Ep88: 2026 - Here We Go!

I've enjoyed playing here. It's been over 20 years that I've been coming to Royal Melbourne. This week golf should be played. What do you love coming down under? Look, it's phenomenal to play. The quotes of the belts being great, but the enthusiasm of the people to be the thing is just being amazing. Tear courses, but I'm willing to shave my neck for it and kiss and eat it for good. Maybe I'll have better shave. Especially somewhere like Australia and the Sun Belt, and I've so many grip memories of being by and there. Happy New Year and welcome back to Australian Golf Passport. Our fifth year I think Maddie, since we started this, we didn't think it would go for this long, but we're into our fifth year, I believe. We are. We started September 2022, I think, and getting perilously close to raising the bat. I haven't figured out when exactly that will happen this year, but we are looking at Travis' head areas with an immense injury. Our strike rate is quite trav. Our strike rate's more Jeffrey Boycott, but we are a hundred is a hundred and over the less. True. You had a good break? I'd have been fantastic. I got a very long break, which is why it's the 15th of January and we're only just starting to record, but also December was so insanely busy for us with the rankings coming out. I think we both needed a little bit of a rest, but now I had two weeks, been over two weeks up in Noosa and the Gold Coast, played a bunch of golf, which was fantastic. I didn't expect to play as much as I did. I played some really cool places. That was good fun. The only thing we could do to make it feel okay that we were leaving Noosa was to book the same hotel for the same dates next year. So now I'm looking forward to going back, doing it all again. Well done. Well done. Our standalone episode for number two for 2026 will be your golf exploits over the Christmas New Year period, particularly the stuff on the Sunshine Coast. Yeah, there was some good stuff. I think I definitely, there's an episode, there's an episode in the grand. It was fantastic to finally play there after many, many years of being keen and not having a way in. Marissue River is a really cool story. They've a club that's really kicked a lot of goals on that. I've got some exciting stuff that they're working on in the next year or two regarding expansion. And long and behold, Maddie, I really enjoyed Twin Waters on New Year's Day. So that was one that surprised me a little bit too. And you had good weather for every photo I saw, every time you're out on the course, it was good. Make magic weather for the two and a bit weeks. And as we packed the car to drive home on Monday morning, it started pouring. And it was like, perfect, now at the timing. And we've got a little bit of news to cover before we get into the meat and potatoes golf stuff for this episode. It's been a bit happened in the last two weeks, two and a half weeks. As you said, when Helter Skelter with the rankings, recording three episodes in the tail end of 2025, had a ton of messages and contact from people who've listened, those rankings episodes have proven to be some of the most popular and most frequently downloaded episodes that we've ever recorded. So thank you for everyone listening and giving us the feedback on what they thought there. And we put a call out for insults and name calling. And generally, it was pretty tame and pretty respectable. I think someone generally, I mean, a few people dug deep, but we got mink and poop at one point from someone, I think. That's a lot of school. I like that. My favorite is charity and Bradley. My favorite is the people who sends you this kind of obtuse abuse. And when you reply asking them to flesh out what they mean by that, just crickets chirping. And I did check back in a couple of times to see if maybe he'd missed their message. But no, it's just, shoot from the hip with absolutely no substance to what you have to say and then go hide under your bed. I'm surprised how far and wide the audience spread for those listener episodes. The listeners were in those ranking episodes, I should say. It's good. Hopefully, it's, hopefully, it's sort of spread the gospel about some of those good courses that people might not have had on their radar and made people think about some places. I said at home, particularly for me and at Christmas New Year period as a Victorian, we've had bushfires down here. And cathedral lodge was in the headlines down here. The Longwood Fire got perilously close to the course clubhouse structures down there. They were really on it very early. Scott, they had a really, really good plan. Their staff were evacuated. They're course closed and people left the day before things got really hairy. I think they've had a tiny bit of vegetation and some tree canopies burn on the northernmost part of their property. They might have had some grass burn around a fence line in between two holes. And I think they have been able to escape any significant damage to their maintenance facility, course, clubhouse or any structure. And I think, similarly, their staff has also escaped any significant personal loss, which is sensational. Our thoughts are with all of them because they'll be doing some cleanup and they'll no doubt have extended families who've been significantly affected by the fires financially and emotionally. Those who've been overseas in a little bit away from the news, we had multiple days of bushfires in Central Victoria and things far more important than golf courses have been under threat. We only lost one life. I don't know how the death toll from such big fires was so low. So it's a minor miracle, really. But an area, I think, I think someone said that it tapped out at four times the size of metropolitan London in the end was burnt. So a bit of upheaval here to start calendar year in Victoria. And you'd fear that there's probably going to be more to come before we get to that middle-march phase when we can really breathe a sigh of relief and think that the worst is over. And golf is the least of the concern, as you said, but we are a golf podcast. So hence the focus on cathedral lodge. But yeah, great outcome given what can happen. Lots of loss, lots of homes, etc. So we also had news in the last week or so from the big question around 7 mile beach from Tasmanians has been okay. So the green fees, 290, whatever it is, 290, 295, what's it going to be for Tasmanians? And so 7 mile beach has announced earlier this week. They're releasing an island season pass for Tasmanian residents. And Matty, that gets five games in a calendar year for $750. And at each one of those rounds, you can bring a junior for free. So parent and child can go and play five games in the year and between the two of them they're going to pay $750. I think that's a pretty cool arrangement for Tasmanians, a nod to the fact that the green fee is high and the nod to, you know, in regional Australia, salaries or not, tend not to be what they are in big cities. I think it's a great way of giving Tasmanians a bit of a connection and the opportunity to build a relationship with 7 mile beach over years and learn the course. Yeah, great move. It's essentially half price, bringing it, bringing a golf focus child for free along with you. Smart move from 7 mile beach and a really, really good thing for Tasmanian residents generally. I'm very happy to see that. So we had retweeted that message when it came out from 7 mile beach. I think last week, so those of you who follow us on X, there's a link within that week, you'll be able to follow and avail yourself of that or no doubt just look at 7 mile beach's Instagram or website and you'll be able to have that islander pass in your back pocket before you know it. What else is on our agenda? We've got a look back