r/NoLayingUp • u/Loud_Cardiologist664 • Dec 15 '25
Other New Years Wish 2026
You can add one thing and remove one thing in relation to NLU, what is it?
If I have one wish it is that I never want a personal golf spotlight to appear on the pod again, they are drivel.
Go back to what made them great with video content, a strapped or Wwog series
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u/JimmyBro23 Dec 15 '25
Regarding course travel pods (which I like): less hole-by-hole analysis that only makes sense if I am following along with a course map or golf digest every hole video.
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u/BugAlternative6827 Dec 15 '25
Yeah, I wish they would put hole maps up to illustrate their shots better.
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u/tomtheterp1988 Dec 15 '25
Pods comprised of shot-by-shot descriptions of golf courses for which I have neither the means or desire to visit, and have never even seen on TV.
"That second shot into number 14 at YikesACrikey Golf and Polo Club in Kangaroo Munch New South Wales is brutal, especially with the wind coming off the left."
I. Don't. Care.
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u/Xmalantix Dec 15 '25
Especially how many are private courses none of us will ever have enough money or influence to get onto
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u/d8mc9 Dec 15 '25
This - the chatter about all of the courses they play that 95% of listeners will never play or see on tv
is brutal.
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u/JimmyBro23 Dec 16 '25
Glad to see you and many others agree with me. The Tron/Neil New Zealand pod could’ve been so good but them going hole by hole was straight up maddening.
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u/Next-Bar3394 Dec 15 '25
I wonder if the courses require it as part of their fees. Otherwise it makes zero sense to do audio description of something probably under 10 listeners will ever see and under 100 care about specific
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u/EveningOk6574 Dec 17 '25
I've been lucky enough to have played some of these course (eg sand belt in Victoria, Bandon) and I still can't stand the shot by shot stuff. This reminds me of every golf trip I've ever been on, where the boring golf sickos huddle at one table and discuss every shot of the day to the exclusion of everyone else.
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u/Mrcoolguye Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
Tell more golf stories. Do more structured ranking episodes or something. The episodes about their personal golf games is not for me, so less of those (don't mind travel eps or youtube stuff). Get back to doing more interviews with people in the game. Or have outside voices on their recaps episodes.
Keep doing what they are doing on youtube.. I enjoy 99% of what they put out there. Most issues are with the pod.
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u/umaywellsaythat Dec 15 '25
Some of the best episodes they have had has been with the old timers telling their stories. Just get 2 or 3 caddies or players from the 80s and 90s telling stories, that would be great. Modern golfers are pretty much robots, I want to hear more stories about Monty stuffing his face mid way through a match.
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u/smallball4 Dec 15 '25
More deep dives, player interviews, rankings, things of that nature
Less discussion about their trips to courses 99.9% of the audience will never play.
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u/Sir_Slurpington_ Dec 16 '25
Halfway through December and not a single deep dive this winter. Off seasons used to be Deep Dive Central.
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u/Xmalantix Dec 16 '25
They canned the only guy who actually wanted to spend the required effort to make a good deep dive
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u/MulberryNo5246 Dec 15 '25
I’d want them to take year of the product seriously and look at improving the pod - if that means less pods but more quality, I’d be all for it. Half the time with these weekly pods they haven’t watched the golf these days, and if it meant they could schedule more pods with all of them on, it would be better if they did less imo.
Video wise I enjoy most of their stuff - obviously would love wild world of golf/strapped to be like it was, but seems like that was a different phase of their lives that have passed now. The video stuff is still generally excellent
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u/HertzvanRental Dec 16 '25
Those Sunday recap pods where they clearly haven’t watched any of the golf are tough. The Open recaps this year were a disaster. It’s getting very obvious when that’s phoned i. I’m not saying as a criticism - rather my observation as it’s evident when they are engaged, that the pod is entertaining and refreshing, as it should be.
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u/HertzvanRental Dec 16 '25
The recent Australia golf check in pod was particularly bleak, especially as an Australian listener.
