Australian Golf Passport

Following on from our previous episode examining why course architcture is an important part of the game of golf, we rip through 20 listener questions on the topic: Should short par threes have small greens or big wild ones? Where would an Aussie Pinehurst be located? What will the sandbelt look like in 50 years? Are there too many blind holes at Kingston Heath? What's the best course redesign in...

Following on from a listener DM regarding course design issues, we devote an entire episode to the topic of golf architecture. Why does it matter? Why is the Old Course important, and why is Alister MacKenzie revered? How is it so many people long for firm and fast course conditions? All this, analytics, the wind at Cape Wickham, and more in a long discussion on one of our favourite topics. Below...

We recap Scott's win in the 2024 New South Wales GC A-Reserve club championship final, joined for the discussion by his opponent's caddie, NSWGC head teaching pro Warwick Dews. Warwick and Scott recap the shots that made a difference, discuss what each camp was thinking in some key moments and Warwick casts a professional's eye over the mistakes Scott and his opponent Evan Nguyen made along the wa...

Steve Keipert, editor of Australian Golf Digest joins us to chat about the magazine's latest rankings edition - with the Top 100 list of Australian courses controversially featuring a new #1. Cape Wickham sits atop the rankings for the first time. Steve goes through the nitty gritty of the process, and talks all things rankings, course architecture, and Aussie golf in a stimulating discussion....

Ever wondered what pure euphoria sounds like? Matt phoned in fresh from 12 hours walking the grounds of Augusta National to debrief on his day at The Masters. Just a quick episode, with regular programming to resume once Matty is back from his travels. Shoutout Burnley, shoutout Angus & Grace.

Lukas Michel joins the pod for a second time to chat about playing in the 2020 Masters Tournament: what he learned about the course; favourite shots, holes and greens; playing practice rounds with OWGR Top 10 studs; social distancing in The Crow's Nest, why food at The Masters tastes better & more. We also discuss his amateur career, his internal wrestle with the decision to ultimately not...

A quick catch-up before Matt's departure for the US to attend the Masters and play some all-world golf courses. We answer some listener questions, several with a Masters theme, go through some four-word course reviews of Aussie courses by American golf course architect Jaeger Kovich following his recent trip to the Sandbelt and chat a bit about what makes the Masters so special. Links below to...

Four-word course reviews are back! After an initial catch-up on some recent news in Aussie golf & the pursuit — not all of it successful — of their 2024 goals, Matt and Scott turn their attention to the 2024 Golf Australia Magazine course rankings. They go course by course through the top 20 with four-word course reviews for each of them, as well as some general discussion to begin of the noticibl...

      A real treat to chat with esteemed golf course architect Mike DeVries. Boasting decades of experience in the industry, Mike is one of the men on the ground at 7 Mile Beach. This episode focusses lots on the course, as well as Mike’s portfolio of courses, his thoughts on construction, and so much more.   The preamble of the episode includes Scott and Matt discussing recent golf course propert...

A snippet of 1998 Australian Open winner Greg Chalmers was featured within our previous episode – a focus on Royal Adelaide. This episode of the pod is the full chat with one of the more under-rated Australian golf talents of recent times.   It was a real pleasure to speak with Greg – he covered a wide range of topics during his talk with us.  We present the full discussion with the lefty from WA,...

One of the finest courses in the land comes under the microscope today - with the venerable Royal Adelaide layout our focus. Details are fleshed out by RA expert Terry Thornton, and the winner of the 1998 Australian Open (played at Royal Adelaide) Greg Chalmers. Everything you wanted to know about the course is in here, and there's even some details you might not have realised you needed to know!...

Matt and Scott take a leaf out of the NoLayingUp playbook and map out some personal goals for the year ahead. Golf, health, personal development – all bases covered. And some golf chat thrown in there amongst all the good intentions.  We hope this inspires listeners to reflect on the last year, and perhaps set some targets for the coming twelve months.    Australian Golf Passport podcast is brough...

We round out the calendar year in style – Mike Clayton returns to discuss all things golf, and give us a little look at Mike the man, not just Mike the golfing legend.   Healesville, The Sandbelt Invitational, the importance of staying active as we age, Mike’s connection with the game of tennis, The Addington, angles & data, Seven Mile Beach, course construction, caddying, young people riding in c...

