Should You use Hybrids? A LIV/PGA Possible Merger is ‘Cooked’, and the Top 5 Unique Greens in Golf.

Back for another week, and even on weeks when it feels golf might have been a little quiet, there always seems to be plenty to discuss. We start this week with a reminder about our Talk Birdie survey….we want to know your opinion on the show: good, bad, or indifferent – and one respondent will win $300 to spend at FootJoy, and $300 to spend at Golf Clearance Outlet. The survey takes 8-minutes tops, probably less, and you can find it here: https://access.itsmystation.com/s3/talk-birdie-to-me

It closes on Friday October 31. We’d appreciate it!

Onto golf news. Mark has been reading the New York Times. We were as surprised as you. However he read an article on the LIV/PGA Merger, or lack of, and raises this with Nick. Is it still a chance, is it all over? Nick is curious about the next wave of signings, and re-signings, given the initial contracts for many of them are about to be up. What about the franchise sale model, is that alive or not a starter now? Ultimately whether there is a merger or not, Nick and Mark discuss the increasing number of LIV players playing PGA tournaments and give their view.

Nick commentated the WA Open at Mount Lawley over the weekend and loved the course, he may be a little biased given it’s his home course and his brother runs the joint, however he said it was brilliant. Mark is keen to know what the players thought. Nick tells a great story about the ultimate winner, Oliver Bekker, and how he saved the tournament on the final hole.

Mark saw a tweet from OCM over the weekend on a new course that Mike Cocking has designed in Georgia called Fall Line. The pics are extraordinary, and it looks eerily similar to Sandbelt courses. We discuss, and Mark is going to try and get Mike on the pod perhaps next week when he returns from overseas.

And then a voicemail comes in during the pod – it is Rick from Perth with a question about hybrids in his bag.

Mark plays a clip of a Scott Fawcett from Decade Golf talking about stats putting from 25 feet…..the stats are revealing. Leads to a story about a coach of Marks who he says was awful.

After the turn, Nick awards the Touch of Class for BMW to Scott from Townsville who played in the BMW Golf Cup National Final last week and absolutely shot the lights out. Mark says his scores around Sanctuary Cove were ‘pro-level’. A fantastic event, and we find out how you can enter next year if you’re keen.

Thanks to Betr, a great Top 5 today from Nick – the Top 5 unique greens in world golf that he has played. See if you think he might have missed any.

For Southern Golf Club – heaps of feedback : Moe Norman comments, WA Open feedback, a Top 5 observation from last weeks show, and with his induction to the Vic PGA Hall of Fame, one wolfpacker is keen for us to get Robert Allenby on the pod.

Onto the PING Globals – Nick takes us around the world, still plenty of golf going on so lots to discuss!

And for watchMynumbers, Mark’s Masterclass this week is on waggling prior to moving to address and how he feels it has helped his game.

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Talk Birdie To Me is hosted by fomer world #16 Nick O’Hern and Tour Pro Mark Allen who played the British Open at Carnoustie.

Welcome to Talk Birdie Sydney with former world number 16 Nikico Hearn and tour pro Mark Allen. Live from Titalist and Fjoy headquarters and thanks to our great partners. Titalist, they’re the clear number one ball in golf. Foot choy are the number one shoe and glove in golf. Driving a BMW is like hitting a perfect shot. Smooth, controlled, and powerful. Ping. They’ll help you play your best. The golf clearance outlet beat everyone’s prices. And better, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia. Now from Tidalist and Foojoy headquarters, it’s time for tour Birdie City. Good day everybody. Welcome to the program. And Nikico is here raring the go. And so am I. It’s another big week in golf. Good to see you. And you Mark. Uh just before we get started, uh you might have noticed folks on our socials. We’ve asked you to complete a little survey. Now, this survey, one, you can win a couple of great prizes. $300 worth of the Golf Clearance Outlet who have just opened their new store in Morningington. It opened on Monday. So, make sure you if you’re down there on the Morning Peninsula to drop in and say hello to their team because they are raring to a go. So, $300 worth from the Golf Clearance Outlet and also $300 worth of FootJoy shoes as well. One lucky a survey completer will pick up. Yeah. Yeah. And the survey doesn’t take long. It takes maybe 6 7 8 minutes. It’s a really quick survey and we we ask you about all the features and things on the show. So, if there’s something you love, we’ll find out about it. If there’s something you don’t like or you want to improve, you can tell us. Okay. So, we’re just trying to make the show better for people who are listening to us. So, if you could, that’d be great. Um, some of the people who have got back to me have said it’s only taken 5 minutes. So, I know you’ve said very generously seven or eight, but it really only takes about five minutes and you just race through it. So, that’s that’s big. And good luck again to the new golf clearance outlet down there in Morningington as well. The photos look great. The photos look great. They look really We should go down there. We should go down and do a show there. At least a mini or something. Yeah, we should. Yeah, we’ll get that sorted. We’ll sort something out. I keep driving past Morningington. I’ve never been in there, so have to do it. Morningington’s one of the great little coastal towns that we have in Victoria. Nice golf club are here, too. Now, the big news, Nicholas, now I’ve just read this on um the in the New York Times, believe it or not. Okay, so we’re looking at Have Have you heard anything from the Live PGA Tour merger of late? Well, I think that’s not dead and buried, but I think it’s in put on the back burner. It’s cooked, isn’t it? I mean, let’s see. Let’s get serious. It is cooked. Now, this is what’s basically being said. Now, I’ve managed to just squeeze it into one little thing. The merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi back live Golf announced as a surprise framework agreement in June of 2023. This is how long we’ve been talking about it. That’s right, the framework agreement. I was trying to remember what the name was for that. 2 years we’ve been talking about how they’re going to get both the PGA tour and live together. It remains in limbo as of October 2025. More than two years later, what started as a bold plan to unify professional golf has developed into protracted secretive talks marked by missed deadlines, antitrust scrutiny, and shifting priorities. No full merger has materialized, and recent reports indicate the sides are further apart than ever with the PGA tour rejecting Liv’s latest proposal in favor of a deeper integration. Now, that’s all from the New York Times. Okay. Uh despite this, both entities continue operations independently. The PGA Tour released its full 2025 schedule in late 2024 while Liv announced only four international events so far without a new US media deal. So I can’t see now. Once upon a time, I was spruing that my source, um, Scotty Sheffller’s brother-in-law, if you’ve just joined us, my source, he’s gone quiet. He He doesn’t know anything. Nothing’s happening. You know, they’ve got committees all over the place. They’ve had Oval Office meetings. It’s done. I’m happy. So, I’ve been wrong before, so if I’m wrong again, I’ll be happy to be wrong. From what I from what I’ve heard from the Liv side of things, the schedule will come out again. Uh they’ll play another full season as they do. Um PGA Tour is doing their thing. Liv’s doing theirs. But the the thing I’m curious about is when they first signed, how long ago was it? Four four years ago. Well, I think this would have to be I’ve seen three Adelaidees, right? So this this coming one be the fourth Adelaide. And I think a lot of players signed up for four-year contracts. So once those contracts are up, that’s when I think it’ll get very interesting because players like Brooks Kepka, um not so much John Ram, he signed