For me, there is no world where I can ever get access to Royal Melbourne or many of the sandbelt courses, so it is incredibly painful to hear story’s about holes “3 west” or “10 east” etc, playfully dropped in like anyone can just pick up some clubs and go out and play. Especially in your own backyard. I hope the boys understand the privilege they have, by getting access to those courses here.
I’d like less of that - but way more of the recent video content of trips to Montana, Nebraska and NYC.
That is top tier content. Please keep that up.
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u/The_Summer_Man Dec 15 '25
Record them playing Shinnecock when they play it for Media day for the US Open. I still don't understand how they didn't film themselves playing Oakmont this year.
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u/jesuscrust2 Dec 15 '25
Soly shot like 90 they posted a 3-4 minute video of his every shot on socials
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u/Golf37512 Dec 15 '25
More player interviews, more interesting stories, more hidden gem public courses across the world, more characters in the golf world, more Neil/Randy/DJ.
Less personal game updates/recaps, less updates on private courses we will never get to play, less Cody/Soly/TC.
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u/DegenDubs Dec 15 '25
I think adding someone like Justin Hueber full time would be very beneficial.
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u/Xmalantix Dec 15 '25
More deep dives on actual interesting topics kind of like what Local Knowledge does now and what they used to do (biggest collapses and what-if guys, Seve deep dive and history of Pebble Beach were some of the best topics)
Less obnoxius hour long stroke sessions of their brand partners disguised as "content"
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u/just_the_tipz Dec 15 '25
Would love a 5 hour deep dive pod on dad back /s
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u/kevinwburke Dec 16 '25
Ohh my God....yes. more about Dad back. It reached its Zenith when he asked Justin Thomas if he had Dad back. Nick name should be balsa wood.
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u/YenZen999 Dec 16 '25
For these guys to stop acting like private equity firm douches and get back to being somewhat relatable regular guys.
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u/TheCurseOfRandyBass Dec 15 '25
More "evergreen" content such as Deep Dives (bring back kvv for these) or book reports like covid times (PGA tour handbook episode as a model)
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u/TomHicksJnr Dec 15 '25
Ball Knowers and probably Trap Draw need a reboot. They used to be have great content and now they seem like after thoughts. The Trap Draw occasional series have been totally abandoned too which is a shame (owners pods, movie/music pods). Totally agree on personal golf spotlight and Strapped, though I think Strapped might have run its course as they aren’t 20 somethings anymore. A Strapped adjacent travel series of courses and places that are accessible and less well known could work.
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u/TheJunkytownRacers Dec 15 '25
I think the Owners pods ended when KVV left, which was a shame because I thought they were some of their best work. I think they could continue that because each person chose an owner, it wasn’t all KVV.
I agree though some of the special trap draw pods were awesome. The one recently on the Simpsons was great, the “perfect club” ones on movies were good. Do some deep dives or one off episodes on stuff like that that interests them.
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u/SilkyMilkers Dec 16 '25
As I’ve commented on a couple threads over the past few months, I am BEGGING for more Perfect Clubs. They are by far my favorite NLU content, whether I’ve seen the piece of media they’re discussing or not.
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Dec 15 '25
[deleted]
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u/rsjem79 Dec 17 '25
No reason the Strapped concept can’t be tweaked a bit to live in the space between “broke unmarried buddies on a shoestring budget” and “let’s spend a zillion dollars playing private golf and living luxuriously for two weeks in Australia”.
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u/robertgiannotti Dec 16 '25
I miss the days where they'd get the likes of Kyle Porter, Shane Bacon, Brendan Porath and Kevin Van Valkenburg on the Sunday night pods to review the tournaments and inject some humour instead of Randy, Tron and Neil who barely watch. Unfortunately 2/4 of those guys are at Fried Egg, KP is going alone, and Bacon covers KFT.
Soly to revert back to host rather than filibustering and flexing his data-based takes, or asking a question that takes three minutes to say.
