My 6-6-6 Strategy for Not Pulling My Hair Out on the Golf Course

June 30, 2021 by Sean Melia

There’s a well known thought process in baseball intended to help teams manage the highs and lows of a 162 game season. The idea is that every team is going win 60 games and lose 60 games during the season. The key is what teams do with those other 62 games. If a team manages to win 35 of those remaining games then thats a 95 win season. Not too shabby. The tricky part about this thinking is that teams never know what games fall into which bucket until the season is done. However, I do think it’s a solid was of managing a long season and it can work in golf, too.

My Worst Golf is Behind Me. I finished Dead Last in the Patriot League Championship.

June 03, 2021 by Sean Melia in Golf

The little pine trees along the right side of the fairways seemed innocuous enough. Short and stout, built to create some separation between the 8th and 9th holes. As my golf ball drifted in their direction from the tee box, I assumed my competitive round had started like most of them - with a nervous swing that looped to the right like a kite searching for a gust of wind on a calm day. My playing partners teed off and we headed on down the fairway in search of our golf balls. We had 54 holes of golf ahead of us.

Instagram Models and Golf Lessons. Putting Down the Phone and Getting Professional Help.

May 27, 2021 by Sean Melia in Golf

Short game instructors are my Instagram models. I scroll through my feed watching James Ridyard and James Oh hit nippy wedges as I wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth hoping to find the secret to what makes it look so easy. Is it their tempo? Set-up? Grip? Do I need to change my name to “James”? Is it just God-given talent that I somehow didn’t receive? I’ll double tap to like (maybe they’ll notice me…) or sometimes I’ll be so bold as to write a comment.

The Pressure of Playing a Golf Course Only One Time

May 12, 2021 by Sean Melia in Golf

Over the last year, I have played dozens of brand new courses as I try to play every course in Massachusetts. I have also returned to courses I have played previously. The courses I am familiar with aren’t always a warm blanket on a cool evening, some of them have their own little demons hiding around the course. Poor shots and big numbers spin in the back of my mind, but so do birdies and great par saves and what iron I like to hit into a particular par 3. The guess work is more limited, and that is a nice feeling. But there can be such a thing as too much knowledge.

We Can Do Better Than the Word "Fun" When Talking About Golf Courses

April 21, 2021 by Sean Melia in Golf

The word “fun” has permeated sports writing and discussion over the last handful of years. In particular NBA and golf media have beaten the word so thoroughly into the ground that it’s lost all meaning. Damian Lillard is fun to watch. The Phoenix Suns are fun to watch. Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe discuss their most “fun” NBA League Pass teams each year.

Golf is the same.

Half Baked Idea: What if Golf Courses Were Set Up Like Ski Mountains?

January 27, 2021 by Sean Melia

So what if a golf course tried the ski mountain set-up once or twice a year?

What do I mean by “The Ski Mountain Set-up?”

Well, first off, any paying patron for that day would purchase a “day-pass” that would allow you to be on the course all day. You’d have the course, range, putting green, and clubhouse at your disposal (we could probably come up with some cool badge or bag-tag that each player could wear.).

Golf as a Babysitter

December 22, 2020 by Sean Melia

Those long summer days with a couple friends on a tiny nine-hole public course were some of my favorites. Too young for a job, but old enough to have trusting parents willing to grant me some independence. All my parents knew was that I liked golf, I came home happy, and no one ever chased me down the car park to tell my mom her son and his friends are a menace to the sport and the club. Every now and then I’d proclaim a score I was proud of.

The College Ghosts of Yale's Ninth Tee

December 09, 2020 by Sean Melia

There’s a line of golfers on the tee box waiting like shoppers at the deli counter. A light mist falls that feels like it might turn to snow at any moment falls lightly. Even at the edges of the woods, the remains of a long winter lurk: crusty snow and mud. We’re high above the 9th green and there’s a back-up that will be the talk of the van ride home, probably because it was the talk of the van ride to the course. The veteran golfers warning the freshman about the 9th hole and having to wait for two, maybe even three groups to play. Various bags pock the tee box with good and bad logos, some guys talk to each other, some pace nervously, and others just stare out at the abyss, watching the group on the green barrel around one of the most famous greens in the world.

Skip the Pinnacles and Top Flites: A Golf Gift Guide So You Don't Mess It Up This Year.

December 01, 2020 by Sean Melia

Christmas and holiday shopping is upon us. Find the perfect gift for the golfer in your life using this guide. From gear to clothes to bags, it's all in here.

Running and Golf: The Comparisons We Make of Others

November 25, 2020 by Sean Melia

The Charles River teems with runners most days, no matter the weather. They weave between the walkers and the gawkers who are enjoying the views from either side of the river, looking over at Boston’s skyline or at Cambridge’s institutions of higher learner, snapping pictures for the ‘gram.

The great outdoors have been a blessing in the last eight months as the pandemic has forced us to search for a clear mind and some fresh air. Running and golf are the two things that have always offered me some escape, solitude, recalibration, and companionship.

The Joy of Playing with a Half-Set

November 18, 2020 by Sean Melia in Golf

There’s nothing like walking a golf course. The clubs clanging off each other, the blood pumping, the mind clearing. Like a mountain climber, the golf walker must consider what they wish to carry on a given round. Beers (or… soda…) provide a weighty start and a light finish at the summit. A pessimist might stash away too many golf balls, the optimist, too few. In the fall, an extra layer or winter hat might require space in the bag, too.