at 2025 and we're going to go with the awards again like we did this time last year, which I'm really, really looking forward to. And then set some goals for the year. We did well with our goals last year, so it's got me excited. Yeah, it was good food for thought in that first week of the year, just thinking about what you want to tick off in the next 12 months. I've historically sort of been in a bit of a allow in setting a new year's resolution or picking targets and I think your enthusiasm, that goal-setting episode has sort of re-ignited that fire. So thank you. It's been good. Hopefully we have that effect on others. Yeah, well I did. I played with, so shout out to Tom Curran, who's a listener and he's been a regular Instagram DMR over the years. And I'd made a plan to play on the 30th of December at Maruti River with Andy Meldrum, who's a mate of mine, who's the captain. And on the first tea, he says, well, this is Tom. You probably know him. And I knew who he was. And anyway, so he said that the goal, the goal-setting actually kind of gets him focused on, okay, I should set myself some goals. So it's actually good to get some feedback that it is, you know, notable to somebody. Yeah, excellent. Might just be Tom. It's got to be more. So let's quickly close the book on 2025 goals. And let's punch through our AGP awards for 2025. And then we might finish by setting some goals for the new year. How's that sound? Perfect. I'll go through quickly because we did, we did touch on our goals towards the end of the year, but we didn't try to have the close of the book. Our performance goals we flunked, you wanted to get down to an index of seven. I wanted to get to one point something at some stage in the year. And I wanted to shoot even or better around New South Wales. We didn't do any of those things. Travel-wise, I wanted to play golf in a new country. Play my 250th course and play 7 mile beach. I did all those three things. You played golf in three states, which was your goal. You might have played golf in four states. And you wanted to play Cathedral Lodge, which you didn't do, but you did schedule a tea time for March. Yeah. It's a partial credit, partial credit. My education goals both involved reading books. You read yours, I read mine. Our commitment goal involved me getting under 95 kilos and you go to the gym three days a week. We both smashed the hell out of those like exceeded those. We wanted to get at 26 episodes and deliver our rankings projects successfully. We got 27 and three of those were our rankings. So big tick. And then personal goals. I wanted to stop tracking, recording and measuring my life and just live it. I did that. Got rid of the work. Didn't track gym sessions. Didn't didn't do any of that. I flunged to my goal to not by any clothing this year. And you had a goal of people you need to play golf with. And I think you were pretty good about getting through that list given that you probably didn't play as much golf as you might have planned. Yeah, I've tripped away at it already this year. I've just been going back through the stream of WhatsApp messages thinking, I spoke with this guy. I spoke with this person. I spoke with that person about playing and I think I've ticked. I didn't play quite as much as you over the Christmas New Year's time. But I had Davis, our statistical guru and another mate play with me last Saturday. I reckon I've ticked seven playing partners off that list since we last spoke. And I'll do more in shabby and much. So we're good. All right. It's awards time. And we're planning to go the same sort of brackets that we did at the end of 2024 really. So there's going to be some continuity. It might even do that this time next year. And so our first category is favorite course played this year. This is a congested field. Yeah, I'm going to stick with courses in Australia because I think that that's probably in the spirit of Australian golf passport. So I'm going to roll out Garden City in Fry's head and Terry. As much as they were all very favourite experiences. I'm going to take a bit of a spin on this favourite. And I'm defining that in terms of the biggest surprise. And this I've got from a golf course this year was the last course I played for the year on December 30. And I've mentioned it already was Maruti River. I was really quite impressed by it. Really good fun. I had a bit of a, I had a bit of an awakening I think on this trip to why Queenslanders don't lie awake at night worrying that they don't have the sand belt that they're disposed of. Be it that it may, be it hasn't made it. Yeah. Sunny Coast, Gold Coast Golf is never going to rival the sand belt. There is, there is something great about the recipe for golf they have up there. And Maruti River is, is a bit lengthy. It's, it's on a windy spot. It's got some really cool greens, some super strategic stuff. It didn't hurt that it was like great group and a fun match and all those things that help you to enjoy your day. But just a course that I was like, I'll wow, that had a ton of substance that I wasn't expecting. And I, I almost for went seeing another brand you course on that trip to go back and play it again before I came home. But I'm, I'm definitely looking forward to playing it again next time aren't there. Really super impressed by it. That's always a buzz when you go somewhere and the expectations are reasonable, but the experience just so exceeds that. If that's, that's a great day. Ah, good to hear. I haven't, I haven't played golf with Andy Meldram. I would like to. Yeah, lovely fella. And, and honestly like, well, save a lot of this for the episode because I want there to be an episode. But they've got, there was one of these courses that had a, had a urban spot in Maruti Door, the Council wanted to land for housing. They moved out of town near the airport, brand new grand march golf course. And they, I think have handled that transition taking an old, an old club to a new spot really well. The 18 holes, what they do, matey, they do 85,000 rounds a year. So it's about, that is massive. That makes, it's, it's, it's a lot of traffic on teas, a lot of foot traffic on greens and not a lot of time for a crew to maintain a course. Yeah. And look, the climate helps, but, but the place is, is immaculate and really well maintained for golf. That's an average about 233 golfers a day every day. Wow. And so to help manage that, they've got plans for, they've got Doris Oliver engaged to do them a third nine, which is more of a kind of short, sporty executive, what the Americans call executive nine. And also a flood lit par three course. Okay. They also have a, they, they are the proud owners of a Richard Chamberlain mini golf course as well. Make the places heaving. We came in after, after golf at lunchtime. And there was one table on the clubhouse balcony. The place was just going off. So getting a lot of things right. And the course, crucially, the golf course is, is really, really good. That's good to hear. Good nomination. I'm going to stick with an Australian course. I started the year down at Barnburyville, Jones, almost finished the year at Seven Mile Beach. Walk for all Sydney, saw the modified New South Wales or the renovated New South Wales, I should say. All of those were front of mind when I was thinking favourite course played for the year. I'm going to be boring in a tiny bit predictable. I'm going to go with the composite that Royal Melbourne I played at a couple of times throughout the year. And it's always just a ridiculous experience. You take little paths from one green to another two that you don't otherwise take. Like you walk off two west and you head to one east and you think, oh, we're doing this. And it's just, it's, it's an amazing course. I think it might, it might seriously be