Talk Birdie To Me

Another massive pod today, we start with Mark reviewing Huntingdale, he played it at the weekend. Does it play as good as it looks? He tells us.And then. Gary Woodland. What a performance, what a story, and what emotion. A fantastic and very popular win in Texas, nobody deserved this more. Nick and Mark discuss his performance and how he has come to this point. We listen to/watch the winning putt, and hear some of the post win interview.Are challenging pin placements late in a round good or bad for golf? That might depend on whether you're playing or watching. Certainly Karl Vilips might have some strong views after he ping-ponged across the green at the weekend. Nick and Mark give us their thoughts.Tiger. We have to discuss Tiger. And we do. The BMW Touch of Class this week goes to Min Woo Lee after his extraordinary bunker shot at the weekend. And we award the Hostplus 'Thats a Plus' for golf to, who else, Gary Woodland. 7 Mile Beach. Nick and Mark have heard contrasting reviews - some love it, some feel it's very tough, maybe too tough. We discuss the reviews.After the turn, for Betr, Mark lists his Top 5 'gotcha holes', those holes that lull you into a false sense of security and you think you've got them, but then BAM they nail you.Nick takes us around the world in the PING Global Results.And in feedback for Southern Golf Club, plenty of whacks....some for one member of the team for something on last weeks pod, some for the entire team after something different on last weeks pod. And Mark reads out a text from a Tour Pro who listened to last weeks show where we discussed the Monday Q story on the player suspended for cheating, and makes some WILD accusations. We wrap the show with a masterclass from Nick - he calls this a 'combination masterclass', and it's a ripper.

We must apologise for the start of today's pod. Mark and Dan were ready to go, Nick was extremely unprofessional and decided to send a text just as the show began, so there's a slight delay while Nick finishes his extremely important, far more important than Mark, Dan and the Wolfpackers, text message.But...once we get through this hiccup in the Talk Birdie Zen, we get on with the show! JH has a request for Nick and Mark which the boys don't mind....and this leads onto a chat about a very famous, and very funny, movie that Nick has (embarrassingly) never seen !?!?!?! He really is having a shocker today. Onto Andrew, who has a comment on 'golf farces'. Tony heard Mark talking about his desire to travel to Ireland, and has some course suggestions for him. Whilst in the UK, Craig played the London Club last week and gives a report on the conditions. Trevor has messaged us about slow play and aim point, and believes a particularly massive Tour Pro is guilty of the former - but is a protected species.Mark has been shopping on Temu again....sheez.Alex has a question. His club head speed isn't great and he has found a way around it that works for him, and is interested in Nick and Marks thoughts on it. Peter watched John Senden play a few months back in the Australian Open, with Parkinsons, Peter also plays with Parkinsons and has asked if we can get Sendo on the pod to chat about how he does it, some of the tools he uses. Mark tells a great story about playing with Sendo in New Zealand where a shot went extremely pear-shaped.And Chris from Toronto writes in to let us know he enjoys watching the pod on YouTube, and has a recommendation for another pod we should check out....we've not heard of it, but when we google it, it is massive!

Peter from Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne left a brief voicemail on Sunday outlining something quite special that happened at Commonwealth at the weekend.....surely this is a record? Have a listen to Peter's voicemail and let us know if you have ever seen or heard anything like it previously.

