ESPN senior writer Wright Thompson is in the midst of hosting a series, Where It Lies, which explores the world of municipal golf courses.
Earlier this week, he spoke with Front Office Sports about a wide range of topics, including the inspiration for the series, his last meal on Earth, why he’s bullish on a “renaissance” for literary magazine-style sports journalism, his white-whale profile subjects, and why he left Twitter/X.
Front Office Sports: You’re doing this series on municipal courses, Where It Lies. What was the inspiration and what’s the coolest thing you’ve discovered in the process?
Wright Thompson: The inspiration was Tim Horgan, who runs a production company called Bluefoot. Every TV show I’ve ever made, I’ve made with him. He loves muni golf. He’s been talking for years about how his bucket list was we need to do this show. We make a show together called True South on SEC Network. We’ve been making that for 10 years. The joking title of the golf show for a long time was True Golf.
It’s basically taking the things we’ve learned doing the show about the South and then going and finding these worlds of municipal golf courses. My favorite thing I’ve learned is that every one of them is an ecosystem unto itself. The stories feel naturally different in a way that’s pleasing. My big silent worry was that a thing like this goes to die if we go different places but they all feel the same. But they don’t!
