Talk Birdie To Me

Well....there's a bit to unpack today. The Ryder Cup had everything. Incredible golf, clutch shots, comebacks, drama, and appalling behaviour from fans....where to start...We start with Shane Lowry's incredible cup retaining putt. Followed by an equally incredible celebration, and after what he had to put up with from the crowd, he deserved that moment. Nick and Mark watched plenty of it over the weekend and loved it. Mark said that he was up and down on his couch like anything.Nick praised the leadership of Luke Donald, particularly his speech prior to play starting where he both inspired his team, and gave a subtle whack to the US team. Nick also noted two key errors that the US team made and explains what they were and why the were errors. Mark believes the selection of Keegan was, in hindsight, a poor one.But the crowd behaviour. Oh the crowd. Whilst a hostile crowd, for the Europeans was no surprise, Mark says what was a surprise was that with only a couple of exceptions the US players let it happen around them and says that they should not want to 'win like that'. Nick explains how you perform at such a high level when you're being abused.And we discuss that extraordinary comeback on the final day by the US team. When we thought they were gone, they very nearly pulled it back in what would have been one of the great wins.And for the US Ryder Cup team, Nick says .....it is time for Tiger.Mark raises Justin Rose's up and down...what a shot it was. And in the BMW Touch of Class, Nick awards this weeks to a US golfer and explains why.After the turn, the Top 5 for Betr is Marks Top 5 Ryder Cup moments from the weekend - good and bad. And of course we finally got a multi to come off, and we're pretty happy about that.PING Globals from Nick is largely, although not entirely, about the Ryder Cup. Although we are diverted slightly when Mark is made aware that Timmy Trumpet is coming to Melbourne....should we get him on? Maybe.Feedback is all Ryder Cup as you'd expect.And Nicks masterclass is on Shane Lowry's winning (or retaining) putt.Massive pod today, Ryder Cup pretty much all show.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feedback pod today and we've got some cracking questions from wolfpackers to run through.Mick has a question about slow play at his club, particularly as they have some older members.Jack is looking forward to the Australian Open and, aside from Rory, wants to know has there been any other big names revealed as coming.Wayne asks for Nick and Marks thoughts on the best Australian Open finish they ever saw.Mike once saw New Zealand's Ryan Fox hit a policeman with a wayward drive, we find out if Nick and Mark ever hit anyone.....Nick did, and drew blood, Mark was playing with a celebrity when the celebrity hit someone - and that story ended hilariously (not for the person but for us).After the turn, we have a 59 to rate, is Mark feeling generous ?Ned is heading to New Zealand in January and is after some advice on courses that he should look to play on the North Island.Richard has a solution to the length issue in golf.Jeff has a suggestion for the best drive under pressure.And following on from Jeffs suggestion, Mark ends on a sad (for him) story (hilarious for us) about a drive on the same course Jeff raises.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After last weeks Talk Birdie Mini where Nick and Mark selected their 'dream teams' consisting of one player from each of Australia, the US, Europe, and an International to face off at Royal Melbourne Composite, en-route to the tournament, there has been an incident rendering all 8 players unable to play, and the venue now out of action.So, excluding the original selections of Shark, Karrie, Tiger, Jack, Seve, Faldo, Player and Locke - Nick and Mark need to select their team to come off the bench.Listen to Nick and Mark muse, discuss and decide live on the pod.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a week....big week in golf, plenty to discuss. We start with a chat about one of our favourite young players, Elvis Smylie who nearly won the French Open at the weekend! Absolute gun.And Mark tells us about giving some advice to a couple of golfers at his club last night, he explains the tips he gave them with their putting and runs them by Nick - does Nick rate the tips? Mark certainly does, suggesting that, were it to exist, he deserves a Nobel Prize for Golf based on the advice he gave. You be the judge. In a nutshell is was around 'changing the goal of the shot in your mind'.Mark also recommended that you become a 'plonker'. We won't even try to explain, we'll let him do it on the pod.Ryder Cup chat, it's close now, and if you're not on board our Betr multi, give yourself an uppercut, as we reckon it's a shot. Details on yesterday's Ryder Cup preview pod, or at the Betr website here.Both Nick and Mark saw a video this week of Tour Pro Nakajima pulling out of a drive, it was strange. We discuss. And Nick tells a story about a Tour Pro he played with who made a habit of doing it, he names the player.Then...after Mark had an intervention over his social media arguments a month or so back, he's at it again, having fights on Twitter. Nick and Dan raise his behaviour and ask for an explanation....and he gives it. It's do with golf architects, course design, trees, and he lines up from the back tees and has a red hot crack.Calming it down, for our great friends at BMW, the Touch of Class was something involving Steve Alker at Cypress. It was indeed a touch of class, and we explain what happened.After the Turn, Nicks Top 5 memories, thanks to Betr, are his favourite Ryder Cup memories - good or bad. Mark wants to know yours, has Nick missed any? He missed Marks fave, which he explains.Onto Feedback for Southern Golf Club - masses of feedback on our Lucas Parsons chat last week, most good, some bad, we hand-picked a few - including a massive whack for Nick and Mark from one wolfpacker....sheez... Also feedback on iron covers, Mark's LIV Monday Qualifying idea, and a shoutout to a Tour Pro making a comeback after serious illness.Nick runs through results around the world in the PING Globals, with another great stat this week....he's making a habit of these stats, might be a new segment....and Marks masterclass is on bad lies.Phew !!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well it's here, the week before one of the great golf weekends - the Ryder Cup. But before we get to our preview, a reminder about our Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on the Gold Coast, it's now two weeks away (Wednesday October 8th), Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen will be playing the tournament along with 80 or 90 wolfpackers. A few tickets left here. The prizes are brilliant:FootJoy vouchers;⁠Titleist GT Driver and 3 wood with a custom fitting with a Titleist Fitting Specialist;⁠A set of custom fitted Vokey Wedges fitted by a Titleist Fitting Specialist;⁠A couple of dozen Pro V1 golf balls;Golf Clearance Outlet vouchersLuxury Escapes vouchersAnd the hole in one prize from Luxury Escapes: a week at the Pullman Maldives with return flights for two if you if you don't mind! Conditions apply, but there is only 3 conditions - pros ineligible (Nick and Mark you're out), only one prize - so if two aces are hit we do a random draw, and it applies on the 17th hole, which is a gettable Par 3.Fun!Now onto the pod. Nick and Mark are previewing the Ryder Cup, and Mark's first recommendation is to download the Ryder Cup app, it's brilliant. Nick talks about his memories of playing in Europe and feeling almost a part of it, as all the European pros wanted to be involved. Mark has a feeling the crowd, despite the US component being parochial, will lean European as there have been huge amounts of tickets sold to Europeans apparently. We discuss the pay controversy and the difference in approach between the Europeans and the US teams, Mark believes this is bad karma for the US and it will 'bite them'.As usual for a big event, we're putting a Talk Birdie multi on and working in our favour is that Hummer from Betr doesn't know a lot about the Ryder Cup, so we shot through our very gettable multi without any context for him and, in a moment of weakness, he whacked it up.Multi is:Scheffler to not have a winning record for the tournament, into;Europe to lead going into day 3, into;Europe to win.7 bucks. Get on board here under Betr specials and if you're not a member, it's a 60-second sign up process. We are confident, but of course there is no guarantee - so if you can't afford to lose it, don't bet it.We wrap up our Ryder Cup preview pod with some comments from Nick on how they are setting up Bethpage and why, and Nick outlines what he believes the US always get wrong in the Ryder Cup.It's going to be a ripper, we can't wait !!!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's Ryder Cup week and fittingly we start todays feedback pod with an historical question from wolfpacker Ben on the Ryder Cup. Ben asks Nick and Mark for their recollection and thoughts on the controversial Paul Azinger incident in the 1991 Ryder Cup, it was called the 'War by the Shore'.Marek has an idea about how the 'big guys' could use some of their cash to help young players. Could it work? Would they do it? Nick and Mark give their response.Chad has a question about the use of (or lack of) of buggies by caddies.Rich from Spain doesn't feel Rory's Augusta shot was the greatest ever, and has another suggestion - we hear the audio and discuss. Leads to a chat about where to aim your shots, and why.Speaking of Spain, when he was playing in Europe he visited often a Tapas Bar called 'the Bull Bar' which is unique for a very specific reason, he explains.Wayne is looking for new clubs and is finding it a little overwhelming, he asks for Nick and Marks advice on the best way to approach this.Aaron has a question about member/guests at clubs.And finally we announce the winner of our Golf Clearance Outlet competition where we asked you for your stories on the 'unsung local hero' who helped you with your game in some way when you were young. Our winner, drumroll, is Glenn Kampman with a wonderful outline of some of the great work that local legend, the late Ian Sneddon, did. He was a godsend to golfers, and the community more broadly, in Jerilderie NSW, Australia. Glenn has won a $250 voucher to the Golf Clearance Outlet to spend instore or online, and we loved hearing about how wonderful Ian was!