary changed what could and could not be done. Some areas were simply off limits, so the restoration had to work around real constraints. That led to a practical grass discussion, including the difference between spots that could handle Bermuda and spots that needed zoysia because they would not get enough sunlight. Robby's line about not being able to grow grass in a closet becomes one of those plainspoken course-keeping truths that sticks. It is funny, but it also tells you exactly how the team thought about the site. There is a strong respect for the original architect running underneath the whole thing. The course is treated like something to protect, not something to improve with outside ideas. That attitude shows up again when Robby talks about a former owner who had collected roughly 40 hours of video of the course being built from start to finish. That footage becomes its own treasure chest, a record of how the place came together and a reminder of how much care went into the original build. It also gives the restoration a deeper context, because now the team had a visual memory of what had been there before. As the conversation continues, the tone stays loose and friendly, with the hosts happy to let one idea lead to the next. The story moves from ownership changes to management to the long road back to the project, and each step adds another layer to the picture. Robby talks through the mix of vision, organization, and history that made the restoration possible. The show is very comfortable living in that middle space between golf lore and real-world logistics. That is part of why it works. The emotional pull is just as important as the technical details. There is a sense of memory here, but not nostalgia for its own sake. The speakers keep returning to the idea that the course should feel like itself again. They also keep noticing the people and decisions that made that possible. That makes the episode feel grounded, even when the discussion wanders into side stories and asides. By the time the conversation starts winding down, it feels like a story about effort, patience, and a shared belief that a great golf course deserves to be handled with care. The sign-off carries that same warmth, with thanks, hugs from afar, and a lot of appreciation for the dream still moving forward. It does not sound polished or packaged. It sounds like people who have been around the course, know what it took, and are still happy to talk about it. Golf travelers, fans of course restoration, and anyone drawn to practical golf-architecture stories will get the most out of it.

As heard by us

A restoration story that keeps Tot Hill Farm's original character in view.

The episode follows the restoration of Tot Hill Farm and keeps its focus on bringing the course back without rewriting what was already there.

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Why you'd press play

If you love Mike Strantz, this is a Tot Hill restoration story with real detail.

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