the best course in the world. So yeah, that's my, that's my favourite for the year. Pivoting to the most fun round for the year. I'm going to nominate the lap that we took of Seven Mile Beach, where we played with you and I played with Lily and Nick in the morning. And you're just discovering a new course and seeing something for the first time and walking a fairway after years of waiting for something to come to fruition. Course turned out to be as good as we'd hoped. Weather was good. That was, I think, I think looking back, that was my most fun round for the year. That's a good one. That's good fun. A couple days before Christmas, I got up to see my grandparents. Some of my grandparents are 92. They live at her horizons, which is golf resort. Ross Watson and Grandmarsh got, of course, up in Port Stevens, about three and a half thousand of Sydney. And I hadn't been up to play. I'd seen them a bit here and there, but I hadn't been up to play golf for them in years. And my grandmother isn't playing more. My granddad still gets out for nine holes a couple of times a week. And so yeah, couple days before Christmas, I played nine holes with my granddad and my dad and my nine-year-old daughter. And my dad's kind of an occasional golfer at best. My granddad is who got me into the game when I was a kid. And he's obsessed with it, still obsessed with it at 92. And he got to give my daughter some tips. And we played. And for a long time, life's busy and seven hour round trip. And he kind of, if he's not well or if Nana's kind of not been well, he won't play for a month or so. So it's been hard to schedule it. And I've wondered if I'm, if I was going to get to play golf with him again. And so it was really, really special to have that opportunity. And to be mindful at the time that, you know, one of my takeaways was I need to try and get up there again early in the year. I need to try and almost see if I can get up there quarterly just even if it's just for nine holes. But if that was our last game of golf together, was able to sort of be okay with that. We went out for dinner afterwards. And as old people tend to do like the 92, my grandparents were talking about they're giving their belongings away and who was going to get what when they died. And all of those very macabre things that old people talk about quite happily. And I said to my granddad, I said, you know what? And it's only one thing I really want. And he said, oh, what's that? And he's had this ping-paw-four-berlium copper putter in his bag since I remember it was there the first time I've accadied for him at Windsor where we grew up playing where I grew up playing. I was seven. So that was 1990. He had this ping-paw-four-berlium copper putter. And it's been in his bag ever since. It had a brief period out when someone bought in this putter that the head of the putter mat he was the the shape of a shark. And he used that for a few months. I think until probably getting ribbed hurt his feelings later in the 90s this was. But the powerful has been in there forever. And I've always thought like that that is my touchstone to my granddad. And that is like that is the totem that so many of my kind of memories of us playing golf. And so I said that's that's that's anything I want. And he said okay. Yeah. And then we went back to their house the next morning to do Christmas you know do presents and lunch and Christmas lunch because we're not going to be able to say to Christmas day. And there was this big long-package under the tree that had my name on it. And I'm going to try not to get emotional now. I didn't successfully not get emotional then. And I left it we did all the presents and I left it to last and I opened it and yeah. So he'd said mate I'd rather you have it now. I'd rather give it to you than have you just put it out of my bag when I'm lying in a casket. I'd rather be part of this moment. And so yeah. Maddie that was it was really cool. It was um yeah it was gosh it might be the best round of golf. I've had it five years. Yeah that's extremely special. I mean I mean he sees like he sees that passing of but that and like he sees that you okay this is this is my part up so yeah. He also gave me his 2012 Seagrade penit shirt and he said I just want you to wear this for one game of golf and send me a picture. So I've got a Horizon Skull Club Newcastle District Golf Association Seagrade penit shirt uh that I'll be I'll be heading out for a game at New South End. Excellent. Yeah. We'll we'll put that up on the on the on the pod in stir account. That'll be great. Yeah. That's very good. I'm not going to be massively biased here. I'm going to I'm going to nod to us at some point later in the awards but rena of the year I'm giving to Royal Sydney. I'm actually playing it for the first time tomorrow. I'm very excited about that. Royal Sydney just that is unthinkable that the Gillhands and Josh McFadden and all their team turned that golf course from what it was into what it is. I think it was brave. I think there was a huge amount of commitment to stay the course when there was some challenges getting the approvals and with the membership the size of theirs I think it's no small feat just getting work green lit. Yeah. Royal Sydney has has gone from a probably 60 or 70 in the name of 70 55 to 65 in their country golf course and now they've got a top 20 course. Yeah. And I think that's incredibly impressive. Yeah. They didn't just they didn't just raise the level a bit they completely reimagined how that probably could get used and they've set that club up for for the future. So huge huge applause to them for that. Yeah. I can't do anything more to that. We might be we might be talking about huntingdale or Long Island this time next year when the rap is off there. I feel like huntingdale could be like a Royal Sydney style uplift just based on some pictures and some video I've seen. It looks like that thing's off its head. Yeah. 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Everyone knows dark chocolate is good for you. Bage, steel blue, classic navy. There's a beautiful olive there. So whatever color you love to see yourself in the Angus and Grace shorts are awaiting you. All the men's and women's looks are there. And for those who might be into a bit of a wholesale deal with Angus and Grace with your marketing person from an organization whether you're a golf shop manager or a director of golf somewhere, you can jump on angusandgracego golfing.com. And there's a nice little array of the stuff they've done for commonwealth, for pasta TMP, for made stone, for TRI. Get a good idea of some of the awesome creative concepts and what not that they've produced. So angusagracego golfing.com, seagolf.com.au. We love our partners and we appreciate their support. Most memorable shot you hit in 2025. I am going to go and use my passport for this answer. I, the first round I played at TAR-80. We got a massive storm playing 14, 15, 16. And it had stopped raining by the time we got to 17, but it was still blowing really hard into off the left. And that is of course a sort of 120 meter par three greens kind of up raised up a little bit above the sand around it. A large ish but not enormous target. And the wind was sufficient that I had six iron. And I flied at a six iron down and hit a little draw to hold the wind and hit it to about 15 feet. And that was that was the one that when I started to think about this answer, that was the shot that just put its hand up and was like, it was me. Stop thinking. It was me. They identify themselves, don't they? They just stand a little bit above every other. I had a shot earlier in the year that I didn't quite realize at the time I knew it was good. Like you feel it in your hands and you look at the tragedy and you know that it's good. I