22 Life behind the mic Jim Nantz has been a constant voice and face representing the game of golf for more than 40 years. Ahead of receiving the 2026 ASGCA Donald Ross Award, he spoke with Richard Humphreys about clearing fairways at his home course, the layouts he reveres, his first foray in design and why the First Tee means so much to him. Hello, friends.” What started as a secret code for his father, who was battling Alzheimer’s disease, to listen out for during the 2002 PGA Championship, became an iconic opening line for sports commentator Jim Nantz. It is a fitting phrase for a broadcaster whose career has been built around making people feel part of the occasion. For more than four decades, Nantz has been the voice of some of sport’s greatest moments, from the Masters to the Final Four and the Super Bowl. Yet his connection with golf goes well beyond what happens behind the microphone. His appreciation for the game extends to the places where it is played and the people who shape those places. Nantz has long taken an interest in golf course architecture, regularly acknowledging the architects behind the courses that provide the stage for the tournaments he covers. That interest has now taken him beyond the broadcast booth and into the design process itself, where he has begun to contribute his own ideas to projects. Ahead of receiving the 2026 ASGCA Donald Ross Award, I spoke with Nantz about his earliest memories of golf, the courses and architects he admires, his first steps into design and the role golf continues to play beyond the game itself. Can you tell us about your first experiences of golf? When I was a young lad, my parents were charter members of a club being built near our home in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pine Lake Country Club would be my first exposure to golf course architecture because the founding members were asked to be a part of its construction. We went out as a group and picked up rocks, stones and branches on what would be the future fairways and then piled them into the wheelbarrows that people were pushing behind us. I was back at Pine Lake this year for the opening of a short course built inside the 18-hole main course. The par-three layout is called The Nantz, and it was so special to be there on 4 June with my family, including my son Jamo. He’s 10 and a competitive golfer, and he played 18 holes with junior members that rotated every three holes. There were about 200 members following along as a gallery and I had the microphone and introduced all the players and called their shots. It was one of those special days I’ve had in my golf life because it was a full-circle moment. Back to a course where I had my hands in the dirt, so to speak, when I was just a wee kid. And now I was able to bring my children there to open a course that’s named after the family. It was very special. INTERVIEW “
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