Talk Birdie To Me

After Mark asked Nick on the show this week how his 'golf lessons' work, where he spends an entire day with someone and teaches in a slightly less orthodox fashion than some others, Pete left us a message telling us about a lesson he had with Nick a couple of years ago, how it went, and how it's going 2-years on.

Got a comment or question? You can leave a voicemail here.

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.

Some conflict at the start of the show today when there is dissent over some content choices. Is there trouble in paradise?

But...we resolve our differences and get on with the Friday Feedback show.

01:00Matthew enjoyed Mark's 'hairline' comment last week.

02:00Jase in South Korea wants to add his course to Nick's 'tight courses' Top 5 from last weeks show. Mark talks about playing Hidden Valley in Melbourne's north last week and commented on how tight some of the holes were.

03:00Phil on cart use in championships at his course.

05:00Comments on our '12-year old Adam Scott' story from last week, with a couple of other clashes between wolfpackers and big names when they were younger. We decide on the fly that, if we get enough comments, we'll do an episode on 'who have you been beaten by'. Wolfpackers vs big names when they were young. If you've got a story let us know here either in message form or voicemail.

06:00Message from Brucey Young with a suggestion for another young player who did something extraordinary.

07:00Gary Lisbon on Chacarra

08:00Stuart with a question on shaft weight. Nick explains what he likes and why, Mark shows what he uses.

After the turn...

12:00Request from a wolfpacker to get Ritchie Smith back on to ask about some of his players underperformance this year.

13:00 A wolfpacker feels we're letting Golf Australia off the hook by not challenging the dates and support for the Capital.com Australian Open.

15:00Chris asks Nick about some of his comments about handicaps during commentary on the TV coverage in South Australia last week

17:00Graham with a question on Jeeno Thitikul and Anthony Kim's techniques.

19:00Sam asks Mark why a particular, very famous, Adam Scott performance does not warrant being on Mark's greatest shots of all time list

20:00Owen on Marks' alignment stick demonstration last week, with a question about strange training gadgets.

Fun show, thanks for being a part of it, have a great 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.

Fun show today, and we start with the latest from the world of LIV. There is a lot going on as we get closer to the deadline for players to decide.

01:00On LIV, the players who have left and those who have confirmed that they are remaining. There are a number of verbal commitments which are yet to be confirmed in contract form.

03:00LIV have messaged us overnight with a statement about their negotiations with players, we read it out on the show.

03:30Mark outlines what he believes a 'verbal commitment' to LIV is designed to achieve for the players.

05:00The payouts to LIV execs and former execs. Reasonable or unfair?

07:00With the exodus, where will LIV 2.0 players come from? Mark feels they'll struggle for players, Nick says they won't.

10:00Is Bryson in for LIV or not?

12:00The bubble time of the year is here, and we love it.

13:30Sean Crocker, on the bubble, and snuck in at 100. We discuss how he did it.

14:30For Hostplus, our Plus for Golf is the DP World Tour showing the bubble action (and Sean for making it).

15:30We discuss what Scottie Scheffler calls 'the greatest chip shot of my career'

16:00Nick talks abut the most important bunker shot he ever played.

17:00Of course for every Sean Crocker, there is someone who misses, and on the Champions Tour Shane Bertsch was that player. We hear what he said afterwards.

20:00The controversy over Q School being dropped as part of the Champions Tour.

22:00DPWT and PGAT - when their current agreement is up, do they remain connected?

25:00Mark asks Nick when he does a coaching day, what it entails? Nick talks through his day long lessons.

28:00What AFL players could learn from golf

After the turn...

36:00For Betr, Mark's Top 5 things to make your scores better.

42:00Nick runs through the Global Result Highlights, including the BMW Touch of Class....it is a ripper!

51:00Feedback for Southern Golf Club: 1992 vs 1977...the final verdict on which was better, a slow play suggestion, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley using 'the force', Nick using the force,

55:00And following last weeks adhoc Top 5 on 'triggers', where we could only come up with 4 and asked for your help, we've got a heap of suggestions....we fill the 5th spot with one of them.