think I'd hit six iron to a back left pin on 15 at Kingston Heath. I hit it to about two inches. Just got up there and realized it was just so, so close. That pin is not like you don't hit it that close to a back left pin at Kingston Heath 15. Nah, I wasn't aiming anywhere. We're it ended up. And I'm still not 100% sure how it ended up, where it did. But I was very happy to claim it and walk off. So yeah, that tiny little just trap pull fat on the flag and never left and very, very short 30-pup. But yeah, mulling over this question that just jumped front of mine straight away. So very nice. And then you block one into the T-Tree on 16? Yeah, lost it, never saw it again. So your favourite Aussie golf moment for 2025? For me, it was the Aussie Open. Yeah. That was that was just the atmosphere at that thing. I've been to a major, I've been to some big golf tournaments, that the atmosphere there was just off the charts. I think Rory plus RM composite. What more do you want? A decent supporting cast, a close leaderboard. I do think, look, it's, it's funny because last year my headline Aussie Golf headline was Aussie Open is drowning, not waving. And I still think this Rory plus RM and Kingston Heath is just a band-aid. But I think what it's done is it's bought golf Australia some time to fix the underlying issues and challenges that have held the Aussie Open back for 15 years. I mean, it's given them time to look at the commerciality of it, to look at how they can try to become part of a global golf calendar that might lead more people to come down here. We talked in our recap episode. I think it's got some some good things going forward in terms of end of year top 50 world rankings get you into the Masters. There was a couple of players that clearly had come here for that purpose. So I think the December window is a good one. I think the answer isn't just Rory and the sand belt every year. Scotty Shaffer in the sand belt, whatever. But I do think this has bought them time to get a more sustainable solution. And I think crucially, they've got the right people working on the solution that I'm confident that they're going to get there. My, my favourite moment's the same. And it's interesting talking with people in the aftermath of the month following the event. People talk about which day they attended, what they saw, what sticks out, can't believe Rasmus got up and down to win. And multiples of them said, it felt like a major. And the first two times someone said it, I thought, oh, no, majors. I haven't been to a US Open or a PGA and I've never been to an open championship. But I've been in practice days at the Masters in the foot. No, majors are bigger than this. And then the more I thought about, I thought, oh, maybe a big grand stage, some big marquee groups, huge buzz and energy and 30,000 people on property and big temporary stands and corporate suites, it sort of did feel like a major. So to see its mojo return and to see people speak positively over the world over and hold a hope that it's going to be similarly impressive and impactful 11 months from now. Yeah, that's that's a big story for me. And I'm really keen to see it go from strength to strength this year, but beyond as well. You would have been at the President's Cup. How did it compare to that? Very similar. I'd be a lot there were more people on the property for the President's Cup. And I remember speaking to someone from Gulf Australia in November. And they talked about a ceiling for ticket sales and gallery size each day. And they were mulling over how they would manage it, because I think at one point they had like a soft total of 25 or 26 and a half thousand people that they were looking at the total admission, with the fear that 23,000 people of those are clamoring to try and look at Rory. So do you send out five groups in an hour where you've got Adam Scott, Kamsmith, Minwulee, another All-Star group, and Rory. And so you sort of disperse those people. People stay where they are and they see the passing parade go by the five consecutive groups. Whereas it felt that the President's Cup felt like there were 40,000 people there. Okay, it was like a party where it was sort of difficult to move around for a while. That would be the only difference that I'd cite. But the energy and the positivity and the enthusiasm in the gallery, even on that Saturday of the Australian Open, when it was drizzly, just such a welcome sensation and such a welcome buzzing in that gallery. It was great. Next question. Next topic I've got for you. I'm keen to get your answer. Favorite Aussie golf brand that doesn't sponsor the pod. It might be big dog again. This might become the big dog award. I want to shout out too, though. A hat I bought. Shout out Noosa Golf Company, which is just a high street, bricks and mortar store in Noosa Junction. It's got some Mizuno gear. It's called little shop. And I bought a Walker hat there that the front panel is like, you know, the front panel on a viter. It's a one piece front panel. And it's just a little bit different and pretty cool. So maybe it's that. And the Kokobaro logo is unreal. It did look very cool. So maybe it's, if it's not big dog, maybe it's Walker. Did feel like it was the big dog golf co-perpetual trophy this award. I was going to give a little shout out to Gumtree Golf and Nature Club as well. This is an Aussie who's based in New York, who's doing some golf tragic, came out here over the summer, spent a tiny bit of time with Matt Burns and played a few courses while he was down here. He's the creative engine behind that brand. They're doing some good stuff. I'm looking forward to see more of their stuff in 2026. But I think it's, yeah, I think it's big dog. You know who's a big fan of Gumtree Golf and Nature? Who's that? Under Rama, because they ripped him off earlier in the year, completely copied a bunch of his stuff. And credit to him, he just went to war. Went to absolute war, calling them out on it. And yeah, I credit someone who's willing to take on Goliath. So Wow. Yeah, it was like just a straight up ripoff of his of his creative. That got by me. I didn't realise that. Go back and have a look on ease in stuff. There's a bunch of content about it. We'll do the best pro shop, favorite pro shop for you. I'm going to give it to Seven Mile Beach, just simply for making a shipping container a bit chic. Yeah, that's a good suggestion. They've got some really cool stuff. Like they've got some hold on us and born polos. I came so, so close to buying like the knee high socks. Like my inner DJ pie literally had the socks in walking up to the counter, but I just couldn't reconcile the discussion with my wife and also where I would actually wear them away from Seven Mile Beach. But also you never wear shorts. So what would you wear them under your trousers? Yeah, I was going to say it's going to be that it's going to be like two days a year where I wear shorts. It didn't seem like it was that smarter purchasing retrospect, but someone's going to buy them and have a whale of a time wearing them. But their hats are good. Their outerwear was really cool. The logos are some shout out Nick Mills for the logos. So we saw again, we saw the two logos. Like we see the phylasene with the golf club, but we also see the phylasene with the hard hat and the shovel between the teeth, suggesting that that's the temporary logo that's in use during the construction phase. Yeah, some cool stuff. I was just, I was at risk of just making this the perpetual Kingston Heath award as well, given that I feel like I could just easily part with $2,000 whenever I walk through that front door. But yeah, I'll give an honorable mention. Honorable mention two to TRI. TRI has got a great pro shot. TRI's pro shot to Tara Edie's pro shot is what Tara Edie's