WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:14.520 [upbeat music] July is in the books. It is now August. I'm gonna recap my entire month of July. Six courses played, some new places checked off, some old places that I went and revisited. 2 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:21.400 We've got public and private on this list, nine holes, 18 holes. Kind of a nice mix as I'm trying to play every golf course in the state. 3 00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:26.560 Before we get into the recap, just a quick reminder, please subscribe to the channel. Please like this video. 4 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:40.640 Helps other people find what I'm doing as far as playing golf courses, reviewing golf courses, and also covering events. And if you like push carts, go to Bag Boy Gold. Check out the Nitron push cart. 5 00:00:40.760 --> 00:00:52.310 I've been using it for more than two years now. They gave me a promo code, BSG10. It gives you 10% off the Nitron push cart. It's awesome. Helps me, saves my back, saves my shoulders. 6 00:00:52.680 --> 00:01:04.000 Helps me play more golf, more golf on consecutive days. Got some heavy golf coming up in August, and I'm looking forward to it, and the Bag Boy is gonna be there. Let's get into my rounds this month. 7 00:01:04.360 --> 00:01:14.520 The first one was on July 1st. I actually dumped it into my June recap because I just wanted to talk about it, and that was Oyster Harbors. I'm not gonna go too long here. 8 00:01:15.020 --> 00:01:24.960 I always give two good things, one bad thing, or one thing I wasn't crazy about. But overall, Oyster Harbors, private golf course down on Cape Cod. Donald Ross design. Easy walk. 9 00:01:26.080 --> 00:01:37.540 Beautiful conditions, just in really good shape. Some great green co- complexes. Don't lose your golf balls. Just kind of an open, easy round of golf, but still challenging. 10 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:43.880 So if you want my full kind of breakdown, you can go back. If you haven't watched my June one yet, I recap it in June. 11 00:01:44.600 --> 00:01:57.120 And then we get to Forest Park, which I played kind of in the middle of July because I spent four days at Winchester Country Club covering the Mass Am. Aidan Emerick beat Zach Draganas in the final. 12 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:03.140 If you're interested in any of that, I've got some videos of, like, every shot from a quarterfinal, every shot from [laughs] a semifinal. 13 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:14.060 Spent a lot of time at Winchester, which kind of took away, you know, the opportunity to play golf. But then my wife and I went out to Williamstown for a few days, a little long weekend after the Mass Am. 14 00:02:14.100 --> 00:02:17.320 We were staying right next to Taconic, and I did not play Taconic. 15 00:02:17.380 --> 00:02:26.800 I found a new place to play, somewhere I wanted to check off, and that is Forest Park Country Club, a nine-hole golf course in Adams, Massachusetts, about 20-minute drive from Williamstown. 16 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:32.190 A place I honestly would not have played if I wasn't do- if I was doing this quest and we happened to be out there. 17 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:42.780 I would have played Taconic, just booked a tee time, played in the evening, and, uh, just felt really great about going to play Taconic. But sometimes [laughs] you have to make sacrifices on this quest. 18 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:53.700 This is one of them. Took an afternoon, drove out, and played Forest Park. What a cool golf course. I have compared it with people to, like, it's like the Highland Links of the Berkshires. 19 00:02:53.740 --> 00:03:06.000 Is it as dramatic as Highland Links? No. Is it as intricately unique as Highland Links with the, you know, the links golf kind of aspect over there? No. But it is like golf. 20 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:17.080 You're in the mountains, in the shadow of Mount Greylock, and that's the first piece for me that I liked. Just the setting. It was a lovely evening. You can see Mount Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts. 21 00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:31.680 You're playing over some pretty rugged, rough land because you are right under the mountain. So just that's kind of what I loved about it, just the setting. It was $20 to play nine holes. It's $25 to play 18. 22 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:36.460 Um, just showed up, got a tee time, and went out and played by myself. 23 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:49.120 I did a whole course spotlight on Forest Park and went through every hole, showed my shots, talked- showed myself talking about stuff as I'm at, um, as I'm out there. So you can go and watch that as well. 24 00:03:49.160 --> 00:03:58.100 The thing that maybe I didn't love, I... There was not much that I didn't love. It's not terribly long, you know, but you're gonna... So you're, you're not getting a par five. 25 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:09.220 You get a couple of par fives at a place like Highland Links. So sometimes you get those nine-hole golf courses that don't really have the space to be super long, um, or get a par five in there. 