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🎙️ Solo Episode: Golf, Mental Health, and Why the Game Means More Than Scores
In this solo episode of the Birdie Golf Club Podcast, Dave reflects on recent tournaments, listener questions, personal lessons from the game, and the journey of building the podcast.
This is a more candid conversation about golf beyond technique — exploring the mindset, memories, and experiences that make the game special.
From the atmosphere at The Players Championship to personal reflections on mental health, family golf, and the future of the podcast, this episode highlights why golf is about much more than numbers on a scorecard.
🧠 What We Cover
• The atmosphere and storylines from The Players Championship
• Why personality and authenticity matter in modern golf
• Listener questions about golf improvement and favourite courses
• Lessons from Scottie Scheffler and emotional resilience
• Mental health and managing expectations in golf
• Balancing feel vs analytics in putting
• Building an AimPoint practice station
• Dream podcast guests and future conversations
• The value of playing golf with family and creating memories
• The realities of content creation and storytelling
• Personal golf goals for the upcoming season
⏱ Chapters
00:00 – Welcome and overview of this solo episode
01:42 – Reflections on The Players Championship
04:23 – Personality and authenticity in golf
07:00 – Listener questions and community engagement
08:29 – Lessons from Scottie Scheffler’s interview
09:54 – Mental health and self-awareness in golf
11:18 – Feel vs analytics in putting
13:09 – Building an AimPoint practice station
15:04 – Dream podcast guests and future conversations
17:52 – Playing golf with family and cherishing moments
19:17 – Strike Wedge training aid discussion
20:25 – Personal golf goals for the season
25:33 – Favourite golf holes in Sussex
31:12 – Storytelling and authentic podcasting
42:13 – The future of golf media and guests
45:16 – Building the Birdie Golf Club community
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🌍 Golf Escapes
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https://www.golf-escapes.com/the-birdie-golf-club-podcast-with-golf-escapes/
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Thank you.
Welcome to another episode of the Burdy Gold Club podcast.
It's going to be a slightly different episode this week.
But one that I think will be nice, also a nice little change of pace, due to scheduling,
due to the fact that obviously there was a lot of guests that just so happened to be
out in Dubai at the time of when we were looking to record.
It's kind of left this sort of gap where you're just going to get me this week.
But I thought it would be a cool little check-in moment to see how things are.
It still surprises me that some people like to hear how I am, I guess, through podcast
form and to sort of catch up on how things are going and where the podcast is going.
But what I really wanted to do this week was kind of throw it out to listeners, especially
ones that are on Instagram and follow me on there, to ask their questions and then maybe
kind of build the episode around a listener Q&A, which I thought would be fun.
Yeah, let's do that.
I'm recording this the week just after the Honolulu Palmer invitation also won't have any immediate
reaction from the players this week.
If anything unbelievable happens at the players, I'll insert that here.
So it might be fast forward a week right now.
I debated whether or not to actually include this or not, because I guess some interesting
things kind of did happen at the players.
Cam Young winning, like as much as we all want to dress it up and look unbelievable,
golfer.
But all of them are unbelievable, golfer's personality wise, and I've spoken to people that
no cam from when he was younger, but personality wise, it's just tough, isn't it?
It really is just tough.
I mean, I couldn't believe that when he won, he barely even smiled.
It was like it was nothing, and it's just, I guess that's kind of cool.
From a sports psychology standpoint, it's probably immense, right?
It is to have that kind of, okay?
Well, I won the tournament.
I went through the process, all those things, but that's not what we really want to see.
Is it?
Let's be totally honest.
I want to see guys crying.
I want to see them in tears.
And it's not like it's a lesser tournament that players is basically considered the next
best thing after the majors and after the ride a cup.
So just summing, give us summing, give us a fist bump, anything, you know, just it was
really painful, I thought, and then when he was asked about it, I was like, you're going
to crack his like in the media room, not going to crack a smile now, you know, you've just
won the players.
You've never done anything like this before.
It's not like he's a multiple major champion, never won a major, never want to ride a
cup.
This is the biggest win of his career.
And yet it kind of looked like he'd got, got the job done on a weekend sort of stable
for competition, where he's expected to win it or the local club championships, where
he was that much better than everyone else.
It was just like, man, give us something and he's like, well, just ask my wife, she's
like, we shouldn't have to ask your wife, Cam.
You've just won the players anyway, well done to Cam, young, a great win, just a tough
reaction.
It really was.
Other standout things from the weekend, obviously, you got to feel for Ludwig, look like he was
going to cruise to victory after playing really, really well for three days.
