On The Tee Golf New Zealand Podcast

Our hosts talk with veteran Kiwi professional Steve Alker who, after years toiling on minor tours, turned 50 years old and qualified for the senior Champions Tour and won his first senior tour event straight out of the gate. In closing out 2021, Steve has won more prize money than he had ever expected. What's the reason for this sudden take-off in his career? We reached him at his home in Arizona to find out.

Former professional tour player and leading golf coach, Simon Thomas, talks about the latest in technology and the ways everything from new metal combinations to solid core golf balls might (or might not) improve your game.  As the Director of a successful golf academy at St. Peter's College in Cambridge, you'll be surprised to learn just how many junior golfers have enrolled in his programme.  

After many years of planning and negotiation between two of New Zealand's most desired golf clubs (that were located next door to each other in South Auckland) work on an entirely new, merged 18 holes with new facilities, designed by Nicklaus Golf and Patterson Architects, is complete. Our hosts talk with Warwick Hill-Rennie, the CEO of the (now) Royal Auckland Grange Golf Club, to get the lowdown on how it all unfolded.

The legendary coach Bob McDonald, now approaching 80 years old, and considered the best golf coach in New Zealand for more than 50 years (and who is as opinionated as ever) talks to Telfer & Hyde about his life in the game  while offering game improvement tips every player struggling with their game ought to hear.

New Zealand celebrity television and radio broadcaster and top ranked amateur golfer, joins Telfer & Hyde to give his take on there the game of the top names in the game are at following on from the US Open and leading up to the Open Championship. Does anyone care about golf at the Olympics? And what's up with Kiwi pros on tour?  Is Lydia Ko making a comeback or not?

Our hosts talk to Thiem Nguyen, Manager of Participation for Golf New Zealand about the new ways in which the lead organisation for the sport in this country is working to be more inclusive and raise the number of people playing the game casually and as members of a club.

Kaye Maxwell was one of New Zealand's top amateur golfers whose feminist outlook got her in trouble with golf administrators when she refuse to conform to the party line—whatever that was at the time. She quit New Zealand and headed overseas where she played and in time moved back to South Auckland, turned professional at a late age for teaching purposes, bought a farm, and converted it into a 9-hole course for women.

Gulf Harbour Country Club, site of the 1998 World Cup of Golf, and one of the most scenic  courses in New Zealand, has been up and down. At one stage, members were forced to buy the club off its discredited owner. Our hosts talk with current Director of Golf, Frazer Bond, to find out where things are at today. 

Former All Black captain, Sean Fitzpatrick, was back in New Zealand over the summer, so before he and his family returned to their home in the UK, he spoke with our hosts about his game, where he plays, the clubs he plays with, and, for him, the benefits of playing no matter the score.

Has New Zealand’s top professional lived up to expectations? Our hosts talk to Craig Tiriana, the Director of the Danny Lee Tournaments, who has watched Danny’s career unfold from the time he became a sensation as a teenager at Rotorua Boys High School.

Top Kiwi professional Ryan Fox, back from playing a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia, and looking ahead to the Open Championship in July, talks about what it’s like to be a travelling golf professional in the Age of Covid.

Former All Black coach, now on the Board of the Super Rugby Auckland Blues, talks about what golf means to him and what he gains from playing the game, no matter his score.

The world’s best known golf caddy, Steve Williams, voices his opinion on the PGA Tour’s proposed use of distance finders that, in theory, would take away the traditional role of caddies from stepping off distances and generally doing the work golf caddies are known to do.  

Oreti Sands, a links course at the very bottom of the South Island, often called “the southern most golf course in the world” and one highly praised by both domestic and international golf writers, closed for good two years ago. After various attempts to re-open,  the club is no more. Our hosts talk to Andy Fraser, a former member and one of the last remaining volunteers, to find out what happened.

What’s unique about the Rangitira Golf Club? Our hosts speak with greenskeeper and club record holder (65) Richie Nimmo about a feature on the 18th hole unlike any in the rest of the country. As well, they find out what’s going on at the club and how they managed an upgrade, demanded by council, that cost them $150,000.

New Zealand golf legend, John Lister, joins our hosts to kick off the 2021 season by looking at the controversy that developed at the Farmers Insurance Open, in California, when Patrick Reed picked up his embedded ball. As well, Telfer and Hyde look at what’s coming up in 2021 and, with Lister, who to keep an eye on among young Kiwi players coming through the ranks.