26 00:04:11.170 --> 00:04:17.920 But I think for what you're paying for and what you're getting as far as, like, the conditions are a little scruffy, and that doesn't bother me. 27 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:26.700 It might bother some people if they're going out there and it's, like, the one round of golf they might be playing out on a weekend or some time out in the Berkshires. 28 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:34.880 But if you have that mindset of, like, I'm paying 20 bucks to play nine holes, there's no par fives, it's, it's tough to complain about Forest Park, to be honest with you. I was kind of charmed by the place. 29 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:49.340 And the third, the thing I like, the second thing I like, the third little item here is I really liked the quirk of this place. There's a live road that runs, you know, a, between the third tee and the third green. 30 00:04:49.530 --> 00:05:01.320 The third is a par three. It also kind of winds along the right side of the fourth hole. It cuts across the eighth hole. And then you also play the eighth hole over the sixth and seventh holes. 31 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:15.600 All right, if you like a little bit of quirk, this is one of those things that I... You don't see very often in [laughs] modern golf. That is the eighth tee box up there. This is the eighth hole going this way. 32 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:29.680 And you can see right here, that is the seventh green. And as we walk, we also walk across the sixth hole. 33 00:05:30.660 --> 00:05:47.100 So to play the eighth hole, you tee off over the seventh hole and the sixth hole, and then you walk across those two holes to get to your golf ball, which is kind of funny. Good bit of quirk out here, 34 00:05:48.140 --> 00:05:58.200 and that is definitely the quirkiest. So that was Forest Park. Forest Park is just a really delightful little place to go and play golf if you're out there. 35 00:05:58.960 --> 00:06:09.376 I also had the thought as I was playing it, you could make a little 45 h- hole Two and a half round golf trip if you went to Williamstown and played Waubeeka, Taconic. 36 00:06:09.796 --> 00:06:22.156 You could play Forest Park as an evening nine-hole round of golf out there as well. Um, bring a half set, bring a, a fun mindset. If you're with some buddies, you know, bring some beers, play some games. 37 00:06:22.256 --> 00:06:33.736 Uh, could be, could be a really nice place to just tack on a little extra golf if you're ever out there playing golf on a trip. Forest Park, definitely worth a visit in that context as well. 38 00:06:33.776 --> 00:06:43.796 Next up, I went to Segreganset, another completely new golf course to me. I'd heard of it. I knew nothing about it other than that it's very, very challenging, especially the front nine, it turns out. 39 00:06:44.205 --> 00:06:51.656 But that's always been kind of the reputation of the golf course is that it is a hard place to play golf. I was fortunate enough to play with some members who are on the board. 40 00:06:52.196 --> 00:07:01.016 Uh, I played with a guy named John, who invited me out to play. He's the treasurer of the board. I played with the president, um, and another longtime member. 41 00:07:01.116 --> 00:07:10.236 So I played with three, kinda got a little game, and another group behind us was also kinda part of this little group of eight people who were out playing on a Wednesday morning. 42 00:07:11.176 --> 00:07:23.376 I think for me, the thing that stood out right away were the conditions of the golf course. I have heard that this place was kind of in tough shape as far as, like, finances and membership. 43 00:07:24.196 --> 00:07:32.976 Really leading up to COVID, may have even been on the cusp of turning public or just being kinda sold off. They had barely 80 full-paying members. 44 00:07:33.056 --> 00:07:39.516 So the conditions and the budget that they have this place under are, like, incredible and really impressive. 45 00:07:40.016 --> 00:07:47.956 And for me, the thing that stood out as far as the conditions, the greens were good, the tees were good, the fairways were good. Like, that, that whole aspect was great. 46 00:07:47.996 --> 00:07:59.616 But this is a hard golf course with a lot of trees, and sometimes you play golf courses where there are a lot of trees, and you can spray a little bit like I did on the front nine, and you end up losing golf balls. 47 00:07:59.716 --> 00:08:09.816 You end up kind of just rummaging through some scruff or some shrubs under trees. It was very tidy, and it was kind of made it a little bit more playable. 48 00:08:09.876 --> 00:08:20.296 I mean, I hit so many punch shots on the front nine, but I was able to find my golf ball each time and just get it back in play, knock it on the green, and try to just save a par or at least get away with a bogey. 49 00:08:20.646 --> 00:08:28.296 And I was able to do that most of the front nine. And then the back nine opens up a little bit more. Still in really good condition. The greens are rolling nicely. 50 00:08:28.856 --> 00:08:37.176 Um, so that's the first thing that really impressed me was just overall the maintenance, but that the, like, the things on the edges were, were really good. 51 00:08:37.276 --> 00:08:49.156 And that, I think, makes the experience even better, especially when you have a hard golf course. You're trying to maintain a golf course that is, like, relatively narrow. The trees can kinda get in the way sometimes. 52 00:08:49.196 --> 00:08:57.776 There's a couple holes, and that's where I'm gonna go next with the, with the bad that, um, maybe could be improved with, like, a little bit of work. Some of them are just what they are. 53 00:08:58.336 --> 00:09:00.956 Um, so the second hole is the one. It's funny. 