And then kind of like what happened the week before, just if you don't keep the foot down,
these guys are going to catch you and it was actually a really great finish.
And obviously, Matt Fitzpatrick ended up being the guy of challenging Cam, young towards
the end.
And there was, there was a group of guys that you thought could probably get into the
mix.
It was actually a very good Sunday.
I would say Thursday, Friday, Saturday, it sort of struggled to have the juice for me.
I don't know if everyone else felt that it's just, it was a little bit, yeah, maybe it's
just timings.
Over here in the UK, it kind of fell at a funny time where it would kind of, a lot of
it was happening.
The peak stuff was having around sort of seven o'clock, six o'clock, which isn't really
ideal.
My schedule wise, it might be for you guys, I don't know, you have to let me know in
the comments, did you enjoy watching the players this year?
I feel like we're building this year towards something great, hopefully happening.
I've just not been blown away by the tournament so far and what's happened in them and the
winners.
Yeah, I'm trying to think it's just, I don't know, I mean, one is just, it doesn't
quite have that, you know, but let's hope it builds towards it as we, as we head into
the major season now and look, if it's an amazing major season, then who cares about the
rest of it really?
You had a criminal on the grounds, that was pretty interesting, not, I don't really hear
much happening after that, but broken to TPC sawgrass after, I think it was a murder case
right?
And the guy escaped.
So, hopefully they found him, I know he fled the grounds, I think, after a while.
So that happened.
That was interesting, you know, saw a very funny thing, I was saying everyone said, as
anyone see, Scotty Sheffler, they got a laugh from me, that was funny.
But yeah, other than that, I just felt like it didn't really have the juice and maybe
that's just because Rory and Scotty weren't really in the mix either.
And then I think if, to be honest, I think even if Matt Fitzpatrick or Cam Young win it,
it doesn't really have it either.
Amazing golfers, but it is a personality driven sport, like we do need to recognize that
about golf.
It is a personality driven sport.
And that's what made it what it is now, Tiger is what made golf what it is now.
There was players before that, they had incredible personalities as well, you're Greg Norman,
John, or Palmer's, you're Jack Knicks, all those guys had amazing personalities, Fuzzy
Zola, like all these guys are well known in the game, but I just, when a guy wins that's
just a bit, the E or of golf isn't he, he's the E or of golf, it's just like another
par, another birdie, bogey this time, but avoided, but double bogey, you know, it's like
come on mate, like give us something, but anyway, well done to Cam Young.
The players was good, decent, not amazing, in my opinion.
And now I'll throw it back to me from a week ago, who didn't know any of this happened,
so if I let him down, and you're back, if nothing happened at the players, it was remotely
interesting, then we wouldn't have even gone forward a week.
So yeah, that's fun, I don't know what happened, I hope it was good, anyway, building it around
a listener Q&A, so I put out the question on Instagram and just sort of said, look,
this is a solo episode this week, only so much I can talk about when it comes to my own
golf game, especially this time of year, when let's face it, we all haven't played as much
golf as we probably would have liked.
So what would you like tonight?
First question comes from Lee, LA Golf Channel, if you're not following me already, make
sure you are, does a fantastic podcast, I'm proud to say that I kind of spurred him into
motion with that, so go and check him out, LA Golf Channel podcast, but his question was,
what has been one thing I guess has said that has truly stuck with you, and to be fair,
I believe also ping it, ping it, Josh also, excuse my phone making a load of noise there,
asked a very similar kind of question, best question you've been asked by a guest, the
kind of moment that's stuck with you, and I mean it's hard to look past last week's
episode with Scott, and obviously everything that's got been through with his family, and
what had happened to his nephew, and then the impact that had made as well on him, and
who he was as a person, and why he is quite combative, and that's part of all the things
that he can control, and just his point on social media, and the fact that sometimes we
all kind of forget what somebody might be going through at that moment in time, and just
kind of throw out comments throughout stuff, and that's an important reminder for all of
us that we just don't know what has gone on in someone's life. Golf is a very small part
of the world, for many of us it's a big part of our lives, especially if you're listening
to this, but in reality life is very, very difficult, and we just don't know what's going
on on the other side of that screen, so that was I guess a moment that kind of just shocked
me, probably shocked you as listeners as well, listening to it, and listening to what
Scott had been through. I suppose looking at it from something that has stuck with me,
I would say as far as my golf game, something that's stuck with me, I can't look past what
James Sharp said to me, when I went to talk to him about Aimpoint, and I'd gone there
