Ep177: Feedback: Why the US Caddy Culture is Brilliant, Club Songs, and Pre-Shot Routines

Big week at Talk Birdie To Me HQ, plenty to discuss, and Mark is excited to be playing one of Nick's fave courses this week, Cathedral.We chat Ripper GC's LIV win in Singapore, second in a row for the Aussies. Hopeless last year, on fire this year, says Nick. The hopeless team now in LIV is the Majesticks. Nick and Mark discuss playing Sentosa - water always a factor. And we kick around how many majors Brooks Koepka will end up winning. Currently on 5, Nick & Mark reckon by the end of his career he'll have 8.Nick mentions the doco 'Duel in the Sun', Mark says that if you haven't seen it you are banned from listening to the pod until you do. And he wants to know what you think of it. Onto TPC Craig Ranch. Mark says it looked poor on TV, he's not a fan. Nick agrees. This inspires Nick’s Top 5 for later in the show: his Top 5 worst courses on tour.Last week we discussed the Golf Digest Top 100 list, which Mark was unhappy about - specifically Cape Wickham being named #1. Today he doubles down saying that Cape Wickham is not even close to #1, and looks at the criteria used by Golf Digest. Mark feels it's too complex, needs to be simplified, and because of the spectacular outlook at Cape Wickham, that is why it got the nod. Nick wonders how consistently playable Cape Wickham is, given the winds on the island.On Thursday this week we’ll have a bonus pod with Steve Keipert of Golf Digest to discuss the Top 100 list with him, get his rationale for the rankings, and give him an opportunity to respond to Marks comments last week.We chat about LIV Adelaide and how much it cost to put on. Following last weeks pod, Mark had a call from his mate James who works for LIV and says that he believes Mark's inside info on a couple of players leaving LIV to be incorrect. We'll get James on for a bonus pod at some point and get his thoughts.Top 5 from Nick on the worst courses on the PGA and European tours. Ouch!Lots of feedback, a few whacks this week, but we don't shy from that we're happy to cop a whack. We also realise we have a lack of prizes, and Mark has the idea to give away copies of his DVD which strangely didn't sell out - the ironically titled '87 ways to make golf simple'. And we need your input for pod listener Rob - what are the 'must play' courses for him in Northern NSW. Let us know and we'll read them out next week.Huge week in the PING global results from Nick, and Marks masterclass for watchMynumbers is on a flaw he discovered in his game last week.A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:PING, they'll help you play your best, you can 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 ;& the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Subscribe and never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 Touko 20241h 1min

Hold everything. Mark has come in worked up, he is not happy that Cape Wickham has been named the #1 golf course in Australia by Australian Golf Digest, and says that they have clearly got it wrong. Mark says that the list (see it here) has now lost all credibility and whilst he loves Cape Wickham, it is not the #1 course by a long shot. Mark believes the list should be immediately changed as it is clearly flawed. Love your thoughts.LIV Adelaide last weekend was huge. Massive crowds, a fantastic atmosphere - couple of muppets here and there, but largely well behaved - and Nick and Mark discuss what they saw and how they reckon it went. We also give Sam from the Golf Clearance Outlet a call as he was there playing with a couple of superstars - he tells us all about it! And Mark reveals that he has the inside word on a couple of major LIV signings who he says have indicated that they will not be re-signing with LIV at the end of their current agreement. Brooks Koepka, DJ and Bubba Watson.And we have a new number 1 female Aussie golfer, Hannah Green has knocked off Minjee Lee. Both wonderful players, but Minjee has missed a couple of cuts lately, leaving the door open for Hannah.Mark watched Rory McIlroy's win at the weekend, and thinks he looks tired. Nick and Mark discuss the workload on pro golfers and what the ideal number of tournaments to play in may be. That said, Rory wasn't too tired to smash out a version of Journey's Don't Stop Believing (here) which wasn't too bad.And Talk Birdie listener Michael has a problem with his golf, which he's after some input on from the boys, so we get him on the phone for a yak.Fun Top 5 today, Mark gives us his Top 5 pros who never won a major. Has he missed any obvious ones?Huge PING global results today, there is plenty to discuss and Nick runs us through it all - including some dubious fashion choices that Mark raises.And lots of feedback, plenty on LIV. It was divided, about half of the feedback we received was from people who loved it, half weren't into it, but that's cool - we're all into different stuff! And Mark gives us an update on the Australian Open - which is that there is no update yet.Great masterclass from Nick today on distance control with pitching.A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:PING, they'll help you play your best, you can 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 ;& the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Subscribe to never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1 Touko 20241h 6min

