Back for another week, and even on weeks when it feels golf might have been a little quiet, there always seems to be plenty to discuss. We start this week with a reminder about our Talk Birdie survey....we want to know your opinion on the show: good, bad, or indifferent - and one respondent will win $300 to spend at FootJoy, and $300 to spend at Golf Clearance Outlet. The survey takes 8-minutes tops, probably less, and you can find it here. It closes on Friday October 31. We'd appreciate it!

Onto golf news. Mark has been reading the New York Times. We were as surprised as you. However he read an article on the LIV/PGA Merger, or lack of, and raises this with Nick. Is it still a chance, is it all over? Nick is curious about the next wave of signings, and re-signings, given the initial contracts for many of them are about to be up. What about the franchise sale model, is that alive or not a starter now? Ultimately whether there is a merger or not, Nick and Mark discuss the increasing number of LIV players playing PGA tournaments and give their view.

Nick commentated the WA Open at Mount Lawley over the weekend and loved the course, he may be a little biased given it's his home course and his brother runs the joint, however he said it was brilliant. Mark is keen to know what the players thought. Nick tells a great story about the ultimate winner, Oliver Bekker, and how he saved the tournament on the final hole.

Mark saw a tweet from OCM over the weekend on a new course that Mike Cocking has designed in Georgia called Fall Line. The pics are extraordinary, and it looks eerily similar to Sandbelt courses. We discuss, and Mark is going to try and get Mike on the pod perhaps next week when he returns from overseas.

And then a voicemail comes in during the pod - it is Rick from Perth with a question about hybrids in his bag.

Mark plays a clip of a Scott Fawcett from Decade Golf talking about stats putting from 25 feet.....the stats are revealing. Leads to a story about a coach of Marks who he says was awful.

After the turn, Nick awards the Touch of Class for BMW to Scott from Townsville who played in the BMW Golf Cup National Final last week and absolutely shot the lights out. Mark says his scores around Sanctuary Cove were 'pro-level'. A fantastic event, and we find out how you can enter next year if you're keen.

Thanks to Betr, a great Top 5 today from Nick - the Top 5 unique greens in world golf that he has played. See if you think he might have missed any.

For Southern Golf Club - heaps of feedback : Moe Norman comments, WA Open feedback, a Top 5 observation from last weeks show, and with his induction to the Vic PGA Hall of Fame, one wolfpacker is keen for us to get Robert Allenby on the pod.

Onto the PING Globals - Nick takes us around the world, still plenty of golf going on so lots to discuss!

And for watchMynumbers, Mark's Masterclass this week is on waggling prior to moving to address and how he feels it has helped his game.

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.

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Paul watched the WA Open at the weekend and enjoyed it, however has a question about how the commentary team referred to Marc Leishman. Have a listen to his message.....fair point from Paul, or is he over-analysing it a bit?

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 with a number of questions and comments for Nick and Mark to discuss.

Jeff makes the observation that he feels golfers need to 'lower their expectations' in order to achieve better results. His message explains his thinking, and Nick and Mark discuss. 'Tramspotters' has a mate who he says plays practice rounds like comp, and comps like practice rounds and it causes issues. Nick and Mark talk about where you should do your 'tinkering', why, and how they do it.

Feedback on our Mini last week where we read out Freds email where he talked about going from hitting it like Scheffler to hitting it like Captain Hook in the one round. Mike said bad shots happen, just deal with it, and we read a message from Scott who plays at the same club as Fred and responds to the discussion.

Alan wants to know if caddies make a difference to (non pro) players. Nick and Mark say they do, with some caveats.

Spindles has some comments on the Golden Bear, and Nick and Mark discuss the great man.

And we end with a message from Thomas who is a huge fan of Moe Norman, and is keen to hear Nick and Marks views on Moe and his game. Mark, as it turned out, had some time with Moe and tells a couple of great stories that you must hear.

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.

Cameron from Brisbane left a voicemail after hearing Nick and Mark discussing Club Championship horror stories....his story is indeed a horror one!!

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.

Big show today, we're back from the Gold Coast after a great time at Links Hope Island with 80 or so wolfpackers, although Nick has headed back for a BMW event at - would you believe it - Links Hope Island! So Nick is on WhatsApp from Queensland living the good life whilst Mark and Dan slave away at Talk Birdie headquarters keeping the engine running.

We start with a couple of stories from the Talk Birdie golf day, and if you haven't watched the video of the day, check it out here, worth a look. Thanks again to the team at Links Hope Island, they looked after everyone beautifully.

Then we hear a story from Mark about a guy called Scott who he saw at his golf club at the weekend, and they chatted about his swing - Scott wondered if he was coming over the ball, however Mark discovered a different issue, and it's an important one for any golfer - we discuss what it is, what it does, and why it's important to be across. During that convo, Nick tells a story about Tour Pro Brandt Snedeker, whilst Mark debuts a 'magnet' he bought on Temu to illustrate the point he was making.

Nick names the highest maintenance golfer he saw on tour.

Nick and Mark discuss the demise of Q School - is it a good thing or a bad thing?

BMW Touch of Class today is Marco Penge, the winner of the Spanish Open at the weekend. Mark explains why he has awarded Marco the Touch of Class.

