Talk Birdie To Me

Another feedback pod today, we're getting plenty of comments and questions so keep them coming.We start with a comment from Timothy in reference to our 'hardest opening holes' conversation last week, with a great (ie. funny) story about playing at Latrobe in front of a crowd and what happened.Then a voicemail from Paul in Wollongong with a question on grip pressure.Jamie wants to know why a US players caddy was refused entry into the UK for The Open Championship due to a 30-year old drug charge, yet Ryan Peake was allowed in given his more recent, and more serious, issues.And we have an update on our conversation late last week about a potential Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day on the Gold Coast where we want to get together with the Talk Birdie Wolfpack and have a comp, and a get together.....it is looking promising.Phil has a comment and question on the 1996 Australian Open in Sydney where Mark played, and a question about his home course in Newcastle.And finally today, Adam from Ballarat has a Top 5 suggestion - the Top 5 players who had great potential, but didn't live up to it. Nick and Mark answer it live on the fly.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.

Always an exciting week, it is Players Championship week, and today Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen are previewing the tournament.We all love the week, Mark refers to it as 'the fifth major' and he's like a kid in a candy story. Nick tells us about playing the tournament , which he has done multiple times, and how it plays, how you feel as a player - and he explained how his feelings coming into the 17th island hole were quite different from day to day and why. Mark has not played a tournament there, but he has played the course and says that it was something quite special.Given he knows the course so well, Nick talks us through the kind of player he feels will win this tournament. We look at the power rankings, which seem a touch odd this week, but nonetheless we kick them around. Nick and Mark give their tips, their dark horses, and give thoughts on the Australians in the field.After the turn, we construct a market for Hummer at Betr to have a Talk Birdie Multi on....we've given him no notice so during the record of the show he confirmed the multi, but needs some time to frame the odds....it will be good, but probably a little shorter than usual as this one seems a likely win (to the extent you can think that). Download the Betr app or visit the website and look at Betr specials for our multi....by the time this episode is live the odds will be there...jump on board and remember to gamble responsibly!We wrap the show with a very dodgy story from Mark about his caddy many years ago regarding a bet on Mark....it would be illegal today, and rightly so, but it's a funny 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.

Phew this is a big show today, plenty of stuff that has happened, and plenty that is about to.We start with the Bay Hill tournament, a course that Nick has played many times and isn't fond of, he explains to Mark how differently the golf ball plays on Florida courses and why. We discuss Akshay Bhatia's brilliant shot on the par 5 16th hole, did he plan it that way? Doesn't matter....amazing. Mark was amazed about Rory's shot over the gallery, the footage is on the YouTube version of the show, it is wild.But back to Akshay. We have to discuss his putting. Is he anchoring? Nick says it looks like he may be but he'd give him the benefit of the doubt, Mark says he absolutely is. But Mark doesn't blame Akshay, he holds responsibility elsewhere, and explains who and why.We grab a broomstick putter at Titleist HQ and Nick shows us illegal and legal usage, and some of the nuances.Speaking of bending the rules. Travis Smyth. Did he improve his lie in Auckland at one point? A wolfpacker sent us in some vision from Kayo and we have a look, Nick and Mark give their views.Nick tells a story about the time he refused to sign the card of a pro he was playing with in a tournament.The BMW Touch of Class, Nick awards it to the Australian Women's Open, or particularly Kooyong, one of his favourite courses and he is excited to see it this weekend. Fingers crossed one of the incredible Aussie women get up for the win!Mark's 'That's a Plus' for Hostplus goes to Luke Donald, announced as European Ryder Cup captain again, obviously he was always going to be, but Nick and Mark both say he should remain captain for a little while yet, he's that impressive. Who will be the US captain? Nick and Mark give their preference, it's an obvious one.We discuss the LIV Clutch player of the year demonstrating his clutchability (it's a real word, look it up), and how it is a shame he won't play Ryder Cup. After the Turn, for Betr Nick lists the Top 5 rules that players take advantage of, the grey areas. For Southern Golf Club, plenty of feedback - this week focused on Marks criticism of the NZ Open's ProAm structure, and our bonus video ep on Huntingdale's redevelopment. Plus a bit of feedback on something from last weeks show from a English LIV player.Nick runs through all the results in the PING globals, and there are heaps!And we wrap with a masterclass from Mark, for the Golf Clearance Outlet, on how experimenting with your backswing length can give you greater distance control.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.

