Talk Birdie To Me

A big episode of Talk Birdie To Me this week with the team in 3 different timezones. Nick is in South Australia working hard drinking wine, Mark is in Melbourne, and Third Man Dan is in Mackay in North Queensland.Nick is in SA doing some hosting at the BMW National Final and explains what he is doing, some of the golf he has been playing, and who with. He played The Grange courtesy of their pro Gary Simpson, Mark tells a great story about Gary.Last week Mark was very excited about his impending trip to play Tara Iti in the 'Lamington Jam', and we want to hear all about it. Did Tara Iti live up to his (high) expectations? Did he play well? Would he go back? How does he rate Tara Iti on a world scale? Mark talks us through his takeaways from the trip.We then talk about what Mark describes as 'the best short par 4 in the world', does Nick agree?Nick saw none of the Black Desert Championship in Utah at the weekend, as he was working, Mark saw a bit - and loved it. We discuss desert golf and how spectacular it is. Kalgoorlie hosting the WA PGA Championship at the weekend is another great example, Mark describes the decision to host the WA PGA in Kalgoorlie for the past decade or so as a 'genius' move by WA, in taking it to spectacular regional courses, much like what NSW is doing this year at Murray Downs.We discuss innovation in golf commentary and Mark explains what he saw the commentators in Utah doing when they analysed Harris English's swing. He'd love to see that kind of analysis on the Australasian PGA tour. This gives Nick an idea - he is playing with Elvis Smylie in Adelaide tomorrow, so he'll try to set something up. Watch this space.Then we talk real estate. For a lazy $10 million we can purchase and build a home on Te Arai golf course in New Zealand overlooking the 4th hole. We'll pass a hat around, perhaps the Talk Birdie Wolfpack can collectively buy in. Back to Tara Iti, Mark's Top 5 is his favourite 5 things about Tara Iti...ironically the course itself is not one of them! He explains.Nick is pumped in the PING global results as PING players, as usual, have been killing it. And we check feedback, which includes solutions for the Yips, more RakePod comments, and a whack for Mark which Nick says is overdue. Great masterclass from Nick, in two parts, both to do with Elvis Smylie. Part 1 on his swing, and Part 2 on his putting.Thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

A bonus Q&A pod today, we're all remote, Nick at home, Mark at 3AW about to fly out to play Tara Iti, and Dan in Wollongong.Today we look at some of your questions:Craig from Western Australia asks Nick and Mark about how to get passion for golf back if it has waned. Nick and Mark explains what they did when it happened to them.Antony and Clinton have comments on rakes. Yes seriously. It's getting beyond a joke now.Dave from Merewether in NSW is having issues with his putting and wants Nick and Mark's input.And Kris asks a ripper question - of all the guys who they have played with, who weren't pro golfers, were any of them good enough to potentially turn pro? Mark names one who he says absolutely could have been a golf pro and made 'the wrong decision not to'.Love your feedback, keep it coming, and leave a voicemail anytime on your phone at the link below.And a big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

We're scattered all over the place today. Nick is at home in his daughter's bedroom, Mark is at 3AW in Melbourne, and Dan is in Wollongong. The wonders of technology, but the nature of it is that the pod does sound a touch different.But....Mark has come in all excited, he has a new putter that he bought on eBay, and he is showing it off and tells us the backstory. Leads to a chat about Nick and Marks putting techniques - and Mark reckons you should 'roll' putts, not 'hit' putts. Big news as well, Mark is like a kid in a candy shop ... he is off on Wednesday night to play Tara Iti, his dream course! Nick gives him some tips.Mark tells Nick about seeing what he calls the 'craziest decision from a golfer he has seen in his life' this week. He explains. Nick is in vigorous agreement. It has to do with the Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion Wenyi Deng. Nick explains why he turned down a chance to play Augusta early in his career, and reminds Mark of the one chance he had to play it but skipped it to go to a party. Ouch.Mark thinks that the PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Jay Monahan are appearing to break bread, saying that they are getting very cosy at the moment. Is something happening? Are discussions progressing? And if the Grand Prix of golf gets up, how could the Australian leg look? Nick and Mark discuss, and Mark gives his idea to create an Amateur Sandbelt Classic.And just before the turn, we put a question to Nick O'Hern from pod Wolfpack member Nick about his 2005 Dunhill playing partner. Another ripping story from Nick O'Hern. Speaking of Nicks playing partners, he names the Top 5 celebs that he has played with, who he has not told us about before. The Top 5 for the great team at Southern Golf Club. Into feedback, for Flinders Golf Club, plenty of it, and we discover Nick has never seen the Ned Flanders Leftorium episode of The Simpsons. Both Mark and Dan are horrified.Leave us some feedback, or even a story about something that you've done, seen or are aware of - we love to hear from you. Email us, comment on socials, or leave a voicemail at the Talk Birdie website (link below).PING Global results are big this week, Nick is particularly excited about Cassie Porter being promoted to the LPGA tour. And for the new watchMynumbers app, Marks masterclass today is inspired by Cashmere Keith Mitchell 3-putting the last hole to lose the tournament at the weekend.Thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

