The Count Back

Live from the Dublin docks. This week Barry and Sigma get into putting: why we keep buying new putters, whether fittings help, what it feels like when you’re holing everything, and why the putter is usually not the problem.

Plus the best putts they’ve ever seen, Lowry at the Ryder Cup, and the putter Sigma broke on Barry in Carne.

What’s the most putts you’ve ever taken on one hole? Tell us in the comments.

00:00 Cold open
02:16 Why putters are like partners
05:12 Why we keep buying putters
16:54 Stroke, feel and fittings
23:12 The worst feeling in golf
29:14 Putting at your best
34:34 Expensive putters
39:46 The best putts we’ve seen
46:43 Putting under pressure
58:02 Your putting stories

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

Our first episode on location. Barry and Sigma played Carne Golf Links in Belmullet, then hid behind a dune to record this.

Is Carne the best golf course in Ireland? How to play it in the wind, why you should forget about your score, how it holds up at the end of October, and what happened to Barry’s putter on the way to the second tee.

Got a course you want us to review? Tell us in the comments.

00:00 Cold open
00:27 Live from Carne
02:53 The best course in Ireland?
05:58 Carne vs the big names
07:31 The Wild Atlantic Dunes
10:23 Links golf into November
11:38 The welcome
13:45 Easy to score, easy to shoot 100
15:09 Advice for your first visit
18:23 Forget the score
20:22 Rough you can find your ball in
21:33 Getting round in a buggy
25:07 The Count Back Index
32:00 The broken putter
36:03 Sigma’s 11 drivers
37:19 Send us your courses

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

Who holds up a golf course more: a slow scratch golfer or a fast 24 handicapper? Barry did the maths, and Sigma didn’t believe him.

This week Barry and Sigma get into slow play: the worst offences, what clubs could do about pins and rough, how to deal with the Jimmy in your club, and whether a shot clock would fix the pro game. Plus Higher or Lower, powered by ApexGolf, and some easy ways to keep things moving.

What’s the slowest round you’ve ever played? Tell us in the comments. And let us know: reviews, rambles, or both?

00:00 Cold open
00:36 Number one podcast in Ireland
01:17 The big question
03:36 Slow scratch vs fast 24
05:43 Does slow play matter in the big picture?
10:03 The worst offences
14:11 Do slow players know?
19:50 Actually being ready
25:42 What to do about Jimmy
29:25 Being rushed
31:09 Course setup
38:16 Speed training and spraying it
45:23 Higher or Lower
48:10 Tips to keep things moving
01:00:38 Watch your ball finish
01:05:08 If you were the CEO of Golf
01:14:55 The fanny pack
01:20:11 The jigger

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

Every golfer has had one. This week Barry and Sigma get into meltdowns: first tee nerves, the chipping yips, the lost ball injustice, a 10 on the last hole of a Break 80 round, and what Rory, Seve and Spieth can teach the rest of us.

Plus how to help a playing partner over the line (never say “steady the ship”), unsolicited swing advice, AimPoint, and the one thing that works when your head goes.

Seen a proper meltdown on the course? Tell us in the comments.

0:00 Cold open
0:36 This week: meltdowns
4:22 The meltdown of all meltdowns
9:32 Match play or stroke play?
15:01 The chipping yips
20:18 Types of meltdown
24:09 The lost ball injustice
30:06 A 10 on the last
31:48 Rory, Seve and Spieth
39:44 The running commentary
44:26 Getting it over the line
47:32 Unsolicited advice
54:10 Chasing the feel
1:02:10 How to stop a meltdown

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

The handicap system, and the people who game it. The first Count Back ramble.

Barry knows of a man who broke 100 four times in twelve months. All four were captain's prize rounds. He won it twice.

Sigma shot two 66s in a captain's prize and finished seventh.

Episode 4 of The Count Back, weekly discussions on Irish golf with Barry and Sigma. No course this week and no score, just the handicap system, bandits, and whether anything can be done about either.

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - The handicap system
00:01:30 - Is it fair?
00:03:32 - The old system
00:06:45 - Two 66s and seventh place
00:13:31 - What a bandit looks like
00:20:00 - Four good days a year
00:21:12 - Endemic and systemic
00:25:35 - The JP McManus Pro Am
00:28:31 - Six shots back
00:32:08 - The Bandit Gazette
00:38:38 - Gross prizes
00:43:30 - It gets worse
00:45:16 - Teaching juniors
00:49:01 - Would you refuse to sign?
00:53:28 - Fixing the countback
00:59:34 - Shots on the 19th
01:17:48 - Sigma's solution

Is this format worth keeping? Tell us in the comments, along with any topic you want covered.

New episode every Wednesday. Follow the show and it comes to you.

thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

Strandhill in Co. Sligo. A par 70 links under Knocknarea, sitting between Enniscrone and Rosses Point and rarely mentioned in the same breath as either.

Episode 3 of The Count Back, weekly discussions on Irish golf courses with Barry and Sigma. Every course gets a verdict and a score on The Count Back Index.

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Strandhill
00:01:08 - The hidden gem
00:02:31 - What the Americans said
00:04:49 - Is it easy?
00:06:47 - The dress code
00:08:09 - Sigma's first time
00:09:48 - The price
00:11:17 - The condition
00:13:48 - Will the price go up?
00:17:08 - Where to start on links
00:19:12 - The undulations
00:22:07 - Golf all year
00:23:43 - Barry's first time
00:29:30 - The opening holes
00:31:13 - Featured holes
00:36:09 - The welcome
00:37:29 - The 13th
00:38:50 - The Count Back Index
00:45:12 - The score

New episode every Wednesday. Follow the show and it comes to you.

thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

Carton House in Co. Kildare. Two courses, a Fairmont hotel and half an hour from Dublin. A long way from Enniscrone in every sense.

Episode 2 of The Count Back, weekly discussions on Irish golf courses with Barry and Sigma. Every course gets a verdict and a score on The Count Back Index.

New episode every Wednesday. Follow the show and it comes to you.

thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma

Our first review. Enniscrone Golf Links in Co. Sligo, all dunes and Atlantic, and whether it lives up to the reputation.

We get to the verdict eventually. Along the way there's a fair bit about links golf in general, because it's hard to talk about Enniscrone without it.

New episode every Wednesday.

Website: thecountback.com
Instagram and TikTok: @thecountback
Barry: @golfwithbarry
Sigma: @the_creative_sigma