A Talk Birdie Mini today where Nick and Mark consider an excellent question from wolfpacker Andrew, who has essentially asked if Tour Pros damage their game and their creativity through a continual search for the perfect swing. There are of course many examples over the years of players changing their swings and it working out beautifully and, in some cases, not working out.Nick and Mark feel is different for the men and women players at the moment and explain why, and they talk about the role flexibility plays and the Tour Pro who Mark says is a 'flexibility freak'. We discuss which players on tour have the highest performance looking swings at the moment, and who is a touch more home made.And we talk about Ian Baker-Finch and when he spoke to us recently about addressing his swing challenges during his career - Nick played with him a couple of weeks again and said that whilst Finchy is still working on his swing, he was hitting them beautifully! A fun little mini today, thanks Andrew for the question!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.

Great voicemail from wolfpacker Andrew in Perth about a recent experience on his local driving range, and how he has played a significant role* in a Tour Pro winning a tournament. Great message, love it Andrew!*role may be slightly overstated.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 some great questions and comments from you. We start with with feedback for you, the wolfpackers, listenership and viewership to Talk Birdie To Me increases each month, and our February numbers were (again) a new high with over 56,000 audio downloads and over a quarter of a million views on YouTube. We know you've got plenty of ways you can spend your time, and we appreciate very much that you carve out some of that to spend with us, so thank you!Okay onto the show. Daniel from Holland reckons Nick and Mark have gotten their Top 20 list out of whack and feels that the National Moonah course should be ranked higher, and explains why. Last week Nick outlined the Top 5 hardest 3 final holes in world golf - Roger reckons he missed one, do Nick and Mark agree? And Falco has a smokey to add, from one of the Melbourne sandbelt courses.JD has a huge prediction for 2026 for Jeeno Thitikul - Mark thinks it's a chance, Nick says it isn't. We then discuss how many majors in 2026 would be considered a 'success' by Scottie Scheffler.Message from Scott on the Ritchie Smith interview from a few weeks back - if you missed it, worth going back to, it was great. Callen enjoyed Marks masterclass on bunker play and recalled some advice Mark once gave him on a golf day! Sven loved the swing critique of 9-year old Sophie recently, and shares a story of how much his daughter enjoys beating him on the course.A wolfpacker has done an extensive trial (300 balls!!!) with a stimp meter and shares the results with us.Lots of feedback on sandbaggers. Humble hates the handicap system and says it is fundamentally flawed, Aussie talks about his inconsistency, Syd reckons his club has sandbaggers that emerge at a specific time of the year.And we wrap with Nick and Mark telling us where their handicaps are at the moment. We leave Dan's out of the discussion, his is a very long way behind Nick and Marks but improving (painfully slowly).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 start off this week with Mark delivering on his promise to Nick to buy him a gift from Temu....does it work or is it underwhelming? We find out. But then onto far more important things like Hannah Green's win in Singapore. A great performance, Nick and Mark discuss how she played, her swing, and her hubby on the bag! Big year on the way for Hannah.Nick tells us about how he managed to get his green card when he moved to the US. It wasn't looking good for a while, until he rolled out something pretty special....he tells the story.The New Zealand Open was at the weekend and the boy from windy Wellington, Daniel Hillier played beautifully. Mark says that he loves how Daniel plays, and he has only scratched the surface of what he can do. Although Daniel did have one thing that annoyed Mark, and he fixed that at the weekend....Mark explains the thing that bugged him.Then...buckle yourself in....Mark absolutely rinses the New Zealand Open saying that a few things he saw 'made him sad'.For BMW, Nick's Touch of Class this week is Shane Lowry. He led by plenty and then had a meltdown at the Cognizant Classic, that wasn't the Touch of Class, but something else Shane did was....Nick plays the audio.And Marks 'That's a Plus' for Hostplus is young 17-year old golfer Amelia Harris who played in the NSW Open in Wollongong (finishing 8th!), and then did something unexpected and impressive the following day.After the turn, we discuss shanks in tournament golf, one particular one from a few years ago from a superstar comes to mind. And then, for Betr, Marks Top 5 is the 5 'supposed' reasons for hitting a shank. In the middle he is reminded of a shank he hit in a tournament when he was paired with Lee Westwood....it's a wild story.....Lots of golf from the weekend, and Nick takes us all over the world in the PING global results. For Southern Golf Club, plenty of feedback - questions and comments on Austen Truslow's chipping, Pros doing maths along with their caddy, a gentle whack for Nick over Tour Pro Jamie Donaldson, and a wolfpacker who saw Mark playing recently at PK North and thought he might have a future in this crazy game. And we finish with a wolfpacker question about golf shoes, we get the inside word from the FootJoy boss Snowy.And for the Golf Clearance Outlet, Nick's Masterclass today is on hitting fairway woods.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.