one, a year or two in uh Dustin Johnson, all those other players, you know, that that came from the PGA tour who you thought Cam Smith for example, when did he win the Open? That was 2022. Was about three years ago, something like that. So I don’t know how long he signed for. uh they seem, you know, him and Lee seem seem very happy as to what their plans are. So maybe they’ll just keep doing what they’re doing and resign again and away they go. The whole team uh franchise model that they were working on, I haven’t heard much about that. I mean, they were talking 800 million1 billion valuations for these teams quite a while ago. Drafting in new players, you don’t really hear about that anymore. Completely disappeared. people buying teams but maybe you know maybe they’re happy doing their little thing and then well not little thing it is a large thing obviously it’s incredible for them and what they’ve been able to achieve but PJ tour are very happy doing their thing as well have they gone into that strategic what is it the SSG group who put in the 1.5 billion have they tapped into that yet the PJ tour I don’t know well there seemed to be a clause with that the SSG group um that it was only if they got in bed with the Saudis in the first place and that money would kick in. So, look, it seems like it’s morphed into what we thought it might anyway and and that is live players welcomed on the European tour or the DP World Tour cuz every week I watch Patrick Reed near the top of the leaderboard. He’s happily playing on the European tour. It seems he’s playing more golf than he ever has. I just saw where um we Neman has said he’s going to play at the BMW PGA Championship as well. So, he’s going to play in the Australian Open and the Australian PGA, both European tour events. So, it seems like well, they’re looking I think they’re looking for starts to get those world ranking points because that never came along as well. So, interestingly enough, we had this past week, they had the first um you know how they’re giving out exemptions to six national opens to the Masters and the Open. So, the first one happened last week, the Japan Open. Yep. and a Japanese player who I I can’t remember his name now, but I’ll announce later in the Ping Global Results. He’s ranked 500th in the world and he gets a start in the in the in the Open and the Masters. Now, the next one is Hong Kong and the entry list for the Hong Kong Open contains 31 Live players because they all want to play in the Masters and the Open. So, this is what we’ve been saying for quite some time is that if you can organize these exemptions for the world opens, even a couple world PGAs would be nice. Um, then away we go, you know, then then all of a sudden a lot of these live players will turn up for basically nothing. Basically nothing. I mean, a lot of them say, “Hey, listen. How about you, I can imagine Dustin Johnson, for instance, if he ever falls out or he probably he’s probably the wrong example.” Yeah, he is. But he’s going to play in the Masters for the rest of his life. True. Someone like Patrick great. He will play in the masters for the rest of his life as well. Another bad example. Another bad example. Go. Give me a good example here. Oh, hang on. So, Brooks Keepard. Uh, how many I mean he’s his exemptions are about to surely. When’s the last time he won a major? Brooks Kepkard. No, what was when was the last one? It’s probably like 20 No, he won um when one while he was playing lift, didn’t he? Yeah, he did. Might have been 2023. There’s another bad example. So, have we got any good examples? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like it. I’d have to go through the list. I’ve I’ve been a bit croo the past week, so I’m trying to figure out all the names in my head right now. So anyway, what will be interesting is midseason next year, I imagine if Liv want to keep on going stronger and better and and more tournaments, then they’re going to have to start making announcements that that they have resigned Patrick Reed and resigned DJ, maybe resigned Phil Mickelson, uh, and and start reeling off their big names. What will be interesting is to see which players do not get resigned and then what happens to them. M um do they have to start again on the PGA tour? Do they have to start again on the DP world tour? Uh that is going to be who knows. Uh that that is going to be a who knows. But those things those well they’re in their loose ends have got to be t got to be fixed up and they’re in their off season now with live. So I think John Ram’s taking three or four months off is what he said until the next um when they start up again in 2026. But one thing I mean like the Aussies, the Aussie team, the Rippers, I mean, you know, Cam, Leash, Lucas Herbert seems very happy. Yep. I haven’t heard much about Matt Jones lately. So, I’m wondering, is there going to be a is someone else going to come in for Matt Jones from the Aussie front? That would be interesting to know. So, were there any two-year deals signed? Were there any three-year deals signed? Were there ever I mean, I’m sure there were. Haven’t you got sources for this? Well, my sources are my my source is much better on the PGA tour stuff uh because we have a direct window straight into it. But the live stuff, I’ve got no idea. I mean, we’ve got a few I can call Wade Ortonby, I guess. Yeah, true. And ask Wade and see what if he’ll tell me. But he probably won’t tell me anything now that I’ve said it. Uh because he’ll be worried that I will talk about it right here. Um, look, those things are to me as a past professional golfer, they really interest me. I’m just so keen to see what happens. Not so much to the top 10 because if they want to leave those top 10 players, I’m sure they’ll find a way for the poster boys to get back on the PGA tour. It’s not an issue. And for the ones who want to stay, well, you’ve been there anyway. That’s not going to be big news. the bottom 20 players on live who still think they can play, who are still in their 30s, those types of players. Yeah. Have they made enough money to I’m sure their feet up for the rest of their life or, you know, what do they want to do will interest me. Yeah, they’re true. I’m I’m I’m not sure. Someone like a Danny Lee, New Zealand golfer. Yeah. Um Yeah, he’s there’s a great example. There’s a good example. Well, Charles Hal the third, I mean, he’s made so much money throughout his career. That’s that’s not an issue. He’s right. Um, yeah. I don’t know. What about some of these young players they got out of college? You know, some of the some of the guys who said who jumped straight to live. I mean, they have next to no status at all. Yeah, that’s very true. I mean, there was one guy Frederick Keterup, I think, who they got straight out of well, not straight out of college. I think he went to PJ Tour Americas, was the next, you know, superstar. basically went to college in the US and all of a sudden his game’s just gone completely south and he’ll be gone now as well. So what does he do? So yeah. Why why would it go why would it go south someone like that? Is it I I you know it maybe a couple of reasons. Golf’s a funny game where some sometimes you just get on the wrong path. Uh the other side of it is he’s been thrown in against probably a lot of people he’s looked up to um throughout his whole career. The you know the Sergio Garcia, the Henrik Stenson’s, the John Rams. Yeah. And you get thrown in the deep end with them. And if you don’t play well, all of a sudden it’s like, hang on, wa I’m not good enough. And that can dent your confidence and then all of a sudden things just snowball and away you go from there. What I do want to ask you about, Nicholas, and it’s to do with where you were commentating last week, Mount Lley. Uh the pitches I saw were fabulous, but I haven’t seen any player feedback. What were the players saying about the golf course? Absolutely loved it. Did they really? Yeah. And the the beautiful thing about Mount Lley, it’s 6,200 m long. It’s firm and fast, so 6,800 y. Not a long golf course at all. The winning score was I think it was 7 under. Was it windy a little bit? You know, it wasn’t it was typical Freemantal Doctor, the wind that they get every every day. The Southester probably 20k 25k maybe. They got