The Thing About Golf Podcast

Golf Australia

Estimates say there are as many as 60 million golfers in the world and we all know at least some of them who are completely addicted. The question is why? Join us as we try to discover the answer to that burning question, interviewing golfers both famous - and not - on a monthly quest to solve the riddle of this maddening game.

  • 1 hour 39 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #118: Geoff Shackelford

    There are few writers in golf whose words have appeared in as many publications and on as many different ā€œnew mediaā€ platforms as the prolific Geoff Shackelford. In this episode he tells Rod Morri what the future holds for the gameā€™s media landscape. Ā 

    8 May 2024, 3:00 am
  • 1 hour 3 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #117: Brandel Chamblee

    There might not be a more polarising voice in modern golf media than Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee and he doesn't disappoint in this wide-ranging chat with John Huggan. From why he thinks a brutal US Open is a good thing, to a breakdown of the type of player who wins at Augusta, this one is heaven for golf nerds.

    11 April 2024, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #116: Ian Baker-Finch

    He is known as one of the nicest people in golf, but he might also be one of the most thoughtful. Ian Baker-Finch, 1991 Open champion, sat down with John Huggan at Augusta National this week to talk the Masters, his career in both golf and television and his thoughts on the modern state of the game.Ā 

    10 April 2024, 3:00 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    The Thing About Golf #115: Ben Crenshaw

    Two-time Masters winner Ben Crenshaw is as much a part of Augusta folklore as any past champion. Now one of the gameā€™s leading course designers, Crenshaw sat down with John Huggan to talk all things Masters ā€” and everything else to do with golf.


    9 April 2024, 6:00 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #114: Nick Dougherty

    Three-time DP World Tour winner turned Sky Sports commentator Nick Dougherty is a firm believer in golf as metaphor for life and the 41-year-old has had his share of ups and downs in both.Ā 

    John Huggan recently caught up with the Englishman to talk about a lifetime in the game, highlighted by playing with Tiger Woods at his peak in the third round of the 2007 U.S Open.Ā 

    Dougherty also talks openly about the impact of losing his mother suddenly in 2008 and his struggles in the aftermath before finding a second career as a TV broadcaster.

    27 March 2024, 2:00 am
  • 1 hour 12 seconds
    The Thing About Golf #113: Wayne 'Radar' Riley

    From the humble courses of southern Sydney to the top levels of the game, Wayne ā€˜Radarā€™ Riley has been in and around the game of golf for more than 50 years.
    Having started at the age of seven, he became a six-time winner at the professional level including one of the most iconic Australian Open victories of the modern era.
    Riley now spends his time analysing and critiquing the worldā€™s best on television as an on-course reporter for Sky Sports in the UK.Ā 
    In this wide-ranging chat with John Huggan, Riley looks back on a career and life that has been full of adventure and always plenty of golf.

    13 March 2024, 2:00 am
  • 56 minutes 23 seconds
    The Thing About Golf #112: Evan Droop

    Anyone who spends a lifetime in golf will have gathered plenty of knowledge and insight which simply canā€™t be learned from a book.Ā 

    Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resortā€™s Head Professional, Evan Droop, is one such golfer. Evanā€™s father was the head professional at Yarrawonga before him and he has two sons, both PGA of Australia members, who may well take the job after him.Ā 

    In between, he managed five years on the Australasian Tour including a life and career-changing near miss at the 1992 Malaysian Masters. Droop recalls all that and more in this insightful and wide-ranging conversation with host Rod Morri.

    28 February 2024, 1:00 am
  • 1 hour 24 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #111: Ronan Rafferty

    From child prodigy to multiple European Tour winner, Ronan Rafferty has seen just about everything in golf.Ā 

    Popular wherever he went, Rafferty has a particular fondness for Australia ā€” where he won five times between 1987 and 1992 ā€” and credits his years spent Down Under as a crucial element in his international success.Ā 

    In this delightful chat with John Huggan, Rafferty reflects on his amateur career, what it was like on the European Tour in the halcyon days and how the game has changed over his lifetime.

    13 February 2024, 10:00 pm
  • 1 hour 2 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #110: Vinny Giles

    Not every great amateur turns professional but that doesnā€™t mean they canā€™t make a living out of the game.Ā 
    Vinny Giles is one of the gameā€™s great amateurs having won the U.S and British Amateur titles as well as the U.S Senior Amateur. He also represented the United States four times at the Walker Cup, winning three times.Ā 
    What is less well known is his long-time business role as a player manager, having at various stages guided the careers of Tom Kite, Davis Love III, Lanny Wadkins, Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon.
    In this fascinating interview with John Huggan, Giles talks about how the game has changed over his many decades as both a player, businessman and devotee of the game.'


    30 January 2024, 11:00 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #109: Henry Cussell

    Some people have never known a life that didn't include golf and while they may not have a high profile those people are almost invariably among the most interesting and thoughtful in the game. Henry Cussell is just such a person.Ā 
    Head professional at Yarra Yarra Golf Club at the age of 20 and one of the earliest employees at The National Golf Club on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, Cussell has likely forgotten more about the game than most people could ever hope to learn.Ā 
    In this wide ranging chat with Rod Morri, Cussell covers everything from 'foxing' balls as a youngster to the unique business he recently set up in Melbourne's Sandbelt with one of the great custodians of Australian golf history, Ross Baker.

    17 January 2024, 2:00 am
  • 1 hour 7 minutes
    The Thing About Golf #108: Nadene Gole

    Nine wins from 15 starts including all six Australian state titles and the national championship as well ā€¦ If somebody told you a golfer had achieved all this in a single year you wouldn't believe them, but a golfer has and, ironically, that golfer struggles to believe it themselves.Ā 

    Nadene Gole has, not surprisingly, risen to the top of the Senior Womenā€™s Amateur world ranking and the former touring professional says she still has improvements to make.Ā 

    But the journey hasnā€™t all been about golf for Nadene, who went almost two decades barely touching a club before accidentally falling back into the competitive game.Ā 

    It's a decision thatā€™s paid dividends as a new and improved Nadene Gole, at the age of 55, is finally living up to her potential.

    5 December 2023, 11:00 pm
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