4th Hole - Robot Wars

Golf Pod Cymru – Technology in Golf, US PGA Review & A Front Nine to Remember

Join Rhys ap William, Eryl Williams and Matt Dearden for another entertaining and insightful episode of Golf Pod Cymru, the podcast all about golf in Wales.

This week, the team starts with a catch-up on where they’ve all been playing and what’s been happening on their golfing journeys.

They then review the latest action from the PGA Championship, discussing the standout performances and biggest talking points from one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments.

There’s also a full update on Welsh golfers, both professional and amateur, highlighting how players from Wales are performing at home and abroad.

Topic of the Pod: Technology in Golf

The main discussion explores how technology is transforming every aspect of the game—from the machinery and software used by greenkeepers, to the launch monitors and tracking systems at modern driving ranges, to the clubs and balls we use on the course.

One of the standout topics is the growing use of robotic mowers on golf courses. These autonomous machines are becoming increasingly popular for maintaining fairways, tees and rough. The team discusses how robot mowers can deliver a more consistent cut, while also freeing up greenkeeping staff to focus on more specialised course maintenance tasks.

Special Guest: Julian Doughty

The team is joined by Julian Doughty, Head Greenkeeper at Radyr Golf Club, who provides fascinating insights into modern course management, including how technology such as robotic mowers and advanced turf-monitoring systems are changing the way courses are maintained.

Matt’s Challenge

Matt shares the story of a remarkable front nine score that has to be heard to be believed.

Ask Matt

In this week’s listener Q&A, Matt answers all your questions about golf balls—how to choose the right one, what the key differences are, and whether premium balls really make a difference to your game.

Golf Pod Cymru – bringing you the stories, insights and personalities that make Welsh golf so special.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:14

How are we everybody? Welcome to the fourth episode of Golf Pod Camry. We've made it to the fourth hole. If you're late joining the three ball, I'm Brees Up William, an actor, sport broadcaster who loves golf and also likes to talk. What do I play off? Well, I'll take all the shots that anybody gives me, usually between about eight and fourteen, depends if we want to win or not. Errol Williams, Vasprey Golf, who came up with his podcast idea, is our captain. He plays off a handicap of around four. And our pro who teaches Eril is Matt Dearden. And we're following his journey to get onto the seniors tour in a few years' time. We usually have a topic in each pod, we usually have a guest club, and we discuss all things, as our name suggests, everything golf income rewills. So that's a bit of background about who we are, what we're gonna talk about. Eril, Matt, all okay? All great here? Yeah, all good with me, thank you. What have we been up to? I've played uh 18 holes. I played in Cardiff RFC's golf day at at Witchard's, which was in in Goodnick, in a in a Texas scramble. A lot of fun had a few beers consumed, I must uh I must admit. Playing golf, Eril? Won any more competitions?

SPEAKER_03 1:21

I've been playing and the other form has kind of maintained. I came second in the the comp after the one I won, which was great. Handicap has come down actually, so um it's down to 2.8, which is uh 2.8? Still room for improvement, put in like a dog at the moment, but um that'll improve hopefully with time. I um recently went to Italy uh with work and I'd uh I was lucky enough to play the Marco Simoni course um where the Ryder Cup was a couple years ago, which was fantastic. Um so yeah, a bit of golf and a bit of sun. You take the Euros in uh Italy? I did actually. I did take the Euros, which is uh handy because it's quite expensive for a beer there.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Matt, how about yourself? We'll we'll touch on it now, we'll come to it later about um you know your story uh about getting on the senior tour. But how things how are things going with you?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, all good, thank you. I've played not so much in the last week, but the previous week I was away competing again. So yeah, we'll hear a little bit more about that later. But yeah, hard at hard at work helping others with their game this last week and also working on my own game. Helping the nation develop their golf.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I need to go and see you actually. You know, I mean I need to come down. I've got I've got a few problems with my swing. But uh let's talk about the the US PGA because we we're just recording this and finished yesterday. What a tournament, what a challenge it was, and what a finish.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Certainly not the you know, 20 under par that they predicted before uh the competition started. It was actually quite nice to to see them not struggle, but they had to plot themselves around there, and it wasn't all about the the long drives. Certainly those par threes, and especially the first couple of days, they looked so so brutal. 220 yards into a breeze, you know, it's nice to see them hitting like a three-wood on a par three that we usually do every week.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, yeah, no, it's uh it I mean historically, like for me, maybe the same sort of for other golfers watching, but the USPJ is is probably down there at number four in terms of where I rank the majors. But I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I thought the course actually looked pretty decent, uh, although the reports were that it was a little bit boring. I mean, looking from the outset though, I think you know the way that it was set up was incredibly difficult for the for the first couple of days. I think the pin positions, a lot of the players moaned that uh the green keepers had missed the green a couple of times where they'd positioned the other flags. But no, I uh really enjoyed it, really enjoyed watching, and obviously a a a great result for uh Britain. I'll I'll call it Britain, not England.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, Patrick Harrington said that, you know, when someone said people have been saying the course is boring, and he said, Well, you know, uh the pin positions, maybe they got the days back to front, you know, where the pins should have been. But he said, I I don't want to play on a course that's 20 under par, you know. I I I want to be challenged. I'd rather see someone win. He said, you know, five, six, seven. This was after round three, but of course Aaron Rye got to what did he finish? Nine under par. What do you make of his performance? Is it anything to do with the fact that he wears two gloves?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Well, do you know what? Not to sort of detract from his win by talking about his gloves and maybe a couple of other things that he does slightly differently to other players, but obviously he's using uh a driver, which is a tailor-made M6, which without checking, is I know that it's old technology. So, you know, that that's another quirk, if you want to call it, to his game. He's got iron covers, and you know, that that in itself that there's no other player that I can think of on the US PGA tour that uses iron covers. But there's a background story to that because as a youngster he was instilled by his parents to look after his equipment. So they bought him iron covers and he's he's kept them on there ever since. And I think you know that's that's sort of commendable in terms of he's still looking after his equipment, even though he's probably not bought any equipment for you know moons.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

