Ep101: Why Nick Wants to 'Name and Shame' Certain Tour Pros, Shot Clocks, Wet Weather Golf

Grace Kim. What. A. Star.That was really one of the great finishes in a major, Grace was so calm, cool and collected and nailed the win. Nick and Mark discuss the tournament, obviously the final day in particular and what they loved about Grace's performance - the recovery after hitting it into the water, the chip shot, so much to be impressed with. Mark asks if anyone has ever hit three eagles on day 4 to win a major? He can't recall it happening. And Mark notes that credit must go to the PGA and Golf Australia, particularly Karen Lunn, in their development of the womens game in this country.Mid chat, the fire alarm at Titleist and FootJoy HQ goes off....there is a possibility we may not survive and this could be the last pod ever.....but, crisis averted, it's only a test. Phew.Back to the Evian. Obviously the big story is Grace Kim, however Mark loved how well Gabi Ruffels played, and he tells Nick his favourite thing about her development as a golfer.Another exciting result this week was Mark's cousin* Steve Allan who went wire to wire in New York to win on the Champions Tour, a popular winner, and Nick and Mark loved it. Nick raises Marks round at Kingston Heath at the weekend, he had a cracker....10 birdies in the first round with his brand new Titleist clubs, he talks us through the round and explains where it went well, and when he got nervous and had a couple of tough holes.We had young Jasper on the pod a week or two ago, he played in an under 10's tournament in Sydney last week and won by 34 shots ! Sheez....If you've not jumped on board our Talk Birdie Multi with Betr, 14 bucks for Scheffler to miss the top 10 at The Open Championship, into Lowry to beat Rory, into Fleetwood to beat Bryson. Head to the Betr website or app, search for Betr specials and you'll find it there - takes 2 minutes to set up an account, and you send us your bet, a screenshot, we'll choose one wolfpacker to win 250 bucks to spend at the Golf Clearance Outlet ! Nice.After the turn, we read the release from the OWGR on the LIV application for OWGR points. Should LIV players get points? And if so how many? Love your thoughts. Nick and Mark believe they probably should, but with limits. Inspired by Grace Kim, Nick's Top 5 counts down his best ever finishes in a major to win a major. And in feedback, as you'd expect, a heap of comments on Grace's win. Plus we get clarity on who the Liver King is, and a comment on UK crowds.Plenty for Nick to run through in the PING global results, obviously the Evian the big one, but lots of other golf over the weekend. And a great masterclass from Mark on chipping.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 Jul 56min

It's the week of The Open Championship, or the British Open, depending on how you say it. Before we get to that though, we have to touch on Grace Kim's fantastic win, we'll go through it in great detail on tomorrow's main podcast, but we had to acknowledge it today given how incredible the win was, particularly the finish!Onto The Open. Nick and Mark discuss what Royal Portrush is like, how it plays, and how well one of the players they like this week - Shane Lowry - plays this course. Mark is concerned about Rory given the undoubted media attention he'll receive. Can Jason Day win? He could, but Nick and Mark don't believe he is playing well enough at the moment; however they do like Ryan Fox this week.Mark feels that this tournament may be Adam Scott's last chance to win a major. Nick disagrees. Predictably, Mark is bullish on Sepp Straka, knock us over with a feather, who'd have seen that coming. Nick disagrees (again), saying whilst the course suits Straka, he doesn't rate his chances. Mark says Morikawa is no chance as he is hitting the ball terribly at the moment.And Mark names the player that he would love to win the tournament (hint, it's not Straka). And Nick explains why he believes Scheffler might struggle this week.We run through a bunch of other players and how they might go, including Nick and Marks tip for the winner, and their roughie.And, given it's a major, we've got our Talk Birdie To Me multi on at Betr. Two legs a reasonable chance, one a bit riskier, but that gets the odds up a little further, we'd love you to get on board at Betr if you have an account, and if not, it takes a moment or two to set up. Here's the multi:1) Tommy Fleetwood to beat Bryson2) Shane Lowry to beat Rory3) Scheffler to miss the Top 10Paying 14 bucks. Remember, there's no guarantee you'll win, it's just a bit of fun, so if you can't afford to lose it, then don't bet it. But it's a fun one to whack 5, 10, 20 bucks on. You can find the Talk Birdie To Me multi on the Betr website or app under 'Betr Specials'.See you tomorrow when we go in depth on the amazing Grace Kim result on the main pod !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.

15 Jul 22min

This week we have a bit of fun, we've invited Australia's longest driver Jordan Bovalina into the Titliest / FootJoy simulator at Talk Birdie To Me HQ to see what he's got in the tank. Nick and Mark are interested in how he goes about hitting the ball, what he's looking to do to obtain distance balanced with accuracy, and we look at his numbers live in the simulator as he hits a few balls.The audio version is great - the video version of this one has to be seen to be believed. 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 Jul 13min

Tour Pro Scotty Laycock is a regular voicemailer and always has great stories from his time on the tour, after hearing Nick and Mark talking about Aaron Pike, a Northern Territory (originally) tour pro, he left a voicemail with a fun story about Northern Territory Tour Pro Unho Park & Indian Tour Pro Jeev Milkha Singh swapping drivers on the range.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.

