Talk Birdie To Me

Big pod today, and of course we start with the fantastic win by Aaron Rai, he came from behind, but what a final day - particularly the last 9 or 10 holes on (his) Sunday. Mark says if you're going to win a golf tournament, that's the way to do it....Nick says that the finish was insane. We discuss the clubs he had in the bag.Aaron of course was the headline, but there were other notable performances. Cam Smith had a cracking tournament, and was in the hunt until midway through the final day. We discuss the challenges of him parting ways with his coach prior to the tournament. And Nick and Mark talk about his swing, Mark has a video from the weekend of Cam that he breaks down and discusses, and talks about how Trevor Imelman had some great observations on Cam's swing on the commentary. Min Woo played well, but couldn't keep it going through the weekend, and Nick said that when Jon Rahm birdied the first two holes he thought we were on. Nick and Mark both agreed, great to see Rahm playing well.We discuss the golf ball rollback, and the ball Cameron Young used in the tournament....interesting...leads to a chat about drivers and bifurcation.For Hostplus, our plus for golf this week was Aaron Rai - not the win as such, but the dedication to his family, which was beautiful to see.From a plus, to a negative. Ryan Ang at the weekend on the China Tour. It's quite disgraceful that he is even playing at the moment, and it's something that the various tours need to fix.Mark raises the routing at Kingston Heath for the Australian Open, he doesn't like it, and implores Golf Australia to change it saying it 'isn't too late'!After the turn, for Betr, Nick lists the Top 5 nicest players in golf....spoiler alert, Aaron Rai makes the list!Feedback for Southern Golf Club, we hear from you on Aaron Rai, Keegan Bradley, Garrick Higgo, Cheating, Inhoi Hur, the Australian Open news from a week or two ago, and feedback on Nicks comments about Cam Smith last week.And for PING, who'll help you play your best, Nick takes us around the world with the PING Globals.We wrap the show with a great masterclass for the Golf Clearance Outlet, inspired by Aaron Rai, Mark's masterclass is on 'courage'.

A Monday Mini today and we're chatting with Craig from Western Australia, who now lives in Warrnambool in Victoria. Means he gets to play the beautiful Warrnambool and Port Fairy regions....lucky duck....However, Craig is looking to develop his game further and he is unsure of how to explain to a prospective golf coach exactly what he's looking for. It's obviously an investment in time and money so you want to get it right. He's come to ask Nick and Mark for a few thoughts which they are happy to share. Mark coached for 7-years, and he explains how he liked people to explain to him what they needed and why it made a difference. Nick has some thoughts on why the timeframe you're looking to be with a coach makes a massive difference to the initial conversations.We reckon Craig will nail this and his game will go from strength to strength!

Friday Feedback pod today, and it gets off to a rough start with Mark suggesting that we are overworked and he feels like the kid in Conan the Barbarian.....bit of mayo on that tbh.But onto your feedback!Darren has some comments on Justin Rose after our chat last week. Keith has written in about Marks 'creating space' video (see it here). Carl heard Nick and Mark talking last week about the demise of the bump and run, and had a comment.Fun question from David who wants to know what some nicknames of players were...there aren't too many that Nick and Mark can think of, but there were plenty of caddy nicknames, they reminisce about a few.After the turn, Drew from the US reckons that we all need to give Scott O'Neil some time to get LIV's funding sorted, and Drew is confident that he will. Basically he reckons we're writing it off too soon.Nick has found out what TGL stands for....and it's not what we all thought!Jack has a question on LIV, if it fold, what the legal ramifications might be for players regarding outstanding contracts. Would Nick and Mark take the Saudi's to court? mmmm....perhaps not.Last week Mark posed the question - do people in Turkey eat Turkish Delight chocolates? We've had a couple of wolfpackers write in to clarify.And Alex has sent in a video of one of Mark's fave players with a killer chip that is absolutely world class....Mark is suitably impressed!And a reminder that our annual Talk Birdie survey is open until Sunday, $300 to spend on FootJoys, and $300 to spend at the Golf Clearance Outlet could be yours for taking the 6-7 minute survey! Here's the link.And we end the show with a very funny story from one of Marks sources in the US, albeit going a bit pear-shaped at the end....apologies to anyone who Mark offends.

A bonus Feedback pod today, specifically focused on the news from last week that Golf Australia head honcho James Sutherland revealed on the Talk Birdie To Me podcast, about the Australian Open moving to North Adelaide in a multi-year deal.We've had mountains of feedback from wolfpackers, and it is mixed. Some love the idea, some hate the idea, it would be fair to say that there appears little middle ground, the feelings are strong either way. We start by replaying some of James comments about his excitement about the news, and his confidence that if they get the course right it will be the biggest Open ever.Nick and Mark have been thinking about it since the heard the news, and have some concerns. In a country where we have some incredible golf courses that are world standard in multiple states, courses that players love, it seems a risk to have our biggest event on a course that is not built yet, at least not to Open standard as it's currently a public course. Mark understands that the backdrop of the city, so close to the CBD, will give it something special, however he'd like to know what sort of course it will be, what style of course? Nick has never seen the course, however has a friend who has, and likens it to (for Melbourne listeners) like an Albert Park level course at the moment.The speculated $45 million price tag will be likely to include infrastructure, of which there will need to be plenty, Mark wants to know if that includes fees for some internationals to come here, saying that the $3-4 million Rory was paid to come to Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath will not be anywhere near enough to get him to North Adelaide.Lots of feedback (good and bad) including the legendary Bradley Hughes with his views on the multi-year arrangement.This will evolve, and we're always keen to hear what you think so let us know on socials or comments on the pod itself.