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've been asking for you to let us know who the local hero is who helped you develop your game, maybe as a kid, a teenager, or later - the local unsung heroes. We've been receiving plenty, and we'll post some here, some on socials, to celebrate these very special people. This voicemail from Anthony in Ballarat is a ripper telling us about someone who was very generous with him and his development.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So we've decided to do, from time to time, Talk Birdie To Me 'mini's, which run no longer than about 10-minutes and see Nick and Mark discussing only one issue, or answering one question.This one is great fun. Wolfpacker Joseph, a greenkeeper from New Zealand has asked Nick and Mark to construct their team to face off against the others. For their teams, here are the rules:1 x Australian player1 x US player1 x European player1 x International (any other country)They can be current or older playersNo player can be chosen twice, so once a player is selected, he is unavailable to the other personAnd they have to choose the venue for the tournament.Have a listen to their selections - there are a couple of surprises - and we'll put a poll on Twitter over the weekend (so as not to spoil the choices) and we want you to decide whether Team Nick or Team Mark wins!A great Talk Birdie Mini today, thanks to Joseph from shooting it through all the way from Aotearoa !We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A couple of weeks ago Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen listed golfers they disliked playing with, and wolfpacker John was surprised Greg Norman didn't get a mention, in fact Nick said he enjoyed playing with Greg. Johns rationale was, in part, Sharks treatment of Lucas Parsons as a young pro in the early days. So, there's only one thing for it, let's get Lucas on to explain what happened.We start with some background, how Lucas' career started back in Orange, some of the greats he played with, and some of his greatest achievements....which were significant, he was an excellent player. Nick remembers watching Lucas and being amazed by how powerful his swing was, Mark's the same, but also remembers nights out after tournaments with Lucas having a shandy or three.We hear what the two highlights of Lucas' career were, from his perspective, and he talks about what he admired about how Nick went about his career.And all of that is great. But it's an entree to the main course. And today, for mains, we are serving up Lucas' memories of playing with Greg Norman.And boy oh boy...Lucas doesn't hold back. He tells us why 'playing with Greg was not a pleasant experience', why Wayne 'Radar' Riley got Greg in a bad mood one day which he took out on Lucas, the role Jack Nicklaus played in Greg treating Lucas the way that he did, and the day Rodger Davis gave Greg a talking to over his behaviour on course and got told by Shark where to go.Strap in, this pod gets juicy.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick's back from Vietnam and he's rocking a tan, which he is happy to show all of us. Mark says golfers tans are the worst, given the time on course and the kind of gear you wear. Nick gives us a run through on the Vietnam trip he did, the courses he played and the fun they all got up. Mark, as it turns out went to Wagga Wagga for the Pro-Am, and had a great time! He tells us about the Wagga trip - and one particular thing he loved about Wagga that he says all golf clubs must do.Big win for Ryder Cup Vice Captain (one of) Alex Norén at Wentworth, he played extremely well and we chat about his win, and the Ryder Cup which is getting closer. Speaking of Ryder Cup vice captains, Mark loves stats coaches, and decides we need to get Edoardo “Dodo” Molinar on the pod for a chat. As it turns out, Nick knows him and says he'll set it up.Mark raises a developing dislike of his - hoodies. And explains why he dislikes them on golfers. But after a brief fashion diversion, back to the Ryder Cup, Nick and Mark feel the New York crowd will be aggressive to the Europeans, and they explain why New York crowds tend to be one of the most hostile in the US to visiting pros, when they're playing locals. We discuss some of the times that Nick and Mark were given some trash talk from a crowd member, they tell a couple of stories.Mark played Royal Melbourne on Monday this week just gone, and gives an update on the condition of the course.For BMW, a touch of class, a video this time from Wentworth which we explain on the pod and play for YouTube viewers - we'll share it on socials as well.After the turn....we've seen the new ad for our mates at Betr, and we reveal a fun fact about the new Goat character in their ad. Into the Top 5 - as Mark promised last week, it is his Top 5 holes in world golf with amazing backdrops as you watch the ball flight.It's going to start quieting down now, but this weekend past there was still plenty of golf for Nick to cover in the PING global results, and he runs through it all. Including two amazing facts about the LPGA - both absolute rippers!Plenty of feedback to run through for Southern Golf Club, some comments, some questions, and some people sharing their sadness at the loss of rules guru Stu McPhee.Mark has heard some news, which isn't great, about Tour School for the Champions Tour and runs us through it, and then for watchMynumbers, we hook into the masterclass from Nick, inspired by Alex Norén's win - more particularly the way he did it.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wolfpacker Paul left us a voicemail with a prediction about the venue for the 2028 Australian Open, sure it's a way off yet, but there's a reason why he has indicated 2028, and he explains in the voicemail message. Much like Steve in The Castle, Paul is an ideas man! See what you think of his suggestions.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start today with some awfully sad news, long time wolfpackers would know our rules guy Stu McPhee, whenever we needed anything clarified, Stu was our go to guy - what he didn't know wasn't worth knowing. Sadly, Stu passed away last week from cancer, and we acknowledge him on the pod today, and our thoughts are with his family at such a difficult time.And then, as Stu would have expected, we get on with the show.Michael had a question about bag maintenance on course, and who drives that - player or caddy - Nick and Mark explain their approaches. Nick tells a great story about playing in the Australian Open without any wet weather guy....was he focused and tough? Or did he just forget to pack wet weather gear? We find out.Question from 'anonymous' on two friends of his who are going to Cypress Point and the Ryder Cup shortly. Anon has two questions, one for Nick and one for Mark. Leads to a chat about AFL theme songs, for international wolfpackers, AFL football clubs in Australia have theme songs and Nicks favourite team has the definitive worst theme song of all.After the turn, a Vietnam update, Nick is there for the week, we find out where he's played since the earlier pod, and where he's playing today. We get some Monty comments - always fun. And then an amazing story from a wolfpacker about crocodiles at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club !!!!!And we wrap with a question from Dean about pace of play, a hot button for Nick and Mark.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slightly different pod this week, Nick is in Vietnam for the week with a bunch of lucky golfers playing a number of courses there, so he is coming to us from his (undoubtedly luxurious) hotel room for the pod. We get a run through of the courses he's playing, and how he's dealing with the humidity.Leads to a chat about the ideal golfing holiday, Nick and Mark share where they'd love to go for a golfing trip and the courses they'd love to play. On that topic, Mark reckons he may have found a way to sneak a round at Augusta....watch this space....Speaking of golf trips....we run through the prizes for our Talk Birdie To Me golf day at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on the Gold Coast. The list of prizes from Titleist, FootJoy, Golf Clearance Outlet is both extensive and fantastic....Mark makes an executive decision on the call as to how we'll award the prizes, which is pretty good so we'll run with it! There are a few tickets left, but we suspect not for long, so if you'd love to play golf with Nick and Mark on the Gold Coast on Wednesday October 8th, all the info here.We discuss the tournament at Cypress Point at the weekend, and we discuss the course....wow. Mark again raises Nicks idea for how the PGA should decide the Champion Golfer of the Year, which he feels fits beautifully at Cypress. And could that structure work for the Australian Amateurs? We say yes.The BMW Touch of Class is a beautiful one today. Nick saw a fantastic video from the DP World Tour involving Shane Lowry, we listen to/watch some of it. It's great.For Betr, the Top 5 from Nick today is inspired, in part, by the Irish Open. The Top 5 courses that aren't great courses, but often have great finishes.Lots of feedback, for Southern Golf Club, including a whack for the three Talk Birdie team members from a myriad of wolfpackers - it was like a class action feedback session! Plus feedback on Nicks story from last week about Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson vs a couple of amateurs, more iron covers, and golf architects.Mark has some breaking news - after last weeks discussion about Lucas Parsons and The Shark, he's reached out to Lucas who has said he'd love to come on the pod and give all the details of what happened when he played with Greg as a youngster....this will be good. We'll chat to Lucas next week.And Mark's masterclass, for watchMynumbers, is on slicing the ball and how to avoid it!