Another big week in golf, if you missed our Presidents Cup Review podcast, check it out in the feed. Nick and Mark give their thoughts on what went wrong for the international team.Today we start with Mark chatting about his love of the game of golf, and why he feels it is so special. He invites Nick to play in the mighty Box Hill Golf Club Pro-Am, will Nick play? Looks like it! Leads to an unplanned interrogation of Nick from Mark on whether he will ever have a crack at the Champions Tour, and what he needs to do in order to get ready to do it successfully. Nick says, at this point, it's not in his plan but he never says never. We are hopeful.Have Nick and Mark gotten over the Presidents Cup loss for the internationals? Apparently not. We chat more about it. And we discuss whether in 2028 Ian Baker-Finch might be the captain, or an assistant to Geoff Ogilvie. An enticing prospect.Nick watched the Spanish Open at the weekend and loved it. He talks us through some of his favourite moments, and some memories of when he played in Madrid years ago - including his favourite bar in Madrid! Nick talks about how he, and many pros, feel a lack of pressure in playoffs, the nerves seem to disappear. Pod Wolfpack member Dave watched the Spanish Open and has a question for Nick and Mark about David Puig taking relief on the 11th hole, we call our rules guy Stu McPhee to explain what happened and why.Marks Top 5, for Southern Golf Club, is on his favourite US golfers to cheer against and why. In Nick style however, he has a Top 7. Nick takes us around the world in the PING Global results, plenty of action! And in the feedback, for Flinders Golf Club, we have plenty of Presidents Cup feedback, plus a question from Wolfpack member Grant on Lydia Ko's technique.And Nicks masterclass, for watchMynumbers, is inspired by a particular Jason Day shot in the Presidents Cup in Canada at the weekend.If you're enjoying the podcast, we have a favour - if you can tell 3 friends who love their golf about it, we'd love that. The more people listening the more pods we can do. And a big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

After a massive weekend of golf with the Presidents Cup terrible, then great, then underwhelming, we're emotionally drained. But, not drained enough that we didn't want to get together to analyse everything that happened.Through this bonus pod we run through each day's scores and what happened.Nick and Mark were both pissed after day one, but excited after day two. Day one was 'a disaster', but day two huge, and as Nick pointed out the crowd showing up clearly made a difference. Nick was annoyed about the selections, thinking that the matchups were not ideal for the internationals, Mark agrees. Why did Min Woo Lee get such little time? Nick says he is 'built for better ball' and this was an error. He says that the selections, or minimal selections, given to Jason Day and Ben An was 'baffling'.Mark says that Tom Kim gave a lesson in how to ensure golf is a team sport by revving up the crowd for the internationals. Does the crowd noise make a difference? Nick talks about the kind of roars from the crowd and how players know what individual crowd roars mean, and how it influences them.Given the dominance of the US for so long now, Mark explains his theory on why US golfers are so good.If you're enjoying the podcast, please tell a friend or two about it. A big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

With the Presidents Cup less than 24 hours away, Nick and Mark get together and kick around all things Presidents Cup. Mark is still in Port Douglas, thankfully today wearing a shirt, Nick in his home office in Melbourne.Nick and Mark discuss some of the history of the tournament, and share some stories. Nick was there playing for the Internationals when Woody Austin famously fell in the lake at the same venue at Royal Montreal, one of the great moments. Nicks talk through his own performances, who he played with and against.Nick explains how the draw for the Presidents Cup works, quite different to the Ryder Cup draw, and we chat about some of the stats.But who will win and how? Mark believes the Internationals will win and explains his theory on how they'll do it. Nick believes Jason Day is set for a big tournament, and gives us an incredible Adam Scott stat. We discuss the pairings.After the turn. Nick and Mark give their expert tips on who will win, what players will make the difference, who will have a massive tournament, and what players are the weak links. Nick and Mark give their prediction on the overall score.It's going to be a ripper weekend !If you're enjoying the podcast, please tell a friend or two about it. A big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

