Best viewing spots at TPC Boston

Hey Everyone,

I played in an event on Monday commemorating Mapledale CC, which is now Stow Acres. Mapledale CC opened in 1926 and was the first Black-owned course in Massachusetts. Robert H. Hawkins bought the land and turned it into a country club. The front nine of the South Course is the original course, for the most part. Mapledale hosted the first three United States Colored Golf Association (USCGA) Opens from 1926-1928.

Rediscover Mapledale is an organization hoping to uncover the history of the course and share it with people in the community. They unveiled a new poster that will sit on the first tee to honor the course’s history and Hawkins' role in that history.

Visit their site if you’re interested in learning more or getting involved. In 2022 I wrote about Hawkins and Mapledale for Amateur Golf.

It was a fun day and scrambles are a great way to free up your game and let it rip.

News and Notes:

• Carys Fennessy earns LPGA spot: The Dover NH High Schooler shot a 71 to win the Monday Qualifier for the FM Global Championship. Incredible stuff. She’s having an incredible summer. She won the NH Women’s Am, the New England Women’s Am, and the NE Junior Am. If you’re going to TPC Boston this week, make sure to show her some love.

• U.S Four-Ball Qualifying: Brian Hedstrom and Gregg Hedstrom shot 8-under to nab a spot in the U.S. Four-Ball next May. Gregg is from Hopkinton. Oliver Cordeiro (Winchester, Mass.) and his partner Diego Savaadra also shot 8-under to earn one of the three spots available.

If you have any stories or events you’d like to see in the newsletter, you can reply to this email. Always looking for ideas for features, topics, or fun nuggets.

TPC Boston Viewing Spots

I attended the Dell Technologies/Northern Trust at TPC Boston a few times. I was also lucky enough to play the course in May of 2023 to check it off my list (thanks, Dean!).

The course is rather spread out. If you’re a walker and want to see the whole property, I’d recommend it. Pick a player and watch her play a whole round. I think there’s nothing better than watching one player navigate their way around a course. If you’re there on Friday, pick someone near the cut line.

Golf tournaments can be tough to attend because there are so many choices. You don’t have a seat, so you can wander the course, and it can feel overwhelming. Toss in making decisions with friends, and it can be downright exhausting.

Here are a few spots that you could visit to see a variation of shots. Park yourself in one spot for an hour, watch groups come through, and then hop over to another spot.

Driving Range: Just go soak up the rhythm of the best players in the world. Bathe yourself in their tempo. I always love sitting on the range and watching players settle into their day and get ready for a round of golf. The consistency is mesmerizing, too. Wander over to the chipping green while you’re at it.

Second green/third tee: The second hole should provide some interesting shots. It’s a par 5 with water in play on the approach. The green offers some safe haven long, so there might be some cool chip and pitch shots. The third hole is a long, uphill par 3 that should offer a lot of variation as far as the types of shots players will hit.

Fourth Green: A short par 4 with a wild, small green. It was drivable for the men when they played TPC Boston. It’s a fun spot to sit and watch players hit wedges from some tricky spots and navigate the skinny green. It’s the type of hole that made Justin Rose tomahawk his wedge and MF his caddie after chipping in for birdie. There’s nothing better than hearing Paul Burke tell that story.

Fifth green/sixth tee: This is a cool spot to watch players as the green and tee are in close proximity. The sixth hole is one of my favorites on the course. A tough par 4, so players should be ripping driver. The par-5 7th hole also runs parallel to the 6th hole, so if there is a player you’d like to see a couple of times, you could watch her play the 7th hole, too.

Ninth green: There’s something about this spot that I really liked when watching the PGA Tour. The green looks mundane, but then after watching groups come through it’s subtleties show. Players can roll the ball onto the green, as it sits in the ground. The slope from back to front can leave some tricky putts.

Fifteenth green/Sixteenth tee: The back nine is kind of tough to navigate. It’s spread out without a lot of spots to see a variation of shots. The fifteenth hole is a hard par 4, and the 16th is probably the course’s signature hole. It’s a short par-3 over water. I’m not sure it’s going to offer much challenge to the players, though.

Eighteenth Green: This green site is something else. The cavernous runoff area left of the green is far deeper in person. Trying to get up and down from that area is no picnic and someone might have to do it to win the tournament on Sunday. The hole will likely be a three-shotter for the women. It’s a forced carry to reach the green, but here’s hoping they set it up to tempt players into trying to reach it on their second shot.

New here? Subscribe for my free Friday newsletter. It’s a great way to catch up on everything Bay State Golf in one simple email.

Want to support my work? You can upgrade. New Supporters or Founders will receive a desk calendar with my original course photography if they sign up before Oct. 1.