golf course is to TRI North. Like 10 pro shot split, I'd go nine one TRI over Tara Edie. I'm expecting RM to be putting a stand up for this award for 2026. When we come back to, we circle back and discuss this January next year. I'm seeing seeing some high end garments on the horizon coming out of William St. Paddington. Beautiful. Superintendent of the year. I'm giving this to Mark Parker from New South Wales Golf Club, who is kind of the silent third partner in the redesign. It's Mackenzie Ebert and Mark Parker. Huge hands-on. He has a construction background and a golf construction background. And I think he's one of these rare supers who can also do the work in the ground. Most of the waste areas on the golf course weren't built during the six month closure. They've been built over the last six months since it reopened. Mark is an absolute energizer bunny. He never stops. And his work has been like integral, I think, in the design, but also in getting the course into a really playable good condition so soon after all that work. So yeah, I think for me, for me, it's marked us because of what he's been able to pull out of a golf course that absolutely wasn't ready to open, but simply had to. It's a great shout. I'm going to stick north of the Murray as well and go without a march and at Royal Sydney. I just thought the attention to detail. And the thought that went into the agronomy during the course overhaul, the consideration regarding the placement of staff at the turf farm and maintenance of turf as it was meant to be maintained once it was actually laid down at Rose Bay. So many other little things like that, just master strokes. I had a couple of finalists and also I feel like TC here just going down the leaderboard, just stretching and stretching. I'm going to give Richard forward. A lot of different ways to go with this, Maddie. Going to go Richard Forsythe Lifetime Achievement Award. I thought that the condition in which RM was presented for the Australian Open was exceptional after a trying 12-month lead-up. His body of work at RM over the last 16, 17 years has been remarkable. He came in at a time when Dryout had really gripped those courses quite hard and he turned things around very quickly, had it in tremendous shape for a 2011 president's cup. He did the same thing eight years later, maintained exceptionally firm, fast, true greens for almost two decades. So he finished his up as we said at the outset of a podcast, a couple of episodes back. He finished his up in June 30 as director of courses at Royal Melbourne. And yeah, I'm going to use this to give him a bit of a nod. I'm also going to give a shout out to Tui down at 7 mile B. It's for a man without a four-foot diameter mains water pipe. Trying to grow a place in in the second dry state capital in the continent has obviously presented a great deal of challenge and he's been able to open and present those greens in tremendous condition the last areas that were constructed principally four and five are a little bit different in terms of fairway coverage in comparison to the stuff that was seeded and commenced earlier but he seems to have done a wonderful job down there and I feel with better conditions, more age and more water that that place is only going to go from strength to strength in terms of its turf preparation. So I reckon he deserves a shout out to you. I think Richard as was the on-site water storage at RM during his tenure. Did he not? Which I think is probably a legacy that won't be appreciated until the next very bad drought. Well, there's been a bit of stuff that he has been a part of most noticeably the recycled water program and irrigation overhaul that the club is about to embark on and the stormwater runoff coincided with his commencement from memory. So a lot of the stuff that flows through Bayside City Council once there's a certain amount that's gone through a particular valve the club's been able to avail themselves of a portion of that stormwater runoff and he's worked with that. So the people that are curious and sort of stick their nose in between three west and six west you'll see two little holding dams reservoirs in there that hold about 90 meg so they're responsible for a lot of the storage of hotable water stormwater runoff and a little bit of ball water supply that irrigates the course and you're right Scott that was that was something that Richard's been involved with and he's obviously have to get his head around working with that water supply while he's been maintaining the courses over his time as super at RM. I was going to ask your third last award for the year is the Aussie Gulf headline for the year and I was just going to I think I was going to give it to the good news that Grace Kim had won a major like the dramatic circumstances in which she'd won that event with the chip in from seemingly purgatory possibly worse in the middle of a playoff just a really really good field good story and perhaps a sign of things to come for her a bit of achievement on the world's stage and a great thing for another Australian woman to have a major to her name. That's a really good one good shout like that. I would say mine is my headline I've got a bit more literal on headline Elvis has left the building Elvis smile going to live golf which I think was confirmed today is just profoundly disappointing I'm not you know I'm not going to judge people's decisions and they make their own decisions based on what their goals are for themselves in their life and their career but I think we've seen that's not a place people go to become a better golfer who experiences great success on the world stage and it's where people go to get a great payday for credit to Elvis for doing that maybe Elvis knows something we don't about a timeline for everyone to come back together I suspect he doesn't but you know live has been great for golf fans in Australia who want to see top players play and libato ladies obviously probably the flagship event for their tour but I just think all of us who spent the last five plus years excited about seeing what kind of golfer Elvis smile he can become that's going to be I think that's going to be a different outcome and a lesser outcome than my otherwise have been and I think we talk about the absolute shortfall of great young Australian players on the world stage you know last year I think from memory it was we had 27 people start at a nod at a men's major so 27 starters across the four majors and there was 10 made cuts and Australian men's golf you mentioned Grace Kim. Minji won a major last year as well women's Australian professional golf is strong in performing well and a green obviously Steph Kuryaku etc the men the men are not in a good place and the future doesn't look good and Elvis going to play these events that are hyper competitive I don't think it's going to help him to become the best golfer you could possibly have been and that's as a golf fan that's unfortunate yeah share all of those I'm not I'm not as proly of as some of our audience then I'll sort of promote his absence from what have traditionally been the mainstay tours like DP World Tour and PGA Tour yeah you just wonder wonder what he would have done if he stayed on that path and maybe he might come back to be on that path at some point he might do a Bruxy and come back two years three years from now who knows our second last award media performance of the year I'm going to go a tiny bit left field with this because I'm not going to go with traditional media and this is not for one particular performance but it's going to be for sustained energy and excellence throughout 2025 and I am giving it to Johnny of Johnny's golf shop because I'm seeing him more and more online generating some really really good content going to particular