54 00:09:01.176 --> 00:09:13.425 When I posted that I was playing here, posted some pictures, and even talked to people after the round who had played there, um, the second hole comes up as, like, one of the least favorite holes on the course, one of the least favorite holes they've ever played. 55 00:09:13.936 --> 00:09:29.396 Very much like a station-to-station par five. A hard hole for people who, you know, uh, have to carry a ball 150 to 275 yards over this water that kind of, like, sits on the dogleg of this dogleg left par five. 56 00:09:29.476 --> 00:09:43.076 So, and there's water right. Just kind of a, a funky hole, especially at the beginning of a round. Um, so that was one hole for me that I, I didn't really love, and I think there are just a few. 57 00:09:43.776 --> 00:09:52.316 There's no other hole like number two. Number two is the, is the standout four [chuckles] for the bad ones. I think everything else overall is, was pretty good. But there's just a few. 58 00:09:52.376 --> 00:10:03.516 Four was another one where if you just, like, if there were a couple trees taken out from the right, um, or just maybe playing it again and understanding where you need to hit your tee shot, and you can push it a little farther left. 59 00:10:03.636 --> 00:10:08.086 I'm not sure. Just, like, you gotta pick the right line and the right club on a lot of the holes on the front. 60 00:10:09.276 --> 00:10:25.455 So if you're someone who sprays the ball a little bit, um, and kinda gets frustrated with maybe having trees in the way after a tee shot or having to punch out a bunch, um, this place can, uh, Segreganset can be, can be a challenge in that way, and it can kinda wear thin on you. 61 00:10:26.236 --> 00:10:33.076 I think as far as the things that stood out to me as maybe could be improved, that second hole is probably beyond repair. 62 00:10:33.176 --> 00:10:39.936 But then you've got just a couple other holes maybe with a couple little trees that could be pulled out, um, to open things up. 63 00:10:40.256 --> 00:10:46.596 Uh, 16 is another hole that gets kind of very tunnel vision as you, as you play it, um, I think no matter how you play it. 64 00:10:46.636 --> 00:10:52.996 And also 15 has a kind of a funny set of wall of trees along the left side, kind of protecting the dogleg. 65 00:10:53.036 --> 00:10:59.656 I hit a horrendous tee shot off, off that hole, and part of it might have been because those trees were on my mind, so maybe they should be there. 66 00:10:59.736 --> 00:11:11.716 But they just, they seem to kind of s- make the hole feel a little bit stagnant, um, as far as just where you gotta hit it and the space you actually have on the other side of the trees on the dogleg. 67 00:11:11.736 --> 00:11:22.656 But those are the gripes. Those are the little things. The last good thing for me, I loved the greens, especially on the back nine. A little bit more interesting. Um, the golf course is a, is a Finlay. 68 00:11:22.736 --> 00:11:36.536 He came and did nine holes, and then Cornish came in and did nine more holes. Most of the front nine currently is a Cornish, and most of the back nine is the Alex Finlay design, who also did Forest Park. 69 00:11:36.576 --> 00:11:45.816 So I played two golf courses that have some Finlay fingerprints on them this month as well. But the greens on the back just felt a l-- You can feel it when you're on the fairways. 70 00:11:45.956 --> 00:11:49.056 They have a little bit more shape to them. They have a little bit more slope. 71 00:11:49.176 --> 00:12:00.376 Even from 100, 150 yards, you can kinda see where you might want to try to hit your shots to just not be in trouble or to have a, maybe an easier putt or an easier chip or whatever. 72 00:12:00.476 --> 00:12:10.116 Um, especially I thought, like, the 13th green, a par f- or the 14th green, which is a par five, was very good. Also, the 11th is kind of this cool bowl. 73 00:12:10.676 --> 00:12:20.096 Uh, they had the pin, like, tucked in the back right corner, but Jonathan dropped a ball in the middle and showed kind of some ways that the balls collect down to the front of that green, which was, which was neat. 74 00:12:20.136 --> 00:12:20.826 So that's 11. 75 00:12:20.976 --> 00:12:42.316 13, 14, and 15 also were just very cool greens, a little bit bigger, more slopes, more things to, to kinda just try to get around as you're trying to putt it or chip it or even when you have an iron in your hand and you're looking at the green trying to figure out how you wanna get to a pin or to a section of a green, um, or just anywhere up near the green that's a safe spot. 76 00:12:42.376 --> 00:12:54.164 So the greens were very good. Um, and on the back especially, just a little, uh, just engaging stuff, um, over there. So Segreganset, a hard golf course, well-maintained. 77 00:12:54.314 --> 00:13:02.684 One really bad hole, a few places where some trees and some stuff could be opened up. Um, and it seems like they are working very hard, and they are a very proud membership. 78 00:13:02.704 --> 00:13:10.284 They were wonderful to hang out with for a day. Had lunch afterwards, chatting with them about how far the club has come over the last six or seven years. 79 00:13:10.364 --> 00:13:20.504 One of those places that was truly, truly, you know, saved by the golf boom through COVID-19, and they've just kept on rolling along. 