The NCG Golf Podcast

Online bookings or roll ups? Paper or electronic scorecards? Wherever you turn in golf it seems the conversation soon moves on to technology.

How far should clubs go to adopt it? Do you dip the toe, or dive headlong into a clubhouse of shot-by-scot scoring and digital leaderboards?

However, you might feel about it, tech is changing the world around us, and golf will have to move with it.

But can it sit with tradition and how can clubs manage the inevitable change? My guest this week to discuss this and more is Craig Higgs, international managing director for Golf Genius Software.

If you’ve ever played an event on NCGs Top 100s tour, or if you’ve enjoyed a round stateside, you’ll be familiar with the huge company’s tournament management solutions.

They’ve got Rory McIlroy as an investor, and they also provide the scoring for England Golf’s competitions.

So, who better to assess technology in golf – a sport where the digital revolution has been accelerated massively by the Covid pandemic – and look at how to handle it? Let’s get stuck in…

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There are only 11 snooker players who’ve won the career triple crown of World Championship, UK Championship, and Masters successes.

We're prepared to bet, though, there’s only one who has combined that with a 147 break (of which he’s had six), a 9-darter, and a hole-in-one.

Our guest this week is that person. Not only is Shaun Murphy one of the biggest stars of the green baize, he’s a talented golfer to boot – boasting a scratch handicap and a game good enough to get him into Open Championship qualifying.

He’s also a committed philanthropist – his charitable endeavours having raised huge sums over the course of his career for a number of good causes.

On the From the Clubhouse podcast we talk about his love of holing putts, his favourite courses, and whether he’s planning another crack at Claret Jug qualification as we get ready for the 150th Open at the Home of Golf.

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Welcome to the Carbonwood age.

If you have just a passing interest in golf, you'll have heard this phrase once or twice since TaylorMade launched their range of Stealth drivers and fairway woods. 

But that isn't the only area in which the California brand are making huge strides, as the Stealth irons look to revolutionise the game-improvement category.

NCG's gear expert Hannah Holden was keen to know more, so she asked Tomo Bystedt and Matt Bovee – senior engineers on the Stealth drivers and irons respectively – to join her for this fascinating episode of the All the Gear podcast.

Strap in, it's about to get technical...

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What does a golf club committee actually do?

We know they’re usually volunteers and we know they make both the day-to-day and the big decisions on behalf of most of us at our clubs.

But what really goes on underneath the bonnet? What do committees and boards do well and what happens when they go bad?

If you’ve ever wanted to know anything about those elected to serve you – in the case of a private members’ club – or those helping an owner, or corporate body – in the case of a proprietary club – and didn’t know where to turn, perhaps we can help you over the course of the next 45 minutes or so.

With us to get into chat about everything from captains to sub-committees is Jerry Kilby, a renowned golf industry governance expert and the founder of Kanda Golf, who have been offering management support to clubs for more than four decades.

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What do you get when the founder of Urban Golf - the UK's first and best indoor golf venue - and the founder of award-winning fashion label Folk team up to form a new golf brand?

Sounder Golf is the brainchild of James Day and Cathal McAteer, who have created a range that is stylish and functional both on and off the golf course.

But this edition of the All the Gear podcast with guest host Alex Perry isn't just about clothing. The team at Sounder have a vision of a game that is more accessible, inclusive, and fun - and they have plenty of exciting plans in the pipeline.

Alex sat down with James and Cathal to hear all about how they came to acquire the Sounder brand, what's next, and much much more... 

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Just popping the three letters into a social media channel is enough to bring up a column of chat that it would take you hours to digest.

More than a year after its launch, the World Handicap System continues to be debated and digested by golfers all over the UK.

But sift through that collection and one theme emerges again and again. Integrity, or more precisely, the fear that WHS can be manipulated.

So what’s really going on under the bonnet? Is there truth to the claims or is it all just another internet conspiracy theory.

And what are governing bodies doing to ensure we’re all playing by the same rules and that those determined to be nefarious are caught out.

Our guest this week on the From the Clubhouse podcast is Gemma Hunter, England Golf’s head of handicapping and course ratings, as we went into a deep dive about all things WHS security…

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After tens of thousands of shots, countless miles spent traversing every inch of the country, and a commitment to visiting nearly 170 courses, it is ready. NCG Top 100s has released a definitive list of the best courses in England.

You can view the list in its entirety at nationalclubgolfer.com/ncgtop100s, pick up a copy of our beautifully designed magazine in your clubhouse or, alternatively, download it right here.

With the list now available, NCG Top 100s editor Dan Murphy sat down with Steve Carroll to discuss how it was put together, to answer some of the questions that have arisen on social media, and reveal some of our favourite moments from the year-long process.

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The first two books were hailed for changing the games of golfers all over the world. Now the successful teaching duo of Gary Nicol and Karl Morris are back – and they’ve have roped in some pretty big names to help them.

The Lost Art of the Short Game is the final part of the best-selling Lost Art of Golf series and, this time, Gary and Karl aim to free you from the shackles you have self-imposed on your short games.

Using the successful formula of getting you to look within, rather than going heavy on technique, the trio of titles now form a complete overview of the game, and an essential part of every golfer’s library.

Wedges guru Bob Vokey, renowned golf architect Mike Clayton, and former Ryder Cup player-turned commentator Andrew Coltart are among the special guests lending their own wisdom across the pages.

So to find out more about the book, and how it can help your game, Gary and Karl are my guests this week on the From the Clubhouse podcast…

You can get hold of The Lost Art of the Short Game, along with the previous two books in the Lost Art Series, by visiting the Lost Art of Golf website.

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John Paramor has probably forgotten more about the Rules of Golf than most of us know. In a career which spanned nearly 45 years and saw him rise to the European Tour’s chief referee, he was the familiar face in the buggy racing round the world’s biggest tournaments dispensing his considerable knowledge.

But while the Rules can become second nature to those who have spent a life immersed in them, for many of us at our clubs they remain a thing of mystery.

Whether it’s struggling to understand the technicalities or being put off by the prospect of delving into potentially hundreds of pages of text, it can be a challenge to wrap your heads around what’s required to play the game as it should be.

In this week’s From the Clubhouse podcast, we get into how you can make understanding the Rules easier, and make your game more enjoyable…

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Golf’s been in a boom. Full tee sheets, and massive boosts in membership after coronavirus restrictions were eased, shocked the sport out of a decade-long slump – to the surprise of players and clubs alike.

But now we’re entering a different phase. With society essentially fully opened, along with all those competing leisure activities that were shut when golf had a free run in the summer of 2020, we’ll soon know whether the surge we saw is here to stay or just a fortunate blip created by circumstance.

As clubs prepare to go into a membership renewals period in January and April, what must they do to safeguard and capitalise on the opportunity they’ve been handed over the past 18 months?

We're joined on this week’s From the Clubhouse podcast by PlayMoreGolf’s chief executive Alastair Sinclair to consider what faces clubs and how the sport can keep the pandemic participation feast going…

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