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the pod we had a question from wolfpacker Deryck about players smoking on course (in the older days), and it reminded Shaun from Ashburton in Melbourne about a nasty incident in the US that he witnessed, and none other than our very own Mark Allen was there as well!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A feedback pod today, and we start with some iron covers chat - couple of pieces of info, and do Nick and Mark soften their stance on iron covers as a result?Message from wolfpacker Deryck who is curious if Nick or Mark ever played with the cigar smoking Darren Clarke or Miguel Jimenez, and he has a ripper story about Darren. Mrs talks about warming up once behind Miguel, in the early days, and thinking he was a complete hack!Andy dislikes some of the celebrations he sees after tournament wins, and would like to know if the boys feel the same way.And after The Turn, Anthony has a career path for one of the Talk Birdie Team, and would like to know if that team member is keen, and if the wolfpackers can make it happen. Short answer, yes he'd be up for it, but no the wolfpackers can't make it happen. Details on the pod.Chat last week about the TPI swing analysis, and both David and Paul messaged us about a video on YouTube which is long, but apparently very good. You can see it here. Whilst on YouTube videos, Mark watched one at the weekend on how golf clubs are made and found it fascinating. You can see it here.Peter has a comment on the points system that we have been chatting about (for LIV and the PGA). Mitchell from Paraparaumu in Aotearoa has written in about the reciprocals he gets with Melbourne courses, and he's on his way there to play some pretty special courses in October....he's excited!Speaking of excited, Ivan is excited about a new Golf Clearance Outlet store coming to the Mornington Peninsula.Trim has a suggestion for the greatest shot ever made, Nick relays a story that Wayne 'Radar' Riley told him about the greatest shot he ever saw, and Mark tells the story of the greatest 2 shots (they are related) he ever saw!Fun pod today.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week Tiger Woods was asked to name the four players he'd have on the Mount Rushmore of Golf, and he gave his four names. Today we do a new sort of Talk Birdie To Me, which we're calling a 'Talk Birdie Mini', which is an ep which runs around 10-minutes or so, not more.Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen discuss Tiger's names, and then give their own personal Mount Rushmore names - themed as players who influenced their golf the most. And then we name the Talk Birdie To Me Mount Rushmore four.During the pod we hear a great story about Lee Trevino from Nick.While we're talking about players who influenced us, we decide to have a comp for the wolfpackers - we need two names from you. Firstly, the Tour Pro who influenced you, or you love(d) the most, and secondly, the person at your local club, or from when you were a kid, who influenced you the most - not a famous person, but a kind of local hero. We'll read out a few, and the stories, and randomly pick one entrant to score 250 bucks from the Golf Clearance Outlet!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the Ryder Cup teams for the US and Europe now a lock, a little later in the show we discuss the makeup of the teams and who will win. Mark says the European team is very strong, and tips them to win, Nick feels it will be close and the crowd may play a role.However, we start today talking about one of, if not the, greatest courses in the world - Cypress. Stunningly beautiful, and the venue for this weekends Walker Cup which is not being shown in Australia, much to Nick and Mark's chagrin. Yes there was much chagrin to go around. Chagrin wherever you look.Nick talks about one of his favourite books called 'The Match', and explains the premise....fascinating. Mark reckons it should be a movie and on the off chance any Hollywood type people listen to the pod (we realise it's a small chance) can you possibly make a movie out of it? Hang on.....our mate Michael Peña is back in Australian in a couple of weeks, maybe we can hit him up to lean on his contacts.Mark played Royal Melbourne at the weekend and gives a report on the course condition, the fringes, the greens and the trees. He reckons it'll be ready for The Australian Open, and look a million bucks, possibly except for one aspect, which he highlights. There is another thing about Royal Melbourne that he thinks is not right, and refers to some golf architects as 'mad'.We discuss the pathways news from last week, very exciting. Ernie Els comments about Tiger and the Champions Tour, Nick and Mark both feel it's a good move for Tiger and explain why....and in other Tiger-related news, Charlie Woods got a hole in one at the weekend! We have a listen to it.Nick is excited about the some of the European tournaments coming up, and chats through them.Touch of Class for BMW this week comes from the LPGA and features Miranda Wang with a fantastic performance in Boston. Given her surname, cue predictable and obvious Caddyshack joke!On The Ryder Cup - Mark makes the bold call that Betr don't know as much about this kind of golf as Nick and he do, and that he reckons we'll do a multi that will absolutely rinse Hummer and the team at Betr.Into the Top 5, thanks to Betr, and today it's on the top 5 vistas in golf featuring fauna (and such). Why 'and such'? No idea, Mark said it, we couldn't figure it out. Nick talks about the famous cypress tree at Cypress Point.PING globals from Nick, plenty going on to run through.And lots of feedback covering 'Chokers', Steve Williams, Caddies, some stories on Thomas Bjørn after Nicks comments last week, and on Lyndsay Stephen. Plus a whack for Greg Norman from a wolfpacker....ouch.And Nick's masterclass today is on the 'Pinky Drill'.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Voicemail over the weekend from Sandy in Belfountain, Canada, which is just a little north west of Toronto. Sandy was listening to Marks comment that Rory's shot in The Masters was the greatest ever, and whilst he agreed it was great, had a different shot that he feels qualifies for that award - and it involved an Australian!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So this weekend we're checking in with wolfpacker Steve in his quest to get under a 5-handicap, we'll get to that shortly. Firstly though, a couple of comments and questions.Wayne asks whether Nick and Mark would have benefited from a TPI swing analysis in their pro days, and he has an idea for the Australian Masters involving LIV and the DPWT. Whilst on LIV, Jake is curious as to why the flow of big name signings is not what it was, and have they changed their approach to now sign younger players.The TPI question leads to a good chat on the perils of chaining your technique as a Tour Pro and why it is a huge financial risk.Then onto Steve. He has sent in some chipping and putting videos, whilst they're clearly visual, the commentary and advice around them from Nick and Mark is easy to understand and take in. Worth a listen. Steve, you may recall from his appearance on the podcast a month or so ago, is trying to get his handicap down from a 7.1 to under 5 in order to play the Victorian Senior Amateur in 2026 to honour a mate who has cancer and is unable to himself. Fantastic to check in with Steve and get an update on his progress.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We love receiving your voicemails, and Craig left us a message about the recent conversation regarding male scratch golfers and whether they could compete with an LPGA Tour Pro. The discussion got a lot of feedback, most people agreeing with Nick and Mark's view that there is zero chance the male scratch golfer would win, and a few disagreeing. Craig gives us his view, with an example.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We saw some great audio and vision of Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus this week talking about Scottie Scheffler, and Nick saw some of Scottie talking about playing Tiger. We were all chatting about it, and thought, let's smack out a few thoughts as a bonus pod. As the great poet Hilary Duff said....why not?We start though with a couple of questions. Nick and Mark become medical experts* when wolfpacker asks about his tennis elbow. Hadn't realised that we were qualified to give medical advice, but hey there you go. Tom from Arizona has messaged through with some encouragement for Nick to consider the Champions Tour.And then we get to a message from George, who sent through a clip of Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus chatting about Scottie, which we have a look at and discuss.Followed by a further clip that Nick saw this week of Scottie talking about what he learned from playing against Tiger Woods.A short bonus pod to wrap the week!*not actual medical experts.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For a bit of fun, we thought we'd drop into your feed with a feedback pod today. We start with a couple of comments, including two conflicting ones about a certain recent movie that may or may not have received mixed feedback from different Talk Birdie team members.Then onto some questions. An idea from Rohan on the Bryan Brothers, particularly Wesley Bryan and LIV. Alex has some thoughts on Adam Scott and his chase for 100 consecutive majors.Tony has a view on what he refers to as the dilution of skills in golf, particularly in relation to chipping and chip and run.And Michael asks Nick and Mark about Tour Pros who they did not enjoy playing with. Nick and Mark 'name names', and Mark in brutal fashion lines up a couple of players no longer with us. I guess he's never heard this song.