a bit of rain on the final day. Rock hard and the pins. So OCM has done the redo obviously. They put so many more sections in the greens now that they can tuck the pins away. So players were having trouble getting wedged within 20 ft which is kind of very much sand beltish. I I should have watched this tournament. I was quite had a busy weekend. Fascinating finish by the way. So I haven’t seen the finish. What happened to the finish? Just tell me. Oliver Becka the South African. Uh he got he got an invite. He wants to move to Perth apparently as well. So he he wins. I read where he’s missed like a handful of cuts. Yeah. Five or six cuts before he played this one. Told his wife told his wife that he was getting close. We’ve all been there. I don’t know how many times I’ve told a ladder. I’m I’m right there. It’s just It’s just around the corner. I can remember girlfriends who were interested in my golf and I’d miss a few cuts in a row and I would explain to them that I’m this close to playing well. Just, you know, just a couple of putts go in early and I’ll be right. Every It’s a It’s a joke among professional clean up. We’re always close to playing well. Anyway, he missed a handful of cuts. You’re only one swing away. remember that from greatness or absolute crap. So anyway, however, final hole. He’s short rider at this par five. Um he’s got the putter out and he’s going to putt it on. So I thought put it on. I thought he must be only a couple of meters off. But he’s walking back and all. What’s he going to hang on? What’s he putting it on for? Is he only just off? Well, that’s what I thought when I when I first saw him with the putter out, but then as they pan back, he’s about 15 m off the green. I thought he’s 15 m off the green. Hang on. I know this green. I know where it goes. You can putt this if the button in the bunker if you’re not careful. Was he in a divot? No. So basically that says to be initially on the commentary I said well I guess he doesn’t you know feel that confident in his chipping at the moment. In his press conference afterwards he just said look uh I’m unfamiliar with playing off this turf. So which is a bit strange. It’s coach it’s just cooch grass. It’s cooch grass and it’s firm but anyway that’s neither here nor there. He was obviously feeling it and he probably just wanted to Yeah. Yeah, he was nervy, but he came 2 in with him putting it in the bunker. And then the weirdest thing is he had to hit his next putt left-handed. So, I actually think he created history by becoming the first player to win a golf tournament by playing the last hole both right and left-handed. See, you’re working in you’re just your time in the media looking for these angles. Absolutely. Hitting it right in the belly of the ball and it needs to slow down. Well, we got the read right, but the pace was Oh my goodness. Down the stretch two or three times, Nick. From that distance, Becca hold them. He stood under. I can’t remember ever a winner playing the last hole, both right and left-handed. But to be fair, where he hit the ball, it almost went over the crest. And if it keeps going, it’s going to be around the hole somewhere. But it almost goes left into the bunker. He’s two inches from the edge, so he can’t take a stance right-handed. He hits it back of the putter left-handed, hit it eight feet past and you can see he’s shaken, right? But then he holds his eightfooter, curls it in the left side and and Cameron John needed to birdie the last and didn’t. So I love tournaments where you have to aim away from the hole with a wedge for professionals because as a pro, you know, if you hit the perfect shot, it’s possible and it looks so good. Yeah. And it feels even better when you take on a pin with a wedge and you strike it and you know it’s fizzing and you know it’s online and then you’re just waiting for that first bounce. But that’s the sort of shot also that can go pear-shaped really quickly. Very much so if it doesn’t spin or if it hits a hard spot on the green in your short side yourself or whatever might else happen. Pros talk about being a groove low or a groove high on the face and that means the world of difference on courses like Mount Lolly which came up an absolute treat. Um all the players loved it. Even though it was tough, they said it was fair. Personally, it’s very much a family affair cuz that’s my home course. I’m still a member. I’ve been the member there for 40 years. And your brother? Brother’s the GM. Mom and dad work, you know, they’ve been working the volunteering and and my sister-in-law, my nephews. Have they made you an honorary member yet? I am an honorary member. How many courses are you an honorary member at? Just the one. just the one. Anyway, but uh the golf course I I think from what I again I’ve heard from people, they’re saying so far this has been the best event of the season. So the best course that they’ve played on best course and best event. Best event. That’s a big rep. So far. So uh well look, it reminds me because at the start of the week I put on our WhatsApp group a um uh it was a it was a post from OCM. Mhm. Um, and that’s Mike Cocking and and Oggovie and me and they I I’ve been speaking a little bit with Michael Cocking. Um, because uh well, I can’t actually say, but I’ve been speaking a little bit with Michael Cocking and he was over there at Forline a couple of weeks ago. This is the new golf course. He’s built two golf courses in Georgia. Oh, in Georgia. That’s I remember him talking about that when he came on our podcast. Yeah, that’s right. So, you know, 60 million years ago, it was water in this particular area, and it’s all sand. It’s it’s exactly like a sandb area, you know, like um where the lakes and and all these other golf courses are in Sydney and of course the sand belt in Melbourne and the sandy areas um in Perth. So, it’s a sandy area right in the middle of Georgia. Anyway, you can see on the pictures now if you’re watching on YouTube. And what he actually said uh in this post was for years and years and years uh golf course architects have said they didn’t quite have the sand required to mow uh the greens right to the edge of these bunkers and have the bunker cut in the green which it’s such a great look. It’s a it’s such a killer look and it defines kind of Australian golf. Not just sandbelt golf. Now it’s spreading all over the place. They did the same in Perth. I mean, same what exactly what happened on the final hole. That’s exactly right. Anyway, so um the course raiders were at Four Line. This is the West Course at Four Line. You’d think you’re somewhere in in Australia, wouldn’t you? Yeah. I had a friend who was over there a couple of weeks ago. His name is Gareth. Um and Gareth got to play um both courses. He said it was just unbelievable. Wow. He’s and and Gareth is like Gareth is a member at Tara Editi and he’s he’s had access to some of the best golf courses in the world. He could not get over look at that picture uh fall line. You can see there the bunker cut into the green. So it’s not just a round circle green like they have most of the time in America. It’s it’s a bunker that actually cuts into it. And what that does to one your brain, but two, what side of the fairway you want to come in from. And that sort of bunkering alters the way you think about the golf hole. And you don’t need rough around the greens either when it’s like that. You can see how shaved all the around the greens at at that course that they built. And that’s the beautiful part about it is the natural landscape becomes its defense. Yeah. Well, look, this Michael Cocking, I know we talk about him an awful lot, but we talk about him for good reason. He’s becoming a superstar and Jeff Ugly and and and me. Um, they they are the hottest group in world golf at the moment. Um, I won’t say what he was doing over there in New Zealand when I spoke to him, but you can imagine. Um, there’s all kinds of things happening. I mean, everybody wants a piece of this guy. We should try and get him on if he’s in New Zealand at the moment. I know he was in America, so maybe he was coming home. Yeah. Hopefully he’s on on his way back, but we’ll we’ll try and get him in. Absolutely. To talk about it because if he can get if he gets four line both courses, if he can get them to