All over the place this week. Mark's in Port Douglas without a shirt on, watch out ladies, Nick is at home in Melbourne, as is Dan, and the wonders of technology means we're still yakking golf!Over the weekend Mark watched the highlights of the LIV teams event, and loved it - he describes the format as the perfect teams event structure, the best he has seen, and says LIV have nailed it. Nick watched the last 2 or 3 holes, and said it was fantastic. We discuss it, and Cam Smith's performance in particular. Mark chats about Dustin Johnson's backswing. Nick tells us about the time he went to Shaquille O'Neal's joint for a barbie in Florida!Back to Cam Smith, Nick and Mark are looking forward to commentating the Queensland PGA even moreso now that Cam has confirmed he is playing. Leads to a convo about the Australian Open - stand alone vs mixed. We've discussed it previously, the guys not a fan of the mixed format. Mark has said for years that a challenge with golf coverage in Australia is the lack of camera's available, and this is one reason why mixed tournaments are hard to cover effectively. He outlines his breakthrough moment in the 1992 Open and how it was captured on camera, a game changer for him financially as a young player, but this doesn't happen enough now.We discuss Jeff Guan's horrific eye injury, and what it may or may not mean for his career. We're all thinking of him, the prognosis is yet to become clear.And we remember the 10-year anniversary of, in hindsight, a highly amusing occurrence to do with golf and Mark Allen. It resulted in Mark being awarded the 'Worst in Sport' on America's ESPN. We play the audio.Top 5 from Nick is on his favourite Pro-Ams, thanks to our mates at Southern Golf Club. The #1 surprises Mark. Nick talks about playing with a couple of big music stars in the US, one we've heard of, one we haven't.Feedback thanks to Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure, and there are a couple of members of the Talk Birdie Wolfpack taking issue with Nick. And Damien gives all of us a whack over some comments he didn't like on last week's pod.Nick goes around the world with the PING global results, and we wrap with a masterclass from Mark - thanks to the watchMynumbers app on Cam Smith's short follow through with his putting of late.If you're enjoying the podcast, please tell a friend or two about it. A big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

Big news this week with Nick O'Hern snagging an Ace last week in the Wagga Pro-Am, we start the show by finding out what happened. To be fair we probably couldn't have stopped Nick telling us as he basks in his well deserved moment. Very exciting, and capped off a wonderful trip to Wagga for Nick!Tigers new clothing line is out, and the comments online are brutal. Nick and Mark give their thoughts, and they're not positive.Mark talks through the controversy at 13th Beach Golf Club, who we spoke to a couple of weeks ago on the pod. Three members have played a prank to highlight their views on the new female membership fee structure, leading to a suspension. The membership is divided, Mark says that a petition for change has momentum.Nick watched some of the final individual LIV event of the year and explains how the promotion/relegation system works, and those players currently in the danger zone. We discuss the captains exemption, we're unsure if it still is in place. If not, is Bubba in trouble? We have a Voicemail on rakes in bunkers, asking whether we even need rakes. Nick and Mark both have a strong view.After the turn, we chat about the Irish Open. Nick loved it and talks through some of the key moments. Mark loves watching golf at Royal County Down, and would love to visit one day. Thanks to Southern Golf Club, this leads into Marks Top 5 - the Top 5 Irish courses that he'd love to play, by name only as he's never been there. And Nick tells us the Irish course that he has a picture of on his wall at home.Nick and Mark decide they want to get Nicks old caddy Wilbur on for a bonus pod, and they explain what 'chiselling' is in the caddy world. Plenty to discuss in the PING global results, starting with the Solheim Cup, but plenty more to discuss - including the winner of the Wagga Pro-Am!Feedback is thanks to Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure, but it may as well be sponsored by Nick O'Hern as 90% of the feedback was on Nick's Ace in Wagga. See the video here. And our Masterclass this week comes from Nick, for the watchMynumbers app, and Nick is talking us through tips for playing uphill lie bunker shots.A fun show, and if you're enjoying the podcast, please tell a friend or two about it. The more listeners, the more episodes we can do. A big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.