Playing in the Chilly Willy...

and hitting weird golf shots

Author

Sean Melia
November 24, 2023

Hey Everyone,

You might be reading this in line as you’re about to score a deal at Best Buy.

Maybe you’re scrolling through this on your couch watching the first Black Friday football game.

Maybe it’s the weekend because Friday was just not the day to check email (Kudos to you…)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I’m grateful you’re spending any part of this weekend here.

I’d love your help in spreading this newsletter. Forward it along to anyone you think might enjoy my inane musings, and tell them to click on the subscribe button!

Thanks!

Let’s get to it.

Chilly Willy at Ponkapoag

I had 190 yards to the center of the green and two club options - 6-iron or driver. The wind was into our faces, and it was 47 degrees.

Oh, and the 6-iron wasn’t mine; it belonged to one of my Chilly Willy teammates.

“Guess I just have to be a shotmaker,” I said as I pulled my driver from the bag.

I aimed miles left, choked up, and hit a shot that I think would have made Seve proud. The ball curved about 40 yards, landed just short of the green, and trundled through the back of the green.

It left us with an outside chance at a birdie, which we thought we needed to pull into a tie for the lead.

We made par.

The rules of the Chilly Willy are simple:

  • Four-man scramble

  • Four clubs

  • Each member provides one club

  • Teams must play one par 4 on each side with just one club

In addition, every team brings a chili which is part of the competition, too. Make a great chili and have shots taken off your score. Make a bad chili, and you’re sliding down the leaderboard. This year, my buddy Dan made one of the best chili’s and we went from 6-under par to 9-under par and a tie for first. Completely ridiculous and subjective, I know.

What’s incredible about the Chilly Willy is that no matter how much you strategize your club selection, there will be at least 3-4 shots that will require some form of creativity. Sometimes you can pull them off, and sometimes they’re a total disaster.

However, being forced into the position of having to hit a driver off the deck from 190 yards away or trying to hit a 40-yard pitch shot with a six-iron to a raised green reconnects me with the game. These aren’t tasks that find their way into the normal round of golf because I’m trying to grind over shots and hit the “right” one. I’d also feel like an ass hitting a 190-yard driver with a few strangers in July at Shaker Hills as we trudge through a 5-hour round.

Golf is already a delightful form of play, which is part of the reason it has exploded over the last few years. It’s why Topgolf and other forms of golf are more popular. It’s an outlet to play.

The Willy Chilly and other odd formats of golf are “play within play.” It breaks the monotony and engages a different part of the brain. It can also make you a better player. Pull off a cool 110-yard shot with a 5-iron, and it might boost your confidence and help you down the road.

The challenge with this type of golf is also the lack of time we already have to play the game. If you’re a public golfer, heading out with 3-clubs or a half-set might feel like a waste of a great opportunity to shoot the best round of your life because there’s always that chance.

If a warm day presents itself this winter and you’re itching to go play golf, that would be the perfect time to try something a little different, hit some weird shots, and tap into a different part of your brain.

Heck, it might help improve your game in the long run.

Picture of the week: Ponkapoag (Canton, Mass.)

Ponkapoag before the Chilly Willy

News and Notes

  • Last week I compared the PGA Tour to a crumbling sports dynasty (you know, like the New England Patriots…). This week, a story came out in the Sports Business Journal that the PGA Tour is looking for more money from sponsors and might have to pull money from the charities it supports to pay players. You get one click on this article if you, like me, aren’t a subscriber. Make it count. Read here.

  • Tiger will tee it up in the Hero World Challenge, which starts on Nov. 30. Since his Masters win in 2019, he has played in 21 total events. Since the 2022 Masters, he’s played in five events and had to withdraw from two of those due to injury. Will be very interesting to see what he looks like next week. We could be inundated with Tiger-mania if he plays halfway decent.

  • There’s some (seemingly) serious chatter on the Internet that Jon Rahm might be heading to LIV. Who knows what the story is, but it stuck out to me that part of the “report” was that he was seeking a change in the format of events. Who knows if that’s for World Ranking points or if it’s just because Rahm is sick of being left out of the discussion that Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods seem to be driving on the PGA Tour.

  • In a classic news dump, John Huggan released a Golf Digest article on Thanksgiving about the golf ball roll back. Michael Clayton stirred the pot and Tweeted (X’d?) his interpretation is that there might be an Oprah Winfrey style rollback…. Everyone is going to get one. Whatever the decision, it will be announced before the end of the year. That’s just five weeks away.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m gambling….(Every week, because it's now legal in Mass. I'm going to make five NFL picks and keep track of them here.)

  • Last Week: 2-3 (Season record: 29-26)

    • Dolphins (-9.5) over Jets

    • Falcons (+1.5) over Saints

    • Broncos (-1.5) over Browns

    • Jaguars (+1.5) over Texans

    • Colts (-2.5) over Bucs

I’m reading… Can’t recommend There Will be Fire enough. Just a fascinating story that dives into the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Whitey Bulger, Muammar Gaddafi, and Palestinian Liberation Organization have entered the chat, too, looking to support the IRA with money and guns. While it’s hard to compare anything to what’s happening in Israel and Gaza, there are moments in this book that seem very similar.

I’m listening to… Sometimes a Peloton class reminds me about music I had stopped listening to. A Blink-182 ride did that this week. Man they had a bunch of great songs that the high school version of me loved.

I also very much enjoyed this Switched on Pop interview with Noah Kahan about how he found his way to stardom via a music genre that seemed dead and gone.

I’m eating… One Thanksgiving morning tradition is I run a Turkey Trot and then swing by Bagels Plus in Acton and grab bagels for the weekend. I have had New Yorkers tell me that they rival, or at least come the closest, to New York City bagels. They are easily the best you’ll find in the area outside of Boston and Cambridge.

I’m drinking… when we were in Edinburgh this past summer, our hotel gifted us a small jar of Edinburgh Co. Hot Toddy Honey. We used it in a few of the winter cocktails this week. Don’t sleep on Hot Toddys this winter.

I’m watching… Started the newest season of The Crown. We haven’t watched much of previous seasons, but this felt like a logical spot to jump in given it’s more modern implications on our lives.

The No Laying Up and Jamie Weir guys created an awesome 10 min. video on the Hagan Hoof, a 54-hole event in England between three different, revered club golf clubs.

In honor of Donald Ross’ birthday, I put together this IG Reel.

I'm (shamelessly) plugging...

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