Huge Talk Birdie today, we start with the great win from Lucas Herbert on the LIV Tour, and how his record just gets better. Mark talks about when he played with him in the Vic Open, and Nick shares a story about playing with Lucas on the Gold Coast. Nick describes him as 'streaky' and says consistency is the next goal for Lucas. Unfortunately not in the PGA Championship this weekend which is a shame, and we talk about where he may end up, and have status, should LIV fold.The Korean cheating incident continues, with more coming out about what happened when Inhoi Hur cheated in the tournament and the rules officials completely screwed it up. Nick has received an email from one of the broadcasters at the tournament who listens to the pod, and says that whilst our comments last week were on the mark, there were some more things that happened that he witnessed which we didn't discuss.....he fills in the gaps....holy hell, could this wild story get wilder? You bet it can.He reveals that all four rules officials who erred were Korean Golf Association officials, none from the Asian Tour were involved. He says 'no sane golfer would ever accept a ruling that gave them a mulligan', and confirmed that the Asian and Korean players were all furious with both the officials and Inhoi Hur. He also describes the mayhem at the clubhouse which he witnessed, and that he was there when Inhoi Hur's wife was screaming at officials, so much so that Inhoi took her out of the clubhouse - the only honourable thing he did all weekend to be honest.Nick plays a grab from Sean Connery on golf, which Inhoi Hur could do well to consider in future.Onto the Australian Open. Following our chat with James Sutherland last week with the news of the AO move to North Adelaide, we've had some time to process it, and Nick and Mark aren't entirely convinced. Nick says he has some concerns and worries the course will not have the cache for the big international names to make the trip. Mark is worried that the course has bee committed when it's not even built yet, however he understands from someone who is in the know, that the offer made by South Australia was one that was impossible to say no to. Plenty of feedback on this from you, which we won't do today - given the volume of cheating feedback - but we'll do a bonus feedback pod tomorrow just on the AO.For Hostplus, Nick says that his 'That's a Plus' for golf this week is the career of caddy Mick Doran who has retired this week. One of the great guys on the tour.A reminder of our Talk Birdie To Me annual survey, great prizes up for grabs, it takes about 6 minutes the link to do it is here.For Betr, Marks Top 5 this week is people, some golfers, who were given names by their parents that are very golf inspired, perhaps with an intention in mind. Has he missed any? Let us know.The PING Globals from Nick, plenty of results to run through including a strong performance from Ryan Ruffels who played at the weekend, Mark tells a story about playing with him when he (Ryan) was 14 and being blown away by how good he was. Nick also mentions Boo Weekley who won at the weekend, and we remember the orangutan story....if you missed it, you really need to see it. Here's the link.Feedback today for Southern Golf Club is all focused on the Inhoi Hur cheating saga. We start with a voicemail and then work through just a fraction of the huge amount of feedback we received from you.And a ripping Masterclass for the Golf Clearance Outlet from Nick on rhythm and tempo and why 'matching' the two is important, inspired by Brandt Snedeker.Phew....a big pod today, back tomorrow with an Australian Open bonus feedback pod!

Big week this week with the PGA Championship at Aronimink. Nick has mixed memories of the course, and by mixed, we mean ordinary ones....he's played it a couple of times and in his words the course 'beat him up', Nick and Mark discuss the course, the style, and how it plays. Nick says that it's all about the par 4's on this course, they grind you down, and you need to control the spin.Mark has loaded in all the players he wants to follow on the Find My Player app - it's a ripper, if you haven't downloaded it, well worthwhile - get it at Google Play or the App Store. We run through the power rankings and look at the top 15 or so players, Mark is red hot for Cameron Young saying it is inevitable that he will win a major. And we frame up our Betr multi, which looks on the surface to be a pretty decent shot. Hummer at Betr frames it for us. You can jump on board at the Betr website or their app, look for Betr specials and you'll find out multi there:Scheffler to beat BrysonRory to beat RahmCameron Young Top 10Looks very doable. It'll be a cracker this weekend, can't wait !!!

Sheez we've had some feedback on the cheating incident in Korea a week or so ago, and we have some very interesting inside information from someone who was at the course in a role where they saw everything - we'll read out some of what they have said on the main pod this Wednesday....it is WILD !!!We'll also hear a bunch of your feedback on the show, some comments, some questions about that incident, and cheating in golf more broadly. Today though, a couple of voicemails talking about the Korean incident, broadly, one from Owen from Axedale (near Bendigo) on how they deal with this situation at their club, and a second from Chris from Illinois who feels that the way the OB was handled in that tournament was wrong, and the situation may have been avoided by doing what he suggests.Two voicemails for the price of one today !Make sure you hear tomorrow's episode though.....this info we'll read out is quite extraordinary.

A fantastic Monday Mini today where a question has come in from wolfpacker Craig, and it's a ripper. Essentially Craig asks Nick and Mark if, at the peak other careers, or when they were struggling, if they had a phone call from LIV (in the hypothetical scenario LIV was around then) would they have said yes or no.Both Nick and Mark answer the question. And they discuss other players who have gone, and whether it was the right move or not, one Australian player Nick and Mark name and say he timed it perfectly. Another they name and say they feel it may have made the wrong call and had he not gone he may have been the greatest Australian golfer ever.A great Talk Birdie To Me Mini today, off the back of a ripping question from Craig.

Tour Pro Scott Laycock was listening to the main pod this week where Nick and Mark were angry about the cheating in professional golf, specifically the incident last weekend in Korea. Scotty also had a poor experience in this vein in Asia when he was on the tour and left a voicemail outlining what happened.