Talk Birdie To Me

Slightly different episode today as Nick is in New Zealand on holidays for a week or so with the family, so it sounds a tad different to usual, but plenty to discuss as always!

01:00Nick is in Millbrook, near Queenstown in New Zealand and gives us a snapshot of what he's doing and how it looks (hint: it is beautiful!)
02:00Royal Lytham hosted the WOmens Open, and Shiho Kuwaiti had a stunning playoff win to claim the title. Nick talks about what he loves about Royal Lytham, what a course.
04:00On the Open, more specifically Mens and Womens majors, Nick feels they're too close together and explains why. Mark has a different view.
05:00Yesterday we confirmed in a bonus news pod that Rory McIlroy would be staying in Australia after the AO to play the Cathedal Invitational, Nick is likely to play the tournament as well....can he take Rory?
06:00Massive news on golf architects OCM - they have been appointed to redo one of the worlds greatest golf courses. Mark reveals the news that he has heard from a member at the actual club.
08:00We discuss Cypress Point. Mark calls it a 'sacred place', Nick says arguably the best parcel of land that a golf course is on anywhere in the world. They discuss their experiences playing the course, and what they'd love to see improved.
12:00Nick talks about playing Cypress with surfer Kelly Slater.
14:00Plenty of LIV news. We discuss their search for sponsorships, and Mark is doubtful that the eyeballs will be enough for the money they want given LIV 'only worked in 2 or 3 markets'.
20:00LIV's player payments are reportedly unpaid, which does not bode well
22:00Nick awards our BMW Touch of Class to Donald Trump for his 'humility' in 'winning' the Club Championship at Bedminster. If you missed his comments, Nick reads them out. And for clarity, we are being sarcastic over 1) him winning and 2) him showing any humility.
23.30Mark awards our Hostplus Plus for Golf to Nelly Korda for her gift to a young fan in the UK, a real plus for golf from a superstar.
25:00We discuss the winner of the Rocket Classic in Michigan, Michael rocket classic winner Michael Thorbjornsen, a very talented young pro who we love.
27:00Nick found some great stats this week - average numbers from PGA Tour Pros, they make for sobering reading for aspiring pros, and Mark points out a couple of stats that if you are aspiring, or know someone who is, to turn pro that you need to be all over.

After the turn:

34:00Our Top 5 for Betr, Mark lists the Top 5 golf course renovations at clubs he has seen, and why. He also defines great renovations in a slightly ususual way....
37:00Okay - during the Turn we saw some breaking news from our mates at Flushing It Golf about LIV, specifically that they have given a number of employees and contractors notice that their employment will end in September. We discuss this evolving story which will develop further over the coming days.
39:00Nick runs through the Global results highlights.
42:30Feedback for Southern Golf Club....phew okay....last weeks Top 5 swings got a mountain of feedback, and we run through some of the names you said should be there. One was mentioned above all others. Do Nick and Mark double down on their list or do they amend the 'indisputable' list, rendering the name completely ironic?
50:00 Few more bits of feedback on Lucas Glover's spikes video, Cam Smiths 9 birdies in a row, and we discuss if we can claim South Korea's Jenny Shin as an Aussie?
53.00And we wrap on a masterclass for the Golf Clearance Outlet from Nick live from Queenstown where he discusses Michael Thorbjornsen's 10-finger grip. Note: audio on the masterclass is a touch dodgy this week, it's listenable, but not as good as we'd like - apologies.

Big show today !!!

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partner
BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;
Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;
FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;
Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;
Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;
The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;
And Southern Golf Club.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There have been rumours for a week or so, but today Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen can confirm that Rory McIlroy has been confirmed to play the Cathedral Invitational in December following The Australian Open. It's big news and very exciting.

Nick explains to Mark how it came about and the role Adam Scott played in getting Rory to come on this bonus Talk Birdie To Me pod today.

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partner
BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;
Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;
FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;
Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;
Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;
The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;
And Southern Golf Club.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Monday Mini today, and it is inspired by a comment from a wolfpacker who listened to our recent Graham Marsh episode, where Swampy talked about his career - including significant work designing golf courses. They suggested Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen should design a golf course....and we thought, okay, if Nick and Mark were to design a course what elements would they make sure were there, what style of course would it be, what would they build?