to kind of fight back a little bit on Aimpoint, but we've not, we've not that perspective,
I didn't want to argue with James about Aimpoint, I just wanted to give him my opinion, and
he welcomed that as well. But just something he said really just struck
home, and I stood to this day, I don't often listen back to the podcast, just because
I found myself irritating, especially after the editing process. But I can't quite remember
whether he said anything, or whether his silence said everything, if he not, I mean, because
we were talking about Aimpoint, and I was talking about the fact that I think I do better
off of feels when it comes to putting, and you all might feel the same about that as
well, that feels is kind of way more important, and I can kind of see the line and pace is key,
and I think James might have just asked me whether or not I take into account numbers
when I approach the green, so on everything I lead up to the green, am I, am I that kind
of thinker? And my answer, or my cellular queen, maybe that I went on, was yes, like absolutely,
I take into account the distance I have, the carry distance over the hazards that are
most appropriate, or whether the wind is playing apart, what speed the wind is, how that's
going to affect my shot, what distance that might take off, or put onto the shot, I take
into effect the time of day, whether it's cold, whether it's warm, is it going to fly
further or shorter, and add that into an equation, the lie, I take into equation, obviously,
the slope as well, whether or not I'm hitting uphill, downhill, and what that's going
to do. So all these things are going on in my head, a bit like a film, Michelson meme, just
going on in my head, right? And then I sort of realized that as soon as I get on that
green, as soon as a pattern is in my hand, all of those numbers just completely leave my
head, and I go, I'm just going to feel it, I'm essentially winging it every single time
I get on a green, and I had absolutely no answer as to why that is, because I'm not good
enough to think that my feels are unbelievable to the fact that I'm just going to hold here.
Like I do really like staring at the hole, which my friend James, who was on the podcast
as well, was talking about, I love that drill, I love staring at the hole, staring down
the hole, looking back at the ball, hitting the part, clearing the mind, and there's no
reason why that can't be part of the aim point process, certainly towards the end as
you're putting, but the fact that I can then add this analytical side to my putting, which
then suits the rest of my game, like throughout the rest of my bag, I do that, my t-shirts,
everything, it's all analytical, my putting isn't, and then I wonder why I hit so many
three puts or four puts, like my putting's been pretty disastrous recently, so I'm going
to correct that, I'm actually booked in with James, as I'm recording this next week,
it will be the day before you all listen into this, I would have had my first aim point
lesson.
I'm going to get that down, especially before I head off on the golf trip with someone
back to Broadway, to bring back, it's broken, but the mighty Broadway title.
You may have seen this in the background, right?
If you have seen this in the background, this is a, this is a torn, I play with my mates
and we go back to Broadway golf club, which is like, it is not that special or golf club,
it is really not, but you get to stay on site right there on the golf course, literally
wake up on the golf course, and in the UK that's not, that normal, normal, it's a hotel
and all these things, these are just like little pods that you're staying, and that's
their mascot at the top there, the woodpecker is their mascot, and then it's team bears,
so that's the head of a bear versus team tigers, and that's the head of a tiger, and I got
my brother-in-law to make this, and it is a nuts amalgamation of heads, but we are going
to improve on this this year, we're going to go a little bit bigger, change the printing
on it, because yeah, it broke, it fell in my office, and I'm devastated, so we're going
to get that sorted, I'll update, follow on Instagram for that one, that one will come
through, but anyway, I'm going to get Aimpoint source here, I'm going to get on it, I may
even set up, because in my garden my plan is to set up a hit in station for me, but I'm
going to frame it, it is for my son, good plan, and there I'm going to set up maybe an
Aimpoint station with the different degrees, so that I can literally just stand and feel
it, so that it's a faster process when I'm on the green, I don't want to slow down people
on the green, so that's kind of my way of thinking, I can get really proficient at this,
so that I can do it quickly, but Aimpoint Europe guys, Jamie Dawness and Mark Sweeney are
coming on the podcast, so I think Garatho shares well, I think that's his name, I think
I've got that right, coming on the podcast, so get ready for that, that's going to be
good, we're going to talk about that, we'd love to hear your questions for them, so I'll
put that out as well. Question from Shona, who's a good friend of ours, very supportive
of the podcast as well, so thank you ever so much Shona, her question is if you could
play against one pro player that you admire, who would it be? Wow, okay, one pro player that
I admire, who would it be? Really difficult to put that down into one person, isn't it?