Our hosts look back at 2020 and consider the impact of Covid-19 on golf in New Zealand and around the world.  Certainly professional tours lost their galleries and it was strange watching television coverage without the usual fan reactions. But then recreational golf experienced a mini-boom in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, individual stars had their ups and down, none more so than Tiger Woods.

Our hosts conduct an extended conversation with Geoff Saunders, the author of the first comprehensive biography of New Zealand’s greatest golfer, Sir Bob Charles, and to review the book and find out why it took 15 years to complete.

Greg Turner, once New Zealand’s best player on the European PGA Tour, has become New Zealand’s foremost golf course designer whose projects include the expansion of Millbrook Resort into a stunning 27-hole layout. He talks to Brendan Telfer about his design approach and what it takes to build a beautiful golf course for all handicappers.  

Muriwai Beach Golf Club is one of the most rustic, charming golf links in New Zealand. With the Tasman Sea lapping at its shoreline, the club has overcome some serious(and expensive) re-routing and is today one of the most successful clubs in the country with a sold out membership and waiting list. Our hosts speak with long time President Malcolm Cooper and GM Andrew Jackson.

Has Bryson DeChambeau’s physical transformation leading to the longest drives off the tee in tournament golf history along with his stunning 6 shot victory at the US Open altogether changed the nature of golf? And what about Danny Lee’s meltdown at the US Open? Our hosts discuss these topics with Kiwi golf legend John Lister and broadcaster and former NZ Golf board member Peter Williams.   

On The Tee’s latest podcast with Brendan Telfer visits two large metropolitan golf clubs to find out why one of the curious legacies of Covid 19 here in NZ has been the upsurge in people wanting to play golf.

Sir Bob Charles, unquestionably New Zealand’s greatest golfer, now 84 years old and still playing when the temperature rises above 15C, joins our hosts from his home in at the Clearwater Resort in Christchurch to reflect on his marathon 1963 Open Championship victory, legendary players he played with, and rule changes he would like to see to speed up the game and make it more fun. Who was the best putter of all in his day? Tune in and find out.

Jason Gulasekharam, the Media and Communications Manager for NZ Golf, and a talented amateur player himself, reports a very surprising statistic reflecting participation in golf since the end of the Lockdown.  As well, Jason outlines the plans for the re-start of the Charles Tour that tees off at the Muriwai Beach Golf Club on July 30, leaving our hosts to reminisce about their days playing that wonderful West Coast links in all kinds of weather. 

Mark Brown, one of New Zealand’s most accomplished professionals, has retired from touring. Brown, who won just about every NZ amateur title there is before turning pro, reached a world rank of 57 winning on both the Australasian Tour and the European Tour. He talks with our hosts about those halcyon days travelling the globe and what’s its like now that he’s settled back in New Zealand and looking to spend more time coaching and raising a young family.

The lockdown is over and now that New Zealand is among the first countries in the world to open up, top Kiwi and European Tour professional, Ryan Fox, talks with Brendan Telfer and Tom Hyde about what he's been up to during his forced time off from the game and what he knows about the European Tour schedule that's believed to be targeting a July re-start with the British Masters.

With special guest Peter Williams, the former TVNZ sports commentator and news reader, our hosts discuss the coming year in professional golf, one highlighted by the Olympics. Currently, Danny Lee, Ryan Fox and Lydia Ko appear to be likely to represent New Zealand in Tokyo, but all have had up-and-down years and, in golf, nothing can be taken for granted. Lydia Ko has recently hired yet another new coach.  So what do our hosts, all accomplished golf journalists, think about this? Tune in for a 40-minute debate and find out.  

Tiger wins The Masters, Rory Mcllroy is named Player of the Year and more. Hosts Brendan and Tom look back on one of the most enthralling years in professional golf around the world and in New Zealand where 2019 produced an increase in club membership for both senior and junior players. What's in store for 2020? Listen in to find out!

Our hosts talk with professional Long Driver, Phillis Meti, an Aucklander who won her first of three World Long Drive Championships in 2006, at the age of 19. She hits a golf ball farther than any other woman in the world, once recording a drive of 379 metres (414 yards). How did she get started, what gear does she use and where is her career headed now? 