A couple of weeks ago, after ripping some of the Top 100 course lists apart for some dubious selections, Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen decided to do their own list, and ranked their Top 10 Australian Courses, you can find it in the feed if you've not heard it. However, the Top 10 courses were:1 Royal Melbourne West2 Kingston Heath3 Victoria4 Peninsula Kingswood North5 NSW6 Royal Adelaide7 Barnbougle Dunes8 Cape Wickham9 Peninsula Kingswood South10 Royal Melbourne EastSo today, we move on to 11-20....which will be tricky, and perhaps a tad controversial. If you think in the 11-20 (or the 1-10) Nick and Mark have missed a course, or gotten a ranking badly out of whack, let us know - the only rule is if you want to put a course in, you've got to tell us which you would remove.And a caveat, we have not considered Seven Mile Beach, Huntingdale, Royal Sydney or Long Island as they are too new and we feel need time to settle in.Let the debate begin !!!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 bit of snake chat. Snakes on golf courses, snake names, and snakes on a plane (okay maybe not that last one). Then wolfpacker Andrew poses a question to Nick and Mark that gets some serious pushback from the boys! But it does lead to a chat about pathways for young pros.Wolfpacker Greg has a theory on how to improve your golf game. We discuss his theory and whether it has merit. After the turn we have a question from David who has a sandbagger at his club, and he's after some advice on how to deal with this particular gentleman. A comment on the chat from a few months back about whether a male scratch marker could beat an LPGA Pro (hint: they wouldn't). A question for Nick about the shaft he uses, and Mark recommends a short doco he saw on YouTube called Tiger 2000 - you can see it here. And we finish with a wolfpacker who used to be a caddy and had some exposure to Ian Woosnam, Nick and Mark tell a couple of stories about Woosie.A fun feedback pod today, keep it coming!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.

So we received a message from John who told us a very funny story about playing golf with a fancy lawyer whose driver ended up stuck in a tree. Wonder if he could hold that tree in 'contempt of course' ?? (see what we did there?).Anyway, John went on to ask what funny things Nick and Mark have ever seen on the golf course....and once the memory bank started flowing, oh my gosh were there some stories!Mark had a story about a putter in a tree;Nick once saw a caddy quit mid round in a tournament after his Pro was behaving badly.A fantastic story about Seve Ballesteros, we hear the audioJohn Daly sacking someone, and hiring them in a different role - one related to some of his non-golf interests.We remember the time US Pro Hannah Gregg came across a massive snake in the halfway house on an Australian golf course with Mark making an outrageous claim about Rory McIlroy.The extremely amusing, although not for him, incident involving Mike Clayton many years ago.And we finish hearing a fun video from a comedian on TikTok called Max Price about a day on the course...sort of...very funny. You can follow him here. Ooops....hang on, whilst we're listening to and watching the video, Nick remembers one other very funny story about when he played the Presidents Cup in Montreal involving one of the US Team Members.Thanks John for the idea, this was fun!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.