And you're probably racking your brains at home as well thinking maybe who would I pick,
or who would you pick? I mean, for somebody that's shown me the time of day and through
the fact that I think that they would be a really interesting insight into longevity
in the game, I would love to get around in with Justin Rose, that would be great,
Justin is meant to be coming on the podcast, he's doing no podcast until or after the Masters,
that's why there's a delay, everyone, I promise, that's the reason we are in talks to set up a time,
so be prepared for that, but we'd love to get on the golf course with Justin, I think it would be
amazing, I think to hear his story, to hear his process of how he goes through things,
I'd love to get an insight into his recovery as well, and what he's doing for that,
and just the fact that he seems so willing to give people his time as well, which is so nice,
when you look at the Rose Ladies series, what that's doing, you look what he does with his various
charitable donations and everything about the work that he does there, and just I love the fact
that he has that JR tournament every year, he sort of takes his mates and they go and play some of
the best golf course in the world, and they have that, and the fact that he still does those
type of things just shows what type of person he is, I would think I'd really enjoy around with
Justin, I'd be so nervous, but it would be awesome nonetheless, so I've been promised that if I get
him to see for the head, that I can have a bench, firstly I'd never have to pay for a round of
golf again in my life there, so that's a big one, honorary membership, but I've said I want a bench,
by the 18th tea, I think, just that there, just dedicated to the birdie golf club,
football course, just constant advertisement for free, that'd be something, but we'll see,
so Justin Rose, if I could play a round of golf, if I'm going to extend the question,
if I could play one round of golf with one person of my choosing, I'd play with my dad,
I missed the opportunity now of playing golf with my dad, I took it for granted when he was alive,
and I genuinely wish I could just play 18 holes with him again right now, it would be great,
he chopped it around, he was not a good golfer, but just to take him round some of the golf courses,
I get to play now and to see him enjoy it as well, and just to be out there and talk, and
you know, I think at the time when I did play golf with my dad, probably didn't talk to him enough,
was still that closed off teenage time, and then he was too sick by the time I was playing in my 20s,
yeah, would absolutely love to do that, would absolutely love to do that, but hey,
make sure, if you've got a loved one that you play golf with right now, make sure you make the
absolute most of it, if there's a course you wish you could go and play, go and play it, money
comes mummy, I'll say that again, I was about to say mummy, money comes and money goes,
the memories stay, so just make sure you do what you want to do, and very much just like you
that are listening and always searching for something to help me and my game, I've tried a lot
of different training aids, some are good, some are just gimmicks, but the best one that I've tried
so far is without a doubt, strike wedge, strike wedge enables me to be able to make sure that I'm
making great contact with great feedback with or without a golf ball there, that's what's special
about it, it can help with your chipping, with your iron play, even with driver, if set in front
of the golf ball, and low point is the thing that we all want to do better in this game, it's
something that we can all do, no matter what our swings look like, low point, we can all control,
and strike wedge really does help with that, you get this fantastic bit of kit along with the
side ramps, which I've named them, that's definitely not their technical name, which can really help
with your toe striker, heel striker, changing that path and making you a better golfer as well,
so you can click the link in the description, and you can get yourself a strike wedge,
and when you do, you will also get some money off if you're using the link below,
and it also helps out the podcast as well, so you get to feel good for it, so thank you,
anyway, back to the episode, okay, we're going to go to the next question,
who is from four Frankie, and of course four Frankie is indeed Frankie Hardy who was on the
podcast with his mum and dad, and I hope you're doing well Frankie, thank you so much for your
question here, what are your golfing goals for the season ahead, well I want to know what your
golfing goals are Frankie, so please get in touch with those, would love to hear that,
I'm sure they are far better than what mine are, but to be honest my golfing goals are not too
dissimilar to what they were last year, which is a bit of a damning indictment really,
I would like to get down to a single finger, single figure handicap, I am still,
I'm probably well over 10 actually, I haven't really posted my winter rounds, but
I'm still at least a 10 handicap, and I would like to get down to closer to seven,
which would have just shown me that I can kind of shoot in the 70s a little bit more often than I
have been, but genuinely one of the things I really want to try and do is enjoy my golf a lot more,
the score is one thing, I think we all want to get better at this game, but actually I had a
bit of a discovery recently that my I need to switch off my brains sometimes, and even when I'm
doing activities like golf, and I don't know whether you have all maybe felt like this, in this age
of neurodiversity and discovering how our brains work a little bit better, I was very dismissive