We love chatting with legends in golf, and today we have a cracker of a guest - Mike Harwood won 3 huge events in Europe, came second in The Open Championship, and has played with some of the biggest names in international golf. Today for Hostplus, we host Mike Harwood on the Talk Birdie To Me.We start with Mike telling Nick and Mark how he got into golf, how it all started and how he caught the bug. He tells us how old he was when he first shot under par. Get ready to be simultaneously impressed and envious.Mike talks about playing the Troppo tour in Queensland, his recollections about playing with the various characters who were on the tour at that time.Mark asks Mike about the time he took Greg Norman down at Castle Hill and what happened - Mike reveals something about that tournament that we've never heard and blows us away! He talks about the four big wins he had, and his performances in Europe. Mike discusses his 'attitude' when he played and why he always expected to get results.Mike is very tall, and Nick is curious about how this impacted his clubs in the bag, in answering Mike reveals what the worst thing he ever did for his golf swing was, and why he feels it hindered his career.Of course, we have to discuss The Masters. After finishing second to Ian Baker-Finch in The Open Championship, Mike was not offered an invite to The Masters. Nick and Mark want to know why not and how he felt about it. Mike answers both questions.Mark asks Mike about playing with Greg Norman at the World Series of Golf, and what happened when he was announced to the tee. Very funny.And we wrap asking Mike about what's next for him? He's helping out at Southern Golf Club, and explains how much he enjoys that, and there's plenty of family time.A great chat with a legend of Australian golf, fantastic to host Mike Harwood for Hostplus on Talk Birdie To Me !

Short feedback pod today. Lots of comments on our Bubba Watson mini - if you haven't watched or listened you can find it in the feed here - fair to say he is a polarising character! Tour Pro Paul Moloney enjoyed the recent reminiscing about Pantales Nightclub, where the Pros would hang out in the UK.We spoke last week about shooting under your age, and have a couple of messages to read out - have we found the record ? It may be, or may not be, but they are impressive either way. Leads to a chat about Nick and Mark playing Clearwater in Christchurch.A question about players not defending their titles, is there any excuses or is it poor form?And a wolfpacker has heard us talking about Switchstar, the charger that turns off after 8-hours of charging your buggy - thus protecting your house, or golf club - but he kept missing the name. It is Switchstar, and you can check it out here.Last week Nick was giving tips on playing in windy conditions, and we had two wolfpackers write in - one with some info that he heard Sir Nick Faldo give on windy conditions, and another with his own tip....which Mark rates.Did Mark's caddy who bet against him (many years ago without Marks knowledge) share the winnings? We find out.A while ago we listed some of the yippiest moments in golf.....but, according to one wolfpacker there was a massive one that we missed, in fact he feels it should be number one. We listen/watch.A comment on the NSW Golf Club from someone who has a view on whether it is worthy of an increase in ranking, or not.And we wrap with a final message from Craig on a fantastic 'shooting below your age' record, which may well be the record.

We start today's show as we did last week - by congratulating Hannah Green, 3 wins in a row and she appears well on track for a major in 2026. Nick and Mark discuss how she looks so comfortable and in control at the moment, Nick awards Hannah the Hostplus 'That's a Plus' for golf this week...hard to argue.Matt Fitzpatrick played beautifully at Valspar to win, he's in great form. However it wasn't all smooth sailing as he was frustrated by the slow play of his playing partner Adrien Dumont de Chassart who played with the speed of a slow moving turtle. Matt has spoken about this before, and he was clearly unhappy after the tournament - and rightly so. Nick and Mark discuss what the punishment should be, and why the powers that be seem to never do anything about it.An alarming story, that Nick and Mark were unaware of until they saw it on the Monday Q Twitter account about a young Tour Pro being banned for 6-months for cheating, however playing in a tournament in China at the weekend. We talk through the problems with this, and how the governing bodies could better approach it (rather than keeping it secret) to both act as a deterrent and a punishment, but also provide a path to redemption for one mistake.Jon Rahm's appeal has been dropped, what does it mean for the Ryder Cup?Rory McIlroy's menu for The Masters dinner is all over the internet, we discuss it - particularly the wine. Nick awards the BMW Touch of Class to the wine list. Leads to a chat about Nick and Mark playing at the weekend with Hostplus honcho's David and Mark at Victoria Golf Club, and particularly how it ended in the clubhouse!After the turn, Nick lists his Top 5 fast swings on the PGA Tour for Betr.Then into feedback for Southern Golf Club: feedback today on Tiger, Cheating from Tour Pros, clarity on our legal terminology that we mangled last week, Hawthorn's Mitch Lewis and his amazing round at PK North last week, and lots of comments on Radar - including some feedback from one particularly big name!Nick takes us around the world in the PING Global results, and Mark's masterclass for Sam and the team at the Golf Clearance Outlet is inspired by something Ludvig Åberg does in his pre-shot routine. 