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a weekend! None of us have gotten as much sleep as we'd like with the Tour Championship on, but Tommy Fleetwood....what a star, and the entire golf world was celebrating his first win. Wonderful. Mark describes the final couple of holes as Tommy playing for his life, as he's not sure how another capitulation would have impacted him. As impressive as the win was, and as consistent as Tommy has been, Mark makes the point that - as with Jon Rahm and LIV last week, he doesn't believe that Tommy should be the Tour Champion, as Scheffler as 'without any shadow of a doubt' been the best player this year. Mark says both LIV and the PGA have this wrong. Nick and Mark discuss options to make it fairer.The new boss of the PGA has been talking about his plans, and one word in his comments has jumped out to Mark, he explains why and we discuss.The Ryder Cup selections will be this week for the US and Keegan Bradley has a big decision to make. Nick and Mark both have a view on what he should do, and explain why.This weekend Mark is playing Royal Melbourne, and he's hoping he is welcomed given his recent comments about the preparedness of the course for the Australian Open, however he is cheering for it to look incredible come December.Our new segment for BMW is a Touch of Class, and this week Nick O'Hern inducts Tommy Fleetwood as our inductee, not for his play, but for his press conference afterwards. We listen to what he said. It was indeed a touch of class from Tommy.Mark has bought something on Temu. Apologies. We tried to stop him but he was determined to show off this $3.50 purchase.After the turn Nick lists the Top 5 'Chokers' in golf......or does he? Top 5 for Betr, and as much as we loved Tommy winning he was responsible for our Betr multi failing so we're a bit dark on him at the same time.Lots of feedback for Southern Golf Club. Feedback on Rahm's title, some good news for Mark re: Monty, a whack for Nick and Mark from Billy, and a whack for Dan from Johnno. Brutal.Hardly know where to start with the PING global results, there has been some massive results - Tommy the big one, but an 'oh so close' result for Minjee in Canada, and plenty of other results to run through.And for watchMynumbers Marks masterclass today, inspired by Patrick Cantlay, is on the importance of having your weight in the right spot.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tour Pro Scotty Laycock often sends voicemails with stories from his time on tour, or incidents he's been told about. This one's a ripper. Tiger Woods, with a restless crowd at the 96 Australian Open and him hitting driver on a hole he probably shouldn't have.....but Tiger does what Tiger does!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A bonus pod today with two guests, Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen chat to Tom Fisher, Titleist's Global Product Line Director, Metalwoods and Irons, and Marni Ines, Titleist's Director of Product Development, Irons. We've got them on to chat about the new Titleist T-Series which are spectacular, so good that Mark's first time using them he shot 10 birdies in one round (we'll forget that he hasn't shot a birdie since....).Tom and Marni tell us the biggest improvements in this series, and the process of testing....how do they do it, who does the testing? Mark is keen to do the next round and unsubtley tries to drop that in conversation. Understandably though.Tom explains the Titleist 'Three D's' approach - which is distance, dispersion and descent.Nick asks if many pros these days are using blended sets, and Tom gives the percentage - it's high, more than we'd expected! Tom explains why Titleist are big believers in blended sets saying that they believe your 3 iron should go the same height as your pitching wedge, and as your Driver,This new Titleist T-Series has just been released, and you can arrange a fitting now.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We open today's pod discussing the magician who is Scottie Scheffler, he really is extraordinary at the moment and we discuss his performance at the weekend in the BMW Championship, and look at his stats. Just wow.Speaking of BMW, this week we welcomed BMW on board as a major partner, Nick is driving an X5 - and can't stop talking about it after his trip to Cathedral at the weekend in it! And we have an update on our Talk Birdie Golf Day at Links Hope Island with a former star footballer telling Mark he's planning on coming with a whole bunch of friends. Tickets still available - all the info here for Wednesday October 8th.Bob MacIntyre, Mark watched him speak to the media after round 3 and feels he made a rookie error in how he spoke, which bit him the next day when his round 4 started badly. Mark explains why, and tells a story from when he played in the New Zealand Open and did something similar. Very funny.Our new segment - A Touch Of Class - starts today, for BMW, and the inaugural recipient is Sebastián Muñoz who wins it, not for his 59 at the weekend, but for something else. We explain on the pod. Which brings us to LIV and Rahm winning the individual title without winning a single event. Reasonable or ridiculous? Nick and Mark have a strong view. We discuss the LIV relegations, and Mark has an idea for LIV re: a Monday Q style structure which he explains to Nick.Mark and Dan accidentally offend Nick over a comment re: an award that he won 2-years running. Ouch.The Australian Amateurs. Mark suggests Golf Australia can do better, and outlines an idea that he feels would be perfect for the Mens and Womens Amateur tournament, leading into our Top 5 for Betr - where Mark lists 5 Australian courses that he feels could host the Australian Amateurs and look great on TV for overseas viewers.A reminder of our Talk Birdie / Betr multi on the Tour Championship, it is one we feel is gettable. Scheffler to beat Rory, J.J.Spaun, Tommy and Justin Rose by 5.5, paying 7 bucks. Last weekend he beat 3 of them by more than that, and one of them by 5 - so this is a very gettable multi. Go to the Betr website or app, search Betr specials and the Talk Birdie multi is there.PING Globals, lots to run through including a fantastic win from Richard Green! Feedback for Southern Golf Club, Nick and Mark share their fave Tiger story from the Steve Williams pod - if you haven't heard or watched it, well worth it. Lots of feedback on Steve's chat, some comments on LIV, plus a 'whack' for Mark from a wolfpacker who says Mark has 'offended' him.And a cracking masterclass from Nick on the importance of sequencing.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we preview the Tour Championship this weekend in Georgia, and what a tournament it is shaping up to be with all the big names lining up.Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen discuss the East Lake Golf Club course in Atlanta and the kind of players it will suit.Mark can't go past Scottie Scheffler this weekend and can't see anyone beating him. We look at his stats. Unbelievable. The greens may play a role and Nick and Markl talk through that.Afte the turn we frame a Betr multi - and this one is very gettable, although of course there is no guarantee.....but Nick and Mark run through the power rankings and come up with a Talk Birdie To Me multi exclusively on Betr which is:Scheffler to beat Rory, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and J.J.Spaun by 5.5 shots. And on Betr they are giving us 7 bucks....so shorter than usual, which is because it's a red hot chance. Betr is the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia, if you don't have an account, it takes one minute or so - search Betr specials on the app or website and the Talk Birdie multi is there. Remember to gamble responsibly.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A massive pod today for two reasons. Firstly, we welcome a new partner on board - BMW, who have a long and proud history with golf, and we're rapt to be partnering with them on Talk Birdie To Me. BMW provides you with the luxury and comfort you need after a day on the course.Secondly we have a very exciting guest today, the man Nick O'Hern named as the most famous caddy in history in last weeks Top 5, Steve Williams. Steve's pedigree needs little introduction, he has caddied for some of the biggest names in golf and achieved enormous success. Today's chat is fascinating, wide-ranging and transparent.Steve talks about many things:The importance of a personal relationship with the player and why the tone and approach is different with each player. What were the key differences between caddying for Tiger Woods compared to Greg Norman.Why the second major win is the most difficult, and why the 16th hole at Medina was the moment that his and Tigers relationship changed forever.The one characteristic all caddies must have to be successful, and the one part of their game that all great players are brilliant at.Why he took the job with Adam Scott.Why he sometimes would give Tiger incorrect yardage information in tournaments on purpose.And why Greg and Tiger always wanted to be last onto the tee.And much more. A fascinating chat with a guy who has had a front row seat to some of golfs biggest moments.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the main pod earlier in the week we read a message from Tour Pro and wolfpacker Paul Moloney who had heard Mark talking about being blown away by seeing a 21-year old Tiger Woods could do when he played the 1996 Australian Open. Paul played with Tiger in part of that tournament, and whilst we couldn't get hold of him in the main pod (something about being in a meeting, we reckon he call screened us) we got him to buzz through today.Paul tells us about playing with Tiger and watching him close up, saying in reference to Tiger's Club Head speed that 'it was quite incredible'. He talks through some of Tiger's club selections and how they were different to the other players, and how he felt that watching Tiger in that tournament felt like it was a moment in history. And we find out what Paul is up to these days post his career as a Tour Pro.Then onto some comments and feedback. Wolfpacker Matthew has messaged to let us know that he is listening in Spain, and has just finished playing Club Golf D'Or. Sheez Matthew, way to make us very envious!Adrian has a question about the Australian Masters.Voicemail comes in from Anthony who asks about pathways for young players, Mark tells us a story about Max Charles and Ludvig Åberg at Texas Tech.And wolfpacker Geoff, who is from Melbourne but is presently travelling in the US with his wife, has sent some rake photos in from Idaho that he reckons should end the rakepod discussion for good.