um debut high in the top 100, the good top 100s, not the bad ones. Um cool name for a course, too. Fall line. Yeah. You love that name, don’t you? Why do they call it four line? Was it no idea? Not I. So look, we’ll try and get him in next week. Sounds like a Tom Cruz Mission Impossible movie. Exactly what it sounds like. Yeah, that’s exactly what it sounds like. Well, they’re looking for line on your putt or something. I don’t know. Although four line mission impossible. Anyway, um hopefully we get to play it one day, Nick. I’d love to get over there and have a look at these golf courses cuz they look so ridiculously good. Boys, uh the voicemail message just went off. Did you hear that? Oh, that’s okay. Would you like to have a You have one new voicemail. New message. Hey guys, Rick from Perth here. Just wanted to say it was uh nice of you, Mark, to point out about uh Jay Richardson’s shoes at the recent WIPGA in Kouli. I thought they looked the most comfortable shoes that any golfer had on the course, but I’m not ringing for that. getting to an older age in golf here and wondering whether the transition from the uh four and five iron to the hybrid and a iron set of maybe six to pitching wedge and and how do you guys feel about that and the and the impact of hybrids for golfers as they get older? Look forward to your feedback. Thank you. Yeah, it’s a very good question, Rick, and one that’s in the back of my mind at the moment as well. Uh if if I wasn’t playing um Kingsson eighth where I think the low ball is is pretty handy, uh I reckon if I was playing in America, if I was playing on a golf course uh that wasn’t so windy, I think I’d have a bag full of hybrids as well at the age of 56. I know um Freddy Couples does. So Freddy Couples has turned 60. Uh still shoots good scores when he plays in the Champions Tour. not winning so much these days, but still, you know, throws in a little 62 or a 63 from time to time. His longest iron is a sixiron. It’s not a blade sixiron, you know, it’s a it’s a game help six iron. And then from there, it’s I think he’s got one, two, or three hybrids and then a fivewood. It’s probably a sevenwood. I know you’ve got the sevenwood, but look, those days are coming for me for sure. I think for most golfers, um, definitely. Look, do you need a 3-wood? Probably not. I’ve gone for the one, four, and seven would in my G440s. Best combination I’ve ever had. The seven would a game changer. It really is. And then I’d say get a a four hybrid, a five hybrid, and then maybe six up for most golfers out there, I’d say, that are that are in handicaps of um from from double figures onwards, you know, from 10 up, I would think. Now, if you’re a single figure marker, you know, then yeah, sure, you can get you want to hit the four and five iron and keep it a little lower depending on the course that you play. Absolutely. But hybrids are definitely very helpful for 80% of golfers out there, 90%. Even some of these driving iron. So, for instance, my four iron um when I when I first turned pro, a one iron had 17° and your two iron had 20°. Um, my four iron has 20 degrees these days, but it’s got a graphite shaft. So, it’s like hitting an old two iron as far as just the loft is concerned. But with the graphite shaft and all the technology that goes into the T200’s, um, it is almost the easiest club in my bag to hit and it’s got the loft of an old two iron. So, um, that combined with the lightweight shaft in my 5 with the T150s and, you know, all the technology, heel and toe. And do you use that more off the tea or off the fairway? I use off the fairway. I use it everywhere. It’s just such an easy club to hit. So, um, you know, once I’ve said this a number of times in the podcast, once upon a time with the old Bata ball, that ball spun so much that’s what kept the thing in the air. These days, the new uh Titalist uh Prov1, the Prov1X, they have different characteristics, but basically um they don’t spin as much with drivers and fairway woods and long irons. So, you need what do we call this at the start? We need the high trajectory, the launch. That’s what I was looking for. That’s the technical term. Thank you, Nick. the launch with a six, a five, a four, and a three iron because it doesn’t spin as much um is required to keep the thing up in the air. Otherwise, you’ll, you know, you’ll be hitting stingers your whole life and and stingers don’t hold the green when your club head speed and then when you get on the green 60y old mark and then when you get on the green, it’s just about avoiding three putts, right? I’m glad you brought that up. Now, did you I’ve sent this Did you see it on on the WhatsApp group? I did. Can we play it for everyone, Dan? Yeah, that’ll be great. Now, this guy, his name is Scott Forset. He’s the founder of Decade Golf, which is a stats It’s a stats program. But basically, a lot of the guys on the PGA Tour and around the world use use this system. It’s about um you know, uh what do you call it? accumulating numbers and saying, “Okay, here are your dispersion patterns and things like that.” And it’s all to do with with good players, bad players, um scratch markers, professionals, the whole lot. And it’s all integrated in. Let’s have a listen to what Well, I just saw it on it was it was a post on Twitter, but let’s have a listen to Scott For the top 10 stroke game putter at Oakmont from outside 25 ft left 47% of their putts short. They also put 77% of their putts from outside 25 ft feet within 10% of the length of the putt. So if they were 30 feet, they got the putt within 3 ft of the hole. And but that’s important to understand that’s 3 ft long or 3 ft short. So you’ve got a 6 ft window of speed tolerance. And the best putters always have the shortest second putt from outside 25 ft. That’s where you crush the competition because you eliminate three putts. And I promise you, you still will make putts. Those numbers resulted in a three putt rate of 10.4% versus the fields 17% from outside 25 ft. Interesting, isn’t it? Well, now this is Oakmont, by the way, which are the toughest greens in the world. Toughest greens in the world. US Open pressure. Y uh but we’re just talking about putts from outside 25 ft. Now, even on the best golf courses you’ve sorry, even on the best tournaments you’ve ever seen on the PGA Tour, quite often a professional golfer will hit it outside 25 ft. So, um that means quite often uh somebody of 15 or 25 will chip it outside of 25 ft. And I think what he was saying there, I I remember my old coach at Texas Tech. He was a hopeless coach, the worst ever coach. He was useless. Anyway, he would go croo at me if I left a 30footer, even sometimes a 40footer short. He’d go crooked me. I’m thinking, mate, I mean, one green, it’s not a billyard table one, you know, it’s not a bill table on every hole where it’s perfect. Each green has a different speed. They’ll never tell you that, but they do. Some run at 10 and a half, some run at 10, some run at 11. Um, that’s just the nature of grass and the greens and whether there’s trees around it, whatever. But it’s hard to pick that up half. So that translates if it’s half a foot from 10 ft at the 40 foot, that translates into two foot. Yeah. So basically if you don’t know the the the speed of the green perfectly then the the the twoft difference from over 40 ft that can turn into a sixfooter very very quickly. Yeah. Yeah. And all three putts well I’m not going to say all but the majority 95 to 95% of three putts are because of distance control not because you misread them. That’s right. More often you’re six foot past or short. You’re not six foot wide. That’s correct. So speed is every it’s not everything, but it’s the majority of the things with putting and and what Scott Forset was just saying there is that if you’re always trying to get it past the hole, then that sixoot range, you’re going to get an awful lot of sixfooters all of a sudden. Exactly right. Sixfooters and more from just over 25 ft. Now that that’s the that’s US Open players he’s talking about. They’re talking about best players in the world. The field average from over 25 ft there was 17% had three putts. That’s right. From over 25 ft. So for most golfers, like if I ever play with someone in a social comp or something, they have a 15 or a 20 