80 00:13:20.544 --> 00:13:28.424 An affordable membership if you're down in that area and you're thinking about, like, "I'd love to join a place," this is a place that is a, uh, y- your game would get better very quickly. 81 00:13:28.464 --> 00:13:39.904 Your handicap will go up at the early point, but your game, you'll become a, a better golfer, uh, if you join Segreganset. Golf only. Uh, very cool place down in Segreganset. So thanks to Jonathan for that invite. 82 00:13:40.484 --> 00:13:45.434 Before we get to my final three, just wanna give a quick plug. It is the middle of the summer. It is hot. 83 00:13:45.464 --> 00:13:55.904 The fall season is closer than it appears, and you're gonna want some good gear when it gets a little chillier, maybe even you're playing in some rain. And that's why Galway Bay is worth checking out. 84 00:13:55.944 --> 00:14:06.984 They have a ton of great stuff. They have an incredible chino rain pant that I have worn when it's raining, uh, have worn just in rain in general, walking the dog, going down to Celtics games. 85 00:14:07.024 --> 00:14:15.884 You can wear 'em in public and not feel like you're wearing golf stuff, which I like a lot. I've got the Rockbart jacket as well, a full zip. 86 00:14:16.384 --> 00:14:25.744 Really warm, good for those chillier days, chillier mornings, which are coming. I hate to break it to you. We're into August, but around the corner is the fall. So check out Galway Bay. 87 00:14:25.844 --> 00:14:35.884 I put some links in the description. They always have some s- good sales going on, and good place to either if you're traveling to go play golf somewhere a little cooler, a little wetter. 88 00:14:35.894 --> 00:14:48.564 Maybe you're going to Ireland, Scotland, Bandon. This is some good stuff to pick up. So Galway Bay, go check it out. Now, the final three places I played are what a smorgasbord of golf I got to play at the end of July. 89 00:14:48.704 --> 00:14:59.864 First off, I went down to Heather Hill. This is a golf course that is closing at the end of August. There's-- So it's got 30 days left from when I'm recording this on August 1st to, uh, if you wanna go play it. 90 00:15:00.904 --> 00:15:10.104 I got to play with Patrick Chatfield, Davis Chatfield's brother. This is the golf course that they played high school golf at. Um, Bishop Feehan High School played down there. 91 00:15:10.784 --> 00:15:24.584 And so, you know, a PGA Tour pro kind of played competitively there for four years. It's a place he, um, still goes back to and plays when he's in the area. And Patrick invited me down to play. Had a blast. 92 00:15:24.644 --> 00:15:35.084 Played with him and his uncle, Bud. Uh, met a bunch of people who care about the place. Played the back nine with another guy who works in the pro shop named Dave. So, like, a very cool experience being out there. 93 00:15:35.124 --> 00:15:43.784 They clearly love the place. It used to be 9 holes, then it was 18 holes, then they bulked it up to 27 holes. It's a huge piece of property. It's being sold off. 94 00:15:44.004 --> 00:15:52.564 Now it's 18 holes, and you're playing kind of a different routing where some of the holes are closed, so you're playing other holes, but still you're playing 18. 95 00:15:53.064 --> 00:15:59.764 Um, the scorecards are all kinda marked up just so people don't end up on the wrong hole. There's some signs posted that different holes are closed. 96 00:16:00.744 --> 00:16:12.524 Obviously, this is a place that is, you know, as you can see in the images in the video here, the g- the fairways are browned out. Um, I met the superintendent. He said they just aren't watering them. 97 00:16:13.044 --> 00:16:19.884 The golf course has kinda been in limbo for 14 years, and he's been working there trying to figure out when it's closing, when it's gonna sell, and all that stuff. 98 00:16:19.964 --> 00:16:25.064 But very tight budget, gets smaller every year, so they put them into the greens. That's the first good thing. 99 00:16:25.124 --> 00:16:38.504 Like, if you want to go and play some golf and putt on some good greens and you're okay with either playing the ball down and having crummy lies or just going and rolling it over and having decent lies and just playing some golf, like, the greens were great. 100 00:16:39.104 --> 00:16:46.434 And it sounds like they're gonna take some of those greens and the grass and move them over to Wentworth Hills, which is their, um, sister course owned by the same people. 101 00:16:46.784 --> 00:16:56.084 A lot of the folks who are working at Heather Hill now are gonna end up or kinda work back and forth. Seth, the superintendent, is apparently gonna become the superintendent over there. So those greens are good. 102 00:16:56.544 --> 00:17:06.224 So if I haven't been to Wentworth, I don't know what the greens, like, are over there right now, but Seth did a great job with these greens. They rolled true. They were, uh, like, just r- in really good shape. 103 00:17:06.274 --> 00:17:11.704 And in contrast to, you know, the fairways that he can't water, um, it, it's, it's a very interesting dynamic. 104 00:17:11.744 --> 00:17:23.864 Feels a little bit… I mean, I'm not gonna say it's links golf 'cause it's absolutely not, but it f- you just feel like you're playing somewhere that is a little linksier because the ground is so brown and the gr- and the greens are so green. 