A native of Dublin, Ireland, Shane has been playing golf on and off since his grandfather first gave him some John Letters cut down clubs at the age of 7.
Over the past 14 years he has worked in and out of the golf space in roles focussed on Golf Club Marketing and Demand Management, Managed Services/Consultancy and Golf Club Hire.
He has travelled extensively for golf throughout Ireland, UK, Europe and Australia.
During a round at Kingston Heath in Melbourne, Australia in January 2020 he had a out of body experience (think lack of sleep due to jet lag and a lightbulb moment associated with strategic golf design) which led him peering into the golf course architecture rabbit hole.
Since these tentative steps into 'the dark' he has come to the conclusion that there are many unknown unknowns within the golf space, the phrase 'growing the game' generally equates to 'lining my pockets' and that the interplay between history, the evolution of the game and an increased golfing IQ of the general golfing populace needs to be understood in an effort to ensure that we can sustain the great game that we all love.
Shane hopes to introduce you to the road less travelled in golfing terms. This road will introduce you to important voices within the golf space in an effort to bring you on a journey of exploration that should prove interesting, informative and entertaining .
Tune in and enjoy!
Shane Derby has hosted 64 Episodes.
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Episode 64: ODG Shorts - A.B. Babington Part 1
April 22nd, 2025 | 14 mins 46 secs
Exploring the life and golfing times of Sir Anthony Brutus Babington through the medium of his unpublished writings and historical recollections. Babington became friendly with Harry S Colt during the post WW1 reconstruction of The Royal Dublin Golf Club at Dollymount. This would lead to additional collaboration between the two men at Royal Belfast, Belvoir Park, Royal Portrush and with John Morrison at Cairndhu GC in the mid 1950's.
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Episode 63: Chris Breen - Superintendent at Rosapenna Golf Resort
April 9th, 2025 | 1 hr 27 mins
Chris Breen the Resort Superintendent at Rosapenna joins us today for a chat about his journey in turf. From playing golf as a young fella at Ballbofey & Stranorlar GC, Chris moved into greenkeeping after a successful career as a professional football player in the League of Ireland. He has been the Superintendent at Rosapenna since 2019.
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Episode 62: ODG Shorts - Thomas Gilroy - an evangelist of golf
March 29th, 2025 | 26 mins 27 secs
Tom Gilroy was one of the first pioneers of golf in Ireland. Scottish by birth he influenced the early growth of the game in Ireland through his associations with golf Royal Dublin, Royal Belfast, Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, County Louth and many others.
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Episode 61: ODG Shorts - Michael 'Dyke' Moran of Dollymount
March 15th, 2025 | 19 mins 32 secs
A short pod remembering the golfing exploits of Michael 'Dyke' Moran of Dollymount, Ireland's very first Champion Professional Golfer.
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Episode 60: Looking Back, Moving Forward: The R&A Golf Heritage Conference 2025
March 6th, 2025 | 1 hr 22 mins
Mike Morrison joins us on this episode to mark the start of the R&A & BGCS Heritage Conference at St Andrews which will be held over two days in March 2025.
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Episode 59: Mat Goggin returns with an update on the 7 Mile Beach Project
February 27th, 2025 | 1 hr 49 mins
Mat Goggin joins us again for an update on developments at 7 Mile Beach in Hobart as the first course approaches the final stages of grow in and plans are afoot for it's little brother on the 5 Mile Beach/North side of the property. Messrs Clayton, De Vries, Goggin, King, Collins & Dormer have been busy of late and we get the low down on one/two of the most eagerly anticipated golf projects anywhere in the world.
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Episode 58: ODG Series #7 - Discovering Alex Russell with Neil Crafter
February 20th, 2025 | 1 hr 27 mins
Neil Crafter and Dr John Green published the definitive biography of Alex Russell, Neil joins for this episode to delve into the life and times of Australia's greatest home-grown golf architect.
