A couple of weeks ago Golf Digest released their Top 100 Golf Courses in Australia list, and Royal Melbourne West was knocked off the #1 perch by Cape Wickham in Tassie. It created plenty of talk. Some people felt it was well deserved by Cape Wickham, others felt that Royal Melbourne should have retained the top spot. If you've not seen the list, you can find it here.

One of the people in the latter category was Mark Allen who, on last weeks Talk Birdie To Me (Ep61) made his feelings abundantly clear saying that it was clearly the wrong call and that the ranking meant that Golf Digest's list had 'no credibility'. A fair whack. The team at Golf Digest said that a whack of that kind without asking them to give some context wasn't ideal and it's a fair point. So this week, a bonus pod with Steve Keipert, Associate Editor at Golf Digest and the bloke responsible for the Top 100 list.

Steve talks us through the rationale, the criteria, with Nick and Mark and we see where the common ground might be. Nick is a fan of Royal Melbourne, but he hasn't played Cape Wickham so doesn't have a strong view on that course, however does Steve convince Mark? Or does Mark convince Steve?

Find out on this weeks bonus episode of Talk Birdie To Me.

A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:

• PING, they'll help you play your best, you can see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;
• the new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store ;
• & the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.

Subscribe to never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

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Big week at Talk Birdie To Me HQ, plenty to discuss, and Mark is excited to be playing one of Nick's fave courses this week, Cathedral.

We chat Ripper GC's LIV win in Singapore, second in a row for the Aussies. Hopeless last year, on fire this year, says Nick. The hopeless team now in LIV is the Majesticks. Nick and Mark discuss playing Sentosa - water always a factor. And we kick around how many majors Brooks Koepka will end up winning. Currently on 5, Nick & Mark reckon by the end of his career he'll have 8.

Nick mentions the doco 'Duel in the Sun', Mark says that if you haven't seen it you are banned from listening to the pod until you do. And he wants to know what you think of it. Onto TPC Craig Ranch. Mark says it looked poor on TV, he's not a fan. Nick agrees. This inspires Nick’s Top 5 for later in the show: his Top 5 worst courses on tour.

Last week we discussed the Golf Digest Top 100 list, which Mark was unhappy about - specifically Cape Wickham being named #1. Today he doubles down saying that Cape Wickham is not even close to #1, and looks at the criteria used by Golf Digest. Mark feels it's too complex, needs to be simplified, and because of the spectacular outlook at Cape Wickham, that is why it got the nod. Nick wonders how consistently playable Cape Wickham is, given the winds on the island.

On Thursday this week we’ll have a bonus pod with Steve Keipert of Golf Digest to discuss the Top 100 list with him, get his rationale for the rankings, and give him an opportunity to respond to Marks comments last week.

We chat about LIV Adelaide and how much it cost to put on. Following last weeks pod, Mark had a call from his mate James who works for LIV and says that he believes Mark's inside info on a couple of players leaving LIV to be incorrect. We'll get James on for a bonus pod at some point and get his thoughts.

Top 5 from Nick on the worst courses on the PGA and European tours. Ouch!

Lots of feedback, a few whacks this week, but we don't shy from that we're happy to cop a whack. We also realise we have a lack of prizes, and Mark has the idea to give away copies of his DVD which strangely didn't sell out - the ironically titled '87 ways to make golf simple'. And we need your input for pod listener Rob - what are the 'must play' courses for him in Northern NSW. Let us know and we'll read them out next week.

Huge week in the PING global results from Nick, and Marks masterclass for watchMynumbers is on a flaw he discovered in his game last week.

A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:

• PING, they'll help you play your best, you can see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;
• the new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store ;
• & the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.

Subscribe and never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hold everything. Mark has come in worked up, he is not happy that Cape Wickham has been named the #1 golf course in Australia by Australian Golf Digest, and says that they have clearly got it wrong. Mark says that the list (see it here) has now lost all credibility and whilst he loves Cape Wickham, it is not the #1 course by a long shot. Mark believes the list should be immediately changed as it is clearly flawed. Love your thoughts.

LIV Adelaide last weekend was huge. Massive crowds, a fantastic atmosphere - couple of muppets here and there, but largely well behaved - and Nick and Mark discuss what they saw and how they reckon it went. We also give Sam from the Golf Clearance Outlet a call as he was there playing with a couple of superstars - he tells us all about it! And Mark reveals that he has the inside word on a couple of major LIV signings who he says have indicated that they will not be re-signing with LIV at the end of their current agreement. Brooks Koepka, DJ and Bubba Watson.

And we have a new number 1 female Aussie golfer, Hannah Green has knocked off Minjee Lee. Both wonderful players, but Minjee has missed a couple of cuts lately, leaving the door open for Hannah.

Mark watched Rory McIlroy's win at the weekend, and thinks he looks tired. Nick and Mark discuss the workload on pro golfers and what the ideal number of tournaments to play in may be. That said, Rory wasn't too tired to smash out a version of Journey's Don't Stop Believing (here) which wasn't too bad.

And Talk Birdie listener Michael has a problem with his golf, which he's after some input on from the boys, so we get him on the phone for a yak.

Fun Top 5 today, Mark gives us his Top 5 pros who never won a major. Has he missed any obvious ones?

Huge PING global results today, there is plenty to discuss and Nick runs us through it all - including some dubious fashion choices that Mark raises.

And lots of feedback, plenty on LIV. It was divided, about half of the feedback we received was from people who loved it, half weren't into it, but that's cool - we're all into different stuff! And Mark gives us an update on the Australian Open - which is that there is no update yet.

Great masterclass from Nick today on distance control with pitching.

A huge thanks to our Talk Birdie partners:

• PING, they'll help you play your best, you can see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;
• the new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store ;
• & the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here.

Subscribe to never miss a Talk Birdie To Me ep. And we'd appreciate you sharing the pod with a friend. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.