footer and they leave it short and they go, “Oh, why’d you leave it short?” And I said, “That’s fine. If you’re a foot short, that is perfectly okay. Two feet short, that’s fine. That’s that’s a tap in for you.” If you’re three or four feet short, then yeah, I guess you know, that’s maybe something to work on. But a lot of people hit a putt and they it’ll almost go in. It goes 4 ft past. They go, “Oh jeez, I gave that a good run.” I thought I’d rather be a foot short on, you know, you know, wide or whatever because all of a sudden they got a tap in. Now you got Now you’re sweating over a 4footer. Most people will three putt more than they’ll one putt from that sort of a range. Yeah. Okay. So, coincidentally, you’re not going to believe this, but Lou Stegner from ROS Golf. Now, if you’re not following Lou, do yourself a favor. He’s everywhere. But you can see there for a scratch marker, scratch markers, according to Lou in America, they three putt from 36 to 40 ft 25% of the time. A scratch marker. Incredible, isn’t it? That that is actually quite hard to believe. And the person the 20, so a 20 a 20 marker, they threepart from the same range 36 to 40 ft almost 50% of the time. So I I I put to you, Nick, that there are a hell of a lot of golfers out there who think it’s bad to leave a putt short from 25 30 ft. And if they think it’s bad to leave a putt short from 25 to 30 ft, then it only makes sense that they probably think it’s the wrong thing to do to leave a 40footer short of the hole as well. So folks, I’m I’m telling you now, unless it’s kind of 15 and foot in, I mean 15 ft, that’s kind of where you want to start thinking, I’m going to hold this thing. Yeah. But even so, I’m looking at 11 to 15 ft for a 20 marker. They three putt 11% of the time. There you go. And are they going to make an 11 to 15 footer 11% of the time? No, I don’t think so. No. No, but not for a 20 marker. So, that sort of goes, well, I’m probably going to thre more than I’m going to one part. Why don’t I just get it close to the hole rather than trying to trying to make it? That’s right. And we had a great uh question last week, Dan. Someone No, it was a couple of weeks ago, the Queenslander, the scratch golfer who’s trying to keep double buggies off the scorecard. Fred. Fred. Yes. So, this kind of plays into that. Um, and the the post that I saw Scott Forser talking about, they were talking about eliminating double bogeies. And they were saying that most double bogeies end in the A3 because you’re so desperate to save path. Yes. That from 40 ft you’re you snake this thing a million miles past and now you miss the sixfooter. Well, everyone misses sixfooters. Again, you’re not putting on a billy table. There are bumps and wind and all kinds of things. people, you know, leaning on their putter to pick up the ball. Anything can happen to that ball. Yeah. I mean, I I never make double bogeies, so it doesn’t affect me. Of course, I’m kidding. Just the consistency. Yeah, I wish. Uh, but all my doubles Yeah. No, I wouldn’t say all, but I’d say probably threearters of them happen because of a three put. Isn’t that strange? Yeah. Yeah. Now I’m Okay, I got to work on that. That’s right. As as a golfer, we’re so greedy, you know? We’re so greedy. Even though we’ve made a little bit of a mess of the hole and I’ve got this 30ft curler I can make to save par. But gee, that looks I’ve had a good read here. Instead of just hitting a a nice putt, right? Instead of just getting up there and just hitting a nice putt like you ordinarily would. And when you’re playing well, so desperate you knock it six foot pass if you miss and then you’re right. I reck I would say 50% of the my double bogeies end in three putts as well. Yeah. Yeah. I would say would be an absolute certainty. Boys, what we’ll do now, we’re going to go to the turn and after the turn, what about our touch of class? We’re going to do it after the turn because we want to get a top five on how you went on the Gold Coast at the BMW Open last week. Absolutely. See you on the 10th T. [Music] from Titalist and Fjoy headquarters. This is Talk Birdie City. We’re here for BMW luxury and comfort for the 19th hole. Ping will help you play your best. The golf clearance outlet beat everyone’s prices and better is the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia. Now the titleist, the number one ball in golf, and Foot Choy, the number one shoe and glove in golf, is Nico Hearn and Mark Allen. Welcome back. Okay, time for this week’s BMW Touch of Class. Touch of class, baby. Touch of class. Driving a BMW is like hitting the perfect shot. Well, that is pure magic. Pure magic, Mark. I can tell you. And funnily enough, the touch of class given it’s BMW. I was uh up on the Gold Coast last week after, you know, we did our talk buddy to me golf day. I went back there a few days later to final, wasn’t it? To do the BMW world final um for Australia, New Zealand. Elvis Smiley was up there. Had a couple of games with him. So depressing playing with that guy because he hits it so good. I mean, I I I smoked one on one of my rounds. like hit my Sunday smoked it. He had me my 30 with his 3-wood with his threewood. Yes, with his three-wood. So that just that’s very depressing. But anyway, I’m looking forward to the end of his season. But wonderful event and the winners of each category that had men’s AB the ladies for Australian, New Zealand, they all go to the world final, right? But I played with Elvis one day and he hit he hit the easiest 66 you’ve ever seen. It was, you know, very much touch class. But that’s not actually it. There was a guy called uh Scott Sibson from Townsville. Played off a one handicap. Had 42 points. Shot 67 out there at Hope at Sanines Pines course. Oh my god. The Greens were fast. There was a bit of breeze and I was thinking, my goodness, that’s pro level. That’s that’s a touch of class right there. So Scott, you are our touch of class this week. Lovely guy, too. I can’t wait to see how he goes in the world final which is in Fan Court in South Africa. It’s a wonderful event but um I imagine some of our guys uh who are watching this our Wolfpack would love to get involved. Dan is do we know am I asking a question you don’t know the answer to? No, it’s actually pretty easy to get involved if if you if you want to get involved. It’s the local qualifiers are organized by each local individual BMW dealership. Okay. And so they have qualifying events and you can win your way through to the uh to the the Gold Coast, the Australian final coast. I think I think you may need to buy a BMW. So that’s part of the deal. Kind of works. You’ve got to have a handicap and you’ve got to not be a pro. So uh that’s how and you know if you uh if you win your way through, then you have the chance as Scott did to go to the BMW Golf Cup World Final. Uh if you want more information, it’s very simple. Speak to your local BMW dealer. Sounds like a great event. So Scott, you touch a class. Is he? He is. Tougher. Tougher. Tougher. The top five for better. The fastest and easiest betting app in Australia. Tougher. Tougher. All right, this week’s uh top five. Given I commentated for the W Open on the weekend, they had one of the most unique and interesting greens in world golf. Which hole? Uh it’s now the fourth. Used to be the 13th when I played there as a kid, but they switched the nines. Uh and the hole, every hole out there has a name, right? And for example, there’s a name of a hole the second. It’s called Cludy’s elbow. Cludy. Cludy. Who’s Cludy? Well, interesting. But what happened? This course has been around since 1928. Back in 1930, there was a a dead body found next to the second green. A dead body and next to him was a bottle of poison. So Cludy is Gaelic for the devil, right? And apparently they they decided to call it Clut’s elbow cuz uh I don’t know. Well, that makes sense. You find a dead body next to a golf hole, it’s fair enough. Fair call. Anyway, this uh the fourth hole is called Commonwealth and the green is Fair Dingham in a map of Australia. It’s it is totally full on a map of Australia. So, um is the great Australian bite a bunker? Uh the great Australian bite is sort of half a bunker and half, you know, you can run it up, you can run it up through Albany or Espence or something like