In the Pines, Colin's Tuesday newsletter, lands with more from the episode, the drill of the week, rules Q&As and the bits that didn't fit here: colingray.link/nl-sub-pod
Ross has the week off, so Colin's joined by Mark Asquith, co-founder of the North of Par podcast network (https://northofpar.co.uk) and a mate from the podcasting world. Mark opens with the most painful handicap story you'll hear this year: a back-nine card he never meant to take seriously, a 52 degree wedge that suddenly flies 15 yards further than it should, and a three foot lip-out on the last that left him at exactly 10.0 instead of the single figures he'd set as his goal. He then broke a finger, so that's the season done. Lovely.
The two of them run their own companies, so the bulk of the episode is golf's business problem, from the inside. Mark built a piece of club management software, prototyped it, and killed it, and he explains why selling to volunteer committees is a business nobody should want. From there it's the stuff that software can't fix: why a free coffee machine is a marketing strategy, how a sold-out winter scramble and a 15 player sim league happened while the club was cancelling its own events, and what Mark learned as vice captain of the Rabbits when he started putting brand new members into the friendlies ahead of the lads who'd played them for 20 years. There's the clubhouse question too: dress codes, a drinking culture that under-35s don't share, and why Mark can eat dinner in a baseball cap with the biggest brands in golf but not at his Β£1,500 a year club.
Colin brings up the wave of companies taking over Scottish clubs, Scotscraig and Forfar among them, and Mark's view is that it's the mid-tier clubs that are in real trouble and investment has to come from somewhere. They close with gear (Mark used ChatGPT to fit himself into a new driver shaft, and it took him from 12 to 10) and Mark's list of the courses worth playing within an hour of Huddersfield, which Colin's going to cash in next summer.
Episode Highlights
π’ The lip-out at 03:58 that cost Mark a 9.9 handicap, followed by the broken finger that means he might not get another card in before the temp greens go in.
π’ Why Mark built club management software and then killed it: four pitches to every single club, volunteer committees, and a three year contract cycle.
π’ "Make the coffee machine free." Mark's case that experience design, not software, is where clubs are losing members.
π’ The Rabbits friendlies story: new members put in the team, the community grew fast, and the committee reverted the whole lot the next year.
π’ Mark fed his shot data, his miss and his swing speed into ChatGPT, bought the shaft it picked, and dropped two shots off his handicap without changing anything else.
Gear & Resources Mentioned
π’ North of Par, Mark's golf podcast network (Colin was a guest in September): northofpar.co.uk. Daily content on Instagram, search North of Par.
π’ Evolving Golf, North of Par's show for golf club managers and pro shop staff.
π’ Meltham Golf Club, Huddersfield, Mark's home club: meltham-golf.co.uk
π’ Castlefields Golf Club near Brighouse, the six hole par 3 course Mark takes his kids to.
π’ BRS Golf and ClubV1, the club systems Colin and Mark can't stand, and Golf Genius, the one Mark rates: golfgenius.com
π’ 18Birdies and Hole19, the GPS and round tracking apps Colin mentions.
π’ Putt & Strut, the Sarah Stirk and Anton Du Beke podcast Mark put a live show on with at the BMW PGA Championship.
π’ Mark's new driver shaft: a 65 gram extra stiff, cut to 44 inches, chosen by ChatGPT from his shot data and swing speed.
π’ Garmin R10, the launch monitor Colin feeds his own numbers from.
π’ The Ancient Links Golf Company, which now runs Scotscraig and Forfar and is in talks over Montrose and The Glen at North Berwick.
π’ Mark's courses within an hour of Huddersfield: Meltham, Crosland Heath (Alister MacKenzie, 1914), Halifax Golf Club at Ogden, Manchester Golf Club, Willow Valley, and the Leeds MacKenzie pair Alwoodley and Moortown (the 1929 Ryder Cup, the first held in Britain). Lindrick hosted the 1957 Ryder Cup.
π’ Fox Hills, The Grove and Royal Dornoch, Mark's examples of top tier clubs that don't bother their members with daft rules.
Chapter List
00:00 Welcome and Mark Asquith, playing off 10.0
00:31 The lip-out that kept Mark out of single figures
04:17 A broken finger and the temp green problem
06:08 How Colin knows Mark, and North of Par
08:10 The club software Mark built and killed
14:22 Practice and tracking apps: a crowded market
15:39 A solution looking for a problem
17:09 What golfers actually want: an hour and a few holes
19:11 Experience design and the free coffee machine
21:05 Events that sell out while clubs cancel theirs
22:19 Group practice sessions and winter leagues
24:22 Vice captain of the Rabbits
28:06 Why the new members' friendlies got reverted
30:48 Drinking culture, dress codes and the clubhouse
35:13 The volunteer skills gap
36:55 Companies buying up Scottish clubs
38:10 Why mid-tier clubs are the ones in trouble
43:54 What Colin's dad makes of golf now
45:32 Colin's Yorkshire trip next summer
46:16 Gear: fitting a driver shaft with ChatGPT
50:00 Where to play within an hour of Huddersfield
52:07 Wrap up
Contact: hello@bothpar.com Β· bothpar.com Β· Instagram @bothsidesofpar Β· Track your courses at track.bothpar.com