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big pod today, we kick off with an update on our Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on the Gold Coast. Wednesday October 8th is the date, tickets have, in less than 2-weeks, nearly 50% sold out so if you'd like to come, all the info is here.Mark's excited about his cousin Steve having another win over the weekend, it's great to him doing so well, and Nick points out that Steve Allen has now joined an elite group of Aussies on the Champions Tour and explains why. Mark tells his favourite Peter Thomson story, it's a ripper.Obviously Justin Rose had a great win at the weekend, and in the end deserved it. However, Tommy Fleetwood is the subject of our chat. Nick says it was touch to watch, and Nick and Mark discuss the mental challenges he is facing. Mark explains how caddies play an important role to calm their players and focus them. Both the boys rave about J.J.Spaun's swing, and about the putting in the tournament from a number of players.Nick has an idea for the Tour Championship, he isn't a fan of the playoff system currently, and explains to Mark his idea. We discuss Rickie Fowler and sponsor invites. Mark tells the dodgy story of Carlos Franco and his 'charity'.The Ryder Cup. The Europeans are looking good, Nick and Mark discuss the big call facing Keegan Bradley.Nicks Top 5 today is his most famous caddies in the world, given on Monday we chat with Steve Williams - where does Steve rank?Lots of feedback - IBF, the ball rollback, the international feed, Tiger in Australia, and more. Nick takes us around the world with the PING Global results, and Marks masterclass today is bombing a big drive but ensuring it doesn't go left (as a righty). ** apologies for the masterclass audio, Mark is trialling a new mic, and the settings need a slight tweak **We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hold everything.....today's feedback pod gets off to a bad start when, just prior, Nick O'Hern decides to do some stretching but doesn't consider the angle that Mark and Dan have of his 'parts' when he is doing the stretches. Very nearly derails the entire pod. Some things cannot be unseen.But, like triathletes, or footballers in a big game, we push through the pain and hook into the pod. We start with a wolfpacker suggestion of a few great Irish courses that you can play on a budget. And then a question about putting tips in cold weather.Craig from the UK has a question for Nick and Mark about the angle of attack using his persimmon - and Mark has an idea to do a side by side comparison of a persimmon club vs the latest drivers from Titleist and PING for example.Comment about Jordan Spieth getting relief and the left handed vs right handed chat from last week.Our search for the identity of the Mad Greek on YouTube continues, he or she is yet to out themselves but a couple of wolfpackers have a thought on who they might be. One suggestion is Terry Pilkadaris, and Mark tells a great story about Terry as a young golfer.David is a new listener to the pod, and loves the idea of the Talk Birdie To Me golf day on the Gold Coast at Links Hope Island (details here), however is unable to make it and suggests a golf day in Victoria where he lives. We like it. If you can make the Gold Coast, tickets on sale now - we'll be there at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on Wednesday October 8th. Short clinic, light lunch, shotgun start tournament with Talk Birdie par rules, and then a buffet dinner, few stories from Nick and Mark and we'll do some questions live at the event from anyone who wants to chat with the boys.Whilst we're discussing the Gold Coast golf day - Nick is horrified by Dans pronunciation of 'buffet' as 'buff- et' and Mark's pronunciation of 'champagne' as 'sham-pag-knee'. Clearly a disconnect between the working class Mark and Dan, and the hoity toity Nick O'Hern.Back to questions. Does Nick get a sponsor exemption if he wants to play the WA Open? Wolfpacker Sandy asks what is going wrong with Australian Mens Golf....the women flying, the men less so. Mark and Nick have some solid views on how to address the issue.And we wrap with a question about Tiger, and his swing and coaching changes. Timely, as later this week we'll chat to his former caddy Steve Williams, which we're looking forward to very much.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well after Mark was in shock last week that Nick O'Hern had not found time to watch Happy Gilmore 2, homework was set. Nick (and Dan) both had to get up to speed....no excuses....and watch it.What was the verdict? We find out the entire Talk Birdie To Me teams views of Happy Gilmore 2, we rate our fave cameos, we discover if Nick and Mark are about to have a rib muscle removed to get more distance, we hear some of your thoughts - and who was very famous actor in the movie who Mark completely was oblivious to!And we end with our patented Talk Birdie To Me choc top ratings for the movie.Warning - this bonus ep has spoilers, so if you haven't yet seen the movie, and plan to, maybe hold off on listening to this episode.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fun pod today. Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen kick it off by discussing our reworked set - still at Titleist and FootJoy HQ but in a different space.....a change is as good as a holiday. Speaking of holidays, tickets are selling well for our Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day at Links Golf and Wellbeing on the Gold Coast on October 8th, after being on sale for about 5-days, nearly a third of the tickets are sold, so the day will sell out - we'd love to see you there, tickets available here.We discuss the domination of the Asia Pacific region in womens golf at the moment, with a new number one in the world in Jeeno Thitikul, and Nick and Mark discuss why they are dominating. Work ethic is a clear standout reason according to the boys. Nick suggests getting Jan Stephenson on the pod as a guest. Steph Kyriacou played well in tough conditions at the weekend, and one particular shot involving her was extraordinary, we discuss.And the retirement of a legend. Ian Baker-FInch, what a career, Nick and Mark love what he has done and how good he is. Although missing the discussion about IBF due to the international feed being delivered into Australia was very disappointing - Mark has had enough and says 'we are missing so much' by being given the international feed. Nick says Jim Nance is the best in the business, and he's one that he wants to hear, rather than the international feed team.In the chat about IBF we also find out that Mark is a tight-arse. And we discuss who might replace IBF, Frank Nobilo the consensus choice from Nick and Mark.Cam Young, a great win at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, and a fantastic final round (after a tough first hole) to win his first ever PGA tournament. We discuss that final round. Nick is reminded of playing this tournament and described it as the greatest cut he ever made, and tells the story of why.Update on Royal Melbourne's preparation for the Australian Open. It's good news, and Mark is pleased to have heard it and to pass it on.Last week we had a voicemail from wolfpacker Tom in Arizona, and Mark decided to give Tom some homework - this is what the podcast has become, we're giving homework to wolfpackers, we really are quite disgraceful. Nonetheless, Tom delivers in spades with a ripping Top 5 desert courses in Arizona, with rationale for each. During the turn, Mark has been on google looking at Tom's number 1 course, and he decides that he needs to visit Arizona to play it. We'd like to be in the room when Mark asks his wife for permission to fly to Arizona to play a round of golf. Onto the Top 5, Mark lists the 5 things that The Australian Open needs to have implemented to make it as good as it can be, and as good as it used to be.Breaking news - next week we'll have a bonus pod chatting to Steve Williams, former caddy of Tiger, about his new book - and he will personally sign a copy to one wolfpacker. How do you win? Well we want your questions to ask Steve, what would you like us to ask on your behalf? We'll choose three and put all three to Steve, and Nick will vote on the best question to win the signed book. Let us know on socials, or message us through the Talk Birdie website here. Our bonus pod with Steve will be later next week.Nick runs through the PING globals from the weekend, and we have plenty of feedback to run through. Amongst other things we talk ball fitting, equipment evolution, blades vs hollow clubs, and a couple of suggestions for other players who didn't live up to their potential.And a reminder that later this week we'll do our review pod on Happy Gilmore 2!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After hearing Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen talking about Links Hope Island last week and the story of Michael Long calling a penalty on himself, giving Ernie Els the win, Tour Pro Scotty Laycock had a further couple of stories to share, and left a voicemail.