that. Tasmania, it’s a bunker and they got Tasmania as a little island fescue sort of grassy area. They’ve done it very well. Sounds good. Anyway, so in honor of that, uh the top five most unique and interesting greens that I have played on around the world. Okay, number five. Now, this may come as oh really, but because I’ve played there and I know how difficult this hole is and when you stand on the top of the hill and you look down at it, you go, “Oh my gosh, it’s the 15th of Augusta. That green is an absolute sliver. The par five.” Yeah. Um especially when they put the pin on the left hand side. It’s it’s an incredible green because you go long, you can easily ship it back in the water. If you’re short, you’re obviously in the water. Um, it kind of breaks in two different ways as you’re coming from the right to the left. When you go down there, you’re not quite sure. There’s a bit of a seam running through it. It’s phenomenal. I I’ I’ve been to 12 Masters and that’s actually the spot I tell everyone to go to. And I tell them I tell them to go there. Yes. I tell him to go there not to watch the shots in to watch the shots of the players who have laid up onto the down slope because what you don’t what you don’t get folks is that down slope is I know I’m going to say 30° and they’re all hitting lob wedges off the down slope so it’s going to come out low and they’ve got to hit it so perfect that it somehow stops on the green and there is water like you say it’s it’s a tough chip once you gone over. And if you leave it short cuz you don’t want to go over Exactly. Well, you’re in the pond. Too much spin, you suck it off the front. It’s a great place to watch golf. Anyway, that’s number five. Number seven, uh, sorry, number four is uh, the old course, the 17th. I’m glad you got it in there. Fascinating green, that one, the road hole. And obviously very famous for uh, Cameron Smith when he puted around the bunker. Yeah, I’ve been in that road hole bunker a few times during tournaments. Not a fun place to be, but I have got out every single time. I I saw Yamo Sandland uh over the back of that green just recently. He must have been up against the wall. Up against the wall and hit the shot into the wall and made the ball spin past the It was If you can find that shot then. That’s a very interesting way. He could break his club. This fell also reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger. This could be a terminator of a shot. Look at the smile on his face. My god, what a shot that was. If you ever play the course or that hole, just lay it up front right and if you’re two part from there, you’ve done exceptionally well. But it’s also where Tom Watson hit it up against the wall when 71, if you remember that. That’s right. All right, number three. It’s just a unique green just because what’s around it. Uh the 17th hold at Sorrass. The island the island green. It’s unique. It’s very very unique. It’s the only island green I reckon in the whole world that works. Yeah. I reckon a lot of people have tried it but it never works. This thing works. Easy hole in practice rounds. I can tell you now. Tournament play, not so much. Uh that’s number three. Number two, uh we’re u on the other side of the country in the US, uh golf course called Riviera, the sixth hole, the par three with the bunker in the middle of the green. Very strange. I’ve actually been on one side of the other and had to chip it. Yeah. Had to chip it over, which is No, no big deal. I think so. Yeah. I think the pin was in the back left and I was front right. So, yeah, you don’t want to be back left and then chipping to front right. That’s that’s really hard. Uh I don’t think I did. No, I’m I’m pretty handy with that sort of stuff. Are the players are are members allowed to um chip or is there a local is there a local rule? I know there’s I would imagine there is a local rule where yeah they don’t like it and they say you’re not allowed to but in a tournament the pros are allowed to but if there ever is a case for well you put the bunker there I should be allowed to chip it well then this is it. So anyway fascinating green that one and obviously my number one is the fourth at Mount Lolly because of its the map of Australia. I mean, how’d that Very good. There’s no other green in the world like it. It’s only 120 m hole down the hill, but all four par threes of Mount Liy played well over par or very tough. Even that one. Even that one. Yep. A big map of Australia Green played over par. Mhm. Well, the winning score was seven under. So, it shows you how tough the the course was. Okay, time for some feedback there. Talk birdie feedback. Thanks to Southern Golf Club. Have a look at that, Nicholas. I know. Well, you look great. You don’t want to be up in far north Queensland putting across to northwest Australia somewhere because because you’re gonna have to you’re gonna have to chip it. But uh interestingly they had a Sunday pin. You know where it was? It was around Waga Waga. Was it? Yeah. That’s very good actually. You can every pin placement has a name of a town. That’s very good. I want they’ll have to maintain that too because you don’t want that to fall into I mean I know it won’t. I know it won’t. Well, when I was a junior that that was a map of Australia and then over the years it just became an egg because you know grounds committees whatever it just where they played the bar and Nelson which where I used to work one of the courses had their first hole was a map of Texas. That’s right. I remember you saying that map of Texas was the first hole. All right, boys. Bit of feedback here. This is from Paul. I think we all need to give Nick a big hug for manning up and continuing the WA Open broadcast with what sounded like the man flu. Well done, soldier. Jeez, very much the man flu. So anyway, oh, thank you Paul. Very kind. Now, still in the WA Open, this is from Texas. Just watched the WA Open. A couple of things. How do you think the majority of players felt when they knew Mark Leechman was playing and the dress code of some of the younger players? Seriously, did they get their mother to dress them? High pants, tucked in shirts, matching white socks and shoes. Golf needs to be a tad more loose. High pants. High pants. Harry high pants action going on. I’m a bit of a fan of high pants. Always was. What do you think? You you saw the whole tournament, Nick. What do you think of the the dress? Did you notice anything? I didn’t really notice anything to be honest. I thought they were all pretty smartly dressed and it looked looked like a good golf tournament. How about the young guys coming up against Lee? Well, I think Cameron John who ended up being runner up, he said it’s the most nervous he’s been when he played with him in might have been the third round or the first couple of days. Yeah, he he was very nervous. Leash makes everyone feel at home. But the thing about Leash is after you start talking to him and playing with him, you go, “How easy is this?” He’s a legend of a bloke. Still on the Wii Open. This is from Chris. Good day, Nick, Mark, and Dan. Great pot as usual. Keep up the good work. I went to the Wii Open last Friday at Mount Lley. What an amazing course. Got to meet Mark Leechman, grabbed his autograph, watched Jeff Guan hit balls on the range. He was swinging very well. The seventh hole is a short par four. It’s called the trap. Correct. What an awesome short hole pin. Would have to be one of the best short par fours I’ve seen. Easy to make par and easy to bogey from the look. Have a great week. Yeah, it’s a great little hole. It’s about 270 m, but there’s a bunker 20 or 30 meters short of the green you got to fly. So, it’s a bit of a trap to have a go at it. And if you get caught in the wrong spot, good luck. We need a zone a drone fly over at Mount Lillly. I just want to see it. You know, like they’ve got the um all 18 at Pine Valley or all 18. It’s Cypress Point. Beautifully narrated. If you if you’re not on YouTube having a look at those and you’re interested, you’re crazy cuz they’re great fun. Just sit back and watch some of the best courses in the world. But we want one ly now so I can see some of these new holes. Yeah. Martin heard the chat last week about caddies. Hi guys. With regards to caddies, I’m an 18 handicapper