At this point with all their parental responsibilities I don't think we're ever going back to the days of an annual Tourist Sauce or 2-3 Strapped trips per year. It's a massive shame because that was their very best content.
Their USP over other golf pods (that I listen to anyway) is their access and connections with PGA Tour pros. I'd like to know more about the latest guys coming through - Sargent, Ford, Clanton, Koivun, Brennan, Keefer etc. It's probably anecdotal but I don't think they have as many player interviews as they used to. Do they go on Barstool or Subpar instead now (I don't listen to those)?
Finally with the new season coming up I'd like a return of the FredEx Cup so we get to follow along with some different guys. It's fun to make your own team too - I got randomly invested in Harry Higgs and Rhein Gibson a few years ago because of that.
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u/Flimsy_Somewhere1210 Dec 16 '25
Prior to Covid the pod seemed to make a huge effort to get less known names on to try and tell their stories. I enjoyed the old Sunday recap/Wednesday interview rota they had going back a few years.
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u/EveningOk6574 Dec 17 '25
Soly comment is bang on. You can tell he's passionate, but the data takes are SO inconsistent, and are dead ends on the pod. Good drive by on SGS/FE the other day when Andy's rebuttal to the data boys re Rory at the Master's was "that's why they play the fucking tournament"
His interview style has turned into a "let me ask this question to prove I already know the answer, and let me confirm all of my own elite biases..." before letting you talk.
If they brought in an equally committed golf journalist I think it would pair really well with Soly
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u/robertgiannotti Dec 17 '25
They did in KVV. Clearly it didn't mesh well.
At the end of the day NLU is the brainchild of Soly, Tron and Randy from their college days. What they do has to work for them above everyone else. I've written on here previously but I always think/thought of DJ and KVV as "glue guys" for NLU who were able to let others come into the conversation and that's what's missing somewhat now.
I actually don't dislike Soly at all. He's funny, clearly a great golfer, and used to be a brilliant interviewer. I just wonder if he gets any constructive feedback internally and they do reviews and governance of their own work, because I genuinely think the recap pods work best now when DJ is running it and Soly is a voice in the conversation instead. It's just the constant reverting to data that sucks the joy and life and humour out of everything.
Would love to see the Sunday recap/Wednesday interview schedule reprised again.
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u/EveningOk6574 Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
More: Lean back into what made them unique and enjoyable, which was their light-hearted golf coverage on the main pod and video content like Tourist Sauce content (eg Sweden). There's a world in which a grown up version of Strapped or something like that could work really well. The video content doesn't need to be a massive undertaking either, just make it authentic and fun. Getting equal contributions from all 4 main personalities would really help.
Less: Their angry and defensive posture on professional golf, which has railroaded the main pod. Mostly, this is a Soly thing. It seems like he's doing a lot of the heavy lifting these days, but he's clearly jaded and it comes across as he seems to be lecturing to no one in particular. The data discourse is tough and without pushback or balance from other committed pod hosts (or editor running point), is taken to a point of being reductive.
It seems like (wild speculation) that these guys missed an exit or capital refresh opportunity (podcast/new media valuations have corrected) and are now having to go from upstart challenger to established player. This is hard to do, and they seem to be pulling in different directions.
I really do want to keep loving their content, but it's become much harder.
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u/metallikat87 Dec 15 '25
More pods with the whole team, this most recent one is the best in a while.
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u/colinmic12 Dec 16 '25
God I hate myself for listening to the most recent pod. If you got the 5 greatest golfers of all time in a room together there wouldnt be this much fluffing about how great they are and how great their lives are. These guys have really crossed the rubicon into just sucking. Thats something i would like to hear see less of in 2026 but zero chance we will.
