Talk Birdie To Me

Another Talk Birdie Mini, as we get thisclose to Christmas, and we chat with Mike from Bundaberg who has a slightly different view from Nick and Mark on technology in golf and how it is being used to manage scores and pros monstering courses.Mike reckons there are ways to do it outside of technology changes, and he puts his case to Nick and Mark to get their thoughts. He also makes an excellent point about when Augusta tried to 'Tiger Proof' the course, which backfired completely.Keep your comments and questions coming, we love them, and have a wonderful Christmas!

After a question last week about golf pathways, we discovered that Acushnet (who operate Titleist and FootJoy) have 18 PGA Pros working for them in various roles around Australia and New Zealand, and we thought it worthwhile chatting to one about their path and how it came about.And Emma Larson is the perfect person to talk to. Emma works for Acushnet in the Melbourne office, made 11 Australian teams and was at one point ranked #1 in Australia - so she's got some serious chops! Emma drops in to talk to Nick and Mark about her story from gun amateur golfer (our words not hers), to being a Tour Pro, and then retiring on medical advice.Emma explains what happened next with her golf career and pathway, and how she initially considering coaching, and tells us why she gave that up....her reasons were not dissimilar to Nicks!A great chat today with Emma Larson from Acushnet, and she shows a great example of one of the many and varied career pathways that are available to PGA Professionals.

There's been plenty of controversy around the proposed changes to the Moore Park golf course in Sydney, and in our view there is no valid argument to reduce the golf course. The facts don't stack up. Today on a Talk Birdie Mini we have some feedback from wolfpackers on the plan, and Nick and Mark give their view.Neither Nick or Mark have played the course a lot, however they know the area well, and they know the numbers of people who play it - Moore Park is the most popular public golf course in Australia.Mark says Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is wrong with her view on golf and who plays it, and NSW Premier Chris Minns needs to be more transparent with the costings.Golf courses serve a wonderful role in communities, and we need to protect them.

Feedback pod today with some great questions for Nick and Mark.Dan has a question about whether Kingston Heath can handle big crowds for next years Australian Open. Nick and Mark discuss that, and how the course will prepare for the big hitters, will the course be changed to accommodate them?Keith has written it to mention that Bill Dunk, who Dunk's Island at Royal Melbourne is named after, recently had a birthday and he felt Bill should be acknowledged. Nick and Mark agree and decide to reach out to Bill to get him on the show next year. Mark has a great story about Bill winning a small tournament and the speech he gave. Ryan went to The Australian Open at Royal Melbourne and was blown away by the course - but is torn, because he'd love to play it, or one of the other big sandbelt courses, and wants to know is there any way that a normal golfer can get on these courses?A comment on St Andrews Beach from someone who loves it and challenges Nick and Marks comments about it - presumably their comments about its Top 100 worthiness. Nick finds a spot to insert a gag referencing the classic Australian movie 'The Castle'. Great movie. How's the serenity.Ian has a creative solution for sand buckets. Stephen loved the Finchy interview. And Kent loved Nicks thoughts on swapping between left and right saying it saved his game.

Mark has come in excited today. After lending a mate a driver 35 years ago, it was returned this week! He's stoked....but 35-years, sheez....can anyone from the Wolfpack beat that timeframe for a bit of golf gear loaned out and returned? He was also given a ball that he autographed many years ago and brings it in to show us.And then onto the pod. Both Nick and Mark have been hearing from people consistently about just how good The Australian Open was, Nick has written a blog article about it on his website and you can read it here. Nick is still blown away by how exciting the finish was, and Rasmus up and down on the 18th on that final day - although he'd have loved one of the reporters to ask Rory what he thought of Royal Melbourne after he'd finished the tournament.Speaking of Rory, there was a rumour that he was a little frustrated by the Pro Am on the Wednesday, we discuss Tour Pros and their views of Pro Ams generally - Nick and Mark always enjoy them, for different reasons, but do have a couple of rough stories which they share.Rumour this week that Brooks Koepka may want out, in some way, of LIV. Is it correct, how could it even happen given he's got a year to go? Nick and Mark discuss. We talk about how Laurie Canter is looking at a million pounds in fines as he joins LIV and he has apparently said he'll pay them.Mark puts out a call for any wolfpackers in Sydney to come on the pod and give us a review of Royal Sydney. And remember the mysterious gap in the schedule in early March next year? We have found out what tournament is going in there....and it's pretty cool !!A Touch of Class for BMW is from Nick today, and he has chosen an Aussie LIV player for something that happened this week. And he backs it up, for Betr, with his Top 5 moments of 2025. His #1 moment is surprising, but very good.For Southern Golf Club, plenty of feedback - Leishman, Pro Am's this week in the Bendigo area with Lucas Herbert giving back to his home area, reaction to Mark saying The Australian PGA should move from Brisbane to Sydney, and a couple of hairy ones for Nick - one a question about Elvis Smylie, and the second about Peter Thomson - a gentle whack from a wolfpacker.Plenty in the PING Globals, including Nicks performance at Cathedral, and our wolfpacker Darren's performance in the Vic PGA Pro Am, along with Snowy from FootJoy and Hummer from Betr.And we finish, for watchMynumbers, with a cracking masterclass from Mark on some ways to get the most from your chipping practise.

A fun mini today, Pat from Nashville has sent a couple of videos of his swing through for Nick and Mark to review. If you're listening, obviously you won't see the videos however we talk through what we're seeing in detail so you will definitely get the idea and the tips and comments will make sense.Nick and Mark are very impressed with Pat's swing, he's self-taught aside from a few lessons from his GrandDad, has been playing for 3-years, and is off scratch.....seriously impressive stuff. He is a lefty, and Nick and Mark discuss how they like to flip lefty swings around and watch them as rightys, and explain why - and they give Pat a few thoughts on what they're seeing.We love reviewing videos of anything you're working on - be it driving, putting, chipping, whatever - so feel free to send us in a vid and Nick and Mark will take a look!