The NCG Golf Podcast

Breaking down the best courses in Wales!

We’re back. After a week to recharge and put our feet up, The NCG Golf Podcast returns for its third season. And what a start we’ve got for you.

The sun is finally shining, we’re thinking about getting on our summer golf trips, and we’re about to unveil our best golf courses in Wales list!

To set the scene for our new Top 40, which you can find at nationalclubgolfer.com/top100, NCG Top 100s chairman Dan Murphy joins Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll to talk about all things Welsh golf.

What is our best course? Which are must play? And where can you find the best value? We’ll reveal all.

Elsewhere, as we start our new series:

• How has the season started for our dynamic duo?
• Can we imagine a Tiger-less PGA Tour?
• Rules Corner: Can you be disqualified if you don’t enter your score on the club computer?

England Golf chief executive Jeremy Tomlinson joins us!

Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll are joined by special guest Jeremy Tomlinson, England Golf's chief executive. We discuss in detail the governing body’s 'Respect in Golf' campaign – a movement which aims to promote greater understanding and embrace equality, diversity, and inclusion in the sport.

Jeremy also talks about the World Handicap System, membership numbers in the country, iGolf and iPlay, as well as what England Golf have got in store as their Centenary year really gets into gear.

We hope you enjoy the chat.

Elsewhere as we bring season 2 to a close:

• We’ve finally played some golf! Can we put this terrible winter behind us?
• Why are we so suspicious of data? We deep-dive into Shot Scope hitting distance numbers
• Steve tries to blind Tom with some tech trivia in Rules Corner

Ultimate Masters Review (and Gnomes)

Live from Augusta Steve and Tom discuss Steve’s debut at Augusta. The boys cover a lot of ground and spend far too much time talking Gnomes. Find out about what it is like to be an Augusta first time, just how long that q is for merch, and yes of course how hilly it REALLY is. They also get stuck into the Scheffler era, the value of yet another Tiger comeback, poor old Rory and Jason Day’s clothes. They end by musing on what is next for the endless innovative Masters. It is a great listen from the heart of a fantastic tournament, if you are looking for Masters closure you have come to the right place.

We preview the Masters with Ian Woosnam!

A major championship needs a major guest and we’ve got one for you as Ian Woosnam joins The NCG Golf Podcast ahead of The Masters.

Also previewing the Barbados Legends Championship at Apes Hill, which is kicking off the new Legends Tour season in May and is hosted by the 1991 Masters champ, podcast hosts Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll dig deep into next week's tournament with one of the game’s all-time greats.

We relive his green jacket victory, get some advice for those of you travelling to the tournament for the first time and, of course, ask him who’s going to win!

Elsewhere this week:

• Tom outlines his ‘foolproof’ Masters betting system. Please remember to gamble responsibly
• Are we really going to see Augusta Syndrome at your club this year?
• We’ve got a Masters special Rules corner for you to try and solve!

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball

The World Handicap System changes are here!

Don’t misread the date. It’s not an April Fool. The big World Handicap System changes are here and, from April 1, the way you play your club golf WILL change.

If you’ve forgotten what’s coming, never fear. Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll have enlisted the help of David Kernohan, Scottish Golf’s Head of VMS and Handicapping, to go over the major headlines.

He’ll help you get to grips with Course Rating minus Par, fourball betterball scores, and all the big alterations.

We also discuss where the WHS successes have been and where the system could still be improved.

Elsewhere this week:

• Free relief from divots? After Jordan Smith’s horror lie, the age-old debate surfaces yet again
• What if someone finds your ball as time runs out? Can Steve stump Tom again in Rules Corner?
• More money!? Just what are those tour players up to?

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball

The BBC’s Iain Carter joins us!

If you could pick one person to try and explain the madness of men’s professional golf, surely Iain Carter would be top of the list.

The BBC’s golf correspondent has enjoyed an unparalleled career – covering all the major tournaments for radio and online – and is the author of a series of best-selling books.