So we asked.

What are the must have elements?
What par would the course be, and would it be different in tournament golf (of course).
We pick the mix of par 3's, 4's, 5's.
Are there any holes at other courses that they might take inspiration from?
And a sideline where we chat about the time when Metropolitan Golf Course hosted the World Matchplay, Mark tells a couple of stories.
Nick muses over whether the opening hole should be a 'warm handshake' or a 'kick in the teeth'.
Mark is a fan of having a quirk on the course, he names a couple of quirks that he likes. He also would like plaques around the course, so it is 'dripping with history'.
We discuss the style of clubhouse we'd build, and some of the elements that would be included in the clubhouse.
Would there be a driving range?
Mark is keen on having a Team Matchplay comp at the course.
Nick is keen for the final hole to be a risk/reward hole. Mark agrees, as long as it is not a big green.

So there it is. In about 15 minutes, Nick and Mark have designed a cracking golf course (and club house). Now we just need to find $100 million or so and we can build it !

Let us know if you reckon we've missed anything that should be included in the course, or if you disagree with any of the inclusions.

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partner
BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;
Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;
FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;
Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;
Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;
The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;
And Southern Golf Club.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can't believe it's friday already, yet here we are....and another Friday Feedback pod, a big one today. We start by chatting about the inaugural 'World Thank a PGA Pro Day', which is today!

01:00We talk about World Thank a PGA Pro Day, what it's all about and what it is designed to achieve.
01:30Mark names the Pro he'd like to thank and explains why this person has had such an impact on him, and what they did for him
04:00Nick names his Pro that he'd like to thank, and similarly outlines the reasons why. We'd love to hear your stories - who is the PGA Pro you'd like to thank and why?
05:30Onto the feedback - we start with a comment from Robert in Canada about Moe Norman and Calvin Peete.
06:30A question from (another) Robert in the United States about Aaron Rai's putting. It's an excellent question, and Nick and Mark discuss at length.
10:00Robert Allenby's putting.
11:00A question about pre-shot routines. Nick and Mark discuss why they're important and how to develop yours.
14:00Mark explains what footballers could learn from pro golfers.
17:30 Speaking of footballers.....what is Essendon AFL star Matty Lloyd's connection to golf and how did it influence his footy career? Mark explains.

After the turn:

19:30We announce the second (of eight) people to go in the draw to win a trip to The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island! If you haven't entered, hop to it, the details here.
22:00Mathew from Port Kembla Golf Club in beautiful Wollongong on a slow play rule that has been implemented at the club. Do Nick and Mark rate the rule or not?
23:00 Justin played, as did Mark, the Shell Schoolboys event when hue was 14. He loved it, his parents loved it more.
24:30 We run through 3 or 4 of the pick in our Monty caption contest - at least the ones that were clean enough to read out - and Nick and Mark (okay Mark) pick a winner of $250 to spend at the Golf Clearance Outlet.
27:00And we finish with a request from Jason for Nick and Mark to do something on a future show.

That's our Friday Feedback show, have a ripper weekend!

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partner
BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;
Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;
FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;
Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;
Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;
The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;
And Southern Golf Club.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A couple of weeks ago we had a voicemail from Tim on the Gold Coast asking Nick and Mark to list their Top 5 greatest golf swings ever, Tim suggested that on his list Vijay Singh and Fred Couples would be a lock. Do Nick and Mark agree with Tim on that? Do they agree with each other!

On today's Mini, Nick and Mark construct in real time their absolute, rock-solid, Top 5 Greatest Swings of All Time - using the criteria of fundamentals and rhythm as their reference points. It would be fair to see this list evolves through the episode a number of times, both in content and order. And there is one legendary golfer Mark wants to put on the list who Nick vetoes!

We'd love your thoughts in the comments. Have Nick and Mark got it right? Are they off the mark? Is there an obvious name they've missed?

Love your input when you've had a listen to our Talk Birdie To Me Mini today.

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partner
BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;
Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;
FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;
Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;
Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;
The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;
And Southern Golf Club.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.