12 Jul 1min

A feedback pod today, and we look at a few comments from you in response to Marks statement last week that he feels Royal Melbourne will need a small miracle to be ready for The Australian Open. He has heard some further information that is concerning, and unhelpfully says this on the pod, but refuses to divulge what that information is, leaving Nick, Dan and the wolfpackers all hanging. Poor form from Mr Allen and he should know better.That said, Harry has messaged in saying he has seen Royal Melbourne recently and agrees with Mark that it will be difficult to be ready in time. Thomas said Mark is being dramatic saying there is plenty of time, and 3-months of that time is peak growing season being Australia's spring. Sammy gives Mark a whack saying he's not a greenkeeper so what would he know. Ouch.Fun message from wolfpacker 'schooled golfer' on an experience he had with Wayne 'Radar' Riley a number of years ago, and leads to a rakepod chat.Ian doesn't like the term 'metalwoods' and offers an alternative. Do Nick and Mark agree?And after the turn we chat with Steve from Melbourne. Steve's objective is to play the the Victorian Senior Amateur event in 2026 as a tribute to his mate who always wanted to but is now unable to. Steve needs to be a 5-handicapper or better to qualify, and he's presently a 7.1, so is after some tips on how to get under 5.Keep the feedback coming, we appreciate you sending it in and listening, or viewing, the pod. If you haven't subscribed or given us a review, that would be great!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 Jul 25min

It's a great time of the golfing year, the Scottish Open this week, and The Open Championship next week. And the Evian is on this week as well, Nick and Mark discuss the course (which they both dislike) and ask does anyone actually like the course?We chat about Links Golf in the UK. Nick and Mark love the UK's links courses, particularly the smaller ones that are lesser known, they discuss what they like about them, one of the things is what they call the 'honest bounce' you get on UK Links courses. Mark recommends that you have some smaller UK Links courses on your bucket list.Nick talks about why he had two putters when he played The Open Championship, and how the sound of the crowds in the UK are different to anywhere.Nick talks about 'zone days' and how he and his caddy adjusted how they worked together when he was 'in the zone'.We discuss The Open Championship's 'Last Chance Qualifier' at Royal Birkdale in 2026. A fantastic idea.Nick is excited as the winner of the John Deere Classic in Illinois, Brian Campbell, was the shortest hitter in the field.Aussie golfer Jeff Guan, after a dreadful accident on the golf course, is planning for his comeback event in Darwin. We discuss the challenges he'll be dealing with, but obviously wish him all the best as he takes this next step.Our mates at Golfies have a fun comp starting on July 10 for The Open Championship. Use the codeword Bryson, get 50% off, and if Bryson wins The Open - you get a full refund! And you are still in with a red hot shot to win the 25 grand Thailand trip if you win 8 matches. Deets here (Bryson comp starts on the 11th).Update on the Top100 list, one of the honchos at the list has agreed to come on Talk Birdie To Me next week to discuss the list, and how they reached the decisions they did.Top 5 from Mark, inspired by Jeff Guan, the Top 5 comebacks from injury in golf. Nick has the PING globals and there has been plenty of action to run through - including a ripping performance from Nicks mate, tour pro Austin Truslow who was on the pod a couple of weeks ago. And we have a new entry into Nicks Top 5 womens swings, which is fast becoming a Top 20, which comes from kiwi tour pro Amelia Garvey.Lots of feedback, three key themes this week: the hardest first hole in golf, and Mark asked for wolfpacker suggestions on the best holes for 'first tee banter and heckling', one of the suggestions for hardest first hole was also where Mark got his first ace! Feedback also on the discussion about whether a male scratch golfer would beat an LPGA Tour Pro, and plenty of comments on young Jasper from last week - if you haven't seen his swing, he is a 9-year old single handicapper, watch him here.And a great masterclass, which is less masterclass and more recommendation this week, from Nick on 7-Woods.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.

9 Jul 1h

Bonus pod today with only two things on the runsheet.Before we get to that, Nicks been hitting balls, giving his new blades a workout at Long Island, Mark was at the range and has suffered the ignominy of both putting his back out using his 7 iron, and his son getting better club head speed than Mark. Awkward.But to item number one on the runsheet. An email from wolfpacker Alistair, who met Nick recently at Cathedral, has asked the boys if there was one hole anywhere in the world that they would like to redo, which would instantly improve the 18-hole experience on that course, what hole would it be? Alistair's question came from a chat with a couple of his mates where they were suggesting that the 5th at Cathedral wasn't a great hole, nor the 10th at Yarra Yarra.Mark goes to Pebble Beach and discusses a hole there that he thinks they got wrong.Nick goes to Riviera, and talks through a hole there that he'd fix if he could.Leads to a chat about plaques on holes with player quotes, Nick and Mark can only think of a couple, we'd love your input if you can think of any?After the turn we move to item number two - a spot from Australian Golf Digest which gave a view of plane seats with a 3x3 seating structure, and two tour pros in each row - asking people to nominate the seat they'd choose and why. It was a great question, see the image here. Nick and Mark discuss where they might sit and why. During the chat Mark tells a story about how Tiger Woods handles business idea pitches that people have for him, and Nick tells a great story about his caddy Wilbur being upgraded on a flight from Dubai to Perth and what Wilbur did on the flight ..... !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.

6 Jul 20min

Farah is married to Ray Mak who gets regularly mentioned on the pod, and Ray played a round with Nick O'Hern a few days ago....did it go well for Ray???Farah left a voicemail and explained what happened....it doesn't sound pretty (for Ray).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.

5 Jul 1min