Call it coincidence, or call it what you want, but there’s no denying the connection of 15 combined birdies in the opening round of the Four Winds Invitational from Leslie Cloots and Maia Schechter (Chapel Hill, N.C.), who recently joined forces to start the new “Birdiecast” podcast.

Playing a round at UNC Finley Golf Course earlier this season, casual practice conversation with the occasional subtle joke actually led to the creation of the newfound hobby for the University of North Carolina alumnae and former Tar Heel teammates. With life already revolving around the game of golf, however, they aimed to create something that branched beyond simply playing the sport.

“We ended up with a podcast about making light of life on Tour,” said Cloots. “Did some research on how to put it out there and how to structure the episodes. Within a week of playing that round at Finley together we had recorded our first episode on my laptop. The hope is that more players get involved and Birdiecast becomes more of a player’s community podcast.”

So far it has. Since that initial show, ideas have formulated quickly and several Epson Tour professionals have stopped by Birdiecast as guests.

“We want the listener to feel like they are at the table with us,” Schechter said. “I love golf, I love being on Tour and this is an opportunity to share our story. Birdiecast has provided a great hobby outside of golf and it’s something I can think about between shots on the course too, so it’s a nice distraction sometimes.”

A new episode comes out every Tuesday at 6 a.m. ET through their online host platform Anchor. It is also available on iTunes and Stitcher, with a great Instagram page to keep listeners updated with show happenings (@birdiecast).

“Our roles have molded really organically,” said Cloots. “I take care of the recording, editing and publishing. We come up with topic ideas together. Maia is really good with doing research and thinking through details in preparation for a show recording. The main focus is having fun 100 percent of the time.”

Cloots, Schechter Start Birdiecast

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