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Ep92: Mark: The Australian Open 'Format Experiment' is Over, it is Beyond a Joke and Can't Continue.
Season 2, Ep. 92
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What a weekend! The Open was great, with some exceptional golf played. Congratulations to Ryggs Johnston, Jiyai Shin, and Simon Seungmin Lee.
We're live from Titleist HQ surrounded by about a million boxes of Pro V1's and the simulator right behind us. We start with the Open and Johnston - his 'classic college swing', how he's come out of nowhere, and Mark asks Nick if he would have won if Kingston Heath had played like a typical sandbelt course. Nick gives his view and rationale. We discuss Lucas Herberts final day which went pear-shaped, with his emotions on full show. The format. Nick and Mark say it simply doesn't work, with Mark saying 'it is now beyond a joke and cannot continue, the format experiment is over'. He has a revised idea on what GA could do, involving piggybacking off LIV Adelaide. Nick is a fan of the idea and Mark gets to work on getting a board member on the pod in the next week or two to discuss it.
SMS alert goes off, it's a voicemail from Pete in Gippsland who wants to discuss pace of play at the Open. Nick and Mark are in vigorous agreement with the principal of Pete's comments. Mark reveals he has been unwell over the weekend - self inflicted, so zero sympathy from Nick and Dan. He blames last weeks guest, superstar Michael Peña, for leading him astray at the Kingston Heath bar. Sounds a bit excusey.
Last week Mark looked at the Huntingdale redevelopment, and describes Mike Cocking as a genius for how it's shaping up. He has an idea about a golf day there for the Talk Birdie Wolfpack. Play golf, have a feed, couple of speakers, organise gift packs. Some kind of cost to cover it obviously, but let us know if you're keen....if enough are, we'll sus it.
Inspired by Ryggs, Nicks Top 5 for Southern Golf Club, are unknown winners in tournaments. He forgets one obvious one. Feedback is focused on the Baker-Finch comments last week, and the Michael Peña pod. It's a busy show so later in the week we'll do a bonus pod with some Wolfpack questions. The hotline rings: Michael from Rich River Golf Club wants to discuss walking the fairways in major tournaments. Plenty of fantastic results from Nick in the PING Globals with, as usual PING players doing well as they so often do.
We had an sms from Frank at watchMynumbers who was watching Lucas Herbert practise on Sunday prior to tee-time, and he gave us a fascinating stat on the practise putts. The watchMynumbers Masterclass is on Jiyai Shin, Ash Buhai and Rory McIlroy's backswing.
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☎️ Voicemail: Tour Pro Scotty Laycock on 'Air Swings'
01:13||Season 3, Ep. 0Scott Laycock is a Tour Pro with plenty of stories and after a recent pod where Nick and Mark spoke about Rory's airswing in The Australian Open, and their experiences with airswings, Scotty left a voicemail about an airswing he had at Victoria Golf Club as a Pro.Feedback: Bill Wants Sandbelt Advice, Kristin is After NSW Golf Club Advice, and a Compliment for Monty !?!?!?!
19:51||Season 3Feedback pod today and we start with a video call from wolfpacker Bill in Florida. Bill is planning a trip to Australia, and is keen to play some courses on the sandbelt - he's after some advice on courses that he can both get onto, and won't break the bank. Mark has a ripping idea that Bill accepts on the spot! He's also curious about when the weather in Melbourne might be most suitable for golf....as any Australian knows, trying to predict Melbourne weather is a little like picking lottery numbers....but Mark has a recommendation nonetheless.Then we have a comment from Brad about watching Peter Senior play recently - which gives us the idea of getting Pete on for a chat. Homework for Mark over the Christmas/New Year Break is to give Pete a call and try and lock him in. We'll keep you updated on how that goes.JD has some feedback on an interaction he had with Colin Montgomerie which is bound to get Mark riled up a little. And it does. Tim has a comment about one of Marks masterclasses and the connection the Jack Nicklaus. David has a question about the golf schedule, and an idea for a new tournament - which is no unlike an idea proposed by Frank Nobilo some time ago.Kristin is visiting Australia soon and has a day booked with family to play NSW - she is keen on any tips Nick and Mark have for the course, they discuss a few of the holes and what Kristin may consider.And we wrap up with a couple of messages about 'golf sayings', one from Stan and one from Martin. And Mark notices Dan is wearing a new pair of FootJoys, rather than one of the older pairs he's been rocking around in for a while....how do they feel? You know they feel good.Mini: Kangaroo Island - "This Course Needed to be World Class"
21:39||Season 3This is fun. Today we chat with Darius Oliver from Planet Golf who, among others, designed Cape Wickham. His current project is very special, a new course on the cliffs at Kangaroo Island in South Australia.We start with Darius talking about what makes Kangaroo Island so special, he says that it gets in your blood and mentions a New York Times comment that it is like 'a zoo without fences' due to the abundance of wildlife on the island.Nick and Mark ask about his philosophy in designing this new course and Darius tells us that it needed to be world class, the best possible course it could be on the land, and that his intent was not to look at Top 100 lists but rather to build 18 interesting holes that are each different and are fun to play for golfers. And he is confident that they have done so.Nick asks Darius will Kangaroo Island surpass Cape Wickham? A fascinating mini today and we cannot wait to see this stunning new course when it's ready to open!Mini: Technology in Golf - Wolfpacker Mike Gives Nick and Mark an Alternate View
12:34||Season 3Another 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!Mini: PGA Pro Emma Larson on Her Career and Pathway Post Playing Professionally
09:36||Season 3After 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.Mini - Moore Park Sydney - 'Golf Courses are in the Cross-Hairs'
08:42|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: Can Kingston Heath Handle a Huge Australian Open Crowd? And Nick tells a Wolfpacker that 'He's Dreaming'.
20:58||Season 3Feedback 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.188. Ep188: Does Brooks Want 'Out' of LIV?, Feedback on Marks 'PGA Should Move to Sydney' Idea, and New Tournament in March Revealed.
56:09||Season 3, Ep. 188Mark 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.Mini - Video Swing Review with Wolfpacker Pat from Nashville
12:36||Season 3A 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!