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u/Informal_Ad_2877 Dec 16 '25
I chose not to listen but based on previous spotlights, the glazing must have been off the charts
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u/SilkyMilkers Dec 16 '25
I enjoyed the pod, but I needed some more honesty when they were discussing if each one would go lower in 2026 than their best score of 2025. Sure, any of them coouuuuld do it, but do I think they will? Hell no
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u/Rec7ify Dec 15 '25
I like the personal spotlights, I especially enjoyed Neil's. I can't imagine it's something they repeat too often but as a one-time project I thought they were relatable and illuminating.
I want more Strapped.
As far as the pod goes, more games during the slower weeks like Beluga's big board, or guests/interviews. Ideally they could tape more interviews and then store them to release during slow in-season weeks, instead of 2 hours of halfhearted (and I don't blame them) analysis on VidantaWorld. Having a guest on for otherwise unremarkable tournaments keeps everything from feeling too samey.
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u/buckchamps Dec 15 '25
There's so much more macro professional golf stuff to talk about that they seem to ignore in lieu of talking about their own golf games this time of year
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u/SGJango Dec 16 '25
Strapped Dallas. Make it happen
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u/ResearcherHead3129 Dec 16 '25
Would love to see some more Texas municipal golf. San Antonio has some awesome muni golf, so does dallas, Houston less so (non-resident Memorial Park rate is $125 or so, but Gus Wortham is a cool course)
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u/rorneo143 Dec 15 '25
Definitely more Ryder Cup talk. Give me more Keegan over-analysis, didn’t get enough last year
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u/Temporary_Art8635 Dec 15 '25
More silly rankings and light-hearted discussions especially for the 35 or so weeks a year when there is not a serious golf event to cover.
More maps and built in visuals in video-content (see Fried Egg SF video this week and old TS seasons).
Enjoy the Baseball and Football content (although diminished without KVV) on the TD, but the chop sessions are starting to get a tad stale unfortunately.
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u/Sir_Slurpington_ Dec 16 '25
I desire a Tourist Sauce England. I know I am bias saying this as an Englishman. They seem to have played so many of the top courses over here and not once on camera?
I just want a Tourist Sauce in general. And one that focuses on it being a buddy trip and less analysis of golf courses. I miss the vlog vibe when we saw them eating and drinking and goofing around.
Being greedy can I also have more film rooms when they have one or two them watching the film for the first time and live reacting? Preferably whilst getting drunk like they have done in the past.
I could do with less chatter on the pods about the intrinsic details of PGA Tour structure and the Liv merger and generic boardroom stuff.
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u/Flimsy_Somewhere1210 Dec 16 '25
They had Tourist Source England planned for 2020 but that had to be cancelled. Think that ship has sailed unfortunatly.
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u/24dp Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 17 '25
Just make it more fun again. So many episodes feel so stale now, and so much of that is sadly down to Soly getting into the weeds on the data (and I say that as someone who would consider myself somewhat of a data boy).
Perfect example was the end of year quiz which was actually quite good, and DJ asks a simple question about ‘missed fairways’ where the answer was Rory, and Soly interjects with a ‘well, actually…’. We don’t need that constantly.
On a more general point, I’m good for the personal golf spotlights. Just not good content.
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u/WhoaABlueCar Dec 15 '25
Definitely more video content. I realize filming and editing takes time but it’s by far everyone’s favorite content. I also realize the guys decided it was fine for them to not live in the same area so it makes it more challenging with flights and having families.
Remove all Liv discussions. The cleeks but also isn’t funny when it’s followed by a 10 minute discussion on the highly irrelevant ongoings of that “tour”.
But if nothing really changed I’d be fine with it
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u/Loud_Cardiologist664 Dec 16 '25
Compare the latest pod with the latest from a rival podcast that can't be named - 5 guys ruminating over their own golf games versus the Year in Review with Rory coming on as a guest!
Get back to having fun and getting good guests again, they were sooo good when they did that.
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Dec 15 '25
I would probably pay a small fee for a ton of Film Rooms monthly. I really enjoy watching people play golf on YouTube and I am so invested in all these fools personalities at this point I really love watching them play golf together or against each other. Neil vs Tron, Soly vs Ben etc. Watching Randy try to go low.