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A feedback pod today where we read through a bunch of your questions and comments.We start with a couple of comments on Cam Smith following Nick and Mark's chat last week on his form. Last week Mark listed his 'Irish Bucket List' courses, and we've had a big reaction with people suggesting other courses in Ireland to play, and saying that he needs to extend his trip to get them in. Leads to a chat about Tour Pro Eamonn Darcy who Nick played with a couple of times. And then we have a voicemail from Tom in Arizona with some thoughts on Irish courses, and Mark gives Tom some homework - he'd love Tom's Top 5 'desert courses'.After the turn, a comment from wolfpacker Mad Greek on unposrtsmanlike behaviour on tour, he outlines some poor behaviour he witnessed....and then we try to figure out who Mad Greek is. He sounds like he was a Tour Pro, but we're unsure who....time to reveal yourself Mad Greek !Dale has a comment on wolfpacker Fezz from last week who doesn't like giving shots back to the course (Fezz plays of +1). Dale disagrees with Fezz and calls him a clown.David has a question about a young golfer in the US who was disqualified last week after his caddy threw his hat in the air to check the wind. And Kiwi Lad Welly, who caddied for Mark in New Zealand, has written in about a time he reckons Mark might have felt like breaking his fingers (after last weeks chat on golfers breaking fingers of caddies accidentally). Mark tells us about that tournament where he was playing with John Senden and recalls a moment where he made a poor shot that hit a tree, turned around to see John laughing at him.Another voicemail, this one from James in Sydney on blending irons in his bag, wants to know if he should look at doing this given lots of pros seem to be.And Nick has a question on the setup of Bethpage for the Ryder Cup.Finally, we've locked it in. Our first ever Talk Birdie To Me golf day at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on the Gold Coast. Limited tickets, shotgun start, par rules, plus a light lunch , and a buffet dinner - along with Nick and Mark speaking , telling some war stories, and lots of fun. It is on Wednesday October 8th, starts around 11.30am or so, first tee-time 12.30. If you can make it we'd love to see you - tickets and more info here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Massive pod today, and we start with a bit of news that Nick and Mark have heard from an industry insider who is very high up in the golf world, about the new ball that is being developed and due in 2028. It is currently in testing and apparently the testing has not gone to expectations, with the results being far from ideal. Longer hitters with high launch and low spin aren't impacted much, whereas the shorter or midrange drivers are impacted - not the intended outcome.Onto the golf. Nick and Mark discuss Lottie Woad, what a superstar this young lady is going to be, winning her first tournament after turning pro. Nick likens her swing to Scottie Scheffler, not the swing itself but after impact. We have a look.Mark loved watching Sunningdale again with the ISPS Handa Senior Open, saying it looked stunning, and reminded him of Royal Melbourne. Nick played Royal Melbourne at the weekend and said whilst the course isn't in tournament shape yet, it is looking better than he expected it would.Mark talks about greenkeepers being 'mongrels' on swap days. Mark had a tour of the Huntingdale redevelopment at the weekend and said it is 'spectacular'. Nick gives an update on the Long Island development at The National.Nick has launched a new website with some friends - he has criminally ignored his Talk Birdie friends....I guess we all know where we stand now. Awkward. But the website is basically a place to buy and sell second-hand, quality golf gear - it's brand new, still a couple of bugs, but worth checking out here - GoGolfer.com.au.We discuss the video where Trump was caught cheating at golf (again!), Mark isn't convinced he was cheating this time and explains why, although he says his caddy is clearly very experienced at helping Trump cheat.After the turn, we chat Happy Gilmore 2. Mark is horrified that neither Nick or Dan have watched it yet, Mark loved it and on our patented movie ranking system gives it 4 choc tops out of a possible 5 choc tops rating. Mark sets homework for the team to watch the movie and wants to do a review pod next week.Nicks Top 5 is on the best ever debuts as a pro...where does Lottie Woad rank, does she make it?And then we chat to David Hogben, the boss of Links Golf and Wellbeing on the Gold Coast about our Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day idea. We workshop it live, and come up with:A date (Wednesday October 8)A plan for the tournament (Shotgun Start)Light lunch and dinnerWar Stories from Nick and Mark over dinnerPrizes.We'll work on the details over the next 24-hours and let you know on our socials.....but looks like we're on for the Gold Coast.Lots of feedback today, but we stick to the comments on Scheffler and how many majors he'll win - plenty of other feedback that we'll hold until later in the week, as the pod is running overtime today, and we don't want to lose our podcast license.Nick takes us through the PING Global results, Mark predictably whinges about the music even though it's his fault. And a cracking masterclass from Mark on pros warming up using their alignment stick and how they are using it differently to what he is used to.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another feedback pod today, we're getting plenty of comments and questions so keep them coming.We start with a comment from Timothy in reference to our 'hardest opening holes' conversation last week, with a great (ie. funny) story about playing at Latrobe in front of a crowd and what happened.Then a voicemail from Paul in Wollongong with a question on grip pressure.Jamie wants to know why a US players caddy was refused entry into the UK for The Open Championship due to a 30-year old drug charge, yet Ryan Peake was allowed in given his more recent, and more serious, issues.And we have an update on our conversation late last week about a potential Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day on the Gold Coast where we want to get together with the Talk Birdie Wolfpack and have a comp, and a get together.....it is looking promising.Phil has a comment and question on the 1996 Australian Open in Sydney where Mark played, and a question about his home course in Newcastle.And finally today, Adam from Ballarat has a Top 5 suggestion - the Top 5 players who had great potential, but didn't live up to it. Nick and Mark answer it live on the fly.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick and Mark always enjoy your feedback and questions, and we've got some rippers today,We start with a message from Timmy, who has sent in a video of his swing and is after some tips on where he can improve, and he has a question around a soft or firm grip.Aitken has a question about whether, if it was an option 30-years ago, Nick and Mark could have played LIV in Asia and qualify for majors via OWGR points, they would have done so in order to remain Australian based rather than move to America.Jeff has just discovered the podcast and watches on YouTube, he has given Marks pre-shot routine from a few weeks ago a crack and has seen a real improvement in his game - great news!And we've been hearing the ads , and seeing the ads, for Links Hope Island over the last couple of weeks which has given us an idea. We've been talking, and we've had a few suggestions from wolfpackers also, about doing a Talk Birdie To Me golf day of some kind. Maybe a Talk Birdie tournament where wolfpackers can play, Nick and Mark play, Dan might even have a crack (massive hack) and we put a feed on, have a catchup, a live Q&A, few stories - and Mark, as the only member of the team who has played Links Hope Island, reckons that would be a perfect place to do it.There's only one slight challenge we've not run it by the Links Hope Island team, so it might go pear-shaped....but we'll try to get the boss on the pod, and see if we can convince him that it's a good idea.Okay back to the feedback. Message from Jonathon about playing in bad weather, which leads to a Mark story about the legendary Peter Thomson - it's a ripper. Message from Matt who played with 9-year old Jasper in the Rossdale Open, and got absolutely rinsed.Damian has a question for Nick about his Top 5 finishes from last week, he reckons Nick missed an obvious one, and Mark doesn't miss a chance to use Grok again....he has an addiction to Grok, it's quite ridiculous, and Grok proves on this occasion to be completely useless.And we finish with a question from Fezz about amateur golfers and handicaps.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well we called it. Scottie monstered the field in The Open Championship.Okay, we didn't call it, in fact our Betr multi was a bust on every leg....we will make formal apologies at some point on today's podcast, you deserve nothing less.But.....Scottie was magnificent, and controlled the tournament, certainly over the weekend, and we start today with Nick and Mark discussing some of the most impressive parts of Scottie's performance: his putting, his recovery from poor shots, his composure. Exceptional. Nick says the player interviews post the tournament and prior to the final day reminded him of when he was playing and Tiger dominated, in that everyone felt that they were playing for second place, Scottie was that good.Then Mark makes a big call on Scottie and how many tournaments he will win, Mark doesn't believe he will win over 10 majors in his career, as he feels that his footwork will limit him at some point. Nick disagrees, and says Scottie has plenty of years left and will get to double figures.Nick talks about playing with Harris English who he said was exceptional then, and now, and highlights what the weakness in Harris' game was when he played with him. Mark raises the Ryder Cup and says that surely Chris Gotterup is a certainty to be picked now, Nick says no.We discuss the Aussies. A poor tournament overall, with Marc Leishman the only one to make the cut, ultimately finishing T52. Mark raises Cam Smith, and his consistent poor performances