Australian Golf Passport

We’re back to devote an entire episode to Yarra Yarra – one of those Sandbelt courses that doesn’t quite get the love it deserves on occasions. We start the episode with a fast review of Scott’s recent Canberra visit, including his quick lap around Royal Canbera.

For those keen to visit Royal Canberra, click the link below -

https://www.royalcanberra.com.au/cms/golf/playing-at-royal-canberra/

During Scott’s October 2024 trip to Melbourne we took a look around Yarra Yarra, and have been keen to discuss the course and club ever since. We look at the history of the club from its earliest days, the move to the Sandbelt, tournament history at Yarra Yarra and the evolution of the course, from Alex Russell’s design, to the recent Renaissance Golf Design overhaul of the layout. The brilliant uphill par 3 11th,and re-sequencing of holes, and more.

For those keen to visit and play Yarra Yarra, click the link below -

https://www.yarrayarra.com.au/cms/golf/visitors-information/

Thanks to all the listeners who sent in questions and topics of interest to cover during this episode. Yes the greens get scary quick, and we hear you – most don’t love the tenth! 😊As discussed in the episode – the three reference texts we cited during the chat – links below.

Discovering Alex Russell

https://ryanpub.com.au/russell.htm

From Eyrie to Eagles

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/193830149112?_skw=from+eyrie+to+eagles+yarra+yarra&itmmeta=01JSTMQEW80SNQ5EMCY35KZX2G&hash=item2d212d5bf8:g:Ll0AAOSwNDNf7naa&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABAFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dPwePbqA9%2Bgc8CikzSDdEevo6aO3AbNlYjba3K8EOz%2FzZvnwbFD%2Fp8ZbcBzjoMwq2oWPc8l%2BwLyRcGbT%2FVujMremr3aqIl1H%2FqVN0fHqVPSyieLY3mZLZggv9a8%2F58E1YyylydfBHKt8LLpNgicVam4JeNyC9ZqrCo8rhuBUGWjLK6HkigB4YlLmIyy%2B2IVHgXovN9OUX1X9VuuJEhmES9%2FQfiPookXSH4MgrL3CoOUo0XjxvHszsc36dZBzF5kAwHVQer07aU99O%2F8Lpq00RYgNrMk4CXHCBYRgfSoYDhdOF%2Fy2mO0Gmpz6mzAbC7EbM%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR67u3dTOZQ

The Story of The Yarra Yarra Golf Club

https://www.abebooks.com/Story-Yarra-Golf-Club-George-Thomson/30665018043/bd

As always – special thanks to our OG supporter - Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some of the best golf apparel on the planet. Some new stuff in store and online as the weather cools here in Australia. Be the best dressed golfer at your club – visit Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Their pants, shorts, polos, vests, caps and more are brimming with style and quality.

Seed Golf continues to provide an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to seedgolf.com.au⁠ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price. Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. More and more of you are making the switch to Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter(@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com

Tom Mackenzie from Mackenzie & Ebert is our guest for this episode, talking all things NSWGC redesign, plus the arm-wrestle between designing in the dirt and having a plan to work to, the tension between form and function, tricks for making tight sections of property feel spacious and why he thinks Melbourne is the best golf city in the world.

But before then, because this is who we are now, there's a mea culpa about the love lives of two of Gil Hanse's employees...

As always – special thanks to our OG supporter - Angus AndGrace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some of the best golf apparel on the planet. Be the best dressed golfer at your club – visit Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Their pants, shorts, polos, vests, caps and more are brimming with style and quality.

Seed Golf continues to provide an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to seedgolf.com.au⁠ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price. Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagrampage (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Imagesaccompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me- Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com

Fast turn around from last episode to this – with RoyalSydney about to publicly unveil their newly renovated Gil Hanse golf course. After a recent multi-hour walk around the property with super Adam Marchant, Scott shares his views on the design, and the highlights of the reworked layout. Needless to say – expectations were exceeded!

Prior to that, we briefly discuss golf shoes and a PhD studyundertaken by a listener of the pod. The link below takes you to a 10 minute survey for a LaTrobe University Podiatry faculty research project on golf footwear. We hope you’re able to spare the time to participate. It will really help.

https://redcap.latrobe.edu.au/redcap/surveys/?s=W4WHC4YRM9ERYAP7

A few listener questions are an entrée to the main fare -chat on Rose Bay. We briefly talk about the imminent North Adelaide course overhaul by The Shark, and OCM works including Long Island and Riversdale. Links below for some of that!

