Hey Everyone,

Let’s get to the best news of the week, which came to me on Friday night:

Cape Cod Country Club will be open for the entire 2026 season.

It’s unclear why the decision was made. It’s unclear if PureSky and the Friels will change their mind again in June.

But for now, what looked like a surefire July closure to break ground before the tax credits expire is now a total mystery.

The goal now has to be to make it incredibly clear to the Friels that the course should be sold to someone else and remain a golf course. Fill the tee sheet all season. I’ll be there a couple of times at least.

I spent last weekend taking photos and videos for the Northeast Golf Show. It was humbling to meet readers, watchers, and listeners while I ran around with my camera. After a long winter hunkered down in my apartment trying to conjure up ideas for this newsletter and the Internet in general, it was nice to meet some people in the real world.

Lakeville Country Club potential development: In October 2025, Thorndike Development proposed a senior housing development on Lakeville CC that would turn the course into a nine-hole course and driving range.

In January, during a Select Board meeting, they pitched the idea and its benefits to the town, including encouraging 55+ homeowners to move to the new housing so younger families can move in. Some residents are worried about traffic and the length of the construction. There is a long way to go with this one, but I’ll be monitoring.

Course Openings: If you’re curious about what courses are opening or will open soon. MassGolf has a running list.

Valspar: Davis Chatfield shot 69 (-2) and is T17 after the first round. Keegan Bradley shot 73 and is T81. Live Scoring

Fortinet Championship: The LPGA is back after the Asia swing. Alexa Pano shot 74 out in California, and Megan Khang shot 75. The leader, Hyo Joo Kim, shot 63… Live Scoring

Cologard Classic: Jason Caron is competing this week. He has recorded a T14 and a T38 in his two Champions Tour events thus far in 2026. Live Scoring

Schenkel Invitational: Yale finished T6 in Georgia. Matt Lin won the individual title for the Bulldogs. Results

Seminole Intercollegiate: Boston College finished 18th. Results

The Michael A. Marino: Joey Lenane (Dedham, Mass.) finished 52nd. His team, NC State, won the team title.

ECU Intercollegiate: A bunch of Bay Staters teed it up in North Carolina. Max McColgan helped St. John’s finish in third place. He notched a 15th-place finish. Lehigh’s Drew Golden (Hingham, Mass.) finished 34th and Matt Quinn (Holden, Mass.) 55th. Aiden Emmerich (Swampscott, Mass.) finished 40th, and Tommy Murdough (Concord, Mass.) was 85th for Temple. Results

Linger Longer: Ryan Downes will tee it up for Vanderbilt at Reynolds Plantation at Great Waters in Georgia. The team is ranked 11th in the country, and Downes is ranked 58th on Clippd Scoreboard. They hope to bounce back from a poor 12th-place showing in the Cabo Collegiate earlier in March.

Northern Kentucky Spring Fling: Holy Cross finished 6th down in Florida at Sandridge CC. Results

Augusta Valspar: Isebel Brozena (N. Reading, Mass.) shot a 64 in the final round to win the individual title at 7-under par. The Xavier sophomore has two wins this spring. Yale finished T9. Results

Red Rocks: Stonehill finished 11th at Oakcreek Country Club in Arizona. Jaelyn DeBoise (Springfield, Mass.) finished 33 and Carol Piganto (Foxborough, Mass.) finished 64th. Results

Betsy Rawls Invitational: Down in Austin, Texas, Harvard finished 14th. Results

Briar’s Creek Invitational: A very nice win for Boston College, who held off Molly Smith and her UCF teammates by three shots. Smith finished 11th. Results

Sacred Heart Spring Break Invitational: The host team, Sacred Heart, took home the title. Fairfield finished 3rd and Boston University finished fourth. Results

I wrote a digital book with reviews of every course I’ve played in Mass. on my quest. Every year, you’ll get an updated version with new reviews. Annual subscribers to the newsletter get the book for free.

Put Cohasse CC at the top of your 2026 Must Play List.

Cameron Young’s win at The Players Championship was the culmination of a lot of close calls in big events. In the fall, he finally won on the PGA Tour, and now he’s got his hands on Gold Boy after a great finish at TPC Sawgrass.

After his birdie on 17, Young said he stepped up on the 18th tee to hit one of the toughest shots in golf, and his final thought before he pulled the club back was, “I’m going to hit the best shot of my life, right here.”

His ball landed 375 yards away from him in the fairway, and it put all the pressure on Matt Fitzpatrick to match that shot. He couldn’t and made bogey from the pine straw.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve heard different players talk about “What’s the worst that can happen?” as they think about a shot.

I first heard it on the Josh Nichols podcast The Mental Golf Show. Nichols lost to Matt Parziale in the U.S. Mid-Amateur championship in 2017. Guy’s a baller (everything comes back to golf in Massachusetts).

Rory McIlroy also said the same thing in a recent interview with Kevin Van Valkenburg in for the Fried Egg.

Over the years, Cameron Young has seen “the worst things that can happen” on a golf course. Is that a bit dramatic? Sure, but he’s had two close calls in majors in 2022, first at Southern Hills in the PGA Championship and then at The Old Course when Cam Smith beat him by a shot.

He’s been a terrible putter, and he’s turned that part of his game around. He’s now the 4th-ranked player in the world.

That mentality of understanding there is a worst-case scenario seems crazy for a golfer to have. While golf is not a game of perfect, it is certainly a game of fear. Fear of embarrassment and failure. Fear of filling in a scorecard with a big number.

Padraig Harrington has talked about scar tissue and experience and how those two things can actually harm a golfer. It’s a quote often used in golf media because it speaks to the game's challenges. How it gets harder with the more losses and failures because they can eat away at you at night. They can creep up while standing over a tough shot. They can turn into thoughts of grandeur: I’m finally going to win a tournament.

The funny thing about Harrington’s statement is that it flies directly in the face of how his career unfolded. He won three majors in the span of 14 months as a 36 and 37-year-old.

He made that statement when it appeared that young players were going to hoover up wins and majors.

However, it now looks like guys who have seen the worst and experienced failure have figured out how to harness it and play better golf in their late 20s and early 30s. Over the course of the professional game, that’s the peak age for most players.

And now, guys like Jordan Spieth, who had so much success as a 21-year-old, have spent the last decade trying to get back into past form. Spieth’s peers called him The Golden Boy, but he hasn’t won since April of 2022. And his last majors was a decade ago. Now Spieth is the one with scar tissue after all that early success.

Then there’s Ingrid Lindblad, one of the best women’s college golfers in history. Since turning pro, she’s been dealing with driver issues.

For us mere mortals, when we ask ourselves on a tee box, “What’s the worst that can happen?” the answer might be a lot scarier than McIlroy’s answer. But we’re not playing in front of millions of fans for millions of dollars.

But maybe a combination of Cameron Young’s belief that he was going to hit the best shot of his life and his understanding that things weren’t going to be that bad is a cocktail for success.

And if it’s not.

Then just enjoy a cocktail after the round and laugh it off with friends.

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