in the majors, and says that whilst LIV has been great for Bryson's game for example, it has not been good for Cams, and he just has to start hitting fairways. Nick comments that Brysons performance at the weekend was very strong after a terrible first day, and Mark predicts that we will see Rahm have a 'cracking' 2026 season and explains why.Both Nick and Mark loved how Royal Portrush looked, Mark is desperate to play it. Nick loved the drone shots. And we discuss how on the hardest hole on the course, Scottie birdied Calamity 3 days of the 4....Mark would like a plaque to be placed there to commemorate it.Then we apologise for our Betr multi, although Nick notes one leg would have come off were it not for Shane Lowry's 2-shot penalty, Mark wasn't aware of it, so we play the audio and discuss. But one person does win, wolfpacker Narelle Brunotte was drawn as our winner - she had a punt on our Betr multi and whilst the multi was a dismal failure, Narelle has won 250 bucks to spend at the Golf Clearance Outlet...congrats Narelle!Mark lists his Top 5 courses in Ireland that he'd like to play, has he missed any obvious ones?As you'd expect, the PING global results today have a big focus on The Open Championship, although we do digress for a moment with a video that contained an unusual sound.....we play the audio, and if you're watching on YouTube you will see the Shepmates take on it....very funny. During PING globals, Nick tells a great story that has come out of an Australasian Q-School in the US at the weekend.Feedback - lots of comments on last weeks Top 100 World Golf Course List with Jasper from the Top100 organisation, and plenty of comments - some in support, and some not - on LIV seeking OWGR points.Nick's masterclass today is inspired by Scottie Scheffler and looks at why aiming for the middle of the green is more effective than aiming for the pin.A fun pod today, and a feedback one to come later this week which we're looking forward to!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Voicemail from Mick in the UK who has some strong opinions about LIV golfers and whether they should receive OWGR points. You might agree with Mick, you might disagree. Love to hear your feedback in the comments.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A feedback pod today, we start with a question from wolfpacker Ross on The Shark vs Rory. Michael asks about blades on tour these days. Ed has a nomination for the Top 5 injury comebacks list from last week who he believes we overlooked. And a suggestion for a Top 5 on 'unsportsmanlike' actions on the tour, we kick it around.We chat about pros breaking their caddys fingers. Apparently it happens a bit, and we hear about one time it happened and who did it, and Mark tells a story about when he nearly broke his caddys fingers.And Greg has a suggestion for the Top 5 Aussie golfers to never win a major.Then, after the turn, we chat with one of the honchos at the Top 100 World Golf Course list, Jasper Miners, about the list. Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen put their concerns to him, and ask for the names of who voted on the list. Jasper explains how it was constructed, what he feels are the strengths of the list and the areas it needs improvements. He talks about the country and world rankings not being aligned, and how he is working to address that. He also talks about how many on the judging panel have played the courses.Mark asks Jasper if Mike Clayton or John Huggan are involved in the voting, and for visibility over the names. Jasper gives his view on the ranking of St Andrews Beach over courses like PK North and South, and others, and whether he would have voted in that way.A good chat, love your thoughts.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grace Kim. What. A. Star.That was really one of the great finishes in a major, Grace was so calm, cool and collected and nailed the win. Nick and Mark discuss the tournament, obviously the final day in particular and what they loved about Grace's performance - the recovery after hitting it into the water, the chip shot, so much to be impressed with. Mark asks if anyone has ever hit three eagles on day 4 to win a major? He can't recall it happening. And Mark notes that credit must go to the PGA and Golf Australia, particularly Karen Lunn, in their development of the womens game in this country.Mid chat, the fire alarm at Titleist and FootJoy HQ goes off....there is a possibility we may not survive and this could be the last pod ever.....but, crisis averted, it's only a test. Phew.Back to the Evian. Obviously the big story is Grace Kim, however Mark loved how well Gabi Ruffels played, and he tells Nick his favourite thing about her development as a golfer.Another exciting result this week was Mark's cousin* Steve Allan who went wire to wire in New York to win on the Champions Tour, a popular winner, and Nick and Mark loved it. Nick raises Marks round at Kingston Heath at the weekend, he had a cracker....10 birdies in the first round with his brand new Titleist clubs, he talks us through the round and explains where it went well, and when he got nervous and had a couple of tough holes.We had young Jasper on the pod a week or two ago, he played in an under 10's tournament in Sydney last week and won by 34 shots ! Sheez....If you've not jumped on board our Talk Birdie Multi with Betr, 14 bucks for Scheffler to miss the top 10 at The Open Championship, into Lowry to beat Rory, into Fleetwood to beat Bryson. Head to the Betr website or app, search for Betr specials and you'll find it there - takes 2 minutes to set up an account, and you send us your bet, a screenshot, we'll choose one wolfpacker to win 250 bucks to spend at the Golf Clearance Outlet ! Nice.After the turn, we read the release from the OWGR on the LIV application for OWGR points. Should LIV players get points? And if so how many? Love your thoughts. Nick and Mark believe they probably should, but with limits. Inspired by Grace Kim, Nick's Top 5 counts down his best ever finishes in a major to win a major. And in feedback, as you'd expect, a heap of comments on Grace's win. Plus we get clarity on who the Liver King is, and a comment on UK crowds.Plenty for Nick to run through in the PING global results, obviously the Evian the big one, but lots of other golf over the weekend. And a great masterclass from Mark on chipping.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the week of The Open Championship, or the British Open, depending on how you say it. Before we get to that though, we have to touch on Grace Kim's fantastic win, we'll go through it in great detail on tomorrow's main podcast, but we had to acknowledge it today given how incredible the win was, particularly the finish!Onto The Open. Nick and Mark discuss what Royal Portrush is like, how it plays, and how well one of the players they like this week - Shane Lowry - plays this course. Mark is concerned about Rory given the undoubted media attention he'll receive. Can Jason Day win? He could, but Nick and Mark don't believe he is playing well enough at the moment; however they do like Ryan Fox this week.Mark feels that this tournament may be Adam Scott's last chance to win a major. Nick disagrees. Predictably, Mark is bullish on Sepp Straka, knock us over with a feather, who'd have seen that coming. Nick disagrees (again), saying whilst the course suits Straka, he doesn't rate his chances. Mark says Morikawa is no chance as he is hitting the ball terribly at the moment.And Mark names the player that he would love to win the tournament (hint, it's not Straka). And Nick explains why he believes Scheffler might struggle this week.We run through a bunch of other players and how they might go, including Nick and Marks tip for the winner, and their roughie.And, given it's a major, we've got our Talk Birdie To Me multi on at Betr. Two legs a reasonable chance, one a bit riskier, but that gets the odds up a little further, we'd love you to get on board at Betr if you have an account, and if not, it takes a moment or two to set up. Here's the multi:1) Tommy Fleetwood to beat Bryson2) Shane Lowry to beat Rory3) Scheffler to miss the Top 10Paying 14 bucks. Remember, there's no guarantee you'll win, it's just a bit of fun, so if you can't afford to lose it, then don't bet it. But it's a fun one to whack 5, 10, 20 bucks on. You can find the Talk Birdie To Me multi on the Betr website or app under 'Betr Specials'.See you tomorrow when we go in depth on the amazing Grace Kim result on the main pod !We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have a bit of fun, we've invited Australia's longest driver Jordan Bovalina into the Titliest / FootJoy simulator at Talk Birdie To Me HQ to see what he's got in the tank. Nick and Mark are interested in how he goes about hitting the ball, what he's looking to do to obtain distance balanced with accuracy, and we look at his numbers live in the simulator as he hits a few balls.The audio version is great - the video version of this one has to be seen to be believed. We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tour Pro Scotty Laycock is a regular voicemailer and always has great stories from his time on the tour, after hearing Nick and Mark talking about Aaron Pike, a Northern Territory (originally) tour pro, he left a voicemail with a fun story about Northern Territory Tour Pro Unho Park & Indian Tour Pro Jeev Milkha Singh swapping drivers on the range.