of it for a long time, but then some personal sort of family experiences have led to me really
trying hard to not be that dismissive, because what does it really achieve to be like, ah they're
fine, I'm fine, we're all fine, okay, there's times to pull your socks up and get on with things,
there are, like that is a nature of life, but there's also times to recognise why your
flaws or maybe what is seen to be flaws in your own mind, why they are coming about, why that
happens so often, and for some it happens really obviously for addictions and
never sort of points where there's literally an intervention to change things,
but for others which is probably a little bit more like myself, there are just these moments where
you you look at it and think why do I act like that, and why do I struggle with that, so for
instance with me, I'm like an anticipation person, so I get really excited for like events that
are coming up and for moments, and then when I'm in those moments I probably struggle to enjoy
them as much, and golf is part of that, and part of the thing that I do is if I'm in a group,
I've realised that I kind of assess group dynamics too much, and I'm always trying to
either dominate the moment, by being the loudest or by trying to make the most jokes, or all
these things, which I'm sure for some of you this will definitely resonate whether it's for you
or someone you know in your group, and what that actually leads to is total burnout, total burnout,
and I'm just so determined this year, just to sometimes just shut up, you know, like rather than talk,
which I do so much, so much talking, this is talking, you know, and I love talking,
but sometimes I'm just talking for the sake of it, and it's just a nonsense,
and I end up being tired in moments that I should just be enjoying, so I'm going to make a real
effort in rounds of golf sometimes, just to shut up for 10 minutes, you know, don't say anything,
just enjoy it, enjoy listening to others, I'm able to listen to others in this podcast because
it's the setting, it's a conversation, and I'm not thinking about the group dynamic, but
I do find that I've really struggled sometimes to just, like I said, be tranquil, be quiet,
and just enjoy, so that's, sorry Frankie, like Frankie's relatively young lad, and that's a
big answer, I don't know if it will fully grasp, but I think for a lot of people that they will
understand what I'm saying there, I just want to enjoy my golf, and that doesn't necessarily have
to do with score, score helps, but just enjoy the moments, don't just enjoy the build up to it,
enjoy being out there with friends, and meeting new people as well, which is just really fun.
I'll move on to the next question, and it's going to be a little bit less in depth,
sorry Frankie, by the way, that was a lot, it's just like a therapy session, but I do appreciate
the top three, so this is from the Sussex Golfer, top three favorite golf holes in Sussex.
Now I am pretty ashamed to say that I am not that world-traveled,
I am not that world-traveled, I could name your one hand, two hands maybe, all the courses that
I've played in this area of the country, and that is because I do get a little bit comfortable
in what I know at the end of the day, like I am that person, and it's not necessarily great,
like I want to work on that this year, I want to go and play some different places,
but being realistic, I mean, cost does come into it, playing some courses is very expensive,
and all right, through this podcast now, the opportunity is doors open and you know people and
everything like that, but yeah, it's not cheap playing golf a lot of the time, so my top three
favorite holes in Sussex, okay, I'm going to go with number three, will be the 18th at C for
Head, I think it's just one of those spots that everyone goes, everyone takes a picture,
everyone gets pumped up for hitting that drive, the beautiful drop, I mean, I think it's like an 80
foot drop or something crazy, and you've got the sea on your left, you've got the beautiful
Sussex rolling the downs on your right, the rolling hills, even up the top there on the 13th as well,
you've got the beautiful view across the seven sisters, but the 18th just is a really dramatic hole,
it's etched into the landscape, and it's a great birdie opportunity towards the end of your round,
you've got the clubhouse sitting on your right, which I've hit, nearly hit twice now, it definitely
hit once, nearly hit it again the other day, and I just think it's a place that all golfers should
go, it's so affordable, you can get it, it's like 22 quid to play golf, it's crazy, 18 holes,
onto a great golf course, so 18th at C for Head is my number three pick, my number two is going to be
at Manning Seath, Manning Seath, I will go with the, I really enjoy the punch bowl of Manning Seath,
which is the one, two, probably should look that up, anyway, it's called the punch bowl,
par three, downhill par three, into literally a punch bowl green, you know, I mean it's high on
the right, it drops away on the left, it's intimidating, if the wind swirling, it's hard to
calculate the distance, but it's just a really great hole, and Manning Seath is full of them,
the waterfall is what it's kind of known, excuse me, the waterfall is what it's kind of known for,
but I just, I prefer the punch bowl for a hole, I definitely prefer that hole, the
waterfall is a great hole as well, but yeah, give me that hole, I really enjoy playing that hole
when it gets there, it's something I look forward to, so go and check that out, if you're playing
the waterfall course at Manning Seath, and my number one pick is the, and I want to get this
