🏌🏿‍♂️Bonus: Special Guest Michael Peña - Hollywood Superstar, All Round Good Bloke (and Golf Nut!)

Talk Birdie To Me

It's Australian Open week, we're back at Kingston Heath and today we chat with Hollywood royalty, the brilliant actor Michael Peña. This is a real treat.

We start with the obvious - finding out why is he in Melbourne. As well as being an extraordinary actor, Michael is a massive golf fan, if you're at the Open this weekend at Kingston Heath, keep an eye out, he'll be there. He plays off a handicap of between 3 and 4, and tells Nick and Mark what his view of the sand belt courses is, and what it has been like playing golf in Melbourne.

Michael explains how he got into golf, spoiler alert, it has to do with Jack Lemmon and James Garner, and he tells us about playing golf with his co-star in the movie 'Shooter' Mark Wahlberg in Vancouver.

Mark wants to know whether there are similarities between how you execute acting roles and how you improve your golf game - Michael explains why he says there are, and how he goes about both improving his golf game, and preparing for an acting role.

Michael has been in a some huge movies and TV shows, including Ant-Man which he tells us that after signing on he tried to get out of, and obviously ended up doing it. He tells us the story of why and what happened. He also explains how, when they were shooting the movie Fury, he and Shia LaBeouf felt when Brad Pitt walked in that they were now bit players and the movie was his. Nick likens it to how golfers felt when Tiger would play a tournament often.

Nick wants to know who the best golfer, of the Hollywood actors, is. Michael names one and , slightly awkwardly, Nick knows exactly who this actor is immediately....possibly revealing a bit about his viewing habits. Mark asks Michael about how he masters accents, and he tells a very funny story involving a Nokia phone and an ex-girlfriend!

Nick explains what he likes about Michael's golf game, and why he admires his ability on the course. And we wrap with some advice that Michaels late mother gave him about how to choose acting roles, which applies to each of us whatever we do.

A great fun bonus pod with one of Hollywood's genuine nice guys, and a brilliant actor.

We're here each week with the great support of PING, see your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting. Just like they have with Nick O'Hern, PING will help you play your best. And the Golf Clearance Outlet, great prices on the best gear. See them instore in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, or online here. And watchMynumbers, the powerful data-based golf app in the world - play smarter by using data. Download from the AppStore or GooglePlay.

And don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and you can see all our Masterclass videos on YouTube here.

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