1:00:00And for the Golf Clearance Outlet, Nick's masterclass is on 'feel vs real'.

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 message today from wolfpacker Grant who recently spoke to Nick about putting right handed, while swinging left handed, and Nick had shared some great tips with him. Grant asked if we could elaborate further on the show. Nick explains why he believes it is an excellent way to solve the (apologies for the language) yips, and he talks about grips. Nick is a huge proponent of this, so it's great to delve into some detail.

It reminds Mark of when he was playing in a US tournament on the Korn Ferry tour and he saw an excellent golfer experience the putting yips during the tournament calling it 'the most horrible thing I ever saw'. He tells us the story on this mini ep 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, unfortunately beginning with more 'fashion chat' from our resident Miranda Priestley (aka Mark Allen). Feel free to fast forward through the 30 seconds of fashion chat....this show is on the verge of jumping the shark...

But....there is an excellent golf question today from a Canadian Wolfpacker Gary who is heading to South Australia for Christmas and wants to play some golf while he's there, and is after some tips on courses to look at. Nick and Mark kick around a couple of courses in Adelaide that Gary should try to get on, and he's fortunate because there are some crackers around the Victor Harbor area where he will be staying. Mark also makes a recommendation for Gary to hire a helicopter to get to one specific course.....yes it is slightly ridiculous....unless Gary is loaded with cash in which case it is a great idea.

We also talk about how wonderful the South Australian golf, and sporting, heritage is...it is an amazing state and under-rated by far too many people.

Nick finds a way, after a lunch at a winery in South Australia, to claim credit for Elvis Smylie's win in the 2024 Western Australian Open...seems a long bow, but we'll let him have it.

And given our wolfpacker is from Canada, it leads to a chat about great Canadian courses, which are the best, and what is the absolute best...we don't know, and we would love you (if you have any thoughts) to tell us the best Canadian course and why!

Thanks for the message Gary, have a great trip to Australia in December and hit 'em well!

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.

Mark has been banging on over the last couple of weeks about his new stretching routine and says that his body feels better than it has in years. He also made the dubious claim that his stretching routine has caused his hair to become thicker and more voluminous. The first claim may well be right, the second is clearly ludicrous.

Nevertheless, Dan from the Sunshine Coast has had some similar issues and has found a solution to help him with stretching, and he wanted to share it. The key question for Dan though is whether his solution has contributed to his hairline? Helpfully Dan clarifies in this voicemail.

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 awkward. The show gets off to a poor start when Mark is insensitive to a team member, nearly derailing the entire pod for today. Trouble in paradise.

But fortunately, we get back on track.....and on with the Friday Feedback show!

01:00 A message from Paul with a great story about a 12-year old Adam Scott monstering a tournament in Brisbane!

02:00 Mark talks about watching a young Adam, marvelling at his short game, saying that Scotty was 'using the force' when he putted.

05:00 Couple of comments on the Adam Scott video from last week....the 'toe' vid.

06:00 We do a Top 5 on the fly of players who had a pre-shot trigger, we can only come up with 4, if you have a 5th let us know in the comments.

07:00 A wolfpacker who disagrees with Nick and Mark on the value of caddys and believes they should be banned. Sheez....

08:00 Rohan with a question about lessons and a fitting, which should come first?

After the turn:

12:00 Comment from a wolfpacker on the class of Tyler McCumber to self report last week.

14:00 Bunch of comments on Dan Grieve, all pumping his tyres up.

14:30 We discuss the clip of Nick's bunker shot at Coolum that was shared last week - what does the world's self-described greatest bunker player ever (ahem Mark) think of the shot?

16:00 Richard wants to know if carts should be allowed in club championships.

17:00 Andrew challenges Marks claim that the 92 Australian Open was the strongest field ever, offering another year as his strongest. We compare the fields and, given Mark is biased, ask Nick to make the call....is Mark happy with the outcome of does the week end on a difficult note?

