Talk Birdie To Me

Fehan from the Peninsula in Victoria has just finished watching day one of The Open Championship and had some thoughts on the commentary that he heard, and left a voicemail for us. Let us know in the comments if you reckon Fehan has nailed it, or you have a different perspective.

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.

Plenty of comments and questions from you this week for Nick and Mark to discuss on our Friday Feedback pod. But we start with touching on our exciting new competition where you can win a trip for you and a friend to The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island to play 18 holes with Mark Allen and course architect Darius Oliver - the course is not even open yet, and you might get to play it! You can find out how to enter here: https://tr.ee/OAXE2M

Onto the show:

03:00 A suggestion from Rich on a Tour Pro who we missed in our recent Top 5 players who were (or are) cheered against.
04:00 Tim asks Nick and Mark if pros were allowed to use different balls for different clubs and shots in tournaments would they? Nick and Mark run through the various scenarios and the ball, or kind of ball, they'd have used were they able to change it up.
05.30 Drew on Aussie golfers underperforming, and makes some big calls on a few big names. Michael says something similar and asks who the next batch of golfers coming through here. Nick and Mark give their thoughts, and agree that our male golfers are generally underperforming, whilst the women are flying. Mark believes going to Europe would be helpful, and that covid did not help.
08.00 We talk about the need for young pros, or aspiring pros, to have a sense of adventure if they are going to make it in golf.
09:00 Nick talks through some of the young Aussie pros he rates as having potential.
10.30 Mark discusses why limiting the number of limit of Pro Ams that you play in, as a young pro, is important.
11.00 A question for Nick, a hypothetical (or is it) on a 'wine-based bet' on his performance of certain shots.

After the turn:
13.00 Andrew had a session with Nick a few months ago, and wrote in with the improvement (or otherwise) in his game, and he also saw comments this week from Sir Nick Faldo about reducing distance and is interested to hear Nick and Mark's thoughts on Faldo's comments.
15:00 We discuss how shorter tees might work.
17.00 Robert has written on a way has heard that some pros keep balls warm during winter. Nick and Mark discuss (legal) ways of keeping your golf balls warm.
19.00 Al has a question about the Womens Opens' and where they are played.
20.30 And we finish on a fun comment from Steve in France.

A cracking Friday Feedback pod leading into a massive weekend of watching the Open Championship , and then figuring out how on earth we'll manage flicking back and forth between the final stages of The Open and the Argentina v Spain World Cup final ..... eeek !!!
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.

Well this is a bit exciting. A massive competition exclusively for Talk Birdie To Me listeners and viewers.

We are giving one person, and a friend, the opportunity to win a Money Can't Buy Experience at The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island to play 18 holes with Darius Oliver - who designed the course - and Talk Birdie's own Mark Allen. The course is yet to open so this really is special. Inclusions in the prize are:

Flights to Kangaroo Island from a major Australian or New Zealand airport for you and a friend.
One nights accom in a Deluxe 2 bedroom villa at the Seafront Holiday Park in Penneshaw including breakfast.
Dinner and Drinks at the Penneshaw Pub
18 holes for you and a friend with Mark Allen and Darius Oliver, renowned course architect and designer of The Cliffs Kangaroo Island (and Cape Wickham!)
Lunch included
Titleist and FootJoy gift pack

Details on how to enter in a sec.

Today we chat with Darius Oliver about The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island, he tells Nick and Mark how the course is coming along, if he's making any last minute adjustments, and whether he is excited, apprehensive, nervous - all of the above - about the official opening later this year. It's a stunning site, but one not without some water challenges, he explains the approach to water for the various parts of the course.

Darius outlines the 3 highlight holes of the course for him, although he notes that because every hole is so different this will be different for everyone....but he does say that he wants everyone to fall in love with the things that he is in love with about the island and the course.

It's very exciting, and The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island looks like being a very special golf course.

So thanks to The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island, FootJoy and Titleist, how can you win this fantastic Money Can't Buy Experience?

Send us a pic of a golfing moment that is special to you and why, could be a golfing experience, a golf trip with friends, anything, just something memorable to you.
Each week, for 8-weeks, we'll choose one pic we like to go in the draw.
This will mean there are 8 people in the draw which we'll do early September, and the trip is late November, you'll need to be available on November 20/21.
Here's the link to enter: https://tr.ee/OAXE2M

Good luck !

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.

Massive show today, what a week, it is Open Championship week and whilst we previewed the tournament yesterday, we chat more about it today.

We start with Mark talking about the new FootJoy Legends Series, Harris Tweed Collaboration - with Mark deciding at some point to do a masterclass on how to keep your FootJoys' clean....don't worry, he'll forget about it and we won't remind him. We love FootJoy, but a masterclass on keeping them clean doesn't seem riveting....

