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.

No time to muck around - right off the bat we reveal the BMW Touch of Class recipient this week, and it had to be Elvis Smylie....a huge win in his LIV debut, individual and team and a well deserved Touch of Class for BMW. Nick and Mark discuss how Elvis played, particularly with Rahm on the tear in the late stages, and how he has moved from 130 to be in the 70's now, on the verge of a Masters spot if he can have another couple of solid performances.

His timing was pretty good given this was the first LIV tournament eligible for OWGR points, although both Nick and Mark feel the structure of how many points is not yet right. Obviously this weekend is LIV Adelaide, which as usual will be crazy - Adelaide being consistently LIV's best event.

Brandel Chamblee made some controversial comments about The Players this week, Nick and Mark discuss and respond to his comments, around the field, the prestige, and Mark asks Nick if he could choose, which one major would he like to win. Nick also gives a recommendation for a restructure of the Women's Majors.

Mark watched the Waste Management tournament in Phoenix and loved plenty of it, but was disappointed with two things. He explains.

He has also brought in a ridiculous photo regarding aim point and straddling the line - it is truly insane we'll put it on socials, and show it on the YouTube show. We decide that were straddling the line to be banned, and it should be, that would be a plus for golf, and we reckon our friends at Hostplus who are made golfers would completely agree.

Oh dear.....the Chili Dip that was seen around the world from Colin Morikawa. We've all done it, but most of us not on international television. We discuss using the leading edge and 'hands of gold' when chipping. Nick and Mark watch the video, and give their thoughts on his technique.

After the turn, following a chat about the OWGR points, we look at what you get for each tournament and if it is equitable. Then, for Betr, Nick's Top 5 is the Top 5 Chili Dips in golf....there are some classics, and a couple of very heavy hitters in there!

Feedback for Southern Golf Club - we read a couple about Elvis, there were plenty, lots of comments on the Top 10 list - including a ripper of a suggestion from wolfpacker Jack who'd love a Top 10 Public Course list....which we reckon wolfpackers are better to suggest as there will be bunch we've not played. So....let us know what you reckon are your favourite public access courses, shoot a message through via the website, a voicemail, or comment on socials....you might have 1 suggestion, you might have 5, or somewhere in the middle, doesn't matter....give us your views and we'll compile a list.

Nick runs through the results in the PING Globals - plenty of golf, the season is away with a bang. And during them we have a look at Tour Pro Chris Gotterup's swing - Mark has noticed something and wants to discuss it. Nick also has another killer Scottie Scheffler stat....this is becoming a habit, maybe we need a stats theme song opener?

And predictably, Mark tries to search something on Grok and it goes pear-shaped....

We wrap the show with a Masterclass for the Golf Clearance Outlet from Mark inspired by Colin Morikawa's awful chip at the weekend.

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.

As U2 famously said: 'there's been a lot of talk, maybe too much talk' about Top 100 golf course lists, and last week there was another addition that caught Nick and Mark's eyes. Golf Australia Magazine gave their Top 100 Australian courses list, you can see it here. Like all lists, there is a degree of subjectivity to it and there's plenty on this list we agree with, and plenty we'd question, but that's part of it.

Having said that, we decided to do the official Talk Birdie To Me 'Top 10 Australian golf course list'.

So today Nick and Mark list their Top 10 Australian courses. We'd love your feedback, whether you agree or disagree, and if there are any standout courses that belong in the Top 10 that weren't AND what course you would remove to put it in there.

We won't list them here, but we will list the state breakdown:

On Nick and Marks list is:

6 courses from Victoria;

2 from Tasmania;

1 from New South Wales;

and 1 from South Australia.

mmmm this could get controversial...

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.

Dee left a voicemail regarding the Peter Senior podcast which, if you've not heard it, is well worth going back to. Dee's comment is specifically around Pete's wonderful King of Spain story, one of the all time greats, so we decided to revisit it and play that particularly story again after Dee's voicemail.

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 feedback pod today with some great comments and questions to run through.

We start with Graham who heard Nick's advice last week about not aiming for the flag, and he explains where he aims. Nick and Mark talk about they do, and did when they were on tour. Plenty of feedback on Marks 'gimme' theory from a couple of weeks back.

Bean disagrees with Mark and explains why, Andy says gimmes are a slippery slope, Gary believes unmissable putts are too subjective, Peter accuses Mark of a double standard, and Robert reckons the main issue with gimmes has to do with beer. Phew....

After the turn, Tom in Arizona has a request for content on the pod...it's a nice idea...! Arthur disagrees with Mark that the BMW PGA should move from Brisbane to Sydney, he wants it to stay where it is. Kevin is a new wolfpacker and is working through the prior episodes and has a question about something Nick and Mark discusses in episode 7 (?!?!?!??!), back in 2023!!!! Welcome aboard Kevin!

And then to Duncan. Oh Duncan. He has messaged in defending Monty, and risking incurring the wrath of one Mr Mark Allen.

Dave agrees with us from last week that Scheffler is a gun, but says he is not yet run the same conversation as Tiger - and provides some stats to support this. We discuss if Scheffler will get to ten career majors or not.

And a couple of final comments from Darren, and Malcolm, both of whom enjoyed the chat with Peter Senior (it was great fun).

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.

If you saw or read about what happened to Calum Hill in Bahrain at the weekend, you'll no doubt have found it as difficult to watch as we did. He had a very tough weekend, completely lost his game and it didn't end well for the poor fella. We had a couple of messages from wolfpackers about it - Josh on email, and Gordon on voicemail - the thrust of the messaging was how do we prevent happening to us, what happened to Calum.

Firstly Nick and Mark chat about the weekend in Bahrain for him, Mark didn't see a lot of it, Nick saw plenty and runs through the various scenarios that played out.

In the end, it comes back to routine, and Nick and Mark explain why that is the case, and how you should look to construct yours to ensure what happened to Calum doesn't happen to you.

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.