With his gloves, he he wears oh well obviously two and the the mac wet gloves, which are gloves that you ideally wear in in wet conditions. I I I deal with Glenn Mewer a lot who own the macwet and their sales will probably go through the roof this week.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, I I've seen a few clips of him today, you know, as a as a as a real youngster on the range and winning tournaments when he was four, and he's been playing golf a very long time, hasn't he? And he's he's so diligent, Matt, in his his approach to everything he does. The course was was firm, was fast, it wasn't target golf in the US, and he doesn't hit the ball as far as many of the other pros. He he he um he plotted his way around there beautifully.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, cool. Cool and the pressure, and I think if you if you watched him throughout the week and if you've ever seen him play golf before, he's got a a demeanour about him where he's he's very level-headed, he doesn't get too excited, he doesn't get too upset, and that certainly helped him yesterday, you know, to to get over the line. He doesn't hit the golf ball as far as a lot of the other players on tour. I watched yesterday and his his driver ball speeds at like 178 mile an hour, you know, which is still fast. You've got the likes of McElroy, John Rahm, who are you know in excess of 190 mile an hour. So you know, this this proves a point that you you don't necessarily need to be the longest to win a golf tournament. Accuracy over length the majority of the time will get you across the line.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Shall we leave the USPGA there? Because unfortunately we didn't have any uh Welsh players there. But what what's happening in in the amateur game and in the pro game where where our Welsh players are playing, Matt?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Yeah, so we've had a couple of sort of quiet-ish weeks in terms of um what's happening on the main tour. In in in contrast, the the ladies have been playing over in Germany. So they they concluded uh their event yesterday at the Green Eagle Resort in Germany. That now that's a course that I played back in the day, and uh we nicknamed it the Green Monster as opposed to Green Eagle because it's a difficult, long golf course. So that would have been a real real good test. Uh we had five Welsh ladies in the field, so Lydia Hall, Fionn Tinnen, uh Chloe Williams, Luca Thompson, and Darcy Harry. So that's a again a very strong show-in, you know, from the Welsh players there. Uh, the event was won by home player Leonie Hahn on ten and a par. And uh the Welsh players that made the cut were Luca Thompson, she finished 32nd on two over par, and Darcy Harry was 40th on four over par. Moving on to uh what's happening sort of in terms of regional, we've had the senior PGA championship was played at Royal Dornock up in Scotland. That was an event that was won by a home player, Greg Hutcheon. Again, with a sort of a strong show in there in terms of Welsh players in the field with 13 players in total playing in that event. Of that, only two players have made the cut: Sean Beb and Gary Houston. They both finished tied 13th, so a good result there for the guys up in Scotland. Sticking with uh regional news, uh, we've had a couple of Pro Ams, so we're gonna go up north for this one. So the uh Abigelli Pro Am. Have you played there, Errol?

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah, I used to play a lot there as a junior. Great course.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, so Abigail, they they held their Pro Am and that was won by um another Welsh player, Matt Totti. Matt finished with a two under par total of 70 to take that one. We had the Minchin Hampton Old Pro Am. That was contested last week, and Toby Hunt from Witchurch finished tied second there with a 66 on five under par. So again, nice showing as well there from the guys. Other news in terms of the development tours, the Clutch Pro Tour visited Seacroft Golf Club for the Caddy Comp Trophy. Joe Long won there with a fine total of 10 under par. Welsh players in the field there included Jake Hapgood, he finished tied second on eight under par, uh with scores of 72, 68, and 65, so a strong finish there to finish the week. And Luke Harris, he finished 23rd with scores of 68, 72, and 71. Again, in regional news with the chrome series tour event at Minchampton Golf Club. Uh, I played in that one. Uh another good uh good result here for some Welsh players. We had uh Toby Hunt finishing tied fourth on 10 under par, Sean Bebb finishing tied 21st with Johan Jones, another Welsh player on six under par, and Little O'Me on 39th, so I finished uh minus four there. Fifty-ninth, Gary Houston, Zach Galliford 79th, Olifarr, 87th, and Asprey's own Richard Dinsdale at 91st.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

There is a backstory to your performance there, which I can't wait to hear, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, we'll we'll have a little talk about that later, so I can't wait to tell you a little bit more about my uh my week in Stroud. It was quite eventful. In the amateur world, we had the Welsh Women's Open Seniors Championship, which was played at Rutherland Golf Club. The event was won by Delith Roberts from Worthing Golf Club, although she is Welsh with scores of 77 and 75. Catherine Russell, uh she finished second with scores of 79 and 74. On the weekend, we had the G4D Open. This was part of the G4D tour uh on the Roman road course at uh at the Celtic Manor. Now the men's event was won by Simon Xiongmin Lee from Korea with scores of 75, 67, and 71, a total of three over par. Uh Simon won by one shot from Amang Nareb from Cameroon. So, you know, a a very international field there in participating in a Celtic manner. I know a lot of people that went along to actually watch the event as well, and they said they had a great time. The women's event was won by Jennifer Stragu from Germany with scores of 81, 82, 83. Again, Jennifer won by one shot from Daphne van Houten from the Netherlands. One more result from the professional world. So we had a couple of players playing on the Sunshine Tour out in South Africa. They were playing at Irene Country Club for the Kit Kat Cash and Carry Pro Am. That's a mouthful. Very good. Our players playing that week uh were Jack Davidson and Reese Enoch. Great result here for Jack. Uh Jack finished tied third on 21 under par. A magnificent score with rounds of 66, 67, 68, and 66. Finally, we've found a player playing out in China, a Welsh player playing on the Chinese tour. Tom Flume. He uh participated in the Straits Cup at Orient Golf and Country Club. Tom finished in a tied for 37th position with scores of 69, 74, and 74. So moving forward, if I can get on the website, because it looks like it's been designed by a four-year-old, I will endeavour to get more results from there. I also need to brush up on my Chinese a little bit as well. You will never get to play on that tour after saying that. I don't think I want to either, to be honest. And uh yeah, that uh that concludes the uh lengthy roundup of scores around the world by Welsh players uh this last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

It's it's a good thing, Ed, and that it we are talking about lots of players competing. Unfortunately, no one's winning, no one's no one's in the majors, but it it's a it's a good thing that we have a lot of golfers playing across the globe.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

