The Thing About Golf Podcast

Golf is a lot of different things to a lot of different people but for Uganda’s Isiaih Mwisege it is a calling.

Isiaih found golf in 2003 through caddying and has since made it his life’s work to introduce as many Ugandan children as possible to the sport.

The AFRIEYA Golf Academy provides opportunities not only in golf but also education and thanks to the dedication (and money) put up by Isaiah, continues to grow across the African nation.

If not for a knee injury sustained playing Gaelic football as a teenager, Paul McGinley’s life may have turned out very different.

That injury saw the Irishman turn to golf and he went on to become a European Tour stalwart, hole a Ryder Cup winning putt and later Captain the Europeans to victory over the Americans. But McGinley has much more to offer the game beyond his fine playing credentials. 

In this extensive chat with host John Huggan, McGinley covers everything from his unusual start in the game to the impact of LIV on professional golf.

For 77 of his 88 years on the planet Alex Mercer’s life has been dominated by golf.

A good player in his own right before a back injury early in his career, Mercer turned to coaching and having worked with the likes of David Graham, Steve Elkington, Brendan Jones and Michael Campbell (among others) successful doesn't begin to describe his career.

His deep love of the game, keen mind and gift for communicating complex concepts in a simple way are all on show in this wide ranging interview with Rod Morri.

Eddie Pepperell is a two-time European Tour winner and owner of some of the game’s most unusual swing drills. 

But he’s also one of golf’s most interesting thinkers on matters both golf and more broadly.

He has opinions on topics as diverse as world economics and market forces to how LIV Golf fits in Saudi Arabia’s bigger geopolitical strategy. He touches on all of it in this fascinating chat with The Thing About Golf podcast host John Huggan.

Jose Maria Olazabal was one of the best of his generation – a dual Masters winner with one of the most admired short games in history. 

But it is for his legendary pairing with Seve Ballesteros at multiple Ryder Cups — and his own heroics as captain in the 2012 ‘Miracle at Medinah’ —that he will be best remembered.

John Huggan caught up with Olazabal during The Open Championship at St. Andrews for a wide-ranging interview on all things golf, and what it is about this game that he is so passionate about.

He’s not a household name or a prolific tournament winner but at the age of 48 Cameron Percy continues to achieve something most never do: keep his card on the most competitive Tour in the world.

Golf aside, Percy is an engaging personality and interesting thinker whose political views often see him at odds with his peers. Yet he remains both popular and likeable as you’ll hear in this wide-ranging interview with Rod Morri.

The Victorian discusses representing his state and country before earning a spot in his club pennant team, bringing a shoe shine kit on Tour during his rookie year and covers armlock putting and Will Zalatoris.

Technically, writing is just the putting together of words to form sentences. However, like golf, that undersells by quite a margin the gift some have for it. 

Jaime Diaz is one of those gifted people, a giant of the golf writing fraternity who somehow remains as genuinely humble today as the day he started in the business.

From his work with Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros to the drama of the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline, Diaz is at his best in this expansive conversation with John Huggan.

In the past three decades the high profile golf coach has become a thing. 

What was once a behind the scenes job, now often comes with a dash of celebrity and the names of those who work with the game’s best are easily recognisable. But not Denis McDade. 

McDade is the very definition of humble, quietly guiding the games of some of Australia’s best players of the past 20 years – including Marc Leishman, Todd Sinnott, Marcus Fraser and Matt Griffin to name a few – while simultaneously helping those who struggle to break 90. 

He’s also part owner of Yarra Bend golf course in Melbourne and a passionate advocate for junior golf as we find out in this broad ranging discussion with the Thing About Golf podcast host, Rod Morri.

2023 will mark Lee Westwood’s 30th year as a professional and while the game’s Grand Slam titles have eluded him, he has achieved every other measurable milestone in the game. 

At Whistling Straits last year, he matched Sir Nick Faldo’s record for most Ryder Cup appearances with 11 and was one of only three players to win his singles match in an otherwise heavy defeat. 

Westwood has played — and won — all over the world and including the 1997 Australian Open in a play-off over Greg Norman, and been one of the game’s best international ambassadors. 

In this candid and length chat with John Huggan, the Englishman talks about all that as well as perhaps his most controversial career decision to date: playing in the much-maligned Saudi Golf League.

He wasn’t a prolific winner but Nick O’Hern might be one of the most consistent golfers Australia has ever produced. 

Never one to overpower golf courses, the left-hander nonetheless spent a lot of time near the top of leaderboards at the highest levels of the game. In this in-depth chat with host Rod Morri, O’Hern talks about how he went from a handicap of four when he turned professional to being a top-20 ranked player in the world.

He also expands on his work with some of the game’s rising stars and his somewhat unexpected second career as an author and his latest book, Play Your Best Golf.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Order his books, Play Your Best Golf or Tour Mentality, on Booktopia

To work with Nick, you can get in touch him via his website