There never seems to be a quiet week in golf, and this week is no different. But before we get into the show, we touch on our Betr multi which was so close to coming off. Rory did the job, Min Woo feel agonisingly short of the Top 10, and Scheffler had a very good weekend, but a poor Thursday and Friday, missing the Top 5. So close, yet so far away....on the flip side a number of wolfpackers seem to have profited from Nick's dark horse tip of Aldrich Potgieter (including Mark and Dan).Nick is over the moon that his good mate US Tour Pro Austen Truslow won at Paraparaumu at the weekend, his first win, and Nick was commentating so saw the whole thing, and was chatting to Austen on the Saturday night before the final day.Huge win for Jacob Bridgeman at Riviera at the weekend, he hung on to claim the title. Mark did see him doing something that he doesn't like and explains to Nick, who completely agrees. And for Hostplus, this week our That's a Plus recipient is Adam Scott for his wonderful performance in Riviera.The BMW Touch of Class from Nick this week is not awarded to a person, although it sort of is a living, breathing, thing....he explains his choice to Mark.Massive news from the DP World Tour with their announcement of a settlement deal for LIV players which sees a number of them now able to play in certain DPWT events alongside LIV. But one player refused to accept the deal....we discuss.Rumour mill....Nick and Mark separately have some mail on something that, should if come off, would be huge for golf. It involves Golf Australia and LIV. They explain on the pod and read out the texts they have each received on this issue.Royal Melbourne's routing for The Australian Open. Good for matchplay, not for the Open. Mark says that Golf Australia need to 'change it now' before it is locked in.After the Turn, for Betr, the Top 5 toughest finishes in golf on courses Nick has played. #1 is a big one, and contains memories that still haunt Nick! He explains why.Lots of feedback - a message on something that a wolfpacker saw at LIV but has not heard about from anyone else, some suggestions on players who have come back from adversity who you feel Mark missed last week - one Australian male golfer and one international female golfer.Feedback on our Ritchie Smith chat from a week or two ago, and Travis (Sophie's Dad!) has written in after Nick and Mark reviewed 8-year old Sophie's golf technique on the pod last week. And then we hear of another young gun, a 14-year old this time, and Mark shares a text from legendary AFL journalist Mike Sheehan about his 15-year old grandson....the kids are killing it!In the PING Globals Nick runs around the world with all the results, and suggests that Talk Birdie To Me may be responsible for killing off Schefflers run of Top 10's....harsh.And for Golf Clearance Outlet, Mark's masterclass is on Rory McIlroy's impressive bunker play.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.

A feedback pod today, and if you heard last weeks feedback ep, we had a message from wolfpacker Jack who enjoyed the Top 10 Golf Courses in Australia list from Nick and Mark, and suggested a Top 10 Public Courses list....which we jumped at without really thinking it through. The challenge is that we were inundated with suggestions, however there's no real way to rank them, so we just read out a few of the messages and talked about a couple. Sorry Jack!One of the comments we had was from a New Zealand wolfpacker who used to live in Melbourne, and was playing at Brighton East on the day a very famous TV show and scene was being filmed right outside...he explains.Off the back of a vote for Narooma, Mark raises the sheer number of Hogans Alley's that there are around the world. Narooma having the famous Hogan's Hole.A message from a wolfpacker who has been a walking scorer and had some thoughts to add following our chat about The Australian Women's Open having walking scorers for the first two days this year.And a voicemail from John in Albury about Corowa Golf Club. We've had a huge number of messages about what has happened at Corowa, it's a very sad outcome for a famous course.And on a brighter note, Tim has tried Marks 'right ear' idea, has it worked for Tim? We find out.After the turn, this is very sweet. And it is a little visual so if you're listening to the pod we hope the comments make sense. We've had a message from Travis, he listens to the pod with his 8-year old daughter Sophie, who plays golf and asked her Dad to send some footage of her swings into Nick and Mark to review....which of course we do.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 people who loved seeing Anthony Kim's spectacular performance at LIV Adelaide, it was one of the all time great redemption stories. Gerard from Brisbane agreed, and had some comments on what he saw in the performance from AK, and he gave Bryson a drive by on the way through.Have a listen to Gerard's voicemail.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.

