Hey Everyone,

I am once again playing in a four-ball this week. The Fallon Cup at Wollaston GC is a monstrous member-guest. 96 teams in 6 flights. We played our qualifier on Thursday and locked up a spot in the first flight. Now we play match play over the weekend.

There’s been a lot of competitive golf in my life recently, and next week I’ll check off course 128 on my quest at Gardner Muni in a Mass. Mid-Am qualifier.

This week, I had Andy Cocker from Top100GolfCourses.com on the podcast. He spends time on Cape Cod every summer visiting friends. We talked about how he got connected with the website, how he gets on the private courses, what he looks for when he plays a new course, and his favorites in the Bay State. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

News and Notes:

• Mass Junior: Josiah Hakala and Isabel Brozena capped off great summers with championships. Hakala won the PGA National High School Invitational and Brozena blitzed the field in the Ouimet Memorial. MassGolf has the full recap.

• U.S. Women’s Amateur: Morgan Smith and Rebecca Skoler, the last two Mass. Women’s Amateur champions survived a 20-for-10 playoff on Wednesday morning to reach the Round of 64 at the U.S. Amateur. Smith lost to Lauren Kim 3&2. Skoler lost to Anna Davis 4&2.

• U.S. Men’s Amateur: Five Bay Staters will tee it up at Hazeltine National next week. Matt Parziale, Joey Lenane, James Imai, and Ryan Downes all qualified and Matt Naumec is be there as the Mass. Amateur champion. I love that all six New England states will have a representative with the new state amateur exemption. Eli Spaulding (Maine), Lucas Politano (Vermont), Bobby Leopold (Rhode Island), Rob Henley (New Hampshire) and Austin Perkins (Connecticut) are the other winners.

• Mass. Women’s Amateur: One of my favorite courses, Taconic will host the Mass. Women’s Amateur next week.

• Jim McCabe wrote a nice story about how Keegan Bradley broke the news to family about his Ryder Cup captaincy at their summer house in Newburyport. Links.com

August is for golf. Your golf.

Remember February? Long and dark but sprinkled with hope. Maybe you pulled your clubs out, chilled from the garage or basement, and remembered what a pure 5-iron shot felt like. Maybe you rolled a few putts and made a few phantom swings. You certainly started daydreaming about all the golf you were going to play when the weather warmed up.

Suddenly, it’s August. As a former teacher, I always hated August. It was one giant Sunday, with September’s Monday looming larger and larger.

February was six months ago. It’s also six months from now. We’re hitting the back nine of our golf season in New England. I will admit, our back nine is pretty sick. Fall golf can kick ass. Fall golf is our Amen Corner. Our 17 at Sawgrass.

Weekends are no longer taken up by watching pro golf. The FedEx Cup is dumb and the NFL and college football aren’t here yet. You can take in the Women’s Open Championship at St. Andrews with a bit of coffee and then hit the course. There might be just a little extra time for golf between now and Labor Day Weekend.

So, where are you planning on playing in the next couple of months? Are you looking for some little adventures in a new section of the state? Maybe a new spot to check out with some friends? Has the normal routine become boring?

I’m working on an Instagram series on underrated courses. Here’s a sneak peek of three courses that I plan on highlighting in the next week that are certainly worth your time.

• Acushnet River Valley (Acushnet, Mass.)

• Wachusett CC (West Boylston, Mass.)

• Blissful Meadows (Uxbridge, Mass.)

Double Click(s)

1. This is a cool story from Miacomet on Nantucket. Ruthie White made a hole-in-one while playing with 2020 Women’s Open champion Sophia Popov and 2020 US Women’s Open champion Pernilla Lindberg. Popov was born in Framingham, Mass., and spends time on Nantucket in the summer.

2. Kudos to Scottie Scheffler for winning gold. Incredible stuff. I shared nine thoughts about the Olympic Golf on Monday. Give it a read here.

2. I’ve been enjoying the Olympic Track and Field. It’s my favorite stuff to watch in the Olympics. And three races have stood out to me, all because guys came from way behind late in the race to win.

   The 1500m was banans. Cole Hocker just kept running.

So was the 400m on Wednesday. Quincy Hall just kept running.

Noah Lyles was in last place in a very short race. Yet, he won by a hair.

The lesson, as always, just keep running.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

• A bit more about the men’s 1500 meter final and the rivalry that might have distracted the two favorites and let Cole Hocker win the gold. The Athletic

• Winter Olympic medals were handed out in Paris.

  • “The skaters’ journey to Paris began in February 2022, when they finished second, behind the Russian team, in the team competition. The next day, the scheduled medal ceremony was called off after the Russian star Kamila Valieva, then 15, was found to have tested positive for a banned substance before the Games.” NYTimes.com

• Imagine winning a gold medal and never knowing it… Meet Margaret Abbot.

  • “It wasn’t until late 1899, when Mary and Margaret, who was now in her early 20s, traveled to Paris. Mary was researching and writing a travel guide, A Woman’s Paris: A Handbook of Every-day Living in the French Capital, while Margaret was studying art alongside Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas. After reading about a golf tournament in the local newspaper, both mother and daughter decided to sign up to play in the Prix de la ville de Compiègne, a competition held about 50 miles north of Paris at the Compiègne Golf Club, on October 4, 1900. Little did they know, they were about to make Olympic history.” -USGA

I’m listening to…

• I stumbled about Trousdale last week. The song “If I’m Honest” caught my attention. The female trio is pretty good!

• Some good Olympic hoops talk on The Bill Simmons Podcast.

I’m eating…

• I might have eaten my weight in Uncrustables last week. Concord CC broke the bank to keep us fed and hydrated during an incredibly hot two days of golf.

• Just save this article for Gochujang Buttered Noodles. Seriously.

I’m watching…

• We started watching A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder on Netflix. It’s pretty good.

• Olympics Women’s Golf should be good these next two days. They wrap up on Saturday. Gold medal hoops game should be good, too.

New here? Reached the bottom?

Hell Yeah.

You should subscribe.

Bay State Archives

I'm (shamelessly) plugging...

• A list of golf courses open in the winter.

• Bay State Picks: Best courses you can walk for less than $60.

• Bay State Picks: Nine-hole courses to play before or after work

• Bay State Picks: 18 public golf that is worth your time

• Bay State Picks: Easy 18-hole public walks

• Bay State Deep Dive: Myopia Hunt Club

   

• "On Course" New England Journal Podcast

  • LISTEN HERE (and subscribe!)

  • WATCH HERE (and subscribe!)

• Amateur Golf Podcast

  • LISTEN HERE (and subscribe!)