Address The Ball

Hello friends, welcome to another Address the Ball blog post! Today, we are going to dive into my favorite 9-hole courses in the Greater Boston area.  For this list, I'll focus on my top-5 public courses that everyone can access. Let's start it up! 1. Patriot Golf Course (Bedford, MA) Located on the grounds of the VA Medical Center in Bedford (and adjacent to Middlesex Community College), this course is underrated in my opinion. It has a military course feel: straightforward, affordable, low-frills, and very walkable. Despite the 9-hole layout, it’s more demanding than the yardage suggests. (2,600-2,900 yards) While this course may be short on paper, the greens are small and fairly protected with holes that will require some target golf instead of a bomb-and-gouge approach. If you queue up a round at Patriot, get ready for a solid test of your irons and wedges. The pace of play here is faster than a lot of other courses, but you can still have an outlier round that can take ove...

  How to Plan a Golf Weekend Trip Without Blowing Your Budget Golf trips are having a moment. Post-pandemic, more golfers are turning weekend getaways into mini golf adventures — escaping to play courses they'd never encounter in their hometown, bonding with friends over 36 holes, and creating memories that last longer than any round. But here's the problem: when most people think of a golf trip, they think of Pebble Beach prices. Five-star resorts, $400 greens fees, and a total bill that makes you wince when you check out. The truth? You can plan an unforgettable golf weekend for under $500 per person — and still play fantastic courses, stay somewhere comfortable, and eat well. You just need to know where to save, where to splurge, and how to avoid the tourist traps that drain your wallet. Here's the exact playbook. Timing: Shoulder Season for Half the Price, Same Quality The single biggest factor in your trip cost isn't where you go — it's when you go. Peak season...

  Bomb It Off the Tee: The Serious Golfer's Guide to Unlocking Monster Distance There's a moment every golfer knows. You're standing on the first tee, the group ahead has just cleared, and you've got a driver in your hand. Everything — the round, your confidence, your bragging rights for the next four hours — starts right here. Distance isn't everything in golf, but off the tee, it changes everything else . Fewer yards to the pin means shorter approach shots, higher greens-in-regulation percentages, and lower scores. Science and stats agree: driving distance is one of the strongest correlates with scoring average at every level of the game. So how do you actually get longer? Not with gimmicks. Not with a new $600 driver every season. With fundamentals, physics, and a commitment to understanding what's really happening when clubface meets ball. 1. Speed Is King — But Efficient Speed Wins The single biggest driver of distance is clubhead speed. Every addition...