courses and providing some entertaining stuff but some analysis and some food for thought the shop has closed up so those of you who didn't go opposite Swinburne Uni in Glen Ferry and grab a copy and hit the sim and chat to Johnny and buy a t-shirt or some secondhand islands you that ship is sailed you won't be able to do that anymore but he is still present online and I'm not sure what he's going to do in 2026 and beyond but I have a very very strong feeling it's going to be something that's very visible and very positive and enjoyable on social media and I'm looking forward to seeing it all very cool that's bit left feeling I like it my award I do want to I do want to give an honourable mention to the winner of this award last year who was mr. Paul Gowel because I reckon I reckon Gowee has improved yes I reckon he's better than he was 12 months ago and I do want to give some credit there well I'm not one to get too punchy but I feel like I hooked in new him a fair bit when we awarded this last year and multiple times throughout 2025 of Hurdy's voice either on domestic golf productions or as that international flavour on PGA tour production when they've had Colts Watten or or Gowee or someone else James Nidis does really well on that Nidis is superb yeah do like hearing his voice but I echo your sentiments entirely Gowee has definitely got better yeah and after we gave these awards that last year he did rig a friend of mine who works at Fox and was like someone told me you know this F&B like Scott Warren what's what's going on here this is a bit harsh so I feel like I if I'm going to be genuine about about you know slinging rocks at people you also have to you also have to give them a little bit of credit when they improve you know who is my award winner this year though is Ali Whitaker yeah she's no argument from me what's that just adds to every coverage that she's on and there's that knowages as a player but presented as a as a broadcaster bonafide broadcaster yeah always enjoy her being part of anything she was following Rory and Nicholas Coltsarts and Dave Michaloutzi for the practice round on Chise over the Australian Open she had her yardage book she was out in a fair way she was talking to caddies she was you could see she was getting prepared she was professional and she's she's a great voice behind the mic as well there's not too much of her what she says is insightful and additive to the to the pictures so completely agree with you yeah our last one for the year is favourite golfer-related purchase mine was a late one and I went with Will Watts second book we've talked about lofted before and I've got a delivery just before the end of the calendar year of his latest hardcover book published by Hardy Grant called Contours and some brilliant photography in it I think I'll put the link to it in shownates for a previous episode I'm going to do it again for this one no I the way you're nodding I feel like I'm might have stolen a little bit of your thunder with this award as well no it was just I was just you mentioning lofted reminded me of me fucking up and calling it flited which I maintain is a good name for a golf book that might be third book yeah well I've I've I'm domain squatting on it so he's going to have to pay me several million dollars to get access to that name but yeah no lofted lofted sensational I'm looking forward to getting contours as well no you didn't you didn't still my thunder my favourite this just shows I'm I'm came this from a different perspective I part of my shit play this year my handicap blowing out has been a bout of chipping yips and I bought a 54 degree high bounce wedge up in noosa and I think it might be part of my way out of this darkness so I think that that might be just for the early returns that it's provided I think that that might be the one haven't haven't booked an online lesson with Joe Mayo that's not that's not a purchase for 2026 no but we'll get to my goals for the year and and there might be some there might be some overlap between this answer and my goals for the year all right well that that very very neatly brings us to 2026 for goals and we're broadly going to stick with the same categories as we embraced last year yes we are and we don't we haven't discussed this so I'm actually really excited to find out what yours are yeah I've tried to try to stretch a little bit I remember I remember years ago during a goals episode Neil Schuster said that learning happens on the edge of uncomfortable and maybe maybe with a couple of the goals that was set last year might have just earned on the comfortable sides so we can map well we're obviously with the exception of the handicap down seven that was might have been a bit of a pipe dream but we might stretch some of the others we'll keep yourself with your performance goal for 2026 I'm going to be realistic I would like to finish top five in a medal I get four medal games this year spring summer autumn winter and I want to finish they normally have fields of 150 or so and I'll I might not necessarily win one but I want to prepare properly and finish top five for one nice I like that when so I can stalk the my score for role Melbourne when are they about the end of each season or now they've started each season sometimes it all sort of depends what else is in the calendar but okay you're you're saying you're saying because there's not a plethora of palm brands on my goalpling but yeah they'll stay there no at the appropriate time I would like to see you start to take like getting better at golf more seriously I think one of the things that stopped you getting to seven as your goal was for 2025 was just I'm not sure you particularly tried I think you're right like I have a lot of fun just going out there and chatting and playing and hitting shots and then I'll pick up the hickories and play with them for three rounds like one of those rounds out of summer I go to the summer holiday so I just took the PT out instead of a normal three wood and thought well this is this is really a concession that our ceiling for this round is 28 points it's going to be great but we're not we're not really trying to break power if we're arming our cell with this stuff so yeah maybe maybe a genuine concerted effort to improve and some some time on the parting mat and um and genuine focus would be a good thing to agree and some more comp rounds would probably help with that yeah it would help yeah totally what are yours for performance all right so for performance mine was going to be to shoot even par this year and then I went out at Twin Waters on New Year's Day and shot even par so I sort of either achieved it or I rendered that probably not a good goal so what I've decided to do is this I'm going to start I've been played at New South yet this year I'm going to start the year we've got four sets of T's we've got gold green blue and black gold has no force carries it's basically for geriatrics and children and that's about probably five thousand meters then green is what would previously have been known as the lady sees it's a forward T's it's about fifty five hundred the blue T's are about fifty eight hundred so the one ups as you might call them and then black is the tips and that is about sixty one fifty sixty two hundred meters so I'm going to start the year off the gold T's and I'm not allowed to move back to the green T's until I shoot even par all better so when I shoot even par a better on the goals I can play from the greens and every comp you can play from whatever T's you want yeah I can say you can just go to whatever hand whatever T you want and your handicap is adjusted accordingly correct which I don't know how to start Australian golfers realize that that's the case so yeah we're going gold T's till we shoot even par