105 00:17:23.924 --> 00:17:28.424 So that's the first thing for me that I really loved. I just, I liked, I thought the greens were, I thought the greens were good. 106 00:17:28.544 --> 00:17:40.844 Obviously, the bad is if you don't like, if you don't like places that are, you know, in pristine condition, then Heather Hill is not for you. Um, so that's, that's, that would be the bad. 107 00:17:40.884 --> 00:17:49.644 There's some, like, funky holes. There's a lot of overhanging trees. It's really hard to come up with a bad thing when this golf course is closing in a month. Like, just, if you're interested, go play it. 108 00:17:49.984 --> 00:17:55.404 It's a little bit… I'd say the price is a little bit high. I heard, I, I had a couple people DM me about that too. 109 00:17:55.984 --> 00:18:09.424 Um, you know, it's kind of funny to p- feel like you're paying full rate, uh, when the golf course is closing and, and you're not getting, like, great conditions between the tees and the f- and the greens, but that would be maybe the one thing. 110 00:18:09.504 --> 00:18:18.444 But come on, we're-- This golf course is gonna be gone in a month. Um, if you're interested, just have a little bit of, uh, curiosity and you live down in that area, go check it out. 111 00:18:19.024 --> 00:18:26.044 And then the last thing for me as far as the good, it's a cool mix of, like, very narrow golf and very wide golf. 112 00:18:26.124 --> 00:18:31.664 The 11th hole and the, there's a, that little section you're, you could be playing, like, on other fairways. 113 00:18:31.704 --> 00:18:43.764 It's a little bit c- It probably gets super slow when it's busy or when it was busy because there's just golf balls kind of flying everywhere. The 11th green and that 11th hole was probably my favorite. 114 00:18:43.804 --> 00:18:54.964 The green is tiny, and there's just mounds all the way around it that if you hit the, if you hit your shot, like, anywhere even on the edge of the green, it could, you kinda get a bounce, like, in any sort of direction, any which way. 115 00:18:55.004 --> 00:19:06.472 We had a couple balls do that in our group. So I thought that was a cool, very specific green, um, that I liked as well as far as a, a final good thing. But Heather Hill closing in, you know, a a month. 116 00:19:06.732 --> 00:19:10.812 Aug- August 30th, it seems like when I talked to them, is the last day for golf there. 117 00:19:10.952 --> 00:19:17.832 So I'm sure they'll be doing a bunch of things with members and people who just wanna go play it one last time, high school teams or reunions or whatever. 118 00:19:18.272 --> 00:19:26.052 But again, if you're interested and you wanna go check this place out just because it's closing, go check it out, um, and, and see Heather Hill. 119 00:19:27.212 --> 00:19:37.642 On the maybe the opposite side of the spectrum of golf, the very next day I went and played Boston Golf Club, a place I have now played four times since the quest. I have a friend who's a member. 120 00:19:38.151 --> 00:19:49.532 I hadn't been back in about four years. I don't know what that says about how I was the first few times I was there. [chuckles] Um, but got invited back, and we went and played. And, um, they've done a bunch of changes. 121 00:19:49.772 --> 00:19:53.292 It's a golf course that I have said in the past I don't think I could play every day. 122 00:19:53.452 --> 00:20:04.512 It's kind of you get a lot of cork, and f- you, you're playing away from a lot of pins, and balls can roll into funny places, and it gets really h- it can get really hard really fast. 123 00:20:04.832 --> 00:20:11.002 It's pretty open off the tee, um, but as you kinda get close to the hole, things start to get more and more challenging. 124 00:20:12.252 --> 00:20:25.092 And there were a couple greens and l- and shots that I didn't love, but there are some-- Like, this golf course has some of my favorite golf shots that you get to hit in the state, and that's maybe the first good thing here, is I just... 125 00:20:25.772 --> 00:20:37.112 The golf course, especially opening stretch, 5 and 6 is one of the cooler back-to-back par four, par three combos, I think, in Massachusetts just for the way they play and the things you have to do. 126 00:20:37.152 --> 00:20:53.532 The golf course, though, is so strong at the start, and you're thinking so much about the shots you have to hit that I didn't-- Like, I get excited to play 5 and 6, and I didn't even realize it unti- or it didn't hit me until I had my putter in my hand on the fourth green, like, oh, the fifth hole is next, because everything is really good. 127 00:20:53.572 --> 00:21:05.202 Every hole feels like a little event. That's what I wrote when I first played it. Every hole is just this one individual thing, but then they are at the end tied really nicely together. 128 00:21:05.252 --> 00:21:14.892 So this golf course has, like, checkpoints. I think that's-- It's not necessarily shots. It's not necessarily holes, but there are these little checkpoints. Getting onto the fifth green is definitely a checkpoint. 129 00:21:14.931 --> 00:21:25.272 Getting onto the sixth green is definitely a checkpoint. It used to be that getting onto the 12th green was a checkpoint. That green was probably my least favorite, uh, one that I just did not like. 130 00:21:25.332 --> 00:21:36.762 I knew it needed-- I, I knew and it felt like to me it needed to be softened and, and kind of a-- just put in a position where the balls can actually stay on the f- on the front a little bit and on the back. 131 00:21:37.221 --> 00:21:45.352 It's kind of a potato chip, almost like a Pringle chip, and everything falls off on the front and the back. Um, so I never really liked that hole. 132 00:21:45.372 --> 00:21:55.432 Gilhanes came in and did a bunch of changes, especially on 11 and 12 and 18 to just soften those holes a little bit and g- put some new pin positions and give golf balls a better chance of staying on the green. 