His latest, Golf Wars: LIV and Golf’s Bitter Battle for Power and Identity, bids to make sense of the conflict between the rival tours that has threatened to tear the sport apart.

Iain joins Steve and Tom to discuss his new tome, the internal warfare that is still splitting the game, and we ask where and how it is all going to end.

Iain also talks about The Big Golf Race – Prostate Cancer UK’s drive to raise money for men affected by the disease.

Elsewhere in this episode…

• Tom takes Steve’s money after a Players bet showdown (and gloats about it a little bit!)
• Steve recounts an epic trip to East Lothian – but which course didn’t quite hit the heights for him?
• Will Tom finally prove a birdbrain in this week’s Rules Corner?

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball.

The price of a pint: Should we get a members’ discounts on food and drink

Food and beverage (or F&B as we call it in the trade) can be a financial black hole for your golf club.

But we all want good food and a well-priced pint when we turn up in the clubhouse after a round. And we want it at a discount.

It’s our little perk for paying our subs each year, right? But managing a good offering is a massive challenge for clubs and, this week, Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll focus in on the issue as part of our The Price of Club Golf series with GCMA Insights.

What are the numbers like, how have costs increased, and should we temper our expectations?

Elsewhere in this episode…

• Steve reveals the most painful defeat he’s ever had on the course as he relives his winter foursomes semi-final
• The pair look back at Jay Monahan’s action-packed press conference ahead of The Players. Will the PGA Tour come to a deal with LIV?
• And can Steve finally befuddle Tom in Rules corner?

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball

We preview The Players!

We don’t know about you but, for us, The Players is where the golf season really starts. This one is special.

It’s the 50th edition and Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll kick off season two of The NCG Golf Podcast by previewing the ‘fifth major’.

The pair, who’ve both taken a spin around Sawgrass, break down the course and discuss their favourite moments. Did they get out of 17 alive?

Rory McIlroy and Sepp Straka tell us what the championship means to them and Tom has set Steve a fiendish quiz testing his knowledge of the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

But that’s not all. Far from it…

• What did we make of Anthony Kim’s LIV debut – and are the courses letting the breakaway tour down?
• Tom gets stuck into Rory’s detractors in Readers' Whines
• Is The Belfry all that?
• And which sporting celebrity is Steve up against in a winter foursomes last four clash?

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball

Are jeans really club golf’s biggest enemy?

What is it about a bit of denim that sends so many club golfers round the twist? Author Clive Agran set our social media alight this week when he asked why such an innocuous fabric causes so much offence.

Never ones to shy away from a bandwagon, Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll get stuck into some of the old stereotypes. Does what we wear really say something about how we act on the course? Prepare to hear Steve lose his rag.

We’ve also got a packed show for you as Season 1 of the podcast reaches its climax. Here’s what you don’t want to miss…

• Has bad behaviour gone too far at the Phoenix Open? And can they rein it back in?
• What do we make of Tiger’s new threads – and are we going to splash the cash?
• Can Tom land another blow on Steve in Rules Corner?

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball

Delving into the price of club golf

It’s membership subscriptions time again and maybe some of you are being asked to fork out a little more than last year.

 

Where do those fees go and what part do they play in the running of your golf club? Are joining fees really a tax on membership, an expression of loyalty, or a vital part of a golf club’s armoury?

 

Steve Carroll has started a series of pieces for the Golf Club Managers’ Association, and NCG, and he discusses these two key themes on this week’s podcast with Tom Irwin.

 

Elsewhere Steve has a particular issue with people who moan about the rules, and can he stop Tom from taking series 1 honours by blinding him with this week’s Rules Corner question?

 

BTW, apologies for the minor mic issues in the first part of the pod. Hopefully they won't ruin Tom's dulcet tones for you too much!

 

The NCG Golf Podcast is produced in association with the TaylorMade TP5 golf ball.