Onto the show:

04:00 Haeran Ryu: a great win at The Evian, Nick watched plenty and tells us what happened - particularly the final day. Nick says that whilst it is not a great course, it consistently produces exciting finishes. The Aussie women had an ordinary tournament, the majority missing the cut.
08:00 Royal Birkdale. We discuss some of the great finishes and performances over the years, Nick describes 2008 as the toughest course for an open he ever played. Mark talks more about Greg Norman that year, considering he was retired, it was extraordinary. And we trace back some of the notable moments, including being introduced (and how!) to Justin Rose in 98.
13:00 Mark has an idea for The Open Championship which would pay respect to history, and reckons it needs to happen.
15.30 Similarly, Nick suggests an idea for The Australian Open at Kingston Heath later this year.
17.00 Nicks plus for golf for Hostplus is the Open's last chance spot, which was won by Joe Dean with his fiancee on the bag, a great story!
19.00 Some changes to Royal Birkdale this year, Mark chats about some of the changes they've made to the course.
20.00 Our BMW Touch of Class come from Mark this week, and he awards it to Tommy Fleetwood, we hear the audio
23:30 We run the ruler over the Australians in The Open Championship.
24.30 Cam Smiths' swing changes, the new Claude Harmon swing. It looks good, Nick and Mark are impressed
27.30 Nick explains when, as a pro, he adjusted his swing under a new coach
28.30 We chat about Min Woo Lees chances, Jason Day's lack of form, Adam Scott could be a chance, Cam John, Lucas Herbert's stinger capability, Travis Smythe.
30.00 Three kiwis playing: Ryan Fox, Daniel Hillier,and Kazuma Kobori - Nick likes Kazuma this week and explains why.
30.30 Nick and Mark give their tips for who will win, and their dark horses.

After the turn

33.00 Reminder of our Talk Birdie Betr multi which you can see here. 13 bucks for Matt Fitzpatrick Top 10, Bryson to miss the cut, and a non-US winner.
34.00 A fun Top 5 from Nick - his Top 5 golf plaques around the world, in honour of the Grace Kim plaque at The Evian.
36.00 Mark tells the story about nearly being killed by Tiger Woods driving the green in Thailand.
37.00 Back to the top 5 - Mark is seemingly unimpressed by Nicks number 1
40.00 Mark has seen a trailer on Netflix for a new golf movie that he reckons looks good, he's forgotten the name, he'll get back to us later in the show
40.30 feedback on our unusual swings Top 5, our chat around Michael Hollick's DPWT win as a 39 year old amateur from an unexpected source, and a question from Matt about the Scottish Open
43:00 Nick and Mark discuss moving the Scottish Open to different courses.
44.00 Feedback on Paddy Harrington from last week, Anton has a great story about Grace Kim from The Evian
45:00 Craig asked about Minjee's form.
46:00 Malcolm enjoyed the pod with wolfpacker Nigel earlier this week, Nigel has the yips, we'll check in with him in a month or two.
47.00 Nick runs through the results from, around the world in the global highlights.
49.00 Hold the phone.....Nick says something positive about the world feed!
50.30 We offer a reward for anyone who can provide video of Boo Weekley fighting an orangutan. If you've got any...we want it!
51.30 And we want to hunt down the footage from Channel 7 of Jack Newton's cross after the Scottish Open in the 90s
53.00 For the Golf Clearance Outlet, Marks masterclass is on keeping your putter low - inspired by Jordan Speith.

A fun 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.

The Open Championship is here! What a tournament, what a history. And today Nick and Mark preview The Open.

Mark asks Nick about when he played in The Open Championship in 2008 and Greg Norman led at 54 holes, tied for the lead with 8 holes to play ...and he was retired and spending his time playing tennis !!

As usual we have a look at the power rankings, and we start with a convo about Tommy Fleetwood - this is his home course, and Nick says there is nothing like local knowledge of a course, and Mark says he is the best player to not win a major, so it could be a good weekend for him.

Nick notes that Min Woo's iron play is looking much better, and his short game is on point. Mark says this course suits Min Woo, and he is one of the best stinger players he's ever seen, and he deserves to be considered the leading Australian in the field.

Mark talks about how this course has seen plenty of great putters win, seems to suit them. Nick isn't looking forward to seeing Tom Kim play, describing him as 'brutal' to watch (in reference to his pace).

Scheffler is #5 in the power rankings, and Mark feels he knows why that is the case. Nick's 'concern' about Scottie this week is his putting.

Rory #4 in the power rankings, Nick saw a funny piece of footage featuring Rory this week which we have a listen to. Matt Fitzpatrick...he is red hot, both Nick and Mark are huge fans and reckon he's set for a big weekend.

Mark cannot understand why Morikawa is #2 in the power rankings for The Open, Nick can and explains why. Nick goes on to explain the strategy for playing this course.

With the tournament finishing at a similar time to the World Cup Final, Nick tells Mark that there is a contingency to adjust tee times if England are in the final to avoid the situation of empty stands, or cheering from the stands as people keep an eye on the World Cup.

And before the turn we discuss some of the fun, new markets Betr have on the tournament, there are some crackers if you want to whack 5 bucks on a couple. And what will our Talk Birdie Betr multi be? We kick it around before the turn, and decide after. We text Hummer live, and get the odds back in record time. You can open a Betr account at their website here, or on the app, and you'll find out multi on the Betr Specials section.

Enjoy The Open !!!
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.