Happy Friday, folks. Hope you're enjoying the US Open! To accompany your weekend of watching professional golfers hack it out of thick rough, we've put together 82 minutes of two 'professional' journalists trying to hack their way through an interview with former Tour pro and now broadcaster Nick Dougherty. Joe has some history with Nick from their junior days, and it's safe to say Joe was and is a big fan...perhaps too big. Once Joe stops fanboying at the start of our interview, Nick offers us some brilliant insights into the equipment he loved during his playing days, as well as some insights into the

But before all of that, Joe takes us on a bit of a history and science lesson about Balata golf balls. What actually is Balata, and what was the moment in history when they started to fall out of favour? Spoiler, it has something to do with Tiger Woods... Chapters: 0:00:00 Hello! 0:02:55 What were Balata golf balls? 0:07:21 Liquid centres in golf balls... 0:10:28 Tiger Woods' early 2000s ball change 0:25:05 Ask The Pod - Should I use lead tape? 0:36:46 Cool Board - poker chip ball markers, custom ferrules & marking balls with initials 0:50:50 Fujikura competition! 0:54:03 Nick Dougherty interview

Also this week, we have an Ask The Podder keen to understand how to best utilise lead tape on their clubs, while The Cool Board sees poker chip ball markers, custom ferrules and initials on golf balls.