a better we're going to move back to the greens then when I shoot even par a better off greens I'm going to go to the blues to the blacks so my goal for this year is to make it to the black T's that's going to require that I should even pass from five thousand meters from fifty five hundred meters and from fifty eight hundred meters three power rounds and yes the fifty four degree wedge is going to play a part in this you would think from five thousand meters and fifty five hundred meters I should hopefully have some wedge approach shots yeah okay I saw you put that on Instagram and I wondered I wondered if that was okay I like that I like that it's going to that's going to take some commitment and it's going to hone you focus on par hey by the way you mentioned that you shot par at the start of the calendar year I heard it was perilously close to two or three under and that grain inside 15 feet cost you dearly I may I cannot part I cannot part on on coach grants I just can't do it I don't I don't have it in me so yeah I made nothing like six games ago up there I made nothing I do want to read some names out see I did put up a story saying I'm going to do this gold green blue black thing and the three options for people to vote was this is genius this is insanity and this is a road to a year of gold T's so Chris van demon you're on the list drives for show a nice walk spoiled Chris came Nick holand nick white Steve Bailey and came by net if the lot of you you're on the list I will not be playing gold T's all year it's not happening lack of lack of belief breaks my heart I'm so so hoping that we record something in February where you say I move I've moved back to green I need to get out and play there also that will help yeah but hopefully to sow that round at twin at twin waters to build I played with shout out Andrew Thompson made of ours he's making a comeback to golf after after several years of of a bad back and walking up 16 I was even par yeah and I said to him I shouldn't call this out but I'm going to because I need to learn to play under pressure I said I'm even par and I've only shown under par twice in my life so now that I've called this out I've built some pressure because someone else knows it and then I hit I hit a wedge to like a foot and a half and made birdie but then bogey look 17s a tough par three at twin waters made bogey and then because mr green them the chipping yips a part of it instead of chipping and made bogey 18 I had a I had a hybrid in for my second shot hit it green high again potted from off the green because I wasn't comfortable chipping left at about 20 feet short and only made par so that left me even par but yeah it was close it was fun those days are fun yeah all right travel goal what do you got for me I would like to get back to golf in either South Australia or WA we're going to travel a bit this year we already know between ourselves that we've got a few things booked for 2026 but WA in South Australia or South Australia is one that I'd like to add to that list very good you my goal is to get so this is it's going to be difficult although I think there probably no big media holiday for me this year which will probably help give me the bandwidth to do this I want to go to King Island and western Australia I think two both skiddles knocked over this year oh no knock them both down all right I'm really I'm really looking forward to you getting the WA that could be that could be four episodes work throughout 2026 and you'll see some really cool stuff you'll see some great people over there you'll share some games with some great people but you'll see some cool stuff as the people from Perth have been and Freo have been telling us I'm excited I'm excited by your aims more than I am mine King Island we know like King Island is just I've already gone to bed at night in January laying there thinking about King Island and that's going to be just so much fun it is for the benefit of listeners King Island is booked Matty and I going with six mates in in autumn so that's booked and paid for so it's as luck would have happened as it can be education aim I am going to take four golf lessons this year oh who we are not 100% I don't know that I don't I may not take fall with the same person I have had lessons in the last probably five years with both Warwick and Chris at New South Wales I am I'm keen to actually do some work with Lee Hunt who I think has you know being he's not six six and a 28 inch waist sorry nothing no offense leave it I feel like now that I'm in my 40s I think Lee is obviously a freak of a golfer because he's the like that shot 60 off the green T's at New South late last year and I think I don't know just getting to know Lee over the last year and listening to his podcast Greens and Games I feel like we're on the same page in a lot of things and I think I can probably pick a bit up from him so I mean works kind of hand in glove with with Tom to Jersey who's obviously my golf physio and was our guest on the pod last year so I feel like the two of them kind of working in tandem knowing my body might be might be a really good thing yeah good okay I went professionally with education I'd a focus last year or I wanted to wanted to read a little bit more on pain science and I enjoyed that and I feel like I'm a better practitioner a better person at work for that and on my aims to continue with that go a little bit deeper down that rabbit hole and learn more and apply that to my day-to-day work life with my pediatry stuff your knowledge of pain science might also give you some insights into my current chipping this deep emotional pain count is that is that within the scope year or altered neural pathways all of it yeah very good commitment I want to average 10,000 steps a day every single month of the year that's solid if you're out on the golf course often enough you'll do that yeah golf golf months where I play a lot of golf I piece it in other months middle of the year too I looked at my 2025 I was sweet as a pa apart from maybe three or four months and June July were among them so I think it's that whole thing I've just really forcing yourself to do it as a ritual even when you don't feel like it mine's gonna be physical gym three times a week I feel like I'm just gonna do not blindfolded but I'm just gonna do my 20th wedding anniversary is later this year and my wife has said a few times that there's something that we could do together that would be different to what we've done before and she's talked about dancing and the smile on your face tells me that you know that that is not going to happen yoga might happen I like it so that would be something that we could do relatively close by that would have a health and fitness and strength gain and just a well-being benefit and I think that she and I probably do that together I reckon you'd also really enjoy reform of Pilates I did it years and years ago and I wasn't I wasn't bad at it sort of took a long time to get in the head around it by feeling which muscles should work and which ones begin doing yoga and I love that you and you and Kathy just like yeah good dates sidle and off with our little yoga mats yeah love it do you have a pair of Birkenstocks yet I've got to go to Lulu Lemon and or no free ads and a pair of Birkees as well yeah there you go good man sort of that and podcast goals we've talked about a little bit so we feel not to not to blow our own trumpets but we ended the year on a high we ended up writing a bit of a wave with those episodes related to the rankings we ended up number one ranked golf podcast on Apple podcasts throughout Australia and we feel like we can do a little bit more this year full one or two new partnerships get episodes out with the tiny increasing frequency we aim to do 26 episodes