Adelaide course work courtesy of Australian Golf Digest –

https://www.australiangolfdigest.com.au/this-is-what-ive-dreamed-of-for-decades-norman-pumped-about-new-liv-golf-adelaide-project/

Long Island walk courtesy of The National GC website -

https://nationalgolf.com.au/journal/long-island-course-walk-august-2024/

And to finish a great hole by hole look at Royal Sydney, asnarrated by Gil Hanse!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/1069854367

As always – special thanks to our OG supporter - Angus AndGrace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some of the best golf apparel on the planet. Be the best dressed golfer at your club – visit Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Their pants, shorts, polos, vests, caps and more are brimming with style and quality.

Seed Golf continues to provide an introductory 20% off forlisteners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to seedgolf.com.au⁠ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price point. Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagrampage (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Imagesaccompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me- Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com

This episode affords the chance to review loads of little topics on the Australian golf landscape - courses re-opening after works, Karl Vilips breakthrough win, Matt's quick jaunt to Tara Iti, activities of panelists on the AGP Top 50 panel, and more of Scott's ball testing.

Metro, The Lakes, NSW, Mt Lawley, Royal Sydney and more are all discussed. It's been a busy little time.

As discussed - preview play at 7 Mile Beach is on the horizon. Details as published in Australian Golf Digest magazine are below -

https://www.australiangolfdigest.com.au/hobarts-7-mile-beach-announces-course-opening-date-for-preview-play/

The Chappell Foundation is conducting a fund-raising day at Capital Golf Club, with money directed to youth homelessness. $500 donation to play Capital and participate in a great day. Tickets below -

https://thechappellfoundation.com/melbournegolfday25

Those who wish to visit Te Arai - visit the link below to get more details -

https://tearai.com/

Seed Golf continues to provide an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to  ⁠⁠seedgolf.com.au⁠ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

As always – special thanks to Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some new stuff – especially the collaboration with The Fliers Club. AAGGG are making some of the best golf apparel on the planet. Be the best dressed golfer at your club – visit Angus And Grace Go Golfing.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com

New South Wales GC is baaaaaack!

Matt checks in with Scott after opening weekend at the newly-renovated NSWGC for a quick initial reaction to the changes. Spoiler: he enjoyed himself.

Seed Golf has provided an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to  ⁠⁠seedgolf.com.au⁠ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

As always – special thanks to Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some new stuff – especially the collaboration with The Fliers Club. AAGGG are making some of the best golf apparel on the planet. The shorts are all world. Be the best dressed golfer at your club – visit Angus And Grace Go Golfing.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com

An episode topic that has been consistently requested since we first started recording Australian Golf Passport – a deep dive into Golf Along The Might River Murray.  We’re joined by Brian Walshe – great friend of the pod, and a passionate golfer who has planned & enjoyed dozens of Murray River golf trips over the decades.

Courses, accommodation, meals, drinks, and everything you need to know about playing the game along the northern Victorian border. We get into it all as Brian provides an hour of expert insight.

As referenced in the episode – a few resources including Brendan James’ comprehensive guide to golf along the Murray River, as published in Golf Australia magazine back in 2022.

https://www.golfaustralia.com.au/feature/your-ultimate-murray-river-golf-guide-583810

And some more resources for planning a visit to the region –

https://golfonthemurray.com.au/ and https://www.visitthemurray.com.au/things-to-do/golf

Seed Golf has provided an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to  ⁠https://seedgolf.com.au/ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

As always – special thanks to Angus And Grace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some new stuff – especially the collaboration with The Fliers Club. AAGGG are making some of the best golf apparel on the planet. The shorts are all world. Be the best dressed golfer at your club – visit Angus And Grace Go Golfing.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com

We could have taken the easy way out and made this two episodes to chip away at our goal of 26 for the year, but instead here's two and a half hours of listening spanning four topics.

We open with a chat about sanity prevailing at Sandringham with the men's and women's Aussie Opens to be contested separately again from 2025 after a failed three-year experiment co-sanctioning the two. Where to for both tournaments after so much damage was done to their standing?

The main event is an hour-long deep dive on Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne, which has experienced an absolute renaissance thanks to a full course rebuild by Brian Slawnik. Scott and Matt were both crestfallen by what had become of Commo before the facelift and could not be more boyant about the club's future now with the course brought back to its best. If you want even more Commo content, head back to Ep 55, and immediate reaction which we recorded just an hour or so after throwing our clubs in the boot after our round.

And on top of that we have a chat with Eric from The Fliers Club, one of the many new-millennium golf societies that has brought passionate golfers together, and in this case on a bucket list trip to the great courses of Australia.

And finally, we've enjoyed talking golf balls so much with Dean Klatt from Seed since he came on board as a sponsor of the pod that we asked him to come on air for a chat about how and why he founded Seed, how you even go about designing your own golf balls, the work that's already underway at Seed to prepare for the coming rollback, and more.

