This will be fun. Today we're hosting superstar golf coach Ritchie Smith for Hostplus, and boy oh boy do we have a bit to talk with him about.

Ritchie is unquestionably the leading golf coach in Australia, and you can make a compelling argument that he is the leading coach in the world. His stable of players include (among others) Min Woo Lee, Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, David Micheluzzi, Yuka Saso. Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen start by finding out how Ritchie got into golf, he started as a player, and he was a good one, but transitioned into coaching quite early.

We find out about how he selects which players he will work with, the criteria that he has, and how he finds them or how they are brought to his attention. There is quite the process and quite a checklist, Ritchie explains why this is so important to him. One of the attributes is that he only works with players who are prepared to be 'vulnerable', and he tells us why this is a non-negotiable for him.

Ritchie coaches Ryan Peake who has had some well documented challenges, of his own making, and Ritchie discusses the background, how they reconnected, and how he helped Ryan integrate back into golf after some years away following his incarceration.

Hannah Green is one of Ritchie's most successful golfers, he describes her as 'the prototype of what I'd like my golfers to be'. He explains how he identified her as a kid, her development in the shadow of a couple of bigger names, and more recently how Hannah and he have completely rebuilt her swing. He explains how and why, and the results.

Ritchie started working with Minjee as a 12-year old when he, in his words, 'didn't know what I was doing', clearly he does now! He talks us through Minjee's putting issues, why they changed to the long putter, and the results.

He also coaches Min Woo and we're interested in his insights into coaching him, and particularly the work they are doing on Min Woo's iron play. Ritchie says that ''his iron play (was) poor", and he explains how they have been fixing it to ensure that aspect of his game is stronger. And he explains why he got 'cranky' with Min Woo at the Cognizant Classic, what he said to him, and what he had him change....and what happened as a result.

David Micheluzzi has just come on board to be coached by Ritchie, and he explains to us what they are working on, and the theory Micheluzzi had on his swing that Ritchie needed to disprove for their work together to be successful.

And we finish by finding out what comes after golf for Ritchie, what are his plans and dreams when he gives golf away!

A fascinating chat with arguably the worlds best golf coach, thanks to Hostplus it was great to host Ritchie Smith on Talk Birdie To Me.

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.

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A feedback pod today with some cracking messages to chat through.

We start with a couple on the Australian Open cancellation, on day one, that Nick and Mark spoke about recently. Raymond has written in and he was caddying that day, and remembers it very clearly, he runs through what he was seeing on the day. And Brad, who narrowly missed qualifying for the Open that year and went along with his wife to watch the tournament - unfortunately the day was, obviously, cut short!

Phillip has some news on the Australian Women's Open which he asks Nick to confirm, or otherwise.

McDougal has a view on this weeks comments about The Players Championship. Mark heard us discussing conceding holes last week and Nick and Mark noting how rare it is, he points out a very famous occasion from an Aussie! Andrew listened to Nick and Mark's 7 predictions, and has a prediction of his own.

And after the turn, we review the putting technique of journalist and wolfpacker Jon Ralph who was playing with Mark last week, and was caught on camera putting to save par. We ask Nick O'Hern to analyse Ralphy's putting technique. Is he impressed or underwhelmed?

Kevin from Vietnam writes to Nick with his views on the courses in that country, Nick knows it well having played golf there a number of times.

And we read a note from Brenton of the Woodburn-Evans Head Golf Club in NSW who recently had a significant theft at the club, and are putting on a great day in March to raise funds for recovery. You can find out more here.

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.

Like everyone Chris from Rutherglen on the NSW/Victorian border was excited about Elvis Smylie's win on debut for LIV last weekend, and in the lead-up to LIV Adelaide this weekend he watched a video on the LIV YouTube channel with every shot of Elvis' final round in the Riyadh tournament and left a voicemail recommending it and explaining why and what is in it. Have a listen to Chris' voicemail, and you can see the video he's referring to here.

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.