Episodes
Our hosts talk with veteran Kiwi professional Steve Alker who, after years toiling on minor tours, turned 50 years old and qualified for the senior Champions Tour and won his first senior tour event straight out of the gate. In closing out 2021, Steve has won more prize money than he had ever expected. What’s the reason for this sudden take-off in his career? We reached him at his home in Arizona to find out.
Published 11/19/21
Former professional tour player and leading golf coach, Simon Thomas, talks about the latest in technology and the ways everything from new metal combinations to solid core golf balls might (or might not) improve your game. As the Director of a successful golf academy at St. Peter’s College in Cambridge, you’ll be surprised to learn just how many junior golfers have enrolled in his programme.
Published 08/18/21
After many years of planning and negotiation between two of New Zealand’s most desired golf clubs (that were located next door to each other in South Auckland) work on an entirely new, merged 18 holes with new facilities, designed by Nicklaus Golf and Patterson Architects, is complete. Our hosts talk with Warwick Hill-Rennie, the CEO of the (now) Royal Auckland Grange Golf Club, to get the lowdown on how it all unfolded.
Published 08/04/21
The legendary coach Bob McDonald, now approaching 80 years old, and considered the best golf coach in New Zealand for more than 50 years (and who is as opinionated as ever) talks to Telfer & Hyde about his life in the game while offering game improvement tips every player struggling with their game ought to hear.
Published 07/18/21
New Zealand celebrity television and radio broadcaster and top ranked amateur golfer, joins Telfer & Hyde to give his take on there the game of the top names in the game are at following on from the US Open and leading up to the Open Championship. Does anyone care about golf at the Olympics? And what’s up with Kiwi pros on tour? Is Lydia Ko making a comeback or not?
Published 07/01/21
Our hosts talk to Thiem Nguyen, Manager of Participation for Golf New Zealand about the new ways in which the lead organisation for the sport in this country is working to be more inclusive and raise the number of people playing the game casually and as members of a club.
Published 06/13/21
Kaye Maxwell was one of New Zealand’s top amateur golfers whose feminist outlook got her in trouble with golf administrators when she refuse to conform to the party line.
Published 05/31/21
Gulf Harbour Country Club, site of the 1998 World Cup of Golf, and one of the most scenic courses in New Zealand, has been up and down. At one stage, members were forced to buy the club off its discredited owner. Our hosts talk with current Director of Golf, Frazer Bond, to find out where things are at today.
Published 05/29/21
Former All Black captain, Sean Fitzpatrick, was back in New Zealand over the summer, so before he and his family returned to their home in the UK, he spoke with our hosts about his game, where he plays, the clubs he plays with, and, for him, the benefits of playing no matter the score.
Published 05/15/21
Has New Zealand’s top professional lived up to expectations? Our hosts talk to Craig Tiriana, the Director of the Danny Lee Tournaments, who has watched Danny’s career unfold from the time he became a sensation as a teenager at Rotorua Boys High School.
Published 05/08/21
Top Kiwi professional Ryan Fox, back from playing a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia, and looking ahead to the Open Championship in July, talks about what it’s like to be a travelling golf professional in the Age of Covid.
Published 04/24/21
Former All Black coach, now on the Board of the Super Rugby Auckland Blues, talks about what golf means to him and what he gains from playing the game, no matter his score.
Published 04/10/21
The world’s best known golf caddy, Steve Williams, voices his opinion on the PGA Tour’s proposed use of distance finders that, in theory, would take away the traditional role of caddies from stepping off distances and generally doing the work golf caddies are known to do.
Published 03/17/21
Oreti Sands, a links course at the very bottom of the South Island, often called “the southern most golf course in the world” and one highly praised by both domestic and international golf writers, closed for good two years ago. After various attempts to re-open, the club is no more. Our hosts talk to Andy Fraser, a former member and one of the last remaining volunteers, to find out what happened.
Published 03/06/21
What’s unique about the Rangitira Golf Club? Our hosts speak with greenskeeper and club record holder (65) Richie Nimmo about a feature on the 18th hole unlike any in the rest of the country. As well, they find out what’s going on at the club and how they managed an upgrade, demanded by council, that cost them $150,000.
Published 02/20/21
New Zealand golf legend, John Lister, joins our hosts to kick off the 2021 season by looking at the controversy that developed at the Farmers Insurance Open, in California, when Patrick Reed picked up his embedded ball. As well, Telfer and Hyde look at what’s coming up in 2021 and, with Lister, who to keep an eye on among young Kiwi players coming through the ranks.
Published 02/03/21
Our hosts look back at 2020 and consider the impact of Covid-19 on golf in New Zealand and around the world. Certainly professional tours lost their galleries and it was strange watching television coverage without the usual fan reactions. But then recreational golf experienced a mini-boom in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, individual stars had their ups and down, none more so than Tiger Woods.
Published 12/14/20
Our hosts conduct an extended conversation with Geoff Saunders, the author of the first comprehensive biography of New Zealand’s greatest golfer, Sir Bob Charles, and to review the book and find out why it took 15 years to complete.
Published 11/23/20
Greg Turner, once New Zealand’s best player on the European PGA Tour, has become New Zealand’s foremost golf course designer.
Published 11/04/20
Muriwai Beach Golf Club is one of the most rustic, charming golf links in New Zealand. With the Tasman Sea lapping at its shoreline, the club has overcome some serious(and expensive) re-routing and is today one of the most successful clubs in the country with a sold out membership and waiting list. Our hosts speak with long time President Malcolm Cooper and GM Andrew Jackson.
Published 10/20/20
Has Bryson DeChambeau’s physical transformation leading to the longest drives off the tee in tournament golf history along with his stunning 6 shot victory at the US Open altogether changed the nature of golf? And what about Danny Lee’s meltdown at the US Open? Our hosts discuss these topics with Kiwi golf legend John Lister and broadcaster and former NZ Golf board member Peter Williams.
Published 09/28/20
On The Tee’s latest podcast with Brendan Telfer visits two large metropolitan golf clubs to find out why
Published 09/16/20
Sir Bob Charles, unquestionably New Zealand’s greatest golfer, now 84 years old and still playing when the temperature rises above 15C, joins our hosts from his home in at the Clearwater Resort in Christchurch.
Published 07/29/20
Jason Gulasekharam, the Media and Communications Manager for NZ Golf, and a talented amateur player himself, reports a very surprising statistic reflecting participation in golf since the end of the Lockdown. As well, Jason outlines the plans for the re-start of the Charles Tour that tees off at the Muriwai Beach Golf Club on July 30, leaving our hosts to reminisce about their days playing that wonderful West Coast links in all kinds of weather.
Published 07/20/20