Our hosts speak with Shelley Duncan, a former touring professional and top Otago player, now the Director of Golf at the venerable Otago Golf Club, commonly known as Balmacewen, about the rich history of the club, famous names who have played there, what's up with the club today with membership and special events.

Hosts Brendan and Tom talk with Marcus Wheelhouse, a former Number One amateur in the world and twice the winner of the New Zealand Stroke Paly Championship. After turning professional Marcus played in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in the world. Today, he is one of the country's leading golf coaches, working out of JK's World of Golf, and is best known worldwide as the coach of Ryan Fox, New Zealand's Number One professional currently playing on the European PGA circuit. What's life like for a top golf coach? Tune in to find out.

What's going on in New Zealand golf? How are clubs managing to stay viable in a climate of dwindling memberships and an aging population when younger people are less likely that ever to take of up the sport? What is NZ Golf, as the leading administrative body, doing to promote the game and help struggling clubs find a way to survive? Our hosts talk with NZ Golf CEO Dean Murphy about those pressing issues and more.

Former touring pro and NZ golf legend, John Lister, a friend of the Ko family and someone who has followed Lydia's career since she began playing golf, joins hosts Tom and Brendan to offer his thoughts on her career and the so-called "David Leadbetter episode."

We talk with Denise Langdon, founder of PaR NZ Golf, New Zealand's leading golf touring company, about her business and the business of golf tourism in NZ and overseas. Denise also talks about her background running tournaments on behalf of Golf NZ and she tells the story of her first encounter with a talented young player named Lydia Ko. http://www.parnz.co.nz/

Lydia Ko remains New Zealand’s number one professional golfer but chasing her for that esteemed spot is 25-year-old, New Zealand-born Munchin Keh, who earlier this year came within one shot of qualifying for the Evian Championship and the Women's British Open. She talks to our hosts about her game and her hopes for the future.

Irishman Shane Lowry winning the recent Open Championship held in Ireland was one of the most popular major golf wins in some time, because it was the first Open to be played in Ireland in a very long time. To recap, our hosts invited Irishman Brian Gaynor, better known as the business investment columnist for the NZ Herald, to sit down and have a chat about the amazing event that was Shane Lowry winning the Irish Open.

The R&A in partnership with the USGA spent five years discussing rule changes to the game of golf. Those changes were introduced in January this year and while NZ golf club members have no doubt heard of them and know some of them, to be sure, and to find out the thinking behind the changes, Tom Hyde and Brendan Telfer speak with Dave Mangan, the New Zealand Golf General Manager for championships and golf operations and an International Advisory member to the R&A Rules of Golf Committee.

We talk with New Zealand professional golfer Michael Hendry who is back in New Zealand from playing on the Japanese Tour. Hendry grew up in Auckland playing out of the Pupuke Golf Club on the North Shore (same club as LPGA star, Lydia Ko) and at one time it looked as if he would become a professional cricketer after representing NZ at a world U-19 tournament in South Africa. But a shoulder injury put an end to his hopes to be a world class medium pace bowler and instead he's become a world class professional golfer, winner of five tournament world wide including the Indonesian Open, the NZ PGA Championship and the NZ Open. What's it like playing in Japan? Tune in and find out.

Hosts, Tom Hyde and Brendan Telfer, chat with John Griffin (General Manager of golf at Jack's Point Golf Club) about the importance of golf in the world of tourism, and how golf contributes to one of New Zealand's major revenue earners. Jack Point's Golf Club: https://www.jackspoint.com

No other golf club in Canterbury suffered more damage from the two Christchurch earthquakes than the venerable Christchurch Golf Club, commonly known as Shirley Links. In this instalment of On The Tee, we talk with the club's General Manager, Mike Hadley, about the impact of that disaster on the course and what's been done since to recover. http://www.christchurchgolf.co.nz/

Personal issues and back surgeries left even Tiger Woods himself thinking he was done. But eleven years after his last major victory, Woods is back. His recent Master's victory must be the greatest comeback in the history of the sport. Brendan Telfer and Tom Hyde recap this sensational story with former NZ professional, John Lister, who twice played in The Masters. www.ontheteepodcast.com www.podcasts.nz

Our hosts talk with Kiwi professional Josh Geary about his drive to succeed and his most recent whirlwind trip to Kenya and back.

Our hosts talk with former All Black coach, John Hart, now the Chairman of the NZ Golf Open organizing committee, about the NZ Open being played in Queenstown. www.podcasts.nz/onthetee