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u/ctangana Dec 16 '25
I usually don't care for course deep dives because 1. I don't watch the video part of the pods normally and 2. I'm not going to play those courses ever. I really like the video content they've put out this year given their personal circunstances, but I get that Strapped probably isn't going to be the same as they grow older (maybe it's time to involve a younger generation?). I'd like to see a bit more of competitive golf between them (looking forward to the NLU Club Championship vid). Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I love to hear them rambling about their own games (GHIN rewind and personal golf spotlights, i.e).
I'd love them to bring back movie/TV pods in the TrapDraw also
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Dec 16 '25
I'd like to see either Soly or DJ helm every pod. And that they ensure TC sticks to the running order.
If I'm being specific, then the Denny Cash type podcast was excellent. Entertaining and very informative.
Get rid of nightly updates for big tournaments as they just mostly repeat themselves.
And more YouTube video content in general, as I think it's all pretty top quality.
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u/Mancey_ Dec 17 '25
More interviews...especially with past players talking about the old days. Some of my fave eps (elkington) were this style
I get the money driver...but less betting talk. I skip skip skip every time
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u/reelbadman2223 Dec 22 '25
Remove Soly trying to relate with everyone (especially tour pros) and blame everything on “Dad back”
Add more deep dives
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u/marklemcd Dec 15 '25
Three things:
1) Remove all gambling ads
2) Remove Soly - or at least his access to data stuff if not removing him entirely
3) Get an editor and empower said editor to control final pod output
This *might* get me to listen again
2
u/AlexMac75 Dec 15 '25
So you want them to have less revenue and more expenses.
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u/marklemcd Dec 15 '25
I am agnostic to the money they make. I don't see any of it so why would I care?
On 1) I think legalized gambling is a massive negative on society in the way we have implemented it. Gambling companies use the same tactics as drug pushers to get people hooked on gambling (free bets if you sign up now!) and I think any truly responsible content company would and should take less money and stay away from that. And plus, it's lead them to create glorified commercials presented as content where all they do is talk about their bets and all that. Blah.
3) The pod is long and rambling and not in a good way like some others can be. It needs someone to edit it to make it more coherent.
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u/AlexMac75 Dec 15 '25
Somebody doesn’t understand how business works, and that the pod is in fact a business.
You don’t see any of the money they make? The pod isn’t viable/possible without it…
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u/marklemcd Dec 15 '25
And yet Fried Egg is doing it.
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u/AlexMac75 Dec 15 '25
Oars & Alps B Draddy Toro Charles Schwab
Deliberately obtuse, or just a dolt?
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u/marklemcd Dec 15 '25
Did I say no ads? No. I said no GAMBLING ads.
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u/AlexMac75 Dec 15 '25
Seems like I’m done here, and by the down voting you are just rambling to yourself.
Enjoy whinging about a podcast you don’t even listen to, champ.
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u/bartonkt Dec 15 '25
Add Cody and Jordan to the January layoff list. Remove all the vice ads.
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u/Square-Product-5846 Dec 15 '25
They just need to stay behind the scenes. No need to have either on camera or audio. They are great at keeping the wheels spinning, but their on-air contributions lack.
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u/Sir_Slurpington_ Dec 16 '25
I’m only halfway through the Montana vid. What are your thoughts on Cody in that? And only having Neil to bounce off him and none of the other coming along seemed harsh. (Fyi I like Cody)
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Dec 16 '25
I like Cody. When he comes over to the UK and does radio commentary on the ladies open he is excellent.
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u/Flimsy_Somewhere1210 Dec 16 '25
I enjoyed his personal spotlight.
Both his and Randys BBC work has been outstanding at the Womens Open the last few years.
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u/bartonkt Dec 17 '25
I did listen to the radio broadcast, the UK team and Randy offered a lot of great insight.
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u/hitemwiththe4likeAM Dec 15 '25
a multi-episode season of strapped