Yeah, definitely. You um Matt mentioned Jack Davidson then. I was looking at the the official world rankings today, and and Jack has uh broken into the top 1,000 um players in the world. Um but I guess this this podcast, what we want to do is highlight um you know the Welsh players we have and the successes they do have in breaking through. Um but again it's down to you know where we are as a nation uh of golf. Uh I was just looking compared to the other home nations, obviously the top player, Northern Ireland, number two in the world draw re from the England camp, I guess. Um, you know, Justin Rose is fifth in the world, Tommy Fleetwood seventh, Aaron Rye with his win takes him into fifteenth, and then in Scotland, Robert McIntyre's fourteenth in the world, and then you look at our our country and players. Our highest ranked player in the world at the moment is Toby Hunt at 908, and then obviously Jack at 920, James Ashfield 1020. So, you know, it's a it's a conversation I'm sure we'll be having quite a lot on this podcast about how we get these players higher up in a world ranking. You look at Denmark, I guess, similar size golfing nation as as we are, and they've got two in the top 50 from the same household. The Hogarth uh brothers and a lot of uh Danish players behind them. So there's there's maybe something that they have in terms of their pathway into to professional golf is different, but um you know it's an interesting statistic we have at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Yeah, when you when you look at the Danish players in particular, I mean we could cite the fact that the climate in this country is not great for golf, but I mean you can compare that against Denmark, where they're probably in darkness and snow for most of the year.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

I know in Denmark they invest a lot of money into ranges, indoor centres, and maybe you know that they they make the most of of those kind of facilities to rear their their youngsters into professional golf.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Well, that leads us nicely on to our topic this week, which is technology, and it's quite a broad topic to have in the golfing world because you can be talking about equipment, and I'm not just talking about golfers and their clubs and their butters and balls and bags and whatever, shoes, but I'm talking about you know, green keepers, what courses use, and also the tech that's on offer now to to go and practice in in the range and the things that Matt comes across, you know. So it's it's a it's a massive topic, but we decided to delve into it, Eril, haven't we?

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Yeah, definitely. I was um whilst over in Italy uh last week uh with industry companies, we had a a presentation with it from the guys who uh run Top Tracer, the ball tracing technology in a lot of ranges. Um they also own Top Golf as well, so they've got a range of top golf facilities across the world. Um there was an amazing story and statistics they were kind of showing of the uptick in driving ranges since technology's been installed in them. You know, so some some ranges were really small and kind of quiet, and now they they're increasing their bays, making them two-tiers, trying to put as many bays and monitors in as possible. And I think Matt, you know, you work in one, I guess you see those kind of numbers increase since you've had the technology installed.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah, absolutely. The you know, the footfall down at Brigend, where I spend most of my days helping people with their golf games, the amount of people now coming through the door, trying golf, practicing, you know, interacting with the new technology that uh that we've had installed is is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

They were talking about the technology has opened uh golf to a a a new demographic of people and they mentioned a lot about um golf in Japan. Obviously, they don't have many courses at Japan and uh it's quite a highly populated uh country, but they've got these driving ranges popping up everywhere. There was one they had 400 bays and the place is full 24 hours uh a day. That just shows you golf now is not only about playing 18 holes, it's an entertainment and you know it's great to see families and players and of all ages playing the sport, not in the form that everybody knows, but it's an introduction to golf.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah, absolutely. I think uh you know, in terms of you know what I've noticed down there, and certainly in terms of what the you know the the owners of the driving range have seen, you know, is a is a vast increase in terms of you know the amount of golf balls that are being hit on the drive-in range prior to having any technology installed, they'd averaged anything between sort of eight and thirteen thousand golf balls a day that were hit. And now since the technology's been installed, it's more near a 13 to 18,000 golf balls a day being hit at that drive-in range. When you look at it from the outset, you know, that that's that's only an 18-bay drive-in range, but it's attracting, as Errol said, not just your hardened golfers, but I see a lot of groups coming in, I see a lot of groups of of girls and ladies coming in practicing, having fun. We see a lot of families now coming in playing, you know, because we offer free club hire there for juniors, so there's you know, there's no cost. So it's actually quite a low-cost form of entertainment now versus let's say go into a you know a bowling alley for a game attempt in bowling. You know, if you take four people there, you're probably not getting much change out of a hundred quid there, are you when you go there for for the afternoon? But you know, you can go to the drive-in range and and pick up a basket of balls for you know eleven quid and have an hour's worth of fun. It's it it is quite good value for money, I think. Well that that's one side of technology, guys.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

But you know, we said we were going to the the boardroom in our last episode. We did go to a boardroom, but we didn't speak to a CEO or a manager of a club. Who did we speak to and what did they have to say about technology?

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Yeah, uh like you said, the plan was to speak to somebody high up in either Wales Golf or the the government, but uh we picked the wrong week as it was the elections for the Senate, so everybody was a bit busy. But I did um he was a boardroom for my interview, um, and I interviewed uh the green keeper of my club, Radha Golf Club, which is Julian Doty. He's been there quite a few years now, and he's highly regarded. Um his greens uh spot on throughout the year. So I had an interesting chat with him, and technology came up in that conversation too.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Thank you, Julian, for spending a bit of time with me to have a chat this morning. Um we'll start with, I guess, yourself. How long have you been a greenkeeper and what got you here?

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Well, Erl, um I've I've been green keeping close on 45 years now. Um you look shocked, uh You don't look old enough. But um it started off I when I was 17 I was hiring out deck chairs on Barry Island Beach. I'd I'd left school, um, got my qualifications and everything, my own levels, but I I was out of work, so I was temporary working at Barry Island hiring out deck chairs, which I loved. That's a natural progression. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well and then my best friend at the time, his father was uh chairman of the greens at a local golf club. And he said, Do you fancy working at the golf club? I said, Yeah, why not? then so I I I finished up with the deck chairs and got into green keeping that way and the rest is history. But literally from day one, I just knew that I I you know I I would enjoy it, and I did. I sort of stayed there for seven years at this one local club and um I got my qualifications and then I I progressed then to uh greenkeep at a club in London. I stayed there for five years and then moved to Stratford Golf Club and then came back to Radha.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

So you've been in at this club since uh twenty-three years. Twenty-three years.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

And is it so it's it's close on forty-five years I've been greenkeeping and thirty-eight of those years as a high greenkeep.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Well, the reason for the interview is really is to get some insight about greenkeeping. What's your typical day? When do you start and what do you do in a on a on a typical?