133 00:21:55.912 --> 00:22:03.132 So those, those things were really, really good improvements, and it made the golf course just feel a little bit more manageable. 134 00:22:03.392 --> 00:22:11.892 It's a really good golf course, and it actually walking off 18 this time, I think I liked it more than I had in the previous kind of times I'd gone around. 135 00:22:12.072 --> 00:22:20.941 Always really liked it, but always just had a bad taste in my mouth for some of the kind of wonkiness on some of those greens. And Gilhanes came back and, and kind of fixed some of those problems. 136 00:22:21.332 --> 00:22:31.612 So that's the first good. Like, the place continues to get better. The range has also been changed. They have, like, a short course that the range turns into after two o'clock. 137 00:22:31.692 --> 00:22:40.652 But used to be a golf course where it would, it would probably be the maybe one of the bad things I would talk about before is you don't really, you didn't really have a chance to warm up. The range was kind of small. 138 00:22:40.992 --> 00:22:50.532 It was kind of tree-lined and almost, like, dingy and dark and a funny way to start a round. And now they, they kind of blew it out. It's open. You can see it from the road. 139 00:22:50.592 --> 00:22:57.032 It's a place you go down to and, like, you can hang out before the round and actually hit some golf shots. And there's a little halfway house up there. 140 00:22:57.472 --> 00:23:02.732 You can go grab a beer or whatever you want before your round or after nine holes. So that's another little cool thing. 141 00:23:02.772 --> 00:23:11.332 So they're just all-- There seems like they're chipping away at just making it a little bit better every year, and I really liked the improvements that I saw from when I played it four years ago. 142 00:23:12.052 --> 00:23:29.532 I think the, the, the gripe for me is-- and it's never gonna change, so this is one of those, like, Sean wants to reroute a golf course kind of complaints, but finishes as a par three on the 18th, um, always just personally feels a little bit flat. 143 00:23:29.612 --> 00:23:42.852 You walk off. You play. 15's a par five. Great, really cool par five. 16 is one of the better par fours i- on the golf course, just a cool risk-reward short par four that I've written about I like a lot. 144 00:23:42.892 --> 00:23:53.412 Then 17's another par five. So you have this great 45 minutes. You walk off 17. You feel like you wanna hit a tee shot, a driver, get the ball in the fairway. 145 00:23:53.512 --> 00:24:01.212 The fairways are so wide there that any other hole you're, you know, you're gonna feel pretty comfortable hitting a tee shot on the 18th hole to, to get it home. 146 00:24:01.792 --> 00:24:13.972 And instead you're-- I think I hit a six iron into a green uphill. You can't even really see the green. There's not that much drama in that finish when you can't see the green. You can't see the result of your shot. 147 00:24:14.532 --> 00:24:22.072 Um, they did do a very good job fixing and improving that green. It's deeper. It's got a little less kind of hard, hard slope. 148 00:24:22.672 --> 00:24:34.952 Cool little punch bowl, mini-- almost a, a bigger, a big bathtub or a small punch bowl on the left front that we had. Our pin was in there when we played. I just don't love finishing on, on a par three. 149 00:24:35.072 --> 00:24:44.892 I think I try to talk myself into liking it. There's a lot more courses in Massachusetts that do finish with a par three. I don't really-- I haven't really found one that I, I particularly like yet. 150 00:24:45.012 --> 00:24:51.952 Um, so that would be the one thing that, you know, it's never gonna change, but if that's the one thing that this golf course has against it, I think that's a pretty good golf course. 151 00:24:52.492 --> 00:25:02.812 And then the last thing, I think this goes to, uh, the-- from my experience playing this very specific time with a person who had never played the golf course before. Three of us in the group had played it. 152 00:25:02.892 --> 00:25:11.612 The f- fourth had not played it, um, and he-- It was interesting. He had got on the second tee box, and he just looked at all of us. 153 00:25:11.712 --> 00:25:17.472 We had two caddies with us, and we're all kind of, like, pretty comfortable with the tee shots, the first tee shot, the second tee shot. 154 00:25:18.092 --> 00:25:29.852 And r- uh, he already said, you know, I was, I was told, or I was informed, or I had read that this is a place you can kind of spray the golf ball. And it, it is. 155 00:25:29.912 --> 00:25:36.692 It's a golf course where you don't have to be super-duper accurate off the tee. You can-- There's a bunch of fairways that are super wide. 156 00:25:37.352 --> 00:25:44.812 But they're kind of hidden, and that was-- it was neat to watch someone who had never played it before kind of have to go through, "All right. 157 00:25:44.832 --> 00:25:53.472 You're telling me there's a lot of space out there, but I can't see the space. I see fescue, and I see no landing area 'cause it's blind. 158 00:25:53.552 --> 00:25:58.932 I see a bunker that you're telling me to aim over, that I don't really have to worry about, but that's the aiming point." 159 00:25:59.392 --> 00:26:09.961 So that was, like, a very-- That kind of made me appreciate the tee shots a little bit more because I knew them. But watching someone who hadn't seen them before playing it at the, for the first time. 160 00:26:09.972 --> 00:26:19.672 And then that can just get your head spinning a little bit, and you don't trust your tee shots, and you're not sure where to go. And, um, it just kind of can, can spiral from there. 