last year so fortnightly and we might step that up a bit for 2026 we aim to get the rankings out and you did a tremendous job on driving that and making it such a success we can do it yeah we can do a little bit more with a few more interviews and a bit more frequency and perhaps a bit more attention to our website just sort of partner what we do from a from a literal sense with the pod so we've got a few things that we can we can aim for there haven't we yeah I think podcast episodes in the 30s would be a good place to end up yeah I would also like to organise an AGP event this year we've talked about that before and I'd meant to raise that before we hit record earlier next I'd like to do one maybe in New South I think that would be a comfy comfy kind of space part of me after my trip was thinking like a mid-winter weekend in Marichiro play Marichiro River and Twin Waters give give listeners from colder climbs a opportunity to get out of the of the freeze I don't know if that'll happen this year dare to dream but yeah I'd like to organise an AGP event most likely at New South okay like the sound of it you're going to get everyone on RM composite or who what's wrong with that um only like a 180 or something there's not a big field just like not like I'm a Ruchi River so it's filled just maybe 190 valleys and there's like a pro amp field yeah yeah that's not that's not a goal or an intention maybe you could maybe you go for the you could be to get me on composite no flight composite well yeah that is a good that is a good aim there's one or two people I'd like to do that for being high on the list and that just leaves a personal goal I would like to have a little bit more of a tendency to say no to things throughout 2026 I feel like I'd just struggle to stay afloat sometimes and spread myself too thin and do this do this do that spend time on this spend time on that dedicate myself here and there and love all of the different things that can take my attention but I feel like I would be a bit less hectic and probably do each of the things that I tackle a little bit better if there were one or two fewer things on my plate so I've got to learn a tiny bit of an ability to say no I like it we could start by saying Scott I'm not getting you on composite issue I was just to say and that leaves me no no no no my I don't know how I'm gonna police this but I need to spend less time on my phone it is super hard because like a huge amount of my job is on my phone and a huge amount of administering this podcast and engaging with our listeners is on his phone and yeah I might need to work out a smart goal that meets that but you know what no stuff I need I need something that's actually like so my goal last year one of my goals was to get out of 95 yeah so for my BMI to be in the healthy range I need to weigh under 85.4 so fun fun I'm no longer a beast matey but I'm now overweight and BMI is a bit of a crock of shit but it's also not completely useless so I would like to get my BMI under 25 okay BMI does as you said does have its walls like you have high lean muscle mass and bone density at the top end of the charts and suddenly look less healthier than you actually are all right so that's going to be well you're walking goes hand in hand with that it's a that's a stretch goal that's a tough one to get but oh you can do that all right so we've got to make a note of these during the editing I'll just write these down and make sure that I keep them safe ah you've done it already well done good man I've written them down I had one written down I've added yours as you've said them so now it's it's written down top stuff so I should go and do it okay so yeah as we said around this time last year hopefully this is food for thought for other people listening do they get motivated to sit their own aims do they stick to this sort of broad agenda having something personal something physical something goalful later do they do do they do different it's I have I have found it to be really beneficial and I've found myself sort of not incessantly but often enough thinking about them throughout the course of the calendar year last year and just using them as a bit of a touch tone as they come on we talked about this this is where we're going and giving the year a bit of direction so hopefully it's beneficial and encourages some others to do the same sort of thing now last call for questions for our rankings listen to questions if you have questions about our rankings about rankings generally that will be an episode that we do very soon to kind of close that out we're also going to chat with our statistical guru Davis who who added so much to the process so even if there's scientific questions that would be well above media in my pay grade we have a boffin for that and you can yet DM to us on insta or you can email Australian golf passport at gmail.com many of the last thing for us to do is to thank our supporters as we enter a new year with both Angus and Grace go golfing and seed golf there's some chat over the holiday period that we're going to try and reprise our little golf trip that we did we're doing from seed last year trying to get together and play golf again which was a lot of fun I'd love to get down on the pot again just to talk about you know the roll the rollback's getting closer and closer so a couple of years away from the pros four years away now from amateurs but development of those balls I know that Dean's been working on that that would be a fun thing for us to tackle with with Dean but again 20% off if you use agp at [email protected] the range of golf balls ST01 ST02 STX1 the main kind of pro balls there's the country mile ST15 there's ST05 which is the soft very soft ball for very low swing speed players jump on seeds instagram and there are videos of Dean explaining each of the balls and who it's for and what it does so if you're trying to work out which ball it's for you that's a good resource also DMS I'm always happy to feel questions DMS talk about what kind of golf you are swing speed wise what kind of golf ball from the OEMs you tend to like and we can give you some recommendations so yeah shout out to seed golf and also angus and graysco golfing we're into a new year I know Maddie's been working on a huge amount of you you intimated before Maddie one of the clubs that it's going to be carrying more angus and grays this year so we look forward to promoting some of the the wholesale stuff that Matt's doing and also the great retail lineup that he has in Loom Street how good was the stuff for the portee pro and so good so so great didn't it yeah and that's what I was talking about when we talked about the the wholesale and the actual creativity that goes into this you know the portee pro and throwback artwork incredible the plus and CFO t-shirts that have that absolute god mode portrait of Alistair McKenzie on the back of them some of the stuff that shout out to my old home some of the stuff that angus and grays has done for Bonnie Dune is red or so yeah you know we always say if you're if you're a director of golf or a golf shop manager or in marketing with a big corporate and you want some some branded stuff that's actually going to speak to your voice and your values and your organization make the call do it all right good to get back in the saddle for 2026 mate it is it is great and we've got we've been making a list and checking it twice of episodes we want to do this year and I think if we knock out even 80% of what we've got down on paper we're going to look back into December and say hell that was the best your agp's had yeah and who knows we might even add your WA so journey me we might what's his space I also might foul that gum is replay it's been 9 to happen I'm going to eat it that day yeah (upbeat music)