Talk Birdie To Me

Fantastic to chat with Australian golfing star Aaron Baddeley today, and there is plenty to discuss!

03:00From cricket to golf, and how old was he when he got into golf? And how did he go from playing casually to having such a 'beautiful action'?
04:30His experiences with Dale Lynch and their plan to get him on the US Tour by the time he was 21.
07:00Mark describes Badds swing as 'simple yet powerful', where did the power come from?
08:00Nick remembers the 1999 Australian Open when Aaron won the tournament as an amateur, he talks about watching a young Badds killing it.
09:00Aaron explains his weeks leading up to the AO, and the plan to peak that week, how he did it. He also had a 'motto' for the tournament, he explains.
11:00Mark says him backing up after the AO win in Sydney, to win again the next year in Melbourne, was even more impressive.
13:00Badds explains how he got his tour card.
14:00He talks about being invited to play Augusta during the 'Tiger Slam' era, and being paired with Tiger as an amateur! What was it like, how nervous was he, and he tells us the advice Tiger gave him during the tournament.
15:00Badds tells us the advice Butch Harmon gave him about playing with Tiger.
17:00We discuss his period with Leadbetter, and the Stack and Tilt guys. How does he view it in hindsight?
19:00Nick is curious about how the Stack and Tilt period worked with driver.
20:00Mark makes a confession to Aaron...eek.

After the turn...

23:00How he developed into one of the best putters in the we world, and what he was doing in practise to get to that level.
24:00Badds 'I wasn't a great putter when I was young'.
26:00Nick asks about his putting routine
30:00And for Hostplus, what's next? The next phase of his career and life, and down the track into retirement, what is he thinking?

A fantastic chat with Aaron Baddeley today and a huge thanks to wolfpacker Garry Pritchard, who is a mate of Aaron's and helped to arrange the chat!
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.

This is fun. An email from Greg in Minnesota who asks Nick and Mark about whether they can recall any times where a caddy had a material influence on a shot, and the result. Nick and Mark have a bunch of stories, and Mark tells a ripper about Stevie Williams having a disagreement with Tiger, and what happened on that shot - did Tiger get his way, or did Stevie?

Greg also asks Nick and Mark to list their Top 5 caddies, and we go down the Top 5 'famous' caddy angle. Some big names. And at the weekend Mark played a round with his former caddy Troy and his son Conor...catching up on old times!

A fun monday mini today, always good to chat caddies!!
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.

Wolfpacker Evan heard Nick and Mark talking about unusual training aids, and recalls one that he saw advertised in the mid-90s which he reckons was one of the strangest he's seen, have a listen to his voicemail....do you remember the aid Evan is referring to?
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.

Fashion chat returns, but this time with a valid reason...and Mark has let the team down.

01:00Mark tells a story about when Gary Player was 'rude' to him.
02:00Ralph with putting tips that work for him, Nick and Mark discuss putting techniques
04:00Ricky on the yips
04:30Mark talks about Brett Ogle
05:00We reveal that we'll be chatting to Aaron Baddeley on the show next week...exciting!
05:00Marco with a question about identifying your dominant hand
06:30Steve from California on the yips, including a Jerry Haas update, and a gentle dig at Nick
08:00Scott on the yips
09:00Nick and Mark each tell a story about NZ Tour Pro Grant Waite

after the turn...

13:00Dbu on pre shot routines
14:00Peter and Phil and Tim on spot lining
15:00Mark on something his Texas Tech coach taught, and allowed, players to do
17:00Christopher on Minjee, and the young up and coming Australian women
18:00When Bubba changed balls...disaster
19:00Comments on our recent show on great South Australian courses, and on our question about the best Canadian course - we were inundated with response
22:00Steve on slow play and what his Dad taught him

A fun 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.

They may not have announced it yet, but mark today's date as the day that LIV Golf officially died, there is no coming back from this investor withdrawing. And Nick and Mark jumped on for a quick chat about what has happened and what it means.

Nick says the writing has been on the wall for some time, we've known they've been in trouble for a while. He does say that if every LIV event around the world was as successful as Adelaide and South Africa, LIV would have continued.

We discuss the players. What does Bryson do in 2027 now? Nick says that he feels the tour will do something to accommodate Bryson and Rahm.

Where does Dustin Johnson go? And we chat about the Aussies: Elvis, Herbie and Cam Smith. Nick believes Cam will lend up on the DP World Tour, and his game suits that tour.

Mark wants to see Mickelson on the Champions Tour.

And we finish this breaking news pod with a chat about whether LIV was good or bad for golf?

Plenty still to come on this story, however it is now clear that LIV is over.
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.