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Episode 57: The Addington with Ryan Noades
February 13th, 2025 | 2 hrs 8 mins
Ryan Noades of The Addington Golf Club joins us in this episode for a long overdue chat about the ongoing restoration work he is overseeing adjacent to Shirley Church Road in Croydon, South London. We hope that we don’t get too far into the weeds as we discuss - poa green cores, clay drainage pipes, heather propagation and marginal gains…. I suspect time will tell…. Please enjoy and thanks for tuning in!
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Episode 56: The Ancient Arts of Golf with Iain Forrester
January 9th, 2025 | 1 hr 33 mins
Iain Forrester is the head professional at Hoenshuis Golf & Country Club in The Netherlands. A master craftsman, historian, writer, hickory champion and writer. He joins us for a chat about hickory golf, club repair, restoration and more.
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Episode 55: Trailer for The Ancient Arts of Golf with Iain Forrester
January 8th, 2025 | 3 mins 52 secs
fred daly, golden goose putter, john letters, open championship, royal troon
Iain Forrester is a Scottish Golf Professional who has been based in The Netherlands since 1988. He joined me recently for an extensive chat about Hickory Golf, Golf in the Netherlands and his life in golf. This is a story he forgot to tell us, thankfully I managed to press record again before we ended our studio time. The conversation was most enjoyable and will be released over the coming days... keep an eye out!
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Episode 54: The Irish Golf Wanderings of Mr. Richard J. Pennell
December 5th, 2024 | 1 hr 37 mins
Aspiring honorary Irishman, Richard Pennell, joins us on this episode to reminisce about the four golf trips he undertook to Ireland over the past 12 months. He classes it as 'work', it's well for some :).
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Episode 53: Mike Clayton Returns to F&F
November 21st, 2024 | 1 hr 36 mins
Mike Clayton joins me on this episode and provides us with an update on grow in at 7 Mile Beach, The Sandbelt Invitational, the Australian Summer of Golf and some local projects that Clayts, Harley Kruse and Lukas Michel have been working recently.
We also explore the challenges the flatter sites present to the course designer, the relative under appreciation of English Golf, Tom Simpson, CDP in France, why routing and flow are important elements in course design and some bucket list design projects.
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Episode 52: Colin Byrne - The Bagman
October 10th, 2024 | 1 hr 3 mins
Colin Byrne is a major winning golfer who has worked for many of the very best modern players, we take a quick peek at 40 years of carrying a golf bag on the major worldwide tours.
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Episode 51: ODG Series #6 with Philip Truett on Herbert Fowler and related off piste golfing matters
July 12th, 2024 | 1 hr 31 mins
William Herbert Fowler led an interesting life... born into the privilege he excelled as a cricketer, golfer, golf course architect and professional gentleman.. with the help of Philip Truett, we endeavour to unravel some of his life and times to understand his importance within the golden age of golf course design and beyond.
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Episode 50: Nathan Bennett - Superintendant @ Royal Adelaide Golf Club
June 27th, 2024 | 1 hr 43 mins
Nathan Bennett has been the Superintendent at Royal Adelaide since 2012. Originally from farming stock in country Victoria he intially dipped his greenkeeping toes in the water of Murray Downs as a young fella, under the tutelage of Richard Forsyth. He was bitten by the bug and would go on to work at The Metropolitan, Legends Course, The Sands and finally to Seaton in South Australia where we find him in his on course accommodation.
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Episode 49: Digger Girl - Angela Moser of Moser Golf & Renaissance Golf Design
June 7th, 2024 | 1 hr 41 mins
Angela Moser was has been involved on Renaissance Golf Designs projects since commencing her internship in 2011 at the Renaissance Club in Scotland. Since then she has collaborated with some of best in the business on behalf of RGD at courses such as Grand Saint Emilionnais, The Loop at Forest Dunes, Cape Kidnappers, Te Arai, St Patricks Links, Woodhall Spa & Pinehurst #10 to name but a few. We caught up with her recently to hear about some of these projects, her start in golf and much more!