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 are brilliant:

FootJoy vouchers;

⁠Titleist GT Driver and 3 wood with a custom fitting with a Titleist Fitting Specialist;

⁠A set of custom fitted Vokey Wedges fitted by a Titleist Fitting Specialist;

⁠A couple of dozen Pro V1 golf balls;

Golf Clearance Outlet vouchers

Luxury Escapes vouchers

And the hole in one prize from Luxury Escapes: a week at the Pullman Maldives with return flights for two if you if you don't mind! Conditions apply, but there is only 3 conditions - pros ineligible (Nick and Mark you're out), only one prize - so if two aces are hit we do a random draw, and it applies on the 17th hole, which is a gettable Par 3.

Fun!

Now onto the pod. Nick and Mark are previewing the Ryder Cup, and Mark's first recommendation is to download the Ryder Cup app, it's brilliant. Nick talks about his memories of playing in Europe and feeling almost a part of it, as all the European pros wanted to be involved. Mark has a feeling the crowd, despite the US component being parochial, will lean European as there have been huge amounts of tickets sold to Europeans apparently.

We discuss the pay controversy and the difference in approach between the Europeans and the US teams, Mark believes this is bad karma for the US and it will 'bite them'.

As usual for a big event, we're putting a Talk Birdie multi on and working in our favour is that Hummer from Betr doesn't know a lot about the Ryder Cup, so we shot through our very gettable multi without any context for him and, in a moment of weakness, he whacked it up.

Multi is:

• Scheffler to not have a winning record for the tournament, into;
• Europe to lead going into day 3, into;
• Europe to win.

7 bucks. Get on board here under Betr specials and if you're not a member, it's a 60-second sign up process. We are confident, but of course there is no guarantee - so if you can't afford to lose it, don't bet it.

We wrap up our Ryder Cup preview pod with some comments from Nick on how they are setting up Bethpage and why, and Nick outlines what he believes the US always get wrong in the Ryder Cup.

It's going to be a ripper, we can't wait !!!

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.

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? Would they do it? Nick and Mark give their response.

Chad has a question about the use of (or lack of) of buggies by caddies.

Rich from Spain doesn't feel Rory's Augusta shot was the greatest ever, and has another suggestion - we hear the audio and discuss. Leads to a chat about where to aim your shots, and why.

Speaking of Spain, when he was playing in Europe he visited often a Tapas Bar called 'the Bull Bar' which is unique for a very specific reason, he explains.

Wayne is looking for new clubs and is finding it a little overwhelming, he asks for Nick and Marks advice on the best way to approach this.

Aaron has a question about member/guests at clubs.

And finally we announce the winner of our Golf Clearance Outlet competition where we asked you for your stories on the 'unsung local hero' who helped you with your game in some way when you were young. Our winner, drumroll, is Glenn Kampman with a wonderful outline of some of the great work that local legend, the late Ian Sneddon, did. He was a godsend to golfers, and the community more broadly, in Jerilderie NSW, Australia. Glenn has won a $250 voucher to the Golf Clearance Outlet to spend instore or online, and we loved hearing about how wonderful Ian was!

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.

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.

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.

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
• 1 x US player
• 1 x European player
• 1 x International (any other country)
• They can be current or older players
• No player can be chosen twice, so once a player is selected, he is unavailable to the other person
• And they have to choose the venue for the tournament.

Have a listen to their selections - there are a couple of surprises - and we'll put a poll on Twitter over the weekend (so as not to spoil the choices) and we want you to decide whether Team Nick or Team Mark wins!

A great Talk Birdie Mini today, thanks to Joseph from shooting it through all the way from Aotearoa !

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.

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 on 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 some background, how Lucas' career started back in Orange, some of the greats he played with, and some of his greatest achievements....which were significant, he was an excellent player. Nick remembers watching Lucas and being amazed by how powerful his swing was, Mark's the same, but also remembers nights out after tournaments with Lucas having a shandy or three.

We hear what the two highlights of Lucas' career were, from his perspective, and he talks about what he admired about how Nick went about his career.

And all of that is great. But it's an entree to the main course. And today, for mains, we are serving up Lucas' memories of playing with Greg Norman.

And boy oh boy...Lucas doesn't hold back. He tells us why 'playing with Greg was not a pleasant experience', why Wayne 'Radar' Riley got Greg in a bad mood one day which he took out on Lucas, the role Jack Nicklaus played in Greg treating Lucas the way that he did, and the day Rodger Davis gave Greg a talking to over his behaviour on course and got told by Shark where to go.

Strap in, this pod gets juicy.

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.

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 - and one particular thing he loved about Wagga that he says all golf clubs must do.

Big win for Ryder Cup Vice Captain (one of) Alex Norén at Wentworth, he played extremely well and we chat about his win, and the Ryder Cup which is getting closer. Speaking of Ryder Cup vice captains, Mark loves stats coaches, and decides we need to get Edoardo “Dodo” Molinar on the pod for a chat. As it turns out, Nick knows him and says he'll set it up.

Mark raises a developing dislike of his - hoodies. And explains why he dislikes them on golfers. But after a brief fashion diversion, back to the Ryder Cup, Nick and Mark feel the New York crowd will be aggressive to the Europeans, and they explain why New York crowds tend to be one of the most hostile in the US to visiting pros, when they're playing locals. We discuss some of the times that Nick and Mark were given some trash talk from a crowd member, they tell a couple of stories.

Mark played Royal Melbourne on Monday this week just gone, and gives an update on the condition of the course.

For BMW, a touch of class, a video this time from Wentworth which we explain on the pod and play for YouTube viewers - we'll share it on socials as well.

After the turn....we've seen the new ad for our mates at Betr, and we reveal a fun fact about the new Goat character in their ad. Into the Top 5 - as Mark promised last week, it is his Top 5 holes in world golf with amazing backdrops as you watch the ball flight.

It's going to start quieting down now, but this weekend past there was still plenty of golf for Nick to cover in the PING global results, and he runs through it all. Including two amazing facts about the LPGA - both absolute rippers!

Plenty of feedback to run through for Southern Golf Club, some comments, some questions, and some people sharing their sadness at the loss of rules guru Stu McPhee.

Mark has heard some news, which isn't great, about Tour School for the Champions Tour and runs us through it, and then for watchMynumbers, we hook into the masterclass from Nick, inspired by Alex Norén's win - more particularly the way he did it.

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.

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:

• 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.

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 get on with the show.

Michael had a question about bag maintenance on course, and who drives that - player or caddy - Nick and Mark explain their approaches. Nick tells a great story about playing in the Australian Open without any wet weather guy....was he focused and tough? Or did he just forget to pack wet weather gear? We find out.

Question from 'anonymous' on two friends of his who are going to Cypress Point and the Ryder Cup shortly. Anon has two questions, one for Nick and one for Mark. Leads to a chat about AFL theme songs, for international wolfpackers, AFL football clubs in Australia have theme songs and Nicks favourite team has the definitive worst theme song of all.

After the turn, a Vietnam update, Nick is there for the week, we find out where he's played since the earlier pod, and where he's playing today. We get some Monty comments - always fun. And then an amazing story from a wolfpacker about crocodiles at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club !!!!!

And we wrap with a question from Dean about pace of play, a hot button for Nick and Mark.

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.