right, I want to get this right, my number one pick is the fourth hole at East Brighton Golf Club,
now I know they're undergoing renovation and the 10th looks unbelievable, but the fourth hole
just holds a little special place in my heart, and it's just the view from the teal on that par three
is like, I don't even know how to describe it, like as someone that hasn't played a lot of,
like what hasn't played barely any really, at top, top golf courses and architecture,
but I'm aware of what it takes, I think that fourth hole just kind of hits you in the
gap of just wow, but this is stunning, and it's just the way the tee box is,
it's not elevated to the tee box, it kind of sits in the land, and then the way they've done
the dunes and the heels that roll and kind of give you a glimpse of the green, you see the
bunkering and the flag sort of like just fruttering in the wind, and you can kind of see the green,
but it's still a bit of a mystery, like that hole takes you on a journey, and when you hit a good
shot, you're like, I think that's really good, and it kind of, it's a rewarding hole, you hit
good shots, you get rewards, if you hit bad shots, it's going to be tough to get up and down,
very, very tough, and you could hit a big score there, but there's just something about the way it
sits and the sort of romance of the hole, like I just don't know, he's honestly one of those holes
you play, and you think that could be on a top 100 course all day long, I think the work they're
doing at East Brighton Golf Club is heading towards that kind of direction, like genuinely into
that direction, the bunkering that they've redone across the golf course, the work they're doing
on the practice greens, and everything like that is not far off, so honestly, go and play
East Brighton Golf Club, it's a really lovely place to play a golf, and there's some incredible
looking golf holes there now, especially once all the renovations are done, it's going to be
pretty amazing, so yeah, that's my top three, they are probably way off what they should be,
but like I said, that's my top three based on what I've played, so thanks to the question,
Susie's golfer, I do appreciate it, okay, this one is rumping it again, this one from Josh Coates,
worst guess you had, the worst guess you've had, now look, I cannot answer that question, I
appreciate everybody that comes on the podcast, without a shadow of it out, but to give me their
time, I'm nobody, I couldn't possibly say what is the worst guess I've ever had, but what I will
say is, maybe this will lead you down a path of checking for previous episodes, but it's not
pointed in anyone's specific direction, as a podcast host, one of the things I've learned
is that your favorite guests are somebody that can just take a ball and rumble it,
they can just take a question and tell a story without having to be prompted,
and that is an arc in itself, like you need guests that are almost artists of words, you know,
like they're just words moved in their own way, it doesn't mean they have to use special
words or incredible sort of structuring of their sentences, they just have to be happy to talk,
and happy to talk about themselves, what is difficult, and I think this is just to do with the age
that we live in, is when somebody answers a question in 30 seconds or less, and let's face it,
that's kind of how everything is structured towards now, is look, grab people's attention within
three seconds, answer the question within 30, and it's succinct, it's an ability that I don't have,
I'm not succinct enough, my question's not succinct enough, but it is not great for long form
podcasting, and the reason for that is, yeah, we can get through loads of different subjects, but
I'm not a question machine, I don't write down questions before I interview people,
like this style of having these questions here is very unfamiliar to me, I did try it for a
little bit, but found that it just wasn't authentic to what I was trying to create, which was
conversations, and if you're essentially just conducting an interview, it's just not really the
same, I'll think about the guest beforehand and come up with a couple of things that I might
want to get to in the interview, you know, but genuinely it's just a story driven story led
conversation, that's that's trying, that's what I try and do, the best I can, but it is very
difficult to do that if somebody is question answer, question answer, that's a 20 minute podcast
right there, you know, what do I do? That's, I mean, 20 minutes, you need 40 questions,
all the best with that, you know, I struggle sometimes to formulate them in my head, let alone
spit them out in time to make it an interesting conversation, so as far as the worst guess I've had,
it would, like I said, cannot name anybody, wouldn't want to name anybody, appreciate their time,
but ideally it's someone who's happy to talk about themselves and to do it at length,
I can guide them through maybe a conversation with that, even if they talk too much, no worries,
we can sort that out, if they talk over me, I'll shut up for a bit, that's basically how it works,
so sorry Josh, to let you down, not answer your question fully, but that is definitely it,
his final question he asked, which I do very much appreciate him sending through, is worst
moment on the golf course, worst moment on the golf course, my worst moment on the golf course,
what would it be? That's a really difficult question to answer, that's the chair,
I think the worst moments on the golf course that I've had is, you can split it into two things,
the first one I'll cover very quickly, is when I've let my emotions spill over into conversation,
