Talk Birdie To Me

Today on Talk Birdie we have a guest in studio, the boss of Golf Australia James Sutherland, who is in to talk about a few things - not the least of which is how he got Rory to sign on for the Australian Open, and the new handicap system, website, app, which has launched in the last day or so. We start with the Australian Open, and James talks about how the Rory appearance has changed the ticket s...

Well....there's a bit to unpack today. The Ryder Cup had everything. Incredible golf, clutch shots, comebacks, drama, and appalling behaviour from fans....where to start... We start with Shane Lowry's incredible cup retaining putt. Followed by an equally incredible celebration, and after what he had to put up with from the crowd, he deserved that moment. Nick and Mark watched plenty of it over the...

Feedback pod today and we've got some cracking questions from wolfpackers to run through. Mick has a question about slow play at his club, particularly as they have some older members. Jack is looking forward to the Australian Open and, aside from Rory, wants to know has there been any other big names revealed as coming. Wayne asks for Nick and Marks thoughts on the best Australian Open finish the...

After last weeks Talk Birdie Mini where Nick and Mark selected their 'dream teams' consisting of one player from each of Australia, the US, Europe, and an International to face off at Royal Melbourne Composite, en-route to the tournament, there has been an incident rendering all 8 players unable to play, and the venue now out of action. So, excluding the original selections of Shark, Karrie, Tiger...

What a week....big week in golf, plenty to discuss. We start with a chat about one of our favourite young players, Elvis Smylie who nearly won the French Open at the weekend! Absolute gun. And Mark tells us about giving some advice to a couple of golfers at his club last night, he explains the tips he gave them with their putting and runs them by Nick - does Nick rate the tips? Mark certainly does...

Well it's here, the week before one of the great golf weekends - the Ryder Cup. But before we get to our preview, a reminder about our Talk Birdie To Me Golf Day at Links Golf and Wellbeing at Hope Island on the Gold Coast, it's now two weeks away (Wednesday October 8th), Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen will be playing the tournament along with 80 or 90 wolfpackers. A few tickets left here . The prizes...

It's Ryder Cup week and fittingly we start todays feedback pod with an historical question from wolfpacker Ben on the Ryder Cup. Ben asks Nick and Mark for their recollection and thoughts on the controversial Paul Azinger incident in the 1991 Ryder Cup, it was called the 'War by the Shore'. Marek has an idea about how the 'big guys' could use some of their cash to help young players. Could it work...

We've been asking for you to let us know who the local hero is who helped you develop your game, maybe as a kid, a teenager, or later - the local unsung heroes. We've been receiving plenty, and we'll post some here, some on socials, to celebrate these very special people. This voicemail from Anthony in Ballarat is a ripper telling us about someone who was very generous with him and his development...

So we've decided to do, from time to time, Talk Birdie To Me 'mini's, which run no longer than about 10-minutes and see Nick and Mark discussing only one issue, or answering one question. This one is great fun. Wolfpacker Joseph, a greenkeeper from New Zealand has asked Nick and Mark to construct their team to face off against the others. For their teams, here are the rules: 1 x Australian player...

A couple of weeks ago Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen listed golfers they disliked playing with, and wolfpacker John was surprised Greg Norman didn't get a mention, in fact Nick said he enjoyed playing with Greg. Johns rationale was, in part, Sharks treatment of Lucas Parsons as a young pro in the early days. So, there's only one thing for it, let's get Lucas on to explain what happened. We start with...

Nick's back from Vietnam and he's rocking a tan, which he is happy to show all of us. Mark says golfers tans are the worst, given the time on course and the kind of gear you wear. Nick gives us a run through on the Vietnam trip he did, the courses he played and the fun they all got up. Mark, as it turns out went to Wagga Wagga for the Pro-Am, and had a great time! He tells us about the Wagga trip...

Wolfpacker Paul left us a voicemail with a prediction about the venue for the 2028 Australian Open, sure it's a way off yet, but there's a reason why he has indicated 2028, and he explains in the voicemail message. Much like Steve in The Castle , Paul is an ideas man! See what you think of his suggestions. We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners: Hostplus, Talk Birdie...

We start today with some awfully sad news, long time wolfpackers would know our rules guy Stu McPhee, whenever we needed anything clarified, Stu was our go to guy - what he didn't know wasn't worth knowing. Sadly, Stu passed away last week from cancer, and we acknowledge him on the pod today, and our thoughts are with his family at such a difficult time. And then, as Stu would have expected, we ge...

Slightly different pod this week, Nick is in Vietnam for the week with a bunch of lucky golfers playing a number of courses there, so he is coming to us from his (undoubtedly luxurious) hotel room for the pod. We get a run through of the courses he's playing, and how he's dealing with the humidity. Leads to a chat about the ideal golfing holiday, Nick and Mark share where they'd love to go for a g...

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: Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement...

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 t...

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 wh...

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 f...

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: Ho...

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...

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...

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 wolf...

For a bit of fun, we thought we'd drop into your feed with a feedback pod today. We start with a couple of comments, including two conflicting ones about a certain recent movie that may or may not have received mixed feedback from different Talk Birdie team members. Then onto some questions. An idea from Rohan on the Bryan Brothers, particularly Wesley Bryan and LIV. Alex has some thoughts on Adam...

What a weekend! None of us have gotten as much sleep as we'd like with the Tour Championship on, but Tommy Fleetwood....what a star, and the entire golf world was celebrating his first win. Wonderful. Mark describes the final couple of holes as Tommy playing for his life, as he's not sure how another capitulation would have impacted him. As impressive as the win was, and as consistent as Tommy has...

Tour Pro Scotty Laycock often sends voicemails with stories from his time on tour, or incidents he's been told about. This one's a ripper. Tiger Woods, with a restless crowd at the 96 Australian Open and him hitting driver on a hole he probably shouldn't have.....but Tiger does what Tiger does! We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners: Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's offi...