A ripping bonus pod today! Former World #16 Nick O'Hern and former Tour Pro Mark Allen chat with US Pro Golfer Hannah Gregg, who has just been in Australia playing a couple of tournaments.Hannah shares her views on our courses, in particular the famous Sandbelt and names her favourite Aussie course. We were aware of one run in with a snake while Hannah was here, but she shares a story about a second snake incident. Perhaps she was fortunate to get back to the US alive !Whilst in Australia, Hannah got engaged to her partner Fred - an accomplished golfer in his own right - and Hannah hands the phone to Fred to tell us how it happened! Hannah has built a strong social media following, and she posts some fantastic content, this enables her to work with some terrific brands, and assists in funding her golf career. Hannah tells us about the importance of that community to her golf, and we hear all about 'Short Game Gains', the business that Fred and her have developed.And we find out the next steps for Hannah, and when she heads back to Europe.You can check out Short Game Gains here. And follow Hannah on Twitter/X, Insta, TiKTok and Facebook.A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:PING, they'll help you play your best, you can 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 ;& the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Subscribe to never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

29 Huhti 202422min

Mark is excited about how many people he is seeing on golf courses and driving ranges at the moment, saying interest in golf feels to be at an all-time high, Nick agrees. The carpark at Australian Golf HQ is chockers. And even though TV ratings are down Nick and Mark discuss if that may be due to people watching on smartphones...there'll be people way smarter than us who can figure that stuff out.Fine wins in a row for Nelly Korda. Nick says it's 'crazy' how good Nelly is. And Scheffler on fire again, his iron play is a 'joke' according to Mark. He runs through Schefflers stats. Impressive, leaving everyone else well behind. Another player who impressed was 15-year old Miles Russell. Mark and Nick discuss. Nick runs through some of Miles stock yardages, they are good. See here from our mates at Flushing It. And then we take a twist with Mark outlining his knowledge of trees. Yes trees. If you have any tree questions, feel free to reach out and Mark will answer them.LIV Adelaide is nearly here. Last year was huge, the biggest LIV event in the world. Mark has heard that the crowds will be 20% up this year, Nick has heard 50%. Both are hoping it's not too wild, but is still great fun. Nick says that LIV last year was the biggest tournament buildout of a course that he has seen, including the PGA tour.We discuss those Rory rumours from last week. Mark is very happy Rory didn't go. And then the pod goes pear-shaped for a sec when Nick sends Mark a stupid video that Mark can't stop playing. It is very juvenile, but you can see it here.Nick's Top 5 is inspired by Nelly Korda. The Top 5 female golfers in recent times who have 'changed the game'. The Gisborne Golf Club, destroyed by fire last week, have a fundraiser to rebuild here. Lots of feedback, including Daniel who says Scheffler is 'boring', Nick & Mark respond. Nick brings us the PING global results & Marks masterclass is on ‘landing closed’ for watchMynumbers. He explains in the masterclass on the pod.A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:PING, they'll help you play your best, you can 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 ;& the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Subscribe to never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

23 Huhti 202458min

We love to receive your voicemails, some are questions for Nick and Mark, others are you simply leaving a comment or a story. So, from time to time, we'll pop a voicemail in the Talk Birdie To Me podcast feed. Today, we've got a voicemail from Scott Mitchell in Brisbane who left a message about not aiming for the pin, putting Nick's course management advice from last weeks episode into his game at the weekend. How'd it go? Well Scott tells us. If you missed Nick's advice, it is in Episode 59, and see the video here.If you want to leave a message for us - it is very simple, just head to our website here on your mobile or computer, hit the record button, tell us who you are, where you're from, where you play your golf, and leave your message. Couldn't be easier, you'll be done in 60-seconds.We're here each week with the great support of PING, see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting. Just like they have with Nick O'Hern, PING will help you play your best. And the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them instore in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here. And watchMynumbers, the powerful data-based golf app in the world - play smarter by using data. Download from the AppStore or GooglePlay.And don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and you can see all our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

