Playing golf like a kid

+ Golf Gratitudes

Author

Sean Melia
November 27, 2024

Hey Everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sending out my Friday Newsletter on a Wednesday. Maybe you can read it while you’re pumping gas, waiting in an airport line, or just hiding out from family chaos!

We’ll be back on schedule next week.

I snuck out for a round of golf at Ould Newbury on Monday with my buddies Jed and Burke. What a wild place! It’s a nine-hole course with an interesting semi-private set-up. Public golfers can play Monday through Thursday after 12 p.m.; otherwise, it’s a private course. Next year, they are limiting public play to just Monday through Wednesday.

When we arrived at 9:15 for the round, Burke said, “This is true sicko behavior.” It was cold and windy, but as the day progressed, it warmed up, and the two trips around the course had us pleasantly surprised. The course has some great land and the greens are tough. What I thought would be a sporty, small course was actually a stern test. We were all glad that GHIN posting season was closed, and we didn’t have to grind for a score.

The course closes on Friday, but if you’re looking for a new spot to explore, put it on your list for next year.

One perk of becoming a Supporter or Founder of Bay State Golf is you can read my course reviews early with additional thoughts that go beyond the Instagram caption. Ould Newbury is posted here. You can also read about me almost breaking a window… twice… on the ninth hole with errant 3-wood tee shots.

2025 Bay State Golf Desk Calendar

There are a few 2025 desk calendars still available. This calendar features 12 of my original photos from golf courses around Massachusetts that I took this year. It makes a great gift, or you can just pick one up for yourself. ORDER HERE.

Playing golf like a kid and other gratitudes

At the end of every round I play, I post some “18th Hole Gratitudes.” They vary from observations about the course, the weather, my playing partners, and whatever else comes to mind from the round.

I have many things to be grateful for this year on, and more importantly, off the golf course.

One moment stands out and encapsulates so much of what I love and am grateful for about golf.

I traveled to Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri with some buddies for a golf trip. I arrived a day early with Eliot, my oldest golfing friend. We started playing together in middle school. Our dads were coworkers in the 1980s and reconnected when Eliot and I ended up at the same school. The four of us went on some great golf trips, including one to Ireland after we graduated from high school.

My dad passed away in 2014, and Eliot’s dad, Rob, passed away in 2019. Eliot and I try to play golf as much as we can. Each round feels like a little homage to the foursome we once were.

That first day at Big Cedar, Eliot and I teed off at the Mountain Top Golf Course, a 13-hole walking course with several par 3s.

We grabbed a couple of beers and headed out to shake off the travel rust and enjoy a walk at Twilight. It was one of those moments that dragged me back into the past. To those afternoons with Eliot goofing around on a practice green, hitting wild shots, and waiting for a ride home. We played one short downhill hole with just our putter and laughed as we kicked off this trip.

We didn’t keep score; we didn’t play a match.

We were playing behind a group of eight guys who were also enjoying the evening, so we tossed balls into weird spots and tried to hit it close to the pin with big flop shots or low shots across wild greens.

It was carefree golf with an old friend. It’s the type of thing that becomes harder to experience as we get older. Time and life get in the way, but for 2 hours in Missouri, as the sun was setting over the Ozarks, I traveled back in time and remembered what I really loved about golf.

Here are 21 golf things I’m grateful for:

  1. A lucky bounce off a tree into the middle of the fairway.

  2. A flushed long iron.

  3. A tidy punchout between some trees.

  4. A tap-in after a lag putt.

  5. The image of clubs tossed on a tee box of a short par 4.

  6. Random Monday rounds of golf.

  7. A wife who is okay with me playing a random Monday round of golf.

  8. Late fall golf.

  9. Discovering a new sleeper golf course.

  10. A golf trip to Big Cedar.

  11. The Franklin Park - George Wright Double Dip.

  12. A major at Pinehurst No. 2.

  13. Qualifying for a MassGolf event.

  14. Walking 18 holes (even if it’s with a pushcart).

  15. Twilight golf.

  16. A cold beer on a patio.

  17. Making the cut in the Dawson Cup at Concord CC with Eliot.

  18. Laughing at horrendous shots.

  19. Saving par.

  20. Digging through my bag and pulling out a random ball marker that sparks a memory.

  21. The numerous folks who have invited me to play their public course or have helped me check off a course.

I opened up the comments section. Feel free to share some of your own golf gratitudes.

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.

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