and I think the advantage of having a good caddy is that they help me play a better managed game. I’ve had similar experiences even playing with very low handicappers who would question why I made a particular club or shot choice. So that’s Martin’s view, which is Yeah, makes sense. No, it does make sense. Course management. Now, we had a really good chat last week about Mo Norman, the legendary Mo Norman. You have some great stories, Mark. If you haven’t heard those, go back to last week’s feedback pod and have a listen. It was they were they were fantastic. We had a lot of feedback on that too. Super has said Mo was involved in an accident when he was just a kid where I think a sled was hit by a car and many who knew Mo believe he suffered a brain injury as a result. Such a pity that he was forced off the USPGA tour. Right. Wow. So that I guess they’re saying he he’s not on the spectrum. They’re saying he may have had a brain injury. Maybe. Or he seems like he’s on the spectrum to me. But um it’s funny you say that cuz Ret Gen who I was watching a little bit of over there, he was a different person before he got hit by lightning. Yeah, that’s what I So he got hit by lightning as a kid and his personality changed significantly which um yeah makes you think those things can obviously happen. Yeah, I guess so. Still on Mo, Jonathan has said, “When I first found golf, I looked up Greg Norman and up came Mo Norman. Then that became an an obsession. I loved him. He was my golf hero. Now then, you don’t know this, but I had a conversation with Nick O’Harn during the week, right? And he was looking at Mo Norman seeing the club a long way behind the ball. Just don’t give away my master class for next week. I’m actually thinking about it. No, that’s okay. You can do it. Well, you you’re looking at it thinking that the way he sets up with driver could help your game. Yes. Yeah. One of the things that I do and one of my tendencies is just before I take the club away, I almost have a little I see that a little I’ve noticed it like that, right? The problem with that is then I start taking it outside the line. So So what I’m thinking is being a left-hander, if I put my club back further, all of a sudden my shoulders close and if I go there and then do a little bit of this, then I’m actually squaring him and I’ll take it back on a much better path. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time cuz when I slow down my swing on videos, if I’m having a look, I go, I keep I keep picking it up outside the line. How do I stop it? And I’ve been thinking about different ways. Well, I just need to feel as though I don’t move my shoulders at the start and that’s never worked for me because I don’t feel athletic then. Yeah. Whereas starting from a foot behind, I’m thinking, hang on now. I was going to do all this and have a look at it and hit balls, but I’ve been sick so I haven’t been able to hit balls. So this week I’m going to get out there and try it. So it sounds good in theory. It does sound good in theory. Just like communism sounds good in theory. That sounds good in theory. The thing is we’re always tinkering. We’re always got Oh yeah, that might work. This might work. Give it a go. Well, yeah. When I said it last week, how he just eliminated the first bit when he explained it in the clip that you put up then he was talking about how it helps the setup because when the ball moves forward over here, everyone just looks at the ball and that of course opens your shoulders. And he was explaining if he puts the ball back in the middle and the ball’s up there, then everything’s square because he’s looking straight at the middle. So that, you know, that might help you as well. And if if you’re looking at the ball, sorry, you’re a left-hander. If you’re looking at the ball up there and you’re square to this line, maybe your shoulders are open anyway. Maybe. I can’t wait to see your Mo Norman swing. I can’t wait. I went down a um I went down a rabbit hole last week of Mo Norman videos after you guys talked about him. And geez, he’s a unusual character, but boy, it’s incredible. There there are so many there. There are so many. It’s incredible. Yeah, there was tons. A couple to finish on here. This one from Sikarang. Uh this is about your your Footjoy conversation. Mark, last week five. Absolutely agree about Doug Sanders. Hard not to. Uh when you were reading the list, I was thinking, how can he not mention Doug? Great job, Mark. Pter had a fine collection of foot choice, by the way. Yeah, that’s true. Yeah, he had a lot of foot choice. But he had he actually had a suitcase just of shoes with compartments made to where he would take a dozen pair of foot joys every tournament wherever he went. Something like that. Something crazy. Doesn’t surprise me. Yeah. Baz reckons you miss someone. Oh, shoes. Who? Hey guys, I reckon you miss Scotty Hend in the best shoe category when he wore Rayondi golf shoes. Great style and comfort. I still wear a pair myself. Now I think that could be because you were talking about foot choice specifically, weren’t you? Or not? No, because um who I had P Stewart. Yeah, we weren’t sure on a couple. We weren’t sure whether Payne wore foot. I mean, I know some of these shoes were foot choice, but there are other ones with the steel caps where I’m not sure they were. They might have been, you know, some of these handmade numbers that he journeys. What about Scotty Hen’s Raymonies? Do you remember that? I don’t remember them. Do you? Not really. I remember he used to wear some two-tone sort of shoes. Yeah. Not really. But yeah, that I know just like Fjoy, they that you can get stuff made from from what’s how do you say the name again? Ramundi. Well, I think so. I’m just reading it how it’s written. So yeah. Well, if you look if you go to the footjoy.com.au website um and look up the premier. You can actually make your own. That’s amazing. You can make your own and and you know you’ll get them within four or five weeks. I’ve done a number of times and it’s great fun. Last one here. get Robert Alamy’s induction last week into the uh the Hall of Fame. I think was it was the Hall of Fame? Victorian Hall of Fame. Victorian Hall of Fame. Brit reckons, guys, get him on the pod. Yeah, he’d be willing. Yep. Yeah, he would. Y [Music] How you going? Do you want me to get you some lemon juice and you a towel over your head and some Vicks or something? I did that the other day, actually. Did it work? little. Yeah, sweating like a Yeah. need to get in a sauna. Actually, hang on. What is he not telling us, Marco? That’s the towel over your head you get when you’re in business class on a flight. Okay, there you go. Okay. This week, uh, DP World Tour, we’re in India in Delhi on a golf course that if you didn’t hit the fairways, you were going to shoot loads. Did you see any of the coverage? Yes, I did. And I could not believe the junk on either side of the fairways. Wouldn’t be a good spot for me at the moment. I know that. So, uh, anyway, Tommy Fleetwood. Wow, what a season he’s having. What a flusher. Yeah, he had a two-shot win over Kita Nakajima and celebrated with his son Frankie as well, which is which is a really cool moment. And weirdly, his son Frankie said the week before, “Hey, Dad, you’ve never won a tournament where I can, you know, when I’m standing next to the 18th green.” And guess what? It happened. So good. Daniel Hilly had a real chance there, the New Zealander. who was in the lead on the front nine playing beautifully but faded a bit over the closing stages finishing tied for ninth and the other uh Australasian in the field with Jason Scrier tied for 63rd. We need more Australians playing in Europe. We do. We we desperately need a team. We need Well, we’ve got Elvis. We’ve got MKA. Um Scrib obviously boys you mentioned there’ll be there’ll be more going over I’m assuming from um nice it’d be nice to have 20. It would be back when I was playing there was probably about 15. Yeah, that’s right. Okay. On the old PGA tour, they had the BMW Ladies Championships in Korea where the local Korean Seang Kim ended a 5-year drought with a four-shot winner over Japan’s Nasa Hateoka. The defending champion Hannah Green had a good final round 66 to finish tied for fifth. Mile tied 10th as well as Steph