161 00:26:19.712 --> 00:26:32.052 And then you get to the back nine and, like, 12. Twelve is probably an 80-yard wide fairway, but you can't see any of it. And so it feels like you've got to be pretty, pretty accurate when, in truth, you don't. 162 00:26:32.412 --> 00:26:38.092 Um, I-- you can hit, like, a rope hook there and almost still be in the fairway and have, you know, a mid-iron in. 163 00:26:38.192 --> 00:26:52.932 So that was a really, a really f- cool experience just, just to watch someone who had never played it before and have that sense of doubt on the part of the golf course that is, in essence, the simplest part of the golf course. 164 00:26:52.992 --> 00:27:04.492 So just a, a, a good design little feature there that I thought I'd never really appreciated until I watched that guy play, um, play the round and, and try to get it around. So that was, that was, that was very cool. 165 00:27:04.792 --> 00:27:16.012 My last round of the month was at Bellevue Golf Club in Melrose, a nine-hole private golf course that I was really impressed with. I knew a little bit about it, uh, but still a little bit of a mystery. 166 00:27:16.072 --> 00:27:26.492 Didn't know any of the holes, didn't know the designer. It was, uh, Wayne Styles, I found out while I was there. And the first thing I liked about it, just the simplicity of the whole place. It's just a clubhouse. 167 00:27:26.512 --> 00:27:38.892 They have tennis. They have a pool. But you're kind of there, and the nine holes are-- It's an easy walk, not a lot of hills, um, not a lot of long holes, but just very simple. 168 00:27:38.972 --> 00:27:48.352 A place that you could absolutely, and I could absolutely play every day, to be honest with you. I, like, I would put my name on a wait list to be on it for eight years at this point. 169 00:27:48.412 --> 00:28:00.102 The proximity to where I live in Boston is incredible. If you're wondering where it is, it's almost, like, just behind, four minutes behind the Square One Mall, um, in Saugus, just in Melrose there off Route 1. 170 00:28:00.132 --> 00:28:12.332 Like, it's, uh, very close to that northern part of Boston. So that's the first thing I liked. I just-- It was a very simple, straightforward, easy walk golf course. We played on a Monday evening. 171 00:28:12.472 --> 00:28:24.292 It was just kind of quiet. As we finished at f-fo-fi-five o'clock or as we finished at 5:45-ish, um, the three of us just, we, it took an hour forty-five minutes to play. 172 00:28:24.862 --> 00:28:36.562 There were, you know, a small group of guys going out to play at 6:00. Like, late summer evening rounds of golf, place isn't packed, um, nice clubhouse. Just, uh, um, giving a membership pitch here. 173 00:28:36.632 --> 00:28:47.672 But it was, like, a very cool, just very nice place to go and play golf, um, on a Monday evening. Nine holes, you feel like you get-- y-you feel like you're playing golf for nine holes, if that makes sense. 174 00:28:47.812 --> 00:28:54.832 You, sometimes you go play a nine-hole golf course and, and you're, you're like, "I, I wanna play more," in the way that, like, I didn't get enough out of this. 175 00:28:54.882 --> 00:29:04.332 And I think Bellevue, you, it leaves you feeling like you played nine holes. It also leaves you feeling, which I appreciate, like you wanna go play more golf, and you wanna play it again. 176 00:29:04.792 --> 00:29:15.312 Um, so the, both those things are really good. I think for me, the one thing that's maybe holding Bellevue back, if that's the right phrase here, is just the length. 177 00:29:15.652 --> 00:29:23.652 Now, keep in mind, I guess on Mondays, they do put the tees up a little farther, uh, to give the back tee boxes a little bit of a break for the rest of the week. 178 00:29:23.692 --> 00:29:34.972 But they also put the pins in some wild places, so I got to see it kind of short with some pins in, on these greens that were, were pretty, were pretty just crazy. Um, which was great. I appreciated that. That was fun. 179 00:29:35.052 --> 00:29:45.732 But just a little bit more length, um, out of the f- you know, the first few holes. You gotta-- The second and third hole is probably the ones that stand out to me the most as, like, kind of quirky, funky. 180 00:29:46.212 --> 00:29:55.492 So maybe I go back, and I see it again from, you know, on a Tuesday through Sunday, and the, it feels a little bit longer. There's a little bit more meat to it. But for me, that was probably the one thing. 181 00:29:55.912 --> 00:30:06.272 And then I think the third hole is just a little bit, a little bit odd as, as far as the tee shot. Just big trees on the right. Um, you gotta either lay out to the left. 182 00:30:06.472 --> 00:30:16.192 I hit probably the best drive I could've hit, even kind of on accident. Uh, but might be a little bit easier, again, from those back tees. Just a little bit more length would be, would be great there. 183 00:30:16.232 --> 00:30:23.812 It would really kinda cap off the golf course, I think, 'cause it is, it is a really good nine-hole private golf course. And a nine-hole golf course in general, private or public. 184 00:30:23.982 --> 00:30:35.252 I just, I, I really, I really enjoyed the round. And finally, the thing that I, I liked, the last good thing, the second good thing, the greens. They were outstanding. They were in great shape. 