Traveling and playing golf in Australia has been a rewarding experience. We have been fortunate to have seen so many of Australia’s icons, as well as being able to play some of its greatest golf courses. And we have met so many wonderful people in our travels that we now consider mates. One of them is Tyson Flynn.

You may know Tyson as sliceystsie from Instagram. Tyson is a golf course ranker for Australian Golf Digest magazine. As you can imagine, Tyson is an avid golfer who just loves the game. We caught up with Tyson because we wanted to learn more about his quest to play Australia’s Top 100 golf courses…

Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?

Tyson Flynn, 38, married to Lisa for 10 years, almost 6-year-old son Zachary, and 7.5-year-old Max our Labrador pup. I’ve lived and worked in Canberra for my entire life.

Do your partner and/or son play golf?

My wife doesn’t play golf, but she gave me the social media name sliceytysie when I was playing at Hamilton Island Golf Club with her beside me in the cart! This was December 2014 on a surprise holiday I planned for her.

Zach plays golf with his kid’s set, and we’ve bought him a proper putter! Zach loves coming along with dad to play!

How did you get introduced to the game of golf? When?

My father and uncle got me into golf as a young fella aged 12 or so. They played at Narooma Golf Club when we were away on holiday. I took a shot here and there when they said it was fine too. My father took me along to his monthly social golf group – always a 4-man Ambrose golf game to introduce me to golf officially. (Ambrose is called a Scramble in the US.) This occurred in my teenage years.

You’ve played 97 out of Australia’s top 100 golf courses, tell us a little about that- how did it start? Has it always been a goal? How long has it taken?

It all started when I received an email from iseekgolf.com.au – it outlined 4 players on a top 100 public course in Sydney for x amount, etc. My cousin, uncle, best mate, and I packed up the car, and off we went.

The conversation post round was, “Geeze, we really should play New South Wales Golf Club now we’ve played this top course as a treat next time.”

“I wonder how many we can play of the top 100?” We counted all the public ones and came up with the belief that we could play quite a few without ever playing the “private ones”.

I worked at a newsagent for 14 years, so I had the opportunity in my break to read through all the golf magazines, plus talk golf with some of the members of both Royal Canberra Golf Club and Federal Golf Club. The newsagent was located right in between each club. I became great friends with members of both clubs invariably.

My favorite gentleman, who is sadly no longer with us, was Song Kon, a Malaysian man. He invited me to play Royal Canberra. He asked, “where are you a member of….”  “Nowhere at the moment”.

Mr. Song explained that I should join a cheap country club, get my handicap, then we’ll go. And that’s exactly what I did. I joined Berridale Golf Club for $250 as a country member!

Mr. Song said, “after you play RC, you should play the private ones by sending a letter of introduction from your club secretary” This then began to open my eyes as to what is possible in life. Firstly, with networking, but then in regard to golf course accessibility.

I wanted to play as many as possible from the top 100 before Zachary was at school. I got 97 in, in under 5 years. All our holiday trips became golf odysseys!

Which golf courses have been your favorites?

The Melbourne Sandbelt courses, coastal courses, and of course Royal Canberra.

Which of Australia’s Top 100 golf courses haven’t you played?

Alice Springs Golf Club, Kalgoorlie Golf Course, and Ellerston Golf Club from the 2014 and 2016 listings.

2018 listings are: Kalgoorlie, Ellerston, and Curlewis Golf Club.

And the 2020 listing is Cape Schanck Resort.

What is the most interesting golf course that you have ever played?

Definitely Cape Wickham Golf Links. Why? Because there are signature holes everywhere, and the views are breathtaking.

Also, I can mention Hirono Golf Club in Japan as the most interesting international course that I’ve played, pure Japanese golf course design!

What, where, and why was your most memorable round of golf?

Lake Karrinyuhp Country Club, Perth, Western Australia.

It was a very hot day when I played there. The course was to host the Perth 9’s shortly afterward, and when I played the course, it was in fantastic condition. The design is an OCCM (Ogilvy, Clayton, Cocking, and Mead) special.

I hit 83 off the stick, which I’ve only ever managed to produce once again. I’m off a 16.2 handicap, so this was great scoring for me!

You’re also a panel member for Australian Golf Digest magazine, can you tell us more about that?

Australian Golf Digest invited me to join their exclusive ranking panel for Easter 2018 whilst we were away in Queensland.

At this stage, I’d played 78 courses, and they said I should have been part of their panel earlier given all the courses I’d played!

Do you have any golf goals for 2021? Or, due to COVID-19, once things become “normal” again.

My aim is to play a few of the public and private courses in Sydney and New South Wales that I haven’t been to yet. These include Pennant Hills Golf Club, Pymble Golf Club, Long Reef Golf Club, Manly Golf Club, Belmont Golf Club, Mona Vale Golf Club, Byron Bay Golf Club, Ocean Shores Country Club, and Duntryleague Golf Club.

The Victoria courses are Cape Schanck, Lonsdale Links, Warrnambool Golf Club, Sandringham Golf Club, Rosebud Country Club, Flinders Golf Club, Curlewis Golf Club, Leongatha Golf Club, and Club Mandalay.

And in Queensland Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club (all 36), and Bribie Island Golf Club.

What keeps you occupied away from the golf course?

Obviously, family time, training for triathlons/marathons/trail running events. I love live music and sporting events.

Sunday afternoon is hike time in the cooler months, Trigonometry station adventuring.

Watch more movies Sunday night!

There you go guys!

That’s my life!

 Thank you so much for your time, Tyson!