Kuryaku. They were the best of the Aussies. On the Asian tour, they had the Macau Open where Dominic Foos became the first German to win on the Asian tour in 29 years. You know who the last German was? Bad Lang. There you go. Absolutely. Anyway, he won on the second playoff hole against Chinese Taipei’s Wangi Son. Uh best Aussie was Brett Rankham. Good week for him. Tied for fifth. And also tied for 10th was uh Jack Thompson, the best of the Aussies there. and as well as uh Talkbury’s own Austin Troslo had it tied for 10th as well. So well done to Austin. Very nice. Uh the Japan Open which I mentioned earlier, the winner of this got into the Masters and the British Open and it was Nauki Katoka who won a playoff against Satashiara to punch his ticket to those two majors. In third position, funny enough, was Rio Ishikawa. Do you remember him? Yeah, absolutely. He was a superstar as a teenager. As a kid, how old do you think he is now? Well, I remember him as a 16 year old, so I’m going to say he’s 26, 34 now. That was a while ago. Wow. He hasn’t played the Masters since 2013. Remember, he got a couple of special invites back then. Uh, but he finished third. So, he almost went back to Augusta. He came on the scene when Rory Maroy, I think that they kind of came at the same time and they build as as the kids going through and and one elevated, one didn’t. Well, Real got some invites to the US and that, but he just never really fulfilled his potential. but he’s killed it in the in Japan. He’s just he’s just winning everything over the years. Adam Scott was also playing tied for 11th. On the Champions Tour, they had the SAS championship in North Carolina where Justin Leonard Eagle the last for the win. Well done to Justin. Best Aussie was Michael Wright tied for eighth and Mark Hensby tied for 11th. They were the best. Uh and then on the right, he’s had a good year. He’s had a good year. Yeah. On the le Access tour, they had the Spanish Women’s Open where Justice Bosio made a late dash uh to the event because top seven from the le Access gets your card into the ladies European tour. Okay. Okay. So, she had this she was eighth going into the event, so needed a good week. She finished tied ninth and fortunately wasn’t good enough. She got leaprogged by the winner, Andrea Lignal, and who ended up getting her spot basically. So, it was a bit of a shame. Uh and then in the dubby open as I mentioned Oliver Becker from South Africa had a one-shot win over Cameron John. In tied for third was Mark Leechman, Loy Barger and Nathan Barbiri. The all abilities was won by George Vaselites. So well done to him. And then finally the PGA Tour QL first round first stage uh was just played. Travis Smith won his section. He advances to the second stage and also Grant Booth and Kevin Ryan of Australia got through in New Mexico. So, uh, look out for the players going through that because they offer five cards to the main tour through Q school. So, it still is there that access, but it’s pretty pretty tough. All right. Very good. Well, Nicholas, nice to hear all the news from tours around the world. Indeed. So, master class this week is you, Mark. That’s right. You want to give us a heads up before we go to it? Well, selfishly, we’re looking forward to Nick’s mort on himself. And this one, selfishly, because I’m now presetting my hips. Yes. Like Matt Goggle. You are doing that constantly now. I’m doing it all the time now. Have you picked up a bit of length? Last week, Nick. Last week, the final hole, the 18th hole at Kingston Heath. Yes. It was only a half club wind behind me. Right. I had 104 yards to the pin. The longest drive I’ve hit sprinkler for a long none. And it was a rip, too. Right down the middle. Just a tiny little bit of draw. But that’s that’s kind of one of the benefits is obviously my shoulders are turning. I used to have this move where I’d come up. Mhm. For whatever reason that stops it. That stopped me coming up as I take away and I’m now going down like someone who knows what they’re doing. Wow. So it’s ridiculous. But what I hate, this is what I hate now that the master class will pop up in the tick. What I hate is when people are trying to fix something in their setup. Yep. And the last thing they do is fix it, right? It’s the wrong way to do it. You got to fix it early. This is the right way to do it. All right. The master class for Watch My Numbers. Download from Google Play or the App Store right after this. [Music] Looks good, man. Dude, are we in slow motion, too? [Music] Okay, I’m a waggler. And there’s lots of things that you can do while you’re waggling and the most important thing is get your address right. So, I see a lot of people waggling when they look at the ball. Then they’ll change their spine angle or their they’ll clear something up here while they’re looking at the ball. Then they look at the target and it messes everything up. So, what I’m suggesting you do is that when you set up when you’re waggling and looking at the target, that’s when I’m going to preset my hips while I’m doing that. And it works as well if you’re hitting a driver and you’re trying to get your spine on the right angle. Now, don’t start like that and waggle, then look, and then get the angle of your spine. It doesn’t work. If you’re hitting a driver, put the ball forward, waggle, and get back there. And do it while you’re looking at the target. And it makes more sense when you’re actually hitting the ball. I love that. Got to do it early, not the last thing. Right. That’s right. Because you just when you when I know you do it with the putting, you know, so when you look down the line and you come back, then you like to pull the trigger. What I hate seeing people do is they’ve looked at everything, they’re ready to go, they put the club back down behind the ball and then they change something in their setup. Instead of if you’re waggling while you look at the target and then maneuvering your body into whatever shape you want it. Yeah. At a dress, then as soon as you come back down, you’re in shape. Yeah. The shape is right and you are free. And then it’s a natural athletic move. You are free to go. Um, and anyway, look, it’s funny. I used to always do it, but my setup’s been good for a long time. Um, so I didn’t realize I found myself on the driving range presetting. Presetting after I’m after I’m set the go. Yes. Okay. Which was wrong. So it came in my head. So I started, you know, obviously presetting while I was presetting my hips, presetting my hip turn while I was waggling and looking at the hole. And then that motion kind of changed everything again. And you’re just doing it for driver, right? Not irons. I do it for everything really. Yep. I’m doing it for everything because you know that move I was saying before, I’d come up. I I was coming up with a lock witch. I just I hate it. And then I tried to stay down and then that didn’t work. You know, it worked. I could stay down, but the shots. So, you had what? 40 points or No, I didn’t. I had three down, but I had 34 putts. I had 34 putts, which was the green. Greens were well, because of club championships, the greens were firm and fast, and they’d be in tournament condition right now. I kept on trying to hold my boat, my par putt, and hit a sixoot pass and make a double with a three-part thing. It’s very easy to do. Anyway, folks, uh, hope you’ve enjoyed the show. Don’t forget to fill in that survey if you see it on our socials. Dan will retweet it all over the place. Yeah, it’ll make the show better and hopefully make you happier. We’ll see you next time. Talk birdies to me with Nick O’Harn and Mark Allen comes live from Tidalist and Fjoy headquarters. And thanks to our fantastic partners, Tidalist is the clear number one ball in golf. Fjoy, the number one shoe and glove in golf. BMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole. Ping, they’ll help you play your best. Better the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia. and the Golf Clearance outlet who beat everyone’s prices. Wherever you listen or watch, we’d love you to subscribe and maybe leave a review. Talk Birdies executive producer is Dan Bradley at Kaizen Media with sound design by Daryl Missen at loudzebra.com. And now from Titus and FootJoy headquarters, that’s been talk to me.