SPEAKER_04 20:45

Yeah, I mean during the summer time it's it's the first light, really. But I'll tend to get them, you know, quite a bit before the boys, and so I can sort of plan the day out. Uh in the winter time it's slightly different because it's basically you've you've got to do a full inspection of the course to see whether it's open or not, really, see the conditions, whether we'll allow trolleys. But that'll usually start about seven o'clock. But in the in the summertime it can be you know five o'clock starts, that sort of thing, depending on what's on. But I'll always come in a bit early and have a quick scout around the course to see what's going on, because with green keeping you can never really plan the day ahead. Everything is all about the weather. Even if there's a dew on the grass, it can slightly change your plans because I don't like cutting the grass if there's a dew on certain areas. If there's no dew, you know, you'll just drop everything and cut the grass at the thing. So it everything is weather dependent, and nine times out of ten you can't really plan the next day.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

You mentioned um you know looking at the weather and stuff, and we're in spring now, it's been dry for a few weeks. Obviously a transition from winter to to spring. How difficult is that to manage?

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Possibly not the best time of year for the green keeper. Everyone, you know, you speak to any green keeper and they dread the masters because in this country conditions aren't great at that time of year. Um and you and of course the members see uh are watching the masters and they've they love their course or their greens to be like that. But they very so it's not the best time of year, ideally, because you're you know you're trying to get the greens right, the sun's out, but you're still getting those cold night temperatures. And I think what people don't realise is nighttime temperatures are actually crucial. You might get 20 degrees in the daytime and then drops down to sort of four or five in the night. You need a constant growing temperatures for the soil, really. So but when it goes out to cold again, it's just not for the grass back. So it's difficult to keep a good surface. Hence you tend to sort of top dress a lot more just to smooth out the surface because you get different grasses growing at different speeds on the greens, and our greens contain different grasses, like most greens. So some grasses grow more than the others, and then you get an uneven surface. It's it's so easy just to get a nice uh coverage of grass and looking like snooker tables, but it's about what underneath um if it's not right below the the surface, it's not gonna be right on the surface, and it's just the most important thing, I believe, is just controlling organic matter, which is a thatch builder, i.e., if there's a lot of that, the greens are spongy. If you've got a soft patent surface, you're never gonna get a true bore all because you know you have your undulations, your footprints, and then that causes all sorts of issues for disease, etc. So you you try and aim for firm greens throughout the year.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Are are greens that the most important things for you on a golf course?

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Personally, greens come first. I mean, that's what I I'm probably most passionate about, passionate about on the on the course. I think generally if you go to play golf at a club, you know, the course is fantastic, but the greens weren't you'd remember that, and I just personally believe that greens are the most important thing on the golf course. You know, we start getting the greens right and then we'll work out onto the you know your properties, your surrounding areas, fairways, teams. So greens come first without a doubt.

unknown 24:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

And then what about fertilizers and chemicals? I think uh since Brexit things have had to change in certain aspects of the city.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Yeah, a lot of the chemicals we're using now, the active ingredient is is nowhere near as as strong as it used to be. And we can't spray for worms anymore. Previously you spray for worms, you wouldn't have a problem with the casting, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

And is that a problem?

SPEAKER_04 24:57

Yeah, worm casts are a problem. When you you're mowing TTs and fairways, the worm casts build up on the rollers, and then you just don't get a clean cut. And yeah, it's it's an unbelievable problem, worm casts. Alright, okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Climate change. Um obviously s people have seen change in weather patterns. Yeah. Have you in your in your kind of 40 years of working?

SPEAKER_04 25:23

Certainly. Um I mean I I do remember years ago years ago, come October time, we just put all the cutting machines away for winter, never bring them out until March. But now we've just cut into our months of the year. The greens are cut weekly during the winter times and daily virtually during the summer.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

There's a lot of sustainability issues going around now in with golf clubs, especially with the use of water when you need water in the summer.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

You know, reservoirs seems to be the thing nowadays. A lot of cross is building reservoirs to you know, to store water and then to to use it onto the cross and and boreholes. Uh fortunately we have a borehole, um which has which has been a godsend, but there were occasions where we have to go onto Maine's waters, you know, during the dry periods. But yeah, it's something I think most clubs should be looking at really is is water storage, you know, in a big in a big way.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Technology and uh and the use of technology in the in the equipment we use has a huge impact on evolution of the game. And and I guess that's the same with greenkeeping as well.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Yeah, without a doubt, you know, machining, but not on just machine, you know, with the robots are are all in now at the moment, um but you know, chemicals as well. We we s we can put chemicals on the greens, fertilizers to make the grass grow, but also we'll put something in that mix to not make the grass grow. Is that in the other side? It's it's a growth regulator. Years ago in particular, you used to cut the greens in the morning, and by the afternoon or evening the greens would have grown. But this growth regulator keeps them consistent. It really does make a difference.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Well, and that's a man-made chemical. Yes. Wow. Yes. You mentioned robots there, um, and I believe uh this club is having a couple um shortly.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Are they are they there to assist the green keepers? I I I doubt they're there to take uh the role of a green keeper away.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

I personally believe they're to to assist the green keepers 100%. Um you know you could never replace a green keeper with a robot without a doubt. And what they do do is um allows the staff to focus on jobs that we tend not to prioritize, i.e. sort of bunker work and that sort of thing, and divoting, um which does get put to the bottom of the list because we've got other things to do, but they were certainly um you know, a aid the green keepers, but certainly not replace them.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

This is a question you you can be really honest about this. Uh what's the one thing though golfers do on that course that drives green keepers crazy?

SPEAKER_04 28:13

Hitting the balls at you when you're on the green. It happens a lot. You know, nine times out of ten we'll cut when particularly when we're on the green, we'll call them on or we'll take the drag out and they can see we're working on a green, but they'll still hit balls at you. And very, very frustrating. And I just my automatic reaction is mild. Would they really do that if there was golfers on the green? Yeah. So what's the difference? So yeah, that can be very annoying. I thought you were gonna say they're not repairing pitch marks, it's well that that I think that was possibly my biggest boat bear is when when they hit ballsy. But yeah, very frustrating when you see all those pitch marks without a doubt. It's and I don't know why. It's cause etiquette. It's you know, you're the guys that at the blaze the course, and I just wish everyone would do that.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

What do you think the the issue is it, education or people not realising or I think it's a bit of both, Gerald, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

I really do. I watch people not repairing their pitch marks, and I genuinely think they just hadn't even thought about it. They don't even realise they've made a pitch mark, perhaps, you know. One thing I d I have I do notice is your better golfers do tend to repair the pitch marks. Don't know why that is.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

I think it's just the ball flight. If the ball comes from a high distance, you know it and the ball stops quite close to uh uh maybe the the higher handicappers have a lower ball flight and they land on the front of the green but run through. But again, it's education and I think it's down to us as golfers to to learn and and help the green keepers.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

You know, whether you're aware if if a pitch mark is repaired within, you know, minutes of doing it, it will recover within twenty-four hours. If not, uh it can last weeks before it comes back.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

So I'm sure you get a lot of comments and maybe complaints from members or golfers out there. What what's been the funniest or strangest complaint you've you've had?

