Talk Birdie To Me

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...

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;
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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.

After dropping into the Talk Birdie studio last week, Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland has briefly come back with a couple of players who have just signed on for the Australian Open, and he reveals them to Nick and Mark and hints at some DP World Tour names to be revealed shortly.

He gives an update on ticket sales saying that this is not a normal golf event, and that is what they're seeing in ticket sales with under 1,000 GA...

Today on Talk Birdie we have a guest in studio, the boss of Golf Australia James Sutherland, who is in to talk about a few things - not the least of which is how he got Rory to sign on for the Australian Open, and the new handicap system, website, app, which has launched in the last day or so.

We start with the Australian Open, and James talks about how the Rory appearance has changed the ticket sales profile, rather than ticket...

Well....there's a bit to unpack today. The Ryder Cup had everything. Incredible golf, clutch shots, comebacks, drama, and appalling behaviour from fans....where to start...

We start with Shane Lowry's incredible cup retaining putt. Followed by an equally incredible celebration, and after what he had to put up with from the crowd, he deserved that moment. Nick and Mark watched plenty of it over the weekend and loved it. Mark said...

Feedback pod today and we've got some cracking questions from wolfpackers to run through.

Mick has a question about slow play at his club, particularly as they have some older members.

Jack is looking forward to the Australian Open and, aside from Rory, wants to know has there been any other big names revealed as coming.

Wayne asks for Nick and Marks thoughts on the best Australian Open finish they ever saw.

Mike once saw New Zeala...

After last weeks Talk Birdie Mini where Nick and Mark selected their 'dream teams' consisting of one player from each of Australia, the US, Europe, and an International to face off at Royal Melbourne Composite, en-route to the tournament, there has been an incident rendering all 8 players unable to play, and the venue now out of action.

So, excluding the original selections of Shark, Karrie, Tiger, Jack, Seve, Faldo, Player and ...

What a week....big week in golf, plenty to discuss. We start with a chat about one of our favourite young players, Elvis Smylie who nearly won the French Open at the weekend! Absolute gun.

And Mark tells us about giving some advice to a couple of golfers at his club last night, he explains the tips he gave them with their putting and runs them by Nick - does Nick rate the tips? Mark certainly does, suggesting that, were it to ex...

Well it's here, the week before one of the great golf weekends - the Ryder Cup. But before we get to our preview, a reminder about our Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on the Gold Coast, it's now two weeks away (Wednesday October 8th), Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen will be playing the tournament along with 80 or 90 wolfpackers. A few tickets left here. The prizes are brilliant:

FootJoy vouchers;

...

It's Ryder Cup week and fittingly we start todays feedback pod with an historical question from wolfpacker Ben on the Ryder Cup. Ben asks Nick and Mark for their recollection and thoughts on the controversial Paul Azinger incident in the 1991 Ryder Cup, it was called the 'War by the Shore'.

Marek has an idea about how the 'big guys' could use some of their cash to help young players. Could it work? Would they do it? Nick and Mar...

We've been asking for you to let us know who the local hero is who helped you develop your game, maybe as a kid, a teenager, or later - the local unsung heroes. We've been receiving plenty, and we'll post some here, some on socials, to celebrate these very special people. This voicemail from Anthony in Ballarat is a ripper telling us about someone who was very generous with him and his development.

We're live from Titleist a...

So we've decided to do, from time to time, Talk Birdie To Me 'mini's, which run no longer than about 10-minutes and see Nick and Mark discussing only one issue, or answering one question.

This one is great fun. Wolfpacker Joseph, a greenkeeper from New Zealand has asked Nick and Mark to construct their team to face off against the others. For their teams, here are the rules:

• 1 x Australian player
• 1 x US player
• 1 x European ...

A couple of weeks ago Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen listed golfers they disliked playing with, and wolfpacker John was surprised Greg Norman didn't get a mention, in fact Nick said he enjoyed playing with Greg. Johns rationale was, in part, Sharks treatment of Lucas Parsons as a young pro in the early days. So, there's only one thing for it, let's get Lucas on to explain what happened.

We start with some background, how Lucas' care...

Nick's back from Vietnam and he's rocking a tan, which he is happy to show all of us. Mark says golfers tans are the worst, given the time on course and the kind of gear you wear. Nick gives us a run through on the Vietnam trip he did, the courses he played and the fun they all got up. Mark, as it turns out went to Wagga Wagga for the Pro-Am, and had a great time! He tells us about the Wagga trip - and one particular thing he loved...

Wolfpacker Paul left us a voicemail with a prediction about the venue for the 2028 Australian Open, sure it's a way off yet, but there's a reason why he has indicated 2028, and he explains in the voicemail message. Much like Steve in The Castle, Paul is an ideas man! See what you think of his suggestions.

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

• BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;
• Titlei...

We start today with some awfully sad news, long time wolfpackers would know our rules guy Stu McPhee, whenever we needed anything clarified, Stu was our go to guy - what he didn't know wasn't worth knowing. Sadly, Stu passed away last week from cancer, and we acknowledge him on the pod today, and our thoughts are with his family at such a difficult time.

And then, as Stu would have expected, we get on with the show.

Michael h...

Slightly different pod this week, Nick is in Vietnam for the week with a bunch of lucky golfers playing a number of courses there, so he is coming to us from his (undoubtedly luxurious) hotel room for the pod. We get a run through of the courses he's playing, and how he's dealing with the humidity.

Leads to a chat about the ideal golfing holiday, Nick and Mark share where they'd love to go for a golfing trip and the courses they...

This week on the pod we had a question from wolfpacker Deryck about players smoking on course (in the older days), and it reminded Shaun from Ashburton in Melbourne about a nasty incident in the US that he witnessed, and none other than our very own Mark Allen was there as well!

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;
• Foo...