and I've ended up arguing with a friend, and it hasn't happened many times, I've got one
specifically in mind, but whether or not I felt justified in the moment to turn what is,
let's face it, a hobby, and something that we do for fun, into something that causes an argument,
and look, I come from a play and football, and it happens at football all the time,
but I guess this kind of bleeds into Rory's comments of golf's held to a higher standard that
is a gentlemanly sport, and to be arguing with a friend during that just isn't really right,
so that's probably my worst moment on the golf course personally, whether it again, whether I
felt justified or not, doesn't matter, it's just not really what you should be doing, is it? So
from that standpoint, that was probably my worst moment, as far as worst moment, golfing-wise,
on the golf course, I think when it's just really hard, because I genuinely try and laugh when it
goes badly, just because I know that it's just bound to happen, right? We all play this game,
which is just impossible, and I try and not get too upset with the bad shots, but they happen, and
I would say one of the worst moments was playing East Sussex National, playing the West Course,
East Sussex National, played pretty well in the rain by myself, I played nine holes, but I was
playing all right, and I decided to film the last one on camera, but a little bit more like as a
play along, and it was just, it just started to rain in that little bit heavier, and I flubbed like
four chip shots in a row, when a total distance of like 50 yards, and Chippin has genuinely
been like my nemesis, and then another moment to follow it up was a five-part, five-part should not
be a thing, five-part should not be a thing, and to be fair to the group I was playing, it wasn't
like any of them within Give Me Rain, Jeeva, it's not like they could give me the grace of just
pick that ball up, I just, something went seriously wrong, I'm working on the pattern though,
we've got aim point, but I'm also working on my pattern routine, and my pattern technique,
and everything, so what's going to happen, I'm going to make runner golf proud, okay,
that's for sure, I have to do that, so yeah, that's probably answers that question in a round
about way, right, let's have another, we've got a couple of ones on here on the on the channel,
if you're not on there already, birdie golf club podcast channel is available on the
Instagram, you'll get all your updates behind the scenes, kind of, don't know, bring it up too much,
we'll do John first, so John MS Golf, again, another budding content creator,
based in Scotland John, great guy, are you going to do a tour of Scotland, if so, what courses
would you like to play, I would love to do a tour of Scotland John, absolutely love to,
and maybe some opportunities will come up, working with golf escapes, who knows, that would be
awesome, I would love to head to the obvious, I would love to head to the home of golf,
the ability to play that course, who knows, I would love to get on, I'd love to play it,
just once, I'd happily play by myself with a group of three and jump on that way, just for the
experience, but yeah, I'd like to head there, I'd like to play it in and around the St Andrews area,
Dumb Barney, would obviously be great, you know, to play there, it just looks like an
unbelievable golf course, relatively new golf course, but still looks pretty unbelievable, yeah,
there's so many golf courses, I can't even name like the sort of Trump Turnberry, I'd love to play
Trump Turnberry, the Elisia course just looks absolutely stunning, there's so many other golf
courses, well Royal Aberdeen looks unbelievable, and it's being lost as well as in it to the sea,
so honestly, I would love to head there, love to go and play some of those beautiful,
beautiful golf courses, even the ones that you don't see appear on a lot of lists, they just look
unbelievable, you know, so yes, would love to do it, do I know when absolutely not, absolutely not,
but maybe 2027, I doubt, from the postman's par, golf, that's Coops, who's on a few weeks back,
hello mate, let's get these questions from you, what are your top five guests you'd love to have
on the show, that's a really hard question, I love that question, what I can do is, rather than maybe
talking about specifics, I would love to interview people from different realms in the game of golf,
so I would love to have a club fitter on that has dealt with me, just so we can talk that through,
that would be interesting to me, to go past the fitting session and cover a little bit more
of the specifics of why we did certain things, I think that would be cool, and that would be
interesting, I think, to listen to, maybe just for me, I don't know, that's the selfish one,
I would love to talk to somebody who is in golf media, you know, I mean, Iona would be awesome,
I think she produces fantastic content, great voice for podcasts as well, like absolutely ideal,
so yeah, would love to have someone like that on, I think she should be great, I'd love to hear
more about her story, her injuries and everything like that as well, and how she sort of got through
all that time and the mental health struggles that were probably involved, I'm guessing,
so yeah, would love to have Iona on or anyone from that golf media world would be fantastic for
their insight, would actually love to have someone in the producing of golf as well, specifically
maybe the DP world tour producers, who do a great job on the TV, but I'd love to dive into what
on earth they're playing out on YouTube, because it's a disaster, but I don't know how to
frame that nicely, so they wouldn't just hang up the call, who else, who else?