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Oh, that's a good one. The one thing that really does stick out, which I get quite a bit, is that can't we water the greens to make them softer? Which, you know, take that as a compliment because it obviously means the greens are fun. But I had it, I think it was last week, that I was out there with the hose, um water hand watering. And they said, couldn't we do this on a daily basis to make them softer?

SPEAKER_02 30:32

And maybe there's some uh young um golfers in listening and want to get into the green keeping kind of trade. Um what advice would you give?

SPEAKER_04 30:42

If you want to be a greenkeep, you have an interesting golf and golf course. So I think that's half the battle. Just get in there, put your foot in the door and and try it out. Um and then you end up going to college, get your qualifications, and I think you'll know probably within a few weeks whether you like it or not.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Um I was gonna say it's a job that you you gotta be a morning person.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Yeah, it's it's not that so much you'd become a morning person. You know, I wasn't a morning person when I first got interviewed. You'd become one. I I s genuinely still do love the job, which is quite, you know, I'm sort of quite proud of that fact after after all these years.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

Do you really love it in the winter when it's sideways the rain and cold?

SPEAKER_04 31:26

Do you know what, Harold? I said this to someone this morning. I actually prefer the winter than the summer.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Really?

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Yeah, seriously.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Is then more work? Is the course kind of harder to kind of maintain in the winter?

SPEAKER_04 31:39

It's it's different. The job, what's good about the job is you know, from March, April to September, it's just purely presenting the course. Don't get me wrong, it's great to when a course looks good and everything, and you know, the sun's shining. But then it's a change, you know, we do our winter programmes, our construction work and more aeration and hand mowing, that sort of thing. It's a different, almost a different job.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

One parting question, what gives you the most pleasure? Seeing a perfectly striped fairway or watching a golfer actually repairing a pitch pitch mark correctly.

SPEAKER_04 32:18

The first one.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

The striped fairways. Yeah. That gives you the most pleasure.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

Yes, it does. Yeah, yeah, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Well, thanks for your time, Jillian. Very insightful.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Well, Eril, that was a great chat. It's nice to hear a different aspect, isn't it? You know, we've been having pros and people talking about their clubs. It's uh nice to get someone who gets their hands really dirty on the golf course.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

Yeah, definitely. It's uh something we want to kind of get across in his podcast. Try and get different voices from different parts of the industry, greenkeepers to professionals to club managers. So yeah, we'll try and get a varied um number of people on. But yeah, it was a great chat with him, and especially on the the technology side that we we're discussing, you know, the use of robots. You you're starting to see them all over the place. And it's good to hear what Julian said is not to take the role of the green keeper away, is there to assist, and that's what technology, I guess, is all about, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Oh, definitely. I don't I don't think you can take the day-to-day run-in and maintenance of a golf course solely away from the green keepers. I think they they know the golf course is so much better than a robot can. And so they they'll they'll generally take really good care of a golf course. The vast majority of greenkeepers I speak to, they you know, they love their jobs and they love the golf course. The last thing they you know they they want to see are you know big divots and and massive pitch marks. But I'm I'm sure there's uh you know there's definitely an area where they can introduce these robotic mowers that can sort of aid you know the greenkeepers in their you know day-to-day work, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Yeah, yeah. What was interesting, what Julian said, was that you can put put the robot to do the mundane things of of kept in the fairways, and they can specifically then go to work on you know reshaping something, rebuilding something, or having a look at sorting the bunkers out and things, you know. So it it it's um takes the pressure off one role of a greenkeeper so they can focus on on somewhere else.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

Whilst again in that conference last week I was talking to some of the guys from Toro, the greenkeeping mowers, they were talking about the use of AI coming into the industry and um you know using the likes of the robots, NI AI, and they're developing these mowers that could, whilst it's mowing the grass, it analyzes the grass for you know nutrients and growth, and then that could then speak to the irrigation system of the club, um, and then tell the greenkeeper when they need to put water on and you know, looking into the future based on statistics and the probability. So, yeah, you know, that the use of AI now coming into even greenkeeping is quite incredible.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

That is crazy. So that you know, we've we've touched on tech and what you've got at the ranges and you know indoor facilities popping up all all over the place, really, what greenkeepers use, but what what we haven't discussed is the tech that that we use really. You know, I I've only changed my iron once in the last 20 years, you know. So uh I've missed out on a lot of tech. But what is out there, Matt? You're you're a person who's been at the forefront of it, trying to you know be the best you can possibly be for, I don't know, th 30 years plus now, you know. So what has really changed it in the tech in in the clubs that we attempt to swing and play the game of golf with?

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Certainly, I mean the the the technology has advanced a lot, you know, in in that 30 years. You know, over the last 10 years it it's sort of plateaued out a little bit. You know, the drivers, if you listen to all the hype, you know, you're gonna hit the driver ten or twenty yards further every time a new model comes out. You know, if that was the case, we'd be all be hitting it 500 yards by now, but it you know, that isn't the case.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

I hit mine 15 yards further right or left, that's the problem.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Yeah, that's that old wooden-netted club you've got, yeah? Got it in the shed, yeah. Maruman. You can't see this as a podcast, but he's now showing me his wood. You know, that that's his driver, by the way, everyone. His golf club. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

There it is.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Maruman. I'm not, it doesn't even give me the degree on it, you know, but still in good nix. That that's a degree of difficulty that is, as opposed to a degree of loft on there. What's the loft on it? Very hard. Very hard, yeah, exactly. But no, the the golf clubs, I wouldn't say they've gone to their absolute limit at the moment. But of course, in terms of limiting the thickness of the faces, at you know, at one point, you know, the faces were very, very thin, creating that trampoline effect, which essentially got the golf ball going a little bit further. That's been obviously limited, so you know the faces need to be a certain thickness. In terms of the technology and drivers, we are seeing clubs that are that are a little bit easier to hit, so the you know, the sweet spots are bigger. So off-centre hits won't go, you know, you won't lose so much distance, you know, if you hit it off-centre. But the golf ball is the big thing when they when they roll it back in 2030, so that's going to be limiting the distance that the players hit the golf ball.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

What what if you're like me and you got golf balls from you know, say 10 years ago, still floating about the place? You know, I've is there an amnesty of golf balls? You bring your bring your 20, 25 Pro V ones in here, you know, and you're not allowed to lose them anymore.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Yeah, well, you you know, you totally you know, feel free to lose them as often as you want because once they're gone, they're gone, and then you'll have to buy some of these new ones. It's a great question to be fair. I mean, you shouldn't be holding on to your balls for that long, to be honest. So I have to let them swing.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

That's a good word for the socials, anyway. But what about what about you, Eril? You know, what what's uh you you've been involved in in the in the golf trade for a long, long, long time. What have you what have you picked up on really?