Some more feedback today, we start with Scarby who loved The Ox's random drop in a couple of weeks ago, and reckons he should be a regular guest. Not the worst idea we've heard to be honest.Nathan asks for clarity on the difference between Australian style and American style courses, after a chat he heard on last weeks show. David played Bonville recently and after hearing the discussion about it last week had some thoughts following his recent visit. Keith reckons Kooralbyn Valley was always under-rated, and had it been on the Gold Coast would have been far higher regarded, however he feels it's condition presently isn't what it could be.Leads to a chat about some Australian golfers who went through Kooralbyn Valley, including one very famous one, and another who was extremely talented however had some personal challenges that got in the way. Mark has a story about the latter which he wants to consider whether it's appropriate to tell, he'll decide after the turn.Wolfpacker Greeny played NSW recently, and talks about the wind! And James 'vents' on duffers and how they drive him (as a self-confessed duffer) crazy.After the turn.....Mark decides to tell the story. Steven Bowditch had all the potential in the world, and remains a very, very good golfer. He has had some well documented challenges with alcohol, which is the context of the story that Mark tells from a tournament in New Zealand. We'll note here that Steven has spoken openly about his struggles over the journey, and from all reports is in a good place at the moment and healthy, which is what we all want.Then we get Craig, a Brisbane wolfpacker, on the show who tells us all about the redesign at his course, Indooroopilly, which has it in schmicko condition! Craig explains what was done, how it's changed it, and if the members are happy with the results.And we wrap with a comment from Paul on Denis Brosnan, of Brosnan's fame, and he has a wonderful bit of trivia about Denis that we share.....leading to Mark giving you some homework!!

We've been talking a bit about a new product called Switchstar lately, and for good reason. There has been a number of incidences in Australia of lithium iron batteries catching fire with catastrophic results - not only at golf clubs, but in nursing homes, garages, without being overly dramatic, it can be devastating.Given Mark currently is charging his MGI buggy in his garage, he thought we should get John O'Callaghan, the guy who invented Switchstar, on the pod to explain what it is, how it works and why it solves the problem. Mark has had several instances where he's woken up in the middle of the night and realised he's left the buggy on charge for 3-days, and ducks downstairs to turn it off.John explains why batteries can explode, what causes it. And he explains how Switchstar can prevent this happening by automatically turning off after 8-hours, or when it identifies the battery is fully charged - removing, to a significant degree, the risk. He explains what items this works for, and what it isn't appropriate for, and how easy the install process is.John explains that there are insurance benefits to having Switchstar installed which potentially can result in more savings than the cost of the unit.Eagle eyed Mark spots an opportunity for golf clubs, in particular his, to install a heap of these and charge members a fee to leave their buggy at the club - at the moment buggies have to be taken home given the risk, but with Switchstar, they can be safely left at your club - very handy.It's a cracking idea, and you can find out more info at the Switchstar website here: https://switchstar.com.au/

Today we run through some questions from you and kick them around.We start with a message from a wolfpacker who seems to be a Tour Pro, and has written regarding Nick's story about not signing a card of a player in Asia some years ago, he had a similar story about playing on the Korean tour involving both a player and a rules official. Another wolfpacker asks Nick why he waited until the end of the round to raise the issue, rather than addressing it whilst on course.New listener Lee is working through the back catalogue of shows, and has a question about Marks recent masterclass on wedge distance control.And as we go to the turn, an update on young Sophie, a 9-year old wolfpacker who listens to the show with her Dad Travis, and sent her swing in a month ago....Travis has written in with some news on Sophie's golf.After the turn, Shankedit has written in, he's just moved to Perth and is after some advice from Nick on playing golf in a region (like Perth) where it is incessantly windy.Peter has a question about Tour Pro's swapping clubs during a tournament, leading to a chat about Justin Rose, and the PGA money winners list.And we finish with a couple of comments about Wayne 'Radar' Riley, one from a listener who rates him, and another with a question about his appearance....mmmm....