Christmas is nearly upon us, so we decided to get into the festive spirit.  A busy last few weeks on the domestic golf scene sees a full news chat at the start of the episode. Australian Open wrap, Sandbelt Invitational nearing the finish, Scott claims the Cathedral Invitational, JDay and LKo win the mixed pairs PGA / LPGA Tour event, and ball rollback in the years ahead.  Rahm to LIV which means...

The biggest week in the country for professional golf is upon us, and Scott & Matt take a look at the event, and the host courses – The Lakes and The Australian.  The holes of note, the format of the event, players to watch, the all-important weather forecast for the week and more.  Even some possible changes to The Lakes are discussed, before a wide range of additional material fills the epis...

After having first visited the town of Bridport back in 2004 for a sneak preview round on Barnbougle Dunes, Matt recently made his first trip back there in more than four and a half years, and recalls the experience of several days playing over Lost Farm, Bougle Run and Barnbougle Dunes.   This episode starts with a reasonably lengthy recap of recent events on the local golf scene – taking the fir...

The New South Wales Premier Chris Minns yesterday announced that the busy and popular public golf course at Moore Park will be carved up to create more free-form parkland, at the expense of golf holes. It seems like golf is paying the price on the back end of unfettered urban development on the edge of Centennial Park and Moore Park.  As the population of Zetland and surrounding streets rises, the...

Is it the best course in the world? Who can say. Royal Melbourne’s famed Composite layout has its moment in the Australian Golf Passport podcast spotlight this episode. We discus the origins of the concept for a course combining holes from East and West, and why it originated. The holes that make up Composite, and the sequence in which they’re been played for many different events in over time is...

One of Australia’s finest layout, and one that is often over-looked by locals and overseas visitors alike.  We’ve been looking forward to covering East, and hope that you enjoy the discussion.  This episode kicks off with a brief summary of the experience at the Marvel Stadium Golf event in Melbourne, and the imminent opening of the underground carpark at Royal Melbourne are briefly discussed befo...

With a flurry of activity on the local golf scene, and one great question accidentally omitted from the recent mailbag episode, we call an emergency pod, and spend longer than we thought we would discussing the events of the week. First up is the topic that has been running hot on the local rumor mill - the alleged misappropriation of funds and assets from a prominent Victorian golf club.  Scott r...

The second half of the recent batch of listener questions submitted a little while ago are all covered in this fun episode.  Loads of really interesting and thought-provoking topics to cover including a hypothetical re-routing of a Sydney public course, and state of origin battle of the best of Victoria versus the best of the rest of Australia.  Golf on the northern beaches of Sydney, courses high...

Our guest for this episode grew up in Melbourne, and played golf in his youth, but his love of the game blossomed in early adulthood. His rise from playing at Rosanna, to working in turf at the club, followed by a season at St Andrews, to then working at Cabot and finally joining the esteemed Gil Hanse has been a steady and successful climb into the upper echelons of the golf architecture and cons...

Hot on the heels of a tremendous time with Tron Carter we dive into a perennial favourite - listener questions. Thanks so much to so many of you for sending in a fantastic set of topics to discuss. We’ve divided theese into two episodes, and have covered the first 50% here. Links courses, regional courses, Sandbelt bunkering, an all-time Aussie foursome, dog leg par 3s, par events, Huntingdale, an...

A distinct privilege to spend some time talking with No Laying Up’s Tron Carter.  A lover of all things Australian golf, Tron’s passion and knowledge shine through as he reflects on his previous trips to Australia, the courses he played and the places he visited.   Our discussion covers the Sandbelt, as well as the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas.  Tron shares his observations on Aussie golf c...

Ran Morrissett, the doyen of the online golf architecture community and founder of golfclubatlas.com is our special guest for this really enjoyable episode. Ran lived in Australia for several years and is one of golf’s most knowledgeable and passionate architectural minds.  He serves as architectural editor of golf.com, and also heads up their World Top 100 ranking panel.  Ran is also a contributo...