Wow. Anthony Kim take a bow. After some significant personal challenges and demons to work through, this surely is one of time great redemption stories, and we rightly start todays show discussing his performance at LIV Adelaide - particularly his final day performance. Nick has played with Anthony and says that, by his own admission, he could be a difficult character but he has turned that around. Nick shares a text that he received a few months ago from his caddy Wilbur who had spent some time with Anthony and said that he was a changed man.Mark has some stats on Anthony from the last couple of years, that Ryan at the Monday Q Twitter page shared.Rahm's drop. What was that all about? A number of wolfpackers wrote in about it, we all saw it, Mark describes it as 'crazy', although Nick found Bryson's reaction amusing. On Rahm, we have a listen to the audio of him talking about The Australian Open, and Mark tees off again on the date.For Hostplus, Nick says that Rahm playing The Australian Open would be a plus for golf, along with the other big names who might also play it should the date be more favourable.LIV Adelaide was great, and rightly took a lot of the focus, however Pebble Beach was also exciting and Min Woo nearly got home! Morikawa played very well, and Mark says that he deserves enormous credit for recovering from what would have been a difficult week last week for him.For BMW , our Touch of Class this week is the outpouring of support for Anthony Kim after his LIV win. It was great to see.After the turn - we remind everyone of our Betr / Talk Birdie To Me multi - Scheffler to finish Top 5, Min Woo and Rory to finish Top 10 (including ties) at Riviera this weekend. Decent multi and it's paying 19 bucks at Betr, just head to the website or the Betr app, and search Betr specials.....we're right there!Marks Top 5 is players who have bounced back from significant adversity. There's some great stories.The PING Globals from Nick has plenty to discuss - and he diverts for a moment to tell a very funny story about an orangutan.....it sounds strange, but trust us, it's a must listen.Heaps of feedback - lots on LIV, also OWGR points, our Top 10 course list, and we discuss the Huntingdale redo.Nick's masterclass today is inspired by Anthony Kim.And just as we're wrapping the show, Nick gets a text from Wolfgang at BMW who has sent us his Top 10 Australian courses....and he's played them all!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.

Massive tournament this week in Los Angeles, with Riviera on, and today we preview the tournament. This event has a cut, and the 10-shot rule is in play which is a good idea, but can go pear-shaped and we discuss when it did.Nick has played Riviera half a dozen times and he talks through how the course plays, what he enjoyed about it, and one hole he particularly loves. Mark wants to know if Nick would use the same clubs, in hindsight, as he typically did when he played there. He wouldn't as it turns out, and explains why.There is a specific kind of golfer, according to Nick, who Riviera suits beautifully and that starts to shape a Betr Multi that we're building for wolpackers. There are three players who stand out for different reasons, and our multi is built around them. Interestingly, we expected the multi might be about 8 bucks....it is well over double that! So whilst there is no guarantee of course, this Talk Birdie To Me multi feels like it might be worth considering.Nick also notes the back tees on one of the holes have been moved, which he feels suit the three players we've gone with. And outside of those three, Nick and Mark give their dark horses. Marks are perhaps predictable, a leopard never changes its spots, Nick has gone for a huge outsider and gives his reasons.If you have a Betr account, jump on board the Talk Birdie To Me multi, just head to Betr on the website or the app, and look at Betr specials, you'll find us there. If you don't have an account, it takes only a couple of minutes to set up. Either way, remember to always gamble responsibly.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.