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Matt mentioned driving distance and um or driver technology, and I was looking at the stats um on the PGA tour, the average distance um over the years, and if you go back 40 years um to 1986, the average driving distance from the pros then was 261. Um and that the longest drive was from Davis Love the third at 285, and 20 years ago um in 2006 the average went up to 289. Bubba Watson driving like 319 yards their average in now over 304, um, with the longest drive being 340, 350 yards. So there's gotta be a limit on technology, otherwise, you know, these golf courses they're not gonna be long enough, and it is making golf easier. Is is is that a fair point, uh Matt, that golf is becoming easier with technology?

SPEAKER_00 38:50

I think so. For the masses, definitely the other consideration is obviously the the the technology that these players are now using in terms of monitoring their game, whether it's swing analysis or whether it's uh a launch monitor, that they've got this data and it's instant data now, so they can work off that on the range or you know, with their coaches. So that's one element. The other element is obviously these players now are classed as athletes. You know, I'm not saying that they never were 30 years ago, but they go to the gym, they eat properly, you know, the the the vast majority of players are doing the correct things in order to hit the golf ball further or be more efficient, if that makes sense. So there's a a direct sort of correlation here between everything, if that makes sense, you know, the technology in clubs, technology in balls, you know, the data they get in, and also you know, the fact that they're they're going to the gym and working out. I mean, Reese, did you ever work out when you were playing lots of golf?

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Well, uh I I did, but I played a lot of rugby as well, you know. So I most probably it was to the detriment of my my game, really, you know, because you try and go to the gym and and make yourself bigger, but then you weren't getting flexible, so I couldn't really turn. You know, so that that was a big problem for for me. And I think a lot of it is about that flexibility and getting your body golf ready to you know to put it under the strain to get your spine and your your knees set and your neck and everything sorted. So people things like yoga pilates, you know, people jumping into plunge pools and saunas, and yes, you get fit, but you also have to get very, very flexible, you know. And the other thing about technology for me is, you know, if if I put everyone's got a phone these days, haven't they? You know, so you put your phone down, press record and and have a couple of swings in the range, and then you know, set send it to your mate, Matt, who's a who's a pro said, you know, well uh how's this looking? Can you give me any tips on this? You know, so everything is is there to make golf eas easier, really. You know, even on the course, people have got apps that can tell you where you are, your GPS, you know, the viewfinders, and uh you're not looking for a marker on the course anymore, you know, where's the 150 marker? Walking to your ball to see how you know roughly where you are, as opposed to looking at your watch and telling you where you are, you know. So uh tech is there hugely and and it's made the game easier, you know.

SPEAKER_03 41:08

It's a similar discussion with Formula One, isn't it, with the technology and the cars and it's all about money, you know, the car manufacturers with the most money who can spend the more on tech to make the car quicker. But it's always that interesting thing if you put everybody in golf in the same club, same bowl, you know, what would the outcome be? You know, it'd be an interesting demonstration to see the difference technology makes.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Well, that's uh a touch on technology because there's so much more that we that we could have and and that we will discuss on golf podcoming because we'll we'll revisit technology because, like I said, it's a massive, massive broad field to of discussion. But we want to get quickly on to Matt's challenge because you've done something quite special the last couple of weeks. You've you've touched on it, said you you know you played quite well and where you finished. What exactly happened? Errol said he wanted to hear more about it, and so do I, and so do the listeners. Tell us more.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Yeah, so recently I I competed in a Chrome series event, which is a a PGA national tour. Uh so we were over in Stroud in Gloucester for the for the latest event. Preparations are brilliant, so I arrived a day early uh for a practice round. Uh, my first round tea time was at 8 30, so I opted to stay the night before, so played a practice round, booked myself a uh luxury travel lodge in Stroud, which uh smelt a little bit like old socks. You know, travel lodges, as we know, they're all the same, so you could be in any one in the country, regardless of where you are, they all look exactly the same. But uh this one in Stroud was definitely one to give a miss if you're ever in the area. So, yeah, for my for my first round, basically I shot 73, which is uh two over par, and uh I double bogeyed the second hole, managed to get it all back only to be hit with another double bogey down the last. So I'm I ended up two over par for the day. Once we finish uh our scoring is done remotely, if you like, with an app that we use, so we don't use a scorecard anymore. It's all done on your phone. So after the round, we we go in and submit the scores, um, irrespective of whether we've got it on you know a card or we've got it on the app, we we give the scores to the uh to the PGA officials. And on the desk in front of us is a a notice basically stating that if you didn't want to play round two, you could withdraw without a penalty or a fine. They do that these days now to sort of speed up the pace of play so that they can make the field smaller for the next day because there's no cut, it's only two rounds. So I stared at this notice and thought, ooh, you know, I'm miles off of lead here. I'd already had a little peep at the leaderboard, so I was miles off. And it crossed my mind to think, do you know what? I'm gonna have an early tea time tomorrow. Shall I stay at home and give a few lessons, or shall I come back and and play again? So I didn't make any sort of hasty decisions. I got in the car, drove home, thought About it long and hard. Decided to get a little bit of practice done before I sort of made any decisions, hit a couple of balls, and thought, well, do you know what? I haven't played an awful lot of golf. Certainly haven't played an awful lot of competitive golf, so I'll go back the next day and you know g I give it my best, basically. With the thought process, I spoke to another a fellow colleague of mine, another professional, about this in-depth in the car on the way to the second round. But collectively we decided that we were going to do the complete opposite to whatever we'd normally do. So that entailed looking at a leaderboard when you're playing, looking to see how other players, you know, are are doing during the round, just to see where you were, taking on a few more flags, being a little bit more adventurous in terms of the way that you know that I played. So that that was the strategy for the day, which is completely different to what I'd normally do, because I'd normally not look at a leaderboard. I'd just be in my own little bubble and sort of be kit just be caring about my own game. So anyway, get there. I'd had a full practice the day before, so on the range, you know, putting, chipping, pitching, hitting balls. Second day, we just opted to go in the nets and hit a couple of balls in the net, had a couple of chips, a few putts, and then off on the T. So again, cut the long story short, par five first hole, get it up to the side of the green. Again, as discussed in previous episodes, my short game's been a little bit iffy recently. Not been getting up and down to the ratio that I need to get up and down in order to shoot a score. So wasn't really expecting anything, but chipped my my ball in for an Eagle. What a start. Yeah, no, great. Yeah, brilliant. So now I'm you know I'm obviously back to level par now for the tournament after one hole. So I I kept the mindset basically for you know for the entire round to be honest, but it accumulated in me hitting the turn, so after nine holes, after eagle in the ninth hole, I hit the turn at seven and a par. So from memory, and I've been back through this a number of times in competitive golf, and probably all golf to be fair, seven and a par through nine holes is definitely my best nine holes of golf that I've ever played. The the three holes that I missed out on on the front nine, I didn't literally miss them out, but I made bogey on one hole, which I three-patted, and on the other two holes I left the ball in the jaws for Birdie. So it could have been a little bit better. But saying that, after nine holes, I'm thinking seven under par here, this new sort of thought process of mine is is is going is going to plan, but didn't really have a sort of a solid sort of backup plan for the for the back nine. So I I was a little bit sort of out of sorts on the back nine, ended up making two bogeys and a birdie on the back nine. Basically finished with a round of 65, uh, six under par. And in my new found sort of plan of looking at things, looking at the leaderboard, I looked at the leaderboard after nine holes, and admittedly the vast majority of the field haven't even started their round yet. But I'd moved up in excess of sort of 80, 89 places in the field. Well that that that was a that that was a nice sort of little little booster, if you like, in terms of competitive golf. That's the big news. The the actual the the bigger news is I retired my 20-year-old putter as well prior to the first round. Wow. So I hung that up and going back to the you know the the sort of technology side of things, I I track all my stats manually. So I use a you know an app to track my stats, and I looked at my stats going into the week, and I was basically in terms of stroke gain, strokes gained, I was minus thirteen in putt-in. So I was effectively, for the rounds of golf I played prior to that week, I was 13 strokes behind in putt-in versus a PGA tour player. So I looked at that and I thought, look, this is either something fundamentally wrong with my technique or uh my putter needs a rest. So I decided I opted for both elements basically. I changed my setup and changed my putter and improved my putting by eight shots on that on that previous week. So that as well goes hand in hand in terms of technology, looking at stats and and sort of looking to see where you can improve based on all the strokes gained element of things.