For Betr, our Top 5 today is the Top 5 'Shoe Wearing Pros'. What? You Say? Looks weird reading it, but makes sense when you hear it.

Nick takes us around the world in the PING Global results, plenty to talk about and of course he gives a shoutout to the mighty WA Open this coming weekend at his home course in WA with a tip to watch out for the 4th hole at Mount Lawley!

Lots of feedback for Southern Golf Club - topics include our Talk Birdie Golf Day, Brett Ogle, the China Open, Jeeno Thitikul, a whack for the team from a wolfpacker, and a comment from Tour Pro Steve Elkington who heard Marks story about him and his brother Rob a couple of days ago on the pod.

And we wrap with a masterclass for watchMynumbers from Nick, this week from the Gold Coast with special guest, Tour Pro Elvis Smylie!

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 start with a comment from wolfpacker Dave on pace of play in the womens game. Which provides a sweet opportunity for Mark to do one of his favourite things - have a crack at Keegan Bradley, which he accordingly does.

Martin from WA has a dodgy knee and wants to know if there is anything he can change in his swing technique to be less intense on his knee. Greg has just got back from Vietnam, flying on the same flight as Nick, and is curious as to Nicks favourite course there. John has an up and coming player that he reckons Nick and Mark need to keep an eye on.

Jeff very nearly incurs the wrath of Nick and Mark with a misjudged opening line, but goes on to discuss seeing Lucas Parsons play and how much he enjoyed watching him. Rob has a comment and question regarding rule changes and specifically etiquette when it comes to the pin.

Craig has a story about meeting Nick and watching him self-combust at The Vines once, Nick explains what happened, where he went wrong that day, and what he learned from it.

And Mark raises the rules infraction that Craig Stadler had when he was attempting not to get his pants dirty.....true story!

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.

On Wednesday Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen were at the beautiful Links Golf & Wellbeing at Hope Island for an 18-hole Talk Birdie To Me golf tournament with around 80 Wolfpack members. We loved it! So much fun. A chipping and putting clinic in the morning, lunch, then the tournament, along with dinner and presentations to the winners. And then we did a 30-minute live Q&A with everyone.

As you would appreciate not everything discussed at an event where no question was off limits is 'publishable', so this audio isn't the entire Q&A, but we thought we'd give you a listen to some of what we discussed on the night after the tournament on the Gold Coast.

Great fun, and a huge thanks to David, Abi and Dylan from Links Golf and Wellbeing for looking after us and the Wolfpack, they could not have been more hospitable !

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're enjoying doing our Talk Birdie 'Minis' lately, a short episode focused on one theme or question which runs 10 minutes or so (we went a bit long today....).

Todays mini is a question from wolfpacker Fred in Queensland who is a scratch marker having a very specific challenge with his game, and he would like Nick and Mark to give him some thoughts on he might address it.

It's a great question and one that all golfers deal with at some point, even Nick and Mark, who talk about how they handled the issue Fred 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.

Voicemail today from John who plays at the mighty Box Hill Golf Club in Melbourne, with a story of what he says is the most amazing round of golf he's seen in over 50 years. When you hear the story, you may well agree!

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.

Plenty of golf to discuss, as this episode goes to air Nick, Mark and Dan are on the Gold Coast at Links Golf and Wellbeing playing our first Talk Birdie Tournament with 80 or so wolfpackers.

We were particularly excited with Wade Ormsby's performance at the weekend...what a win in Jakarta! But in Australia, it is club championship season, which is always exciting, and we discuss what it means to clubs and how they structure it.

Nick played at the weekend and had a great time, and we hear a few stories from club championships in the past - including one story of Mark's that he describes as 'horrendous'. Nick tells us of his club song, and whilst he doesn't sing it for us, he does tell us the lyrics. Mark is disappointed that his club does not have a song and decides to rectify it during the break using the Suno app - which creates songs to your specifications. Nick tells us of one particular player whom he could never beat in his club championship - and we hear a great story about Steve and Rob Elkington which has to be heard to be believed!

Great win by Bobby McIntyre in Scotland, a hugely popular player, and a wonderful win. He is also a deserving winner of our BMW Touch of Class this week through how he spoke following the win.

After the turn, we hear Marks song. Is it any good? Well put it this way, you might want to fast forward through the 30-seconds we gave it. The whole thing was 3-minutes long, we lasted 30-seconds and that was pushing it. We do however play a song from a young Irish singer who wrote a tribute to the European Ryder Cup team, it is excellent.

Following Bobby Mac's great win, Nick lists his Top 5 favourite Scottish golfers. Does a certain player get a mention, would Nick risk incurring Mark's wrath?

Feedback today - some comments on James Sutherlands appearance last week, and a suggestion for the greatest putt of all time from a wolfpacker in the UK. Does it get received well? Some more comments on the Ryder Cup, and we discuss Stewart Cink's comments about the interview process for the captaincy of the US Ryder Cup team.

Ping globals has plenty of results from around the world, Nick O'Hern takes us through them all. And a ripping masterclass for watchMynumbers from Mark today on pre-setting your hips, particularly as you get older. He's seen a video, seen Matt Gogel doing it, and tried it....and loves 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.