This will be fun. Today we're hosting superstar golf coach Ritchie Smith for Hostplus, and boy oh boy do we have a bit to talk with him about.Ritchie is unquestionably the leading golf coach in Australia, and you can make a compelling argument that he is the leading coach in the world. His stable of players include (among others) Min Woo Lee, Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, David Micheluzzi, Yuka Saso. Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen start by finding out how Ritchie got into golf, he started as a player, and he was a good one, but transitioned into coaching quite early.We find out about how he selects which players he will work with, the criteria that he has, and how he finds them or how they are brought to his attention. There is quite the process and quite a checklist, Ritchie explains why this is so important to him. One of the attributes is that he only works with players who are prepared to be 'vulnerable', and he tells us why this is a non-negotiable for him.Ritchie coaches Ryan Peake who has had some well documented challenges, of his own making, and Ritchie discusses the background, how they reconnected, and how he helped Ryan integrate back into golf after some years away following his incarceration.Hannah Green is one of Ritchie's most successful golfers, he describes her as 'the prototype of what I'd like my golfers to be'. He explains how he identified her as a kid, her development in the shadow of a couple of bigger names, and more recently how Hannah and he have completely rebuilt her swing. He explains how and why, and the results. Ritchie started working with Minjee as a 12-year old when he, in his words, 'didn't know what I was doing', clearly he does now! He talks us through Minjee's putting issues, why they changed to the long putter, and the results. He also coaches Min Woo and we're interested in his insights into coaching him, and particularly the work they are doing on Min Woo's iron play. Ritchie says that ''his iron play (was) poor", and he explains how they have been fixing it to ensure that aspect of his game is stronger. And he explains why he got 'cranky' with Min Woo at the Cognizant Classic, what he said to him, and what he had him change....and what happened as a result.David Micheluzzi has just come on board to be coached by Ritchie, and he explains to us what they are working on, and the theory Micheluzzi had on his swing that Ritchie needed to disprove for their work together to be successful. And we finish by finding out what comes after golf for Ritchie, what are his plans and dreams when he gives golf away!A fascinating chat with arguably the worlds best golf coach, thanks to Hostplus it was great to host Ritchie Smith on Talk Birdie To Me. 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.

A feedback pod today with some cracking messages to chat through.We start with a couple on the Australian Open cancellation, on day one, that Nick and Mark spoke about recently. Raymond has written in and he was caddying that day, and remembers it very clearly, he runs through what he was seeing on the day. And Brad, who narrowly missed qualifying for the Open that year and went along with his wife to watch the tournament - unfortunately the day was, obviously, cut short!Phillip has some news on the Australian Women's Open which he asks Nick to confirm, or otherwise.McDougal has a view on this weeks comments about The Players Championship. Mark heard us discussing conceding holes last week and Nick and Mark noting how rare it is, he points out a very famous occasion from an Aussie! Andrew listened to Nick and Mark's 7 predictions, and has a prediction of his own.And after the turn, we review the putting technique of journalist and wolfpacker Jon Ralph who was playing with Mark last week, and was caught on camera putting to save par. We ask Nick O'Hern to analyse Ralphy's putting technique. Is he impressed or underwhelmed?Kevin from Vietnam writes to Nick with his views on the courses in that country, Nick knows it well having played golf there a number of times.And we read a note from Brenton of the Woodburn-Evans Head Golf Club in NSW who recently had a significant theft at the club, and are putting on a great day in March to raise funds for recovery. You can find out more here.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.