SPEAKER_03 48:02

I I've got a bit of a confession, but I kind of feel guilty uh for what happened on your backman, because I was driving up to North Wales and I knew we'd played and so so I I'd stopped safely to kind of see where you were uh on blue golf and I I noticed on you were on the tenth hole at the time and I saw you were seven under, so I I took a screenshot and obviously shared it on our Instagram thinking, you know, is it this is a 59 watch, seven under after nine. So I kind of feel guilty that actually that you didn't really push on, and I'm not gonna post anything until you finish anymore.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

Yeah, I I definitely feel guilty if I were you to be honest. It's just all your fault.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Did you see that? You know, he posted it on Instagram, but he also put it in the the golf podcast group we've got on WhatsApp. So do you look at your phone during a round at uh you know with messages coming through?

SPEAKER_00 48:50

No, so this is this is a big bugbear of mine, to be honest, about this technology that we use in terms of inputting our scores on an app is is that I'm not a fan of it. I prefer a card, but I'm also acutely aware that there are people out there that actually are interested in what we're scoring. So, in terms of a tool for Errol and whoever else is watching my round, it's fantastic. You can track my entire game, good or bad, you know, throughout the day and see exactly what I'm doing. The downside of that is Margaret, who wants to fix her slice, is texting me when I'm on the 11th T, you know, just about to hit my drive. Can I have a lesson tomorrow? There is no Margaret, by the way, that's fictional. But that that is, you know, the crux of it in terms of when, you know, as golf pros we've got our phones with us, and it it it'd be the same in any industry, to be honest. If you're looking at your phone, then there are going to be things that pop up that you don't particularly want to see. So I opt to turn all my notifications off to make sure I don't get any notification at all during my round of golf. So I can't see anything apart from the scores that I'm it that I'm inputting. That's the downside of technology then. The downside of technology, yeah. Yeah, the downside of technology.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Since then, Matt, what what have you been doing? You know, you competitive golf, great, you know, you you performed fantastically there. You know, 29 shots go going up was remarkable. But what have you been working on since that tournament?

SPEAKER_00 50:16

Yeah, so since the tournament, I've hit again in excess of um probably about a thousand golf balls over the last sort of ten days or so. Um currently working on a little bit of technique, so I'm attempting to get myself into a slightly better position at setup, so working on my posture, working on a little bit of grip as well, just tidying up the areas. I call them non-negotiables, you know, they're they're they're little tiny things that really need to be taken care of. And actually, as I explained to a couple of my lessons today, the things that I'm working on require very little skill. So, you know, aiming in the right direction, standing to the ball correctly, making sure that your grip is in the right place, those things require almost zero skill. Swinging a golf club is is a skillful thing, but if you're you know, if you're aiming in the right direction and your ball's in the right place, then you've got half a chance of playing better golf. And I think we can get sort of bogged down again. We go back to technology. You know, we we we look at TikTok, Instagram, and we see all these perfect golf swings and golf swings being analyzed, and well, this is how you get shallow, and this is how you get steep, and this is how you do this and that. But you know, the the the finer, the really, really small things that need to be taken care of, uh things that are overlooked by almost every golfer. Yeah, absolutely. And and what's next, Matt? So my next event is the PGA National Championship up at uh Slaley Hall in Northumberland. So that's uh that's in the middle of June. So I've got nothing competitive until then, so I'll just be working working away hard as trying to keep on top of the game until until that point.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Right. Great, Matt. That's um an update on Matt's challenge. His challenge is to give make it on to the to the senior tour in how old do you know, Matt? 47 or 48?