I'd love to talk to some DP world tour players, obviously we've had past players like Martin
Marriotson, but I would love to talk to some DP world tour players if they're willing to come on,
I'd love to hear their stories, equally really enjoy it, so maybe have like corn fairy tour player
on, because that is a tour that is absolutely brutal, like there is, you know, same as DP world
tour, there is basically no difference between that player and a PJ tour player, but yeah, they
fire out every week to survive pretty much, I mean, DP world tour they're doing a little bit better,
but corn fairy, especially like they're surviving, that's like challenge tour status,
to yeah, I'd love to talk to those guys and hear their stories, and I think that would be really
impactful as well, so I will make an effort to reach out to them, and like I said, with my
interest in Aimpoint, very fortunate to the fact that we're going to have Jamie Donelson, we're
going to have Mark Sweeney, I'm going to have Gareth O'Shea, or Gareth McShay, Gareth McShay,
it's Gareth McShay, isn't it? I'll get his name right on the night, don't worry about that,
I'm going to look it up, good or right, Gareth McShay, so great, I think we're having those guys
on and to sort of understand a little bit more about the journey of getting to Aimpoint and
what brought them all together, what drives them, and one of the questions I really want to ask
them is when they make a change to Aimpoint, or they develop a new system to teach Aimpoint,
who do they have in mind when they develop that system? Because I think a lot of people look
at Aimpoint and view it as a tour player system, you know, something that tour players learn,
or aspiring tour players learn, but I don't know whether that's who they have in mind when they
develop it, I don't know if they have in mind the amateur, so we'd love to talk to them about that,
who else? I would love to have like a legend of golf on, you know, somebody that helped
shape the game through the 80s, through the 90s, and the thing is, I mean, someone like Nick Fowler,
I think Nick Fowler gets really, he gets misrepresented sometimes through golf channel coverage,
that short form stuff, and I think he would be awesome to bend his ear on what it was like in the 90s,
and late 80s playing golf, the journey that he went through. I mean, I'm thinking back of like playing
Sega Mega Drive, my grandad's PGA Tour 90s, 94, 96, and some of the guys that were on there,
and we're losing some of those guys now, you know, they're all getting older, so anyone from that
era would be awesome, you know, I'd love that, to talk to them about the game, yeah, that'd be fun,
that'd be a lot of fun, so yeah, when it comes to top five guests, I'm sure I can't give them
more succinct, like this person, this person, this person, but more categories of people, and doing
something, Josh says something, Josh your coach says something very funny to me or fair, he said,
whenever he sort of sees my podcast around, it just seems like I've got these guests from like
crazy places, you know, it's gonna be like a Tibetan Shepherd at some point who loves the game,
which other was very funny, but that is kind of the, that is kind of the thing we're trying to do,
so, but absolutely, but absolutely love that, if there is a Tibetan Shepherd out there,
who loves the game of golf, and it's important to him, get in touch, absolutely get in touch,
you're on without a doubt, but yeah, I think that's basically it for the listener Q&A, I haven't
received any more, and if I do receive more of the doll, I'll storm for next time. If you're still
here, wow, you're dedicated, I do appreciate you, I really, really do, I was looking at the stats,
and I think something like, I think between 10 and 20% of people that listen to this podcast
pretty regularly, or either following all subscribers, would love that number to go up,
so if you can, please hit that follow, hit that subscribe button, I really would appreciate it,
as always, thank you so much to the people that help with the show in the sense of
growing up your opportunities to work with them, shot scope, golf escapes,
strike wedge as well, being affiliated with them, make sure to pick up that best training tool
out there, when it comes to helping with low point, behind me the guys at perfect design,
designing these beautiful golf courses, there's a bucket list one, old head golf licks,
and above me, where me and my dad played in Portugal, so thank you so much to those guys,
there is lots of exciting stuff around the corner, I'm tired, I'm sorry, if you're listening
to this work, please I hope this doesn't affect you, you'll move for the rest of the day,
and it was a good enough listen, but thank you so much to everyone that listens, there is exciting
things going around the corner, it will not just be me again next week, I assure you of that,
and I can only apologize, but thank you so much to everyone who got involved as well,
and sending through their questions, I hope I answered them, to the best of my ability,
and until next week, I hope you'll have a wonderful week, hopefully golf is part of it,
but if not, I hope it goes really well, and I'll see you all again next week, thanks.