That's our Friday Feedback show - have a great weekend , hit 'em well!

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.

On the main show this week Nick and Mark were discussing how great Secret Harbour looked for the WA Open, a course designed by Australian legend Graham Marsh, who also designed Kalgoorlie, where the tour was last week. Nick found out in conversation last week that Marshy is redesigning Kennedy Bay in Western Australia - one of Marks favourite courses, and so we thought let's get the man himself on for a quick chat about what he's doing with Kennedy Bay.

02:00Marshy talks about Kalgoorlie, and what they're doing to the course to ensure it is world standard.

04:00Is it true that at the launch of Secret Harbour many years ago, Marshy played an exhibition match with Gary Player and Lee Trevino? We find out what happened.

05:00He talks about the Kennedy Bay land and how special it was (and is)

07:00What are the Kennedy Bay changes? Marshy talks about the bunkers being in a pretty ordinary way, that has been fixed, and how some of the new holes are on completely different land and why that is.

08:30He has built the bunkers to suit the longer game, given how far players hit the ball these days.

11:00What grass has been used?

Always good to catch up with Marshy, he's a legendary player of course, and also an incredible designer.

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.

Big show today, and we start with a stretching update from Mark. Riveting we know but as that famous golfer Taylor Swift said, the stretchers gonna stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch.

01:00Mark's stretching update.

02:00 The one thing from life as a Tour Pro that Mark would love to have in social golf

03:00 Mark makes an outrageous medical claim completely unsupported by any facts and highly unlikely to be remotely correct. He's the Robert F. Kennedy jnr of the podcast world.

06:00 Eugenio Chacarra had a win in India at the weekend. Nick saw a tweet from Jamie Kennedy which he thought was bang on, we discuss. Chacarra will clearly play Ryder Cup says Nick.

09:00 He uses a training aid, we have a yak about it.

10:00Other Tour Pros who use training aids

12:00The Rory vs Kevin Kisner controversy in India

14:00Rory's deal to come to Melbourne. Worth it or not?

15:00The timing of the Capital.com Australian Womens Open considering the Hawaiian tournament. Nick speaks on it again. Mark says that the womens tour could do something very special globally if the various body's work together.

17:00What has gone wrong with Minjee Lee's game?

19:00The Hostplus plus for golf this week was how the crowds were managed at the WA Open tournament in Secret Harbour. So good.

21:00And at the same tournament, our BMW Touch of Class goes to an esky.....you'll need to hear it to understand why.

25:00The latest on LIV 2.0.

After the turn...

28:00We look at Minjee's stats this year, they're not great, and Chacarra's ranking moves from Find My Player. Impressive.

30:00For Betr, Nick's Top 5 courses he has played that are very narrow - courses and holes

36:00Feedback for Southern Golf Club....we start with the Secret Harbour tournament

38:00Slow play penalty....does it deserve to be breaking news? We go with it.

39:00A whack for Mark over last weeks Top 5 suggesting a brutal omission. Does Mark push back or cop the whack with good grace?

41:00LIV

46:00A wolfpacker disagrees with Marks oft mentioned 'greatest shot ever' , which was from Rory at Augusta. And this wolfpacker offers their alternative, with it has to be said, a solid case.

48:00Global highlights from Nick.

53:00And we get a rundown from Nick on how the BMW National Final in Queenstown went last week.

57:00Todays show wraps with a masterclass from Mark on putting, live from the brand spankers Golf Clearance Outlet store in Braybrook, Victoria.

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 extraordinary. At the weekend Kris Clelland was playing at Lynwood Country Club in Pitt Town, Sydney, where he did something quite unbelievable: scoring an Albatross, and then on the next hole an Ace. You read that correctly.

We had to hear what happened from the horses mouth, so we gave Kris a call to ask him all about it. At the time of the call, Nick and Mark were completely unaware of what had been achieved, only that Kris had done something quite special.

Kris talks us through it....and it really is remarkable.

What fun! We're just a touch envious, but well done Kris !!!

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.