Like everyone Chris from Rutherglen on the NSW/Victorian border was excited about Elvis Smylie's win on debut for LIV last weekend, and in the lead-up to LIV Adelaide this weekend he watched a video on the LIV YouTube channel with every shot of Elvis' final round in the Riyadh tournament and left a voicemail recommending it and explaining why and what is in it. Have a listen to Chris' voicemail, and you can see the video he's referring to here. 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.

No time to muck around - right off the bat we reveal the BMW Touch of Class recipient this week, and it had to be Elvis Smylie....a huge win in his LIV debut, individual and team and a well deserved Touch of Class for BMW. Nick and Mark discuss how Elvis played, particularly with Rahm on the tear in the late stages, and how he has moved from 130 to be in the 70's now, on the verge of a Masters spot if he can have another couple of solid performances.His timing was pretty good given this was the first LIV tournament eligible for OWGR points, although both Nick and Mark feel the structure of how many points is not yet right. Obviously this weekend is LIV Adelaide, which as usual will be crazy - Adelaide being consistently LIV's best event.Brandel Chamblee made some controversial comments about The Players this week, Nick and Mark discuss and respond to his comments, around the field, the prestige, and Mark asks Nick if he could choose, which one major would he like to win. Nick also gives a recommendation for a restructure of the Women's Majors.Mark watched the Waste Management tournament in Phoenix and loved plenty of it, but was disappointed with two things. He explains.He has also brought in a ridiculous photo regarding aim point and straddling the line - it is truly insane we'll put it on socials, and show it on the YouTube show. We decide that were straddling the line to be banned, and it should be, that would be a plus for golf, and we reckon our friends at Hostplus, who are mad golfers, would completely agree.Oh dear.....the Chili Dip that was seen around the world from Colin Morikawa. We've all done it, but most of us not on international television. We discuss using the leading edge and 'hands of gold' when chipping. Nick and Mark watch the video, and give their thoughts on his technique.After the turn, following a chat about the OWGR points, we look at what you get for each tournament and if it is equitable. Then, for Betr, Nick's Top 5 is the Top 5 Chili Dips in golf....there are some classics, and a couple of very heavy hitters in there!Feedback for Southern Golf Club - we read a couple about Elvis, there were plenty, lots of comments on the Top 10 list - including a ripper of a suggestion from wolfpacker Jack who'd love a Top 10 Public Course list....which we reckon wolfpackers are better to suggest as there will be bunch we've not played. So....let us know what you reckon are your favourite public access courses, shoot a message through via the website, a voicemail, or comment on socials....you might have 1 suggestion, you might have 5, or somewhere in the middle, doesn't matter....give us your views and we'll compile a list.Nick runs through the results in the PING Globals - plenty of golf, the season is away with a bang. And during them we have a look at Tour Pro Chris Gotterup's swing - Mark has noticed something and wants to discuss it. Nick also has another killer Scottie Scheffler stat....this is becoming a habit, maybe we need a stats theme song opener?And predictably, Mark tries to search something on Grok and it goes pear-shaped....We wrap the show with a Masterclass for the Golf Clearance Outlet from Mark inspired by Colin Morikawa's awful chip at the weekend.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.

As U2 famously said: 'there's been a lot of talk, maybe too much talk' about Top 100 golf course lists, and last week there was another addition that caught Nick and Mark's eyes. Golf Australia Magazine gave their Top 100 Australian courses list, you can see it here. Like all lists, there is a degree of subjectivity to it and there's plenty on this list we agree with, and plenty we'd question, but that's part of it.Having said that, we decided to do the official Talk Birdie To Me 'Top 10 Australian golf course list'.So today Nick and Mark list their Top 10 Australian courses. We'd love your feedback, whether you agree or disagree, and if there are any standout courses that belong in the Top 10 that weren't AND what course you would remove to put it in there.We won't list them here, but we will list the state breakdown:On Nick and Marks list is:6 courses from Victoria;2 from Tasmania;1 from New South Wales;and 1 from South Australia.mmmm this could get controversial...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.