22 Huhti 20241min

What a weekend in Augusta. Lots to unpack, and Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen whilst tired, are ready for a debrief on The Masters.Scottie Scheffler, a huge victory, with exceptional game management according to Nick. And his putting was a lot better, although still room to improve, which Nick and Mark call 'scary'. Last week Mark said, of the notable players, he felt Scheffler couldn't win. We've filed last weeks pod under 'episodes that won't age well'. However, he did pick Aberg to do well, and was bang on. Nick and Mark are impressed with how calm Scheffler is, and Mark adds that Aberg is so calm for his age, and he loves his before the ball routine, it is so consistent. Nick says there is 'something special' about Aberg.We discuss DeChambeau's iron specs, which are quite unique. Nick says that Augusta is a very difficult course for a player like Bryson, and has two reasons why, which he talks us through. Jason Day's clothing. Mark reckons he looked like Carl Spackler in Caddyshack. Tiger, even though it wasn't the result he'd have hoped for, Mark won't hear a bad word about him - 24 straight cuts, got around the course, and he loved the video of Tiger that Augusta shared. On our Twitter feed here. Tiger commented at Augusta that he wants to get bigger, Nick and Mark don't feel he needs to.We chat about the Aussies, Cam Smith finished in T6 in what Nick called a strange weekend, only one eagle and only a couple of bogeys, but T6 impressive nonetheless. Davis was up there for a long time, and his finish gets him Masters entry next year. Min Woo Lee, playing with a broken finger, was good, and Scotty did well after sneaking into the cut. Jason Day....well we still can't believe the outfits. And NZ's Ryan Fox led early, and fell away.Mark reveals a huge whisper about Rory McIllroy and the Australian Open.Top 5 from Mark on 'unusual technique flushers'. In the PING global results, plenty of results aside from The Masters, Nick runs through them. And a fantastic Masterclass from Nick on how Scottie Scheffler managed his way around the course on Sunday. And we wrap the show with the NBC tribute to the great Verne Lundquist, who has retired this week, and a very funny story about Mark escorting a tour group to The Masters, and a 75-year old guest ending up being 'sin-binned' by Augusta for breaking their strict rules.A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:PING, they'll help you play your best, you can 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 ;and the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them instore in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Talk Birdie To Me has new episodes weekly, and regular bonus eps. Subscribe to never miss an ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend who may like it. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

16 Huhti 20241h 7min

We're live here on Saturday arvo Australian time for a bonus US Masters pod 'after the cut'. Not from Australian Golf Headquarters, but we've hooked up the trusty old Zoom and got all high tech!Nick and Mark discuss The Masters so far. The wind has made it tough, very tough to play but Nick says 'a joy to watch'. Mark said that on day 1 Bryson DeChambeau played some of the most special golf he's seen. However, he has done a reverse on his pre-Masters prediction, and Mark now believes that Scheffler will win the tournament. Nick agrees, and in fact Nick predicted Scheffler prior to the tournament beginning.Mark has come armed with stats. 92% of masters winners of all time have been within 5 shots of the lead entering the final 2 days, which Mark says, from a statistical point of view, any player with a score even or 1 under, or worse, cannot win from here.Nick discusses the extraordinary 10 minutes where we saw Justin Thomas and Matsuyama double bogey the last hole to let 11 players into T50, including our own Adam Scott. Keep in mind the cutline was T50 + ties. Unbelievable. Great for Adam Scott who looked gone.Can Cam Davis win from here? Mark says no, but he can get second.And we discuss Greg Norman buying a ticket like us normies to get into the tournament behind the ropes. And Jason Days pants. Oh. My. Goodness. What was he thinking.A fun one today, 2-days to go - can't wait to see how it ends up!We're here each week with the great support of PING, see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting. Just like they have with Nick O'Hern, PING will help you play your best. And the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them instore in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Talk Birdie To Me. New episodes weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and you'll never miss one! And we'd love you to share the podcast, and if you can rate and review us that would be great. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, or send a voicemail to us here. And all our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

13 Huhti 202423min

Being Masters week, we have a fantastic bonus pod this week.The pod is in in two parts. Firstly, pod listener Mitch from Sydney wrote in and asked how you get into caddying, and make a career of it. We thought, who better to ask than Simon Clarke, who has been a caddie on the pro tour for 30+ years and is currently in Augusta caddying for Aussie Jasper Stubbs who is playing his first US Masters this week. Clarkey talks us through his career, how it started, who he has worked with and what he loves about it. And Clarkey talks us through how Jasper's preparation is going for the Masters.After the turn, we take a forensic look at Augusta. Mark Allen has Nick O'Hern and Clarkey talk us through the Augusta course hole by hole. How each hole plays, the shot selection, club selection, and the pitfalls of each. It is a fascinating insight into one of the worlds great tournaments - perhaps the greatest. We're here each week with the great support of PING, see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting. Just like they have with Nick O'Hern, PING will help you play your best. And the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them instore in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.Talk Birdie To Me. New episodes weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and you'll never miss one! And we'd love you to share the podcast, and if you can rate and review us that would be great. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, or send a voicemail to us here. And all our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;And watchMynumbers and Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Huhti 202440min