185 00:30:35.392 --> 00:30:47.192 Again, I saw them with some pins that were in some really tough spots. Even from some of the pictures I posted on Instagram, I heard from people like, "Oh, man, you got, you got that pin on the third hole? 186 00:30:47.312 --> 00:30:55.892 Like, front pin on the third hole? That's crazy." But I think that's just what they do when they shorten the course on a Monday. They just make the pins a little harder, which is great. It was a lot of fun. 187 00:30:56.212 --> 00:31:09.712 They were, like, I don't know what it was about that evening, but I, either my ball was flying farther, it was warm, or the greens are very, are, like, firm. But I had to be very careful hitting shots into these greens. 188 00:31:09.812 --> 00:31:20.502 I went long a couple times and three-putted, uh, or had to really be very careful with a chip. Um, my best shot of the day was on the seventh hole, where I landed a 60-degree, like, front of the green. 189 00:31:20.552 --> 00:31:27.592 It rolled all the way up, almost went in. But that was, like, I finally figured out, like, I, I gotta play front yardages the whole time around. 190 00:31:27.632 --> 00:31:32.592 You don't really think that, um, 'cause the greens don't feel firm underfoot. But they were bouncy. 191 00:31:32.632 --> 00:31:38.792 I was hitting a couple shots, and then- Man, there's some spots around the greens if you're chipping from that are just like you're dead. 192 00:31:38.892 --> 00:31:44.072 Um, and you're-- And if you don't know where to miss, you are going to have a very hard time saving par. 193 00:31:44.182 --> 00:31:51.352 So the greens were great, and that would keep you, even with the, with the length of the golf course, it keeps you engaged the whole time. 194 00:31:51.392 --> 00:32:01.392 You're not playing a short golf course with relatively flat greens that are uninteresting. It is a golf course that has, uh, some bite as you get close to the green, and on the greens you gotta be very careful. 195 00:32:01.492 --> 00:32:09.752 Um, so, you know, you become, if you played there growing up, if you played there a lot, you become a pretty good wedge player, pretty good putter, and you'd have to know how to manage your distances. 196 00:32:09.792 --> 00:32:14.032 So those are all, those are all good things out of my round at Bellevue. Really cool place. 197 00:32:14.512 --> 00:32:24.772 Uh, would encourage people to go and check it out, um, if you get an invite or if you, if you live in that area, or if you see it on an auction or any other way to get out there and play. Very cool. Really enjoyed it. 198 00:32:25.292 --> 00:32:25.932 Really enjoyed it. 199 00:32:26.032 --> 00:32:40.912 I thought, I thought it's a place I could see myself being a member at, um, or wanting to be a member at, just as far as the golf course, the proximity to home, um, the ease of getting up there, the ease of getting home, the ease of playing the golf course, the, the interest in it. 200 00:32:41.052 --> 00:32:49.212 Just a, just a good place. Really enjoyed Bellevue. So, and that is it for my July. I am currently at course one eighty-one. 201 00:32:49.752 --> 00:32:58.832 If you would like to read my reviews and my thoughts on all these golf courses, I have a digital book that wr- that covers courses one through one sixty-eight right now. 202 00:32:58.872 --> 00:33:08.972 That's how many I played up until the beginning of the season. If you buy it now, you get an updated, improved version every winter with the new courses that I checked off of the list. 203 00:33:09.722 --> 00:33:24.352 It's $30 right now, but you're paying $30 for, at the end, an entire review, book of reviews of every golf course in the state of Massachusetts once I am done. And you're gonna get 190 at least. I'm hoping to get to 200. 204 00:33:24.392 --> 00:33:36.472 That is my big goal this year, is to reach 200 before the snowfall. So if you buy it now, in the winter you'll get a Bay State Golf Volume Two for free with 200 reviews. 205 00:33:36.532 --> 00:33:44.732 I'm hoping to get there, but there will be more than 168. So you could do that. You can follow me on Instagram, where I post about all these golf courses. You could also subscribe to my newsletter. 206 00:33:44.932 --> 00:33:51.972 I cover competitive golf. I play golf on golf courses every now and then. I try to compete as well. 207 00:33:51.992 --> 00:34:06.272 And my newsletter covers, you know, the pros like Thor Bjornsson and Davis Chatfield and Chris Francour, who just shot a 59 on Friday, uh, of the, of the tournament that's going on out in Utah as I'm recording this on Saturday, August 1st. 208 00:34:06.592 --> 00:34:18.752 Shot a 59. Um, so I cover those players, cover their results, um, track them, cover amateur golf. I'm gonna be going to the U.S. Amateur in a couple weeks to just cover the New England players who are gonna be out there. 209 00:34:19.192 --> 00:34:30.622 So you can subscribe to that newsletter. If you'd like to support me and help me get to the U.S. Am, help me pay for gas, help me pay to be able to do these things, you can become a paid subscriber as well. 210 00:34:30.632 --> 00:34:33.152 You can also subscribe to this channel. 211 00:34:33.192 --> 00:34:44.812 That obviously helps with views and all that kind of stuff, and getting the word out about what I'm doing here in Massachusetts, trying to cover Bay State Golf across competitive and golf courses. 212 00:34:46.252 --> 00:34:54.652 And that's all I got for you this week. We will see you next week, and we will see you next month for a recap. Got a busy August. Looking forward to sharing it all with you. We'll see you next week. 213 00:34:56.292 --> 00:35:16.892 [outro music]