SPEAKER_00 52:02

48 next month, so I've got two years left before I I turn 50. So unfortunately, maybe like we talked about last time, but the seniors open going to Puthcall next year. I'm I'm gonna miss out on that because I'm a little bit young. But uh yeah, a couple of years. I've got got two years to keep doing what I'm doing and doing it a little bit better.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Well, we're gonna follow the journey all the way. That's Matt's challenge section. We've got another topic now involving Matt, which is the uh ask Matt section. Questions. Have they been flaying in, Erin? Yeah, they have.

SPEAKER_03 52:34

We've got quite a few messages that are coming in, not just questions for the Ask Matt, but just general comments and feedback about uh the podcast. All the comments we have have been great and it we'd love to hear more, really, to see. Well, one, if you're enjoying the podcast, um if you want us to talk about any specific topic or any news you know at your golf club um you want us to kind of promote, just let us know. Um but the question for this week's come in from Hugh Gapper from Brynhill Golf Club uh in Barry. He asks, or he says, I'm a single handicapper golfer and tend to use various types of golf bowls. I normally use titles, callaway, strict, or tailor-made. Would it improve my game if I stick to one brand? And does the appropriate type of ball correlate to the level of ability or handicap? Matt, over to you.

SPEAKER_00 53:25

Quite a tough question, wouldn't it? This this one's gonna take a little bit of answering. But look, absolutely, yeah. It I mean, it would help to stick to one ball, you know, type and model. Yeah, and and this is regardless of uh handicap or ability. So if you constantly switch in between balls, you know, distance balls, soft balls, low spin, or tall balls, your your short game and your touch and your distance control are changing every round, you know, without you realising it. The irony, I think, behind all of this is that better golfers will often sort of obsess over the latest best driver while changing ball for every hole. So it you know, there's no sense in that. I suppose that you know the simplest way to think about this is we'll take tight list as a good example. You know, you've got a tall-level ball, and basically that's got a a urethane cover, and the urethane cover prioritises control and consistency. So that ball type, if you like, is the the pro v one that falls into that category. For me, you know, not an advert for tight list, but you know, that that's the benchmark all round a golf ball. Okay, so if I could if I could pick any golf ball to play golf with for the rest of my life, it would be a pro v one. And that and you know, that suits me. Rissio's might be, you know. Commando. Commando, Dunlop 65, you know, whatever whatever suits. 65i. 65i, you've got to remember that. It doesn't forget that one. That's the one in the wrapper, isn't it? But uh yeah, look, it you know, in my opinion, the pro v one is is the best golf ball for all golfers, regardless of ability. Um does golf ball choice correlate with with handicap? And it does, but not as marketing suggests. And and what I mean by that is high handicap golfers are often told you're not good enough for a premium golf ball, you should be using a a budget golf ball. So they're giv they they're given wrong advice there or bad advice. They they should be using the best golf ball. But that's obviously based on budget as well. You know, you you can't expect everyone to go out and pay, what is it now, fifty-fifty-five pounds for a for a dozen golf balls. But you know, if if golf's your hobby, you know, you you probably wouldn't batter an eyelid at going out and spending fifty, fifty-five pounds on a round of drinks, perhaps. So what's going to make you happier? A golf ball or a round of drinks? Don't answer that.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

Do you see a difference between a Pro V1 X and a Pro V1?

SPEAKER_00 55:50

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I I was really, really fortunate when I was in the uh golf retail industry, spent uh quite a bit of time with Tight List, and we did a blind test, and the blind test was there was we had nothing on the golf balls basically, okay? And we hit a succession of golf balls, and we needed we we had to sort of try and distinguish which ball was the best. The golf ball that felt the best was the soft golf ball, which is like the true feel. It felt really good when you hit it, but it wasn't responsive. So, you know, that wasn't the best golf ball to play. But I can tell, and you should be able to tell the difference between a Pro V1 and a and a Pro V1X. I mean, the the uh and there's also the AVX that goes into that category as well. You know, you've got three three golf balls there. So the Pro V1 is the all-rounder, that you know, that does everything that I've just said. The AVX is um is basically uh alternative V or X. That's what the AVX stands for. So if you want to hit the ball a little bit lower, okay, or if you spin the golf ball too much, then the AVX is the one for you. The Pro V1X naturally, okay, hits a golf ball a little bit higher. So if you're a low-flighted golf ball hitter, then that will get the golf ball in the air. Or if you want a little bit more height or a little bit more stopping power, that's what the Pro VX does. You know, it the the golf balls do very, very different things. And you you've got to try them if you can to see which one suits your game the best. Any good pro shop will have sort of the facility to be able to help you with that in terms of if they've got a launch monitor. I used to do it regularly. When I was fit in golf clubs, I would also fit the person for the golf ball that suited them. But it was just to prove a point that during the fit-in, I could maximize their performance by changing their golf ball.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

Back to the question, it's better that you have continuity in the one round to play with the same ball all the way through. I'll tell you what it does for me, you know, when I'm playing with a Pro V one, I bloody concentrate a lot more to try and try and hit the ball bloody straight because I don't want to lose it. Well, that's the end of the fourth edition of Golf Pod Cymry. If you're wondering how often we put the pod out, well, we try and put it out fortnightly early, don't we? But sometimes we we hang about because there's a couple of majors coming up and we've had a couple as well, so we delay the pod until we we know who's won what.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

Yeah, definitely. If there's um you know certain events and some Welsh players are on there, um we'll wait for the conclusion of that tournament so we can share the the progress there. But yeah, it's not gonna be the same day, but we will try to get this out every every two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Yeah, so the next pod will be somewhere around the uh first week of June, and uh we're heading west again. Uh and we are actually heading this time. Matt, where are we gonna play? We're playing at Machanis Golf Club in Telegram. And we're also doing an interview aerial, aren't we, with Nick down there?

SPEAKER_03 58:38

Yeah, we're gonna be uh having a chat with Nick Daniels, the the resort manager there. Um Machanis is a very busy golf course, and yeah, it's a great, great uh course as well. So it'd be great to have a chat with Nick.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

Yeah, and we're also appearing, all three of us on the sofa on Hino, which is the magazine show on on S4C. So if you haven't seen us anywhere on Instagram, maybe tune in to Hino on the 2nd of June. I think we're done, which happens to be my birthday as well. So we're we're on on the sofa talking about golf podcast. So and until then, there's only one thing really I usually have to say, and that is uh thanks for listening. And remember, repair your pitch marks.