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A feedback pod today, and we look at a few comments from you in response to Marks statement last week that he feels Royal Melbourne will need a small miracle to be ready for The Australian Open. He has heard some further information that is concerning, and unhelpfully says this on the pod, but refuses to divulge what that information is, leaving Nick, Dan and the wolfpackers all hanging. Poor form from Mr Allen and he should know better.That said, Harry has messaged in saying he has seen Royal Melbourne recently and agrees with Mark that it will be difficult to be ready in time. Thomas said Mark is being dramatic saying there is plenty of time, and 3-months of that time is peak growing season being Australia's spring. Sammy gives Mark a whack saying he's not a greenkeeper so what would he know. Ouch.Fun message from wolfpacker 'schooled golfer' on an experience he had with Wayne 'Radar' Riley a number of years ago, and leads to a rakepod chat.Ian doesn't like the term 'metalwoods' and offers an alternative. Do Nick and Mark agree?And after the turn we chat with Steve from Melbourne. Steve's objective is to play the the Victorian Senior Amateur event in 2026 as a tribute to his mate who always wanted to but is now unable to. Steve needs to be a 5-handicapper or better to qualify, and he's presently a 7.1, so is after some tips on how to get under 5.Keep the feedback coming, we appreciate you sending it in and listening, or viewing, the pod. If you haven't subscribed or given us a review, that would be great!We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a great time of the golfing year, the Scottish Open this week, and The Open Championship next week. And the Evian is on this week as well, Nick and Mark discuss the course (which they both dislike) and ask does anyone actually like the course?We chat about Links Golf in the UK. Nick and Mark love the UK's links courses, particularly the smaller ones that are lesser known, they discuss what they like about them, one of the things is what they call the 'honest bounce' you get on UK Links courses. Mark recommends that you have some smaller UK Links courses on your bucket list.Nick talks about why he had two putters when he played The Open Championship, and how the sound of the crowds in the UK are different to anywhere.Nick talks about 'zone days' and how he and his caddy adjusted how they worked together when he was 'in the zone'.We discuss The Open Championship's 'Last Chance Qualifier' at Royal Birkdale in 2026. A fantastic idea.Nick is excited as the winner of the John Deere Classic in Illinois, Brian Campbell, was the shortest hitter in the field.Aussie golfer Jeff Guan, after a dreadful accident on the golf course, is planning for his comeback event in Darwin. We discuss the challenges he'll be dealing with, but obviously wish him all the best as he takes this next step.Our mates at Golfies have a fun comp starting on July 10 for The Open Championship. Use the codeword Bryson, get 50% off, and if Bryson wins The Open - you get a full refund! And you are still in with a red hot shot to win the 25 grand Thailand trip if you win 8 matches. Deets here (Bryson comp starts on the 11th).Update on the Top100 list, one of the honchos at the list has agreed to come on Talk Birdie To Me next week to discuss the list, and how they reached the decisions they did.Top 5 from Mark, inspired by Jeff Guan, the Top 5 comebacks from injury in golf. Nick has the PING globals and there has been plenty of action to run through - including a ripping performance from Nicks mate, tour pro Austin Truslow who was on the pod a couple of weeks ago. And we have a new entry into Nicks Top 5 womens swings, which is fast becoming a Top 20, which comes from kiwi tour pro Amelia Garvey.Lots of feedback, three key themes this week: the hardest first hole in golf, and Mark asked for wolfpacker suggestions on the best holes for 'first tee banter and heckling', one of the suggestions for hardest first hole was also where Mark got his first ace! Feedback also on the discussion about whether a male scratch golfer would beat an LPGA Tour Pro, and plenty of comments on young Jasper from last week - if you haven't seen his swing, he is a 9-year old single handicapper, watch him here.And a great masterclass, which is less masterclass and more recommendation this week, from Nick on 7-Woods.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bonus pod today with only two things on the runsheet.Before we get to that, Nicks been hitting balls, giving his new blades a workout at Long Island, Mark was at the range and has suffered the ignominy of both putting his back out using his 7 iron, and his son getting better club head speed than Mark. Awkward.But to item number one on the runsheet. An email from wolfpacker Alistair, who met Nick recently at Cathedral, has asked the boys if there was one hole anywhere in the world that they would like to redo, which would instantly improve the 18-hole experience on that course, what hole would it be? Alistair's question came from a chat with a couple of his mates where they were suggesting that the 5th at Cathedral wasn't a great hole, nor the 10th at Yarra Yarra.Mark goes to Pebble Beach and discusses a hole there that he thinks they got wrong.Nick goes to Riviera, and talks through a hole there that he'd fix if he could.Leads to a chat about plaques on holes with player quotes, Nick and Mark can only think of a couple, we'd love your input if you can think of any?After the turn we move to item number two - a spot from Australian Golf Digest which gave a view of plane seats with a 3x3 seating structure, and two tour pros in each row - asking people to nominate the seat they'd choose and why. It was a great question, see the image here. Nick and Mark discuss where they might sit and why. During the chat Mark tells a story about how Tiger Woods handles business idea pitches that people have for him, and Nick tells a great story about his caddy Wilbur being upgraded on a flight from Dubai to Perth and what Wilbur did on the flight ..... !We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farah is married to Ray Mak who gets regularly mentioned on the pod, and Ray played a round with Nick O'Hern a few days ago....did it go well for Ray???Farah left a voicemail and explained what happened....it doesn't sound pretty (for Ray).We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fun feedback pod today, with a few comments and questions, and after the turn a special guest - a 9-year old golfer with a handicap of 7.8 !!!!! Before we get to our chat with Jasper, we hear from the Wolfpack.Mick loves the stories about Texas Tech from Mark, and asks if there are any about the 'Liver King'. We don't know who that is, unless it is referring to Mark's drinking when he was at Texas Tech, which is probably accurate. Marty got a fitting from Matt Austin at PING, and has subscribed to the watchMynumbers app, after an injury earlier in the year he's ready to smash out the back half and get his golf back to where it was.Robert is a new wolfpacker, and watches on YouTube, particularly enjoys the tips from Nick and Mark in the masterclasses.Ben has a question on clubhouses, what are some of Nick and Mark's favourites around the world that they've experienced. Fun chat about some of the great ones, and a couple of places who could do with building one!Rob wants to know why the PGA is dominated by US players, but the LPGA is dominated more by some of the Asian players, and he has a question about Melbourne's sandbelt. After the turn we meet 9-year old Jasper, who is an accomplished golfer already with a handicap of 7.8. Only last week he qualified for the Victorian Boys Under 12 team, and is regularly beating players over twice his age. We asked him to bring his clubs in and Nick and Mark see what he's got in the tank.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hold everything. We start today's pod with an update on Marks investigation into the debacle of the recent Top 100 Golf Course list. The person Mark suspected of being responsible, he has discovered was not, and he names the person who he says is responsible for it. Marks contact has gone to ground, and he is hitting a brick wall, particularly now he is enquiring about this named person.Mark puts the invite to the Top 100 Course people, that we'd like them to come onto the podcast to discuss the list. Open invite. And to make it easy you can contact us here.Mark also notes that he played Royal Melbourne this week and says 'It will be a miracle if Royal Melbourne is ready for the Australian Open'. Although the people there are confident it will be, Mark has his doubts having seen the condition of the course currently.Nick and Mark discuss Aldrich Potgieter's driving, and how much power he has. We have a look at his swing sequence and break it down. Nick and Mark would love to see him play the Australian Open and run through the Royal Melbourne holes and look at the clubs he'd likely use for each hole given his power.Tour Pro Jenny Shin tweeted this week about the amateur male golfers who think they can beat a women tour pro, could a scratch golfer beat a womens tour pro? Nick and Mark give their comments. Mark suggests that scratch markers could get a place in a tournament to 'embarrass them'.Padraig Harrington had a moment to forget this week in Colorado in the US Senior Open, we listen to what happened and discuss.Nick tells a story about being billeted in the US with his wife Alana when he was playing the Nike tour, and inadvertently wreaking havoc on their billets house. A dark side of Mr O'Hern that we've not seen previously is emerging.We chat about the Irish Open, the Scottish Open, and the leadup to The (British) Open. And the BMW International Open in Munich this week, Nick shares memories of playing the tournament and of experiencing the Autobahn!Top 5 from Nick today is on the Top 5 power swings in the mens game, and he plays a video of the most powerful hitter he ever saw - a golfer called Kyle Berkshire - who broke the golf channel hitting areas screen net once! Mark decides that we need to get Jordan Bovalina on the pod again to talk about power hitting.Lots of feedback - heaps of wolfpackers raving about 7 Mile Beach Golf Links, question from Keith on caddies and majors, a suggestion from a wolfpacker about Marks doppelgänger, and a request for a score rating from Dazza.PING globals from Nick are extensive as usual, lots of results to run through. And this weeks masterclass from Mark is on putting, and how to avoid topping your putts.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.