Ep154: Ian Baker-Finch retires, Cam Young's Killer Final Day for his First PGA Tour Win, and a Royal Melbourne 'Open Update'

This week on the pod we had a question from wolfpacker Deryck about players smoking on course (in the older days), and it reminded Shaun from Ashburton in Melbourne about a nasty incident in the US that he witnessed, and none other than our very own Mark Allen was there as well!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 Sep 46s

A feedback pod today, and we start with some iron covers chat - couple of pieces of info, and do Nick and Mark soften their stance on iron covers as a result?Message from wolfpacker Deryck who is curious if Nick or Mark ever played with the cigar smoking Darren Clarke or Miguel Jimenez, and he has a ripper story about Darren. Mrs talks about warming up once behind Miguel, in the early days, and thinking he was a complete hack!Andy dislikes some of the celebrations he sees after tournament wins, and would like to know if the boys feel the same way.And after The Turn, Anthony has a career path for one of the Talk Birdie Team, and would like to know if that team member is keen, and if the wolfpackers can make it happen. Short answer, yes he'd be up for it, but no the wolfpackers can't make it happen. Details on the pod.Chat last week about the TPI swing analysis, and both David and Paul messaged us about a video on YouTube which is long, but apparently very good. You can see it here. Whilst on YouTube videos, Mark watched one at the weekend on how golf clubs are made and found it fascinating. You can see it here.Peter has a comment on the points system that we have been chatting about (for LIV and the PGA). Mitchell from Paraparaumu in Aotearoa has written in about the reciprocals he gets with Melbourne courses, and he's on his way there to play some pretty special courses in October....he's excited!Speaking of excited, Ivan is excited about a new Golf Clearance Outlet store coming to the Mornington Peninsula.Trim has a suggestion for the greatest shot ever made, Nick relays a story that Wayne 'Radar' Riley told him about the greatest shot he ever saw, and Mark tells the story of the greatest 2 shots (they are related) he ever saw!Fun pod today.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.

4 Sep 22min

Last week Tiger Woods was asked to name the four players he'd have on the Mount Rushmore of Golf, and he gave his four names. Today we do a new sort of Talk Birdie To Me, which we're calling a 'Talk Birdie Mini', which is an ep which runs around 10-minutes or so, not more.Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen discuss Tiger's names, and then give their own personal Mount Rushmore names - themed as players who influenced their golf the most. And then we name the Talk Birdie To Me Mount Rushmore four.During the pod we hear a great story about Lee Trevino from Nick.While we're talking about players who influenced us, we decide to have a comp for the wolfpackers - we need two names from you. Firstly, the Tour Pro who influenced you, or you love(d) the most, and secondly, the person at your local club, or from when you were a kid, who influenced you the most - not a famous person, but a kind of local hero. We'll read out a few, and the stories, and randomly pick one entrant to score 250 bucks from the Golf Clearance Outlet!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.

