The Thing About Golf Podcast

There are few writers in golf whose words have appeared in as many publications and on as many different “new media” platforms as the prolific Geoff Shackelford. In this episode he tells Rod Morri what the future holds for the game’s media landscape.

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.

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.

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

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. 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. 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.

From the humble courses of southern Sydney to the top levels of the game, Wayne ‘Radar’ 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 world’s best on television as an on-course reporter for Sky Sports in the UK. 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.

Anyone who spends a lifetime in golf will have gathered plenty of knowledge and insight which simply can’t be learned from a book. Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort’s Head Professional, Evan Droop, is one such golfer. Evan’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. 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.

From child prodigy to multiple European Tour winner, Ronan Rafferty has seen just about everything in golf. Popular wherever he went, Rafferty has a particular fondness for Australia — where he won five times between 1987 and 1992 — and credits his years spent Down Under as a crucial element in his international success. 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.

Not every great amateur turns professional but that doesn’t mean they can’t make a living out of the game. Vinny Giles is one of the game’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. 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.'

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. 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. 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.

Nine wins from 15 starts including all six Australian state titles and the national championship as well … 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. Nadene Gole has, not surprisingly, risen to the top of the Senior Women’s Amateur world ranking and the former touring professional says she still has improvements to make. But the journey hasn’t all been about golf for Nadene, who went almost two decades barely touching a club before accidentally falling back into the competitive game. It's a decision that’s paid dividends as a new and improved Nadene Gole, at the age of 55, is finally living up to her potential.

In many ways Matt Fitzpatrick is an unlikely major champion. His game isn’t as flashy as some but he works hard — and smart — to get everything out of his talent. In this revealing chat with The Thing About Golf host John Huggan, the Englishman looks back on his remarkable U.S Amateur/U.S Open double at Brookline, shares thoughts on the Ryder and Walker Cups, explains how he added 20 yards to his game off the tee and also why he switched to cross-handed chipping. The recent winner of the Dunhill Links at St Andrews, alongside his mum, has had quite the journey so far and the likeable 29-year-old looks far from done yet.

Few in Australian golf have seen as much of the game as Andrew Langford-Jones. From hanging with Tiger Woods to advocating for halving field sizes in Australia, he has been an integral — and active — part of the local professional scene for almost 35 years. As his career winds down ‘Langers’ sat down with Rod Morri to reflect on an extraordinary life in the game.

We like to complain about them but those who commentate golf on TV create the soundtrack of the game’s history. Gary Koch, the 2023 Payne Stewart Award recipient, will likely be best remembered for his iconic ’better than most’ line at the 2001 Players’ Championship. But there is much more to his story than that shot, or even his more than 30-year TV career. A standout amateur and six-time PGA Tour winner, Koch sits down for a chat with John Huggan to reflect on a life intertwined with the game and some of its greatest players.

Professional golf can be a roller coaster but even by those standards England’s Oliver Wilson has been on an epic journey. From leading amateur to successful professional to twice losing his game almost completely, the affable 43-year-old has seen and done just about everything golf has to offer. In this episode, Wilson sits down with John Huggan for a fascinating chat about life, golf and everything in between.

Search ‘Ryder Cup’ on the internet and it won’t take long before you find an image of Sam Torrance, arms raised to the sky after holing the winning putt at The Belfry at the 1985 matches. The Scot is the son of one of the game’s greatest coaches. Bob, but also a pivotal figure in both the Ryder Cup as we know it today and the European Tour. On the eve of the 44th matches between Europe and the United States, Torrance sits down for a fascinating conversation with The Thing About Golf host John Huggan, to talk all things Ryder Cup as he reflects on a career spanning more than 40 years.

Some names are synonymous with the Ryder Cup and on the European side Bernard Gallacher is one. Eight times a player and three times a Captain, Gallacher oversaw a time of great change in the matches from before European players became part of the team to the height of hostilities at Kiawah Island in 1991. His chat here with The Thing About Golf host John Huggan is as compelling as you would expect and the understated Gallacher reveals more than one story that has never been told before.

There are few more thoughtful or interesting voices in the game than Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell. In this wide-ranging chat with The Thing About Golf host, John Huggan, the 2010 U.S Open champion talks Ryder Cup, Pebble Beach, the move to LIV and why he doesn't think he deserves a voice on the DP World Tour. Agree with him or not there is one thing guaranteed with McDowell: you’ll be entertained (and he’ll make you think).

It's been just over five years since Australian golf lost one of its most popular players in Jarrod Lyle. On episode 100 of The Thing About Golf podcast, host Rod Morri catches up with Jarrod’s wife, Briony, to talk about how the couple met, the realities of living on the road, Jarrod’s legacy and what life is like as a non-golfer in a golfer’s world.

Her voice is familiar to golf fans the world over but there is much more to Dottie Pepper than what we see in the televised golf coverage. A world class player, major champion, and passionate advocate for all forms of the game, Pepper is an intelligent, articulate speaker and thinker about the game. These attributes are on full display in this broad ranging discussion with The Thing About Golf host John Huggan, which covers everything from the Solheim Cup to the possibilities of Saudi Arabia increasing its involvement in the women’s game.