Seed Golf has provided an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Head to ⁠https://seedgolf.com.au/ and enter AGP at checkout to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

As always – special thanks to Angus & Grace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some new stuff - AAGGG are making some of the best golf apparel on the planet. And if you're in Melbourne, head to Middle Park Bowling Club on Sat 22 February from 1-6pm for the pop-up shop and The Fliers Club x AAGGG collab event.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.c⁠om

We've been working on something exciting, and we're pumped to share it with you.

First cab off the rank for 2025 allows us the chance to formulate some new goals for the coming 12 months and reflect on the previous year.

This is an enjoyable and rewarding process - shamelessly based on the famous NoLayingUp annual Goals Pod. Not without its challenges, the job of identifying some targets and working towards them through the year is definitely something we suggest you all undertake. We'd love you to share your goals and hopes for 2025. 

As you'll hear, reflecting on goals set for 2024 has led Scott to some major life changes.

This year looms a landmark twelve months for Australian golf, with a series of course renovations approaching completion and the imminent opening of 7 Mile Beach. We have plans to meet it head on and this episode contains an exciting announcement involving new activities for Australian Golf Passport.

Our new supporter Seed Golf has provided an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Click on the link - https://seedgolf.com.au/discount/AGP  - to get your hands on some premium golf balls at a super low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. We look forward to sharing more about them in the year ahead.  Some of you have already tried Seed balls - thanks for supporting those who support us!

As always – special thanks to Angus & Grace Go Golfing. Check their insta feed and website for some new stuff - AAGGG are making some of the best golf apparel on the planet.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com

Our final episode for 2024 takes a look back at the year that was - with awards for a range of fantastic courses, great performances and favorite moments of the year.

Superintendents, pro shops, renovated courses and playing partners all come in for a little love and affection. We'd love to hear who you think deserves some praise for a great year too!

2025 looks like being an awesome twelve months for Australian golf, with a series of course renovations completing, and the imminent opening of 7 Mile Beach. We chat briefly about what lies ahead, and can't wait to get into it...

Towards the end of this episode, Scott provides a great wrap of some of the year's highlights for Australian Golf Passport - calling out some of the episodes you could go back and listen to, especially if they slipped by through a busy work year.

Our new supporter Seed Golf has provided an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Click on the link - https://seedgolf.com.au/discount/AGP  - to get your hands of some premium golf balls at a super low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. We look forward to sharing more about them in 2025.  In short – their golf balls are excellent and the fast, easy, direct to consumer purchasing method has now kicked off in Australia. Do yourself a favour and grab some!

As always – special thanks to Angus & Grace Go Golfing. Check their website for some Summer specials. The recently released AAGGG long sleeve polos are light and breathable and sun smart – and they look great! As do the shorts, and Golf Daddy caps. Visit their Instagram page, or bricks and mortar store (William Street Paddington) to get some of the best golf apparel around.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com

A massive Christmas holiday edition for you to take in over a long festive season car trip, or during a relaxing lie down in the sun over the Christmas break.

This episode starts with a little rundown on the recently completed Sandbelt Invitational to kick things off before sinking our teeth into the discussion with Ross Flannigan. 

Ross will be well known to many through his photography and his long-running podcast – My Love of Golf. He joins us from Scotland to talk about his beloved Peninsula Kingswood, his time in golf retail, recent move to Edinburugh and loads more. 

Ross was the franchisee at the Drummond Golf Melbourne city store for years, and shares his experiences from the world of Big Box retail golf, and more. His perspectives on the courses at PK from before and after the landmark renovation are really interesting too.  Ross is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guy with a ton of experience in golf. We know you’ll enjoy listening to him!

He mentioned Steve Smith’s podcast (The Golfing Greenkeeper) with PK super Glenn Stuart – link is below: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-101-keeper-of-the-greens-glenn-stuart/id1511508487?i=1000680428136

Our new supporter Seed Golf has provided an introductory 20% off for listeners to Australian Golf Passport.  Click on the link - https://seedgolf.com.au/discount/AGP  - to get your mits of some premium golf balls as a crazy low price point.  Thanks so much to Dean and all at Seed. We look forward to sharing more about them in 2025.  In short – their golf balls are excellent and the fast, easy, direct to consumer purchasing method has now kicked off in Australia. Do yourself a favour and grab some!

As always – special thanks to Angus & Grace Go Golfing. Check their website for some pre Christmas specials. The recently released AAGGG long sleeve polos are light and breathable and sun smart – and they look great! Visit their Instagram page, or bricks and mortar store (William Street Paddington) to get your hands on some of the best golf apparel around.

Images related to this episode can be found on our Instagram page (@AustralianGolfPassport) and on Twitter (@AusGolfPassport). Images accompanied by attribution to their owners / creators.

Podcast intro music - Nbhd Nick / Stop Playing With Me - Instrumental / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com