3 Sep 10min

With the Ryder Cup teams for the US and Europe now a lock, a little later in the show we discuss the makeup of the teams and who will win. Mark says the European team is very strong, and tips them to win, Nick feels it will be close and the crowd may play a role.However, we start today talking about one of, if not the, greatest courses in the world - Cypress. Stunningly beautiful, and the venue for this weekends Walker Cup which is not being shown in Australia, much to Nick and Mark's chagrin. Yes there was much chagrin to go around. Chagrin wherever you look.Nick talks about one of his favourite books called 'The Match', and explains the premise....fascinating. Mark reckons it should be a movie and on the off chance any Hollywood type people listen to the pod (we realise it's a small chance) can you possibly make a movie out of it? Hang on.....our mate Michael Peña is back in Australian in a couple of weeks, maybe we can hit him up to lean on his contacts.Mark played Royal Melbourne at the weekend and gives a report on the course condition, the fringes, the greens and the trees. He reckons it'll be ready for The Australian Open, and look a million bucks, possibly except for one aspect, which he highlights. There is another thing about Royal Melbourne that he thinks is not right, and refers to some golf architects as 'mad'.We discuss the pathways news from last week, very exciting. Ernie Els comments about Tiger and the Champions Tour, Nick and Mark both feel it's a good move for Tiger and explain why....and in other Tiger-related news, Charlie Woods got a hole in one at the weekend! We have a listen to it.Nick is excited about the some of the European tournaments coming up, and chats through them.Touch of Class for BMW this week comes from the LPGA and features Miranda Wang with a fantastic performance in Boston. Given her surname, cue predictable and obvious Caddyshack joke!On The Ryder Cup - Mark makes the bold call that Betr don't know as much about this kind of golf as Nick and he do, and that he reckons we'll do a multi that will absolutely rinse Hummer and the team at Betr.Into the Top 5, thanks to Betr, and today it's on the top 5 vistas in golf featuring fauna (and such). Why 'and such'? No idea, Mark said it, we couldn't figure it out. Nick talks about the famous cypress tree at Cypress Point.PING globals from Nick, plenty going on to run through.And lots of feedback covering 'Chokers', Steve Williams, Caddies, some stories on Thomas Bjørn after Nicks comments last week, and on Lyndsay Stephen. Plus a whack for Greg Norman from a wolfpacker....ouch.And Nick's masterclass today is on the 'Pinky Drill'.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 Sep 59min

Voicemail over the weekend from Sandy in Belfountain, Canada, which is just a little north west of Toronto. Sandy was listening to Marks comment that Rory's shot in The Masters was the greatest ever, and whilst he agreed it was great, had a different shot that he feels qualifies for that award - and it involved an Australian!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.

31 Aug 1min

So this weekend we're checking in with wolfpacker Steve in his quest to get under a 5-handicap, we'll get to that shortly. Firstly though, a couple of comments and questions.Wayne asks whether Nick and Mark would have benefited from a TPI swing analysis in their pro days, and he has an idea for the Australian Masters involving LIV and the DPWT. Whilst on LIV, Jake is curious as to why the flow of big name signings is not what it was, and have they changed their approach to now sign younger players.The TPI question leads to a good chat on the perils of chaining your technique as a Tour Pro and why it is a huge financial risk.Then onto Steve. He has sent in some chipping and putting videos, whilst they're clearly visual, the commentary and advice around them from Nick and Mark is easy to understand and take in. Worth a listen. Steve, you may recall from his appearance on the podcast a month or so ago, is trying to get his handicap down from a 7.1 to under 5 in order to play the Victorian Senior Amateur in 2026 to honour a mate who has cancer and is unable to himself. Fantastic to check in with Steve and get an update on his progress.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.

30 Aug 16min

We love receiving your voicemails, and Craig left us a message about the recent conversation regarding male scratch golfers and whether they could compete with an LPGA Tour Pro. The discussion got a lot of feedback, most people agreeing with Nick and Mark's view that there is zero chance the male scratch golfer would win, and a few disagreeing. Craig gives us his view, with an example.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 Aug 51s

We saw some great audio and vision of Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus this week talking about Scottie Scheffler, and Nick saw some of Scottie talking about playing Tiger. We were all chatting about it, and thought, let's smack out a few thoughts as a bonus pod. As the great poet Hilary Duff said....why not?We start though with a couple of questions. Nick and Mark become medical experts* when wolfpacker asks about his tennis elbow. Hadn't realised that we were qualified to give medical advice, but hey there you go. Tom from Arizona has messaged through with some encouragement for Nick to consider the Champions Tour.And then we get to a message from George, who sent through a clip of Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus chatting about Scottie, which we have a look at and discuss.Followed by a further clip that Nick saw this week of Scottie talking about what he learned from playing against Tiger Woods.A short bonus pod to wrap the week!*not actual medical experts.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.

28 Aug 16min