The Weekly Waggle- 7/21/25
The Open, A Good Week, and Made for the Wind
On a brief tour of northern New England this weekend, we were reminded that there are stories out there that require more work than perhaps you might think. Not that we weren’t up to the challenge, in fact, the humble staff of the investigative journalism division of The Waggle continues to work on some new and exciting stories while also finding ourselves in increasingly remote places. Getting to see parts of New England that we ordinarily wouldn’t travel to if it weren’t for the golf has been a kind of reliable way to help reflect on all the things we’ve seen in the region over the past year. And, man, we have seen a lot. I’ll continue to scream it from the rafters: the depth of golf in New England is astounding, and traveling to the nooks and crannies of the region is well worth the effort if you can swing it. After this weekend of travel, we will also say this much: at times, it can be a challenge to eat well in small-town New England if you’re looking to avoid the ubiquitous tavern menus. However, the Gorham/Jackson, NH area provided reliably good coffee and very good food, if you know where to look. We ran into some very talented people in this regard and it was a an excellent bonus to have a couple of great meals. Fun trip!
We are back home now, and here are the items from the notebook this week:
The end of The Open on Sunday, featuring another dominant Scottie Scheffler performance at Royal Portrush, also brings two weeks of links golf on TV to an end as well. The Waggle has previously expressed our disappointment with the lack of links golf that we get to see each year from the pro side of the game, and now the next event to be seen will be the Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews in October, which is low-key one of the best watches of any golf season. Given the relatively mild weather this week and Scheffler's dominance on the weekend, there was little drama at this year’s Open, but the annual homage to the history and tradition of golf featured a proper champion on a proper links golf course, and we probably can’t ask for much more than that. The Open radio coverage (on the app) was incredible and added to the experience in ways that I wish I were better able to articulate, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a week. I love The Open unreservedly, and nowhere else in golf do you see the pros sneaking out to play more golf with their friends and family at courses in the area as you do during Open week. Among the stories, The Fried Egg reported Stewart Cink missing the cut at Portrush and then teeing off at Portstewart, just down the road, that same afternoon. That’s proper golf sicko behavior, and something about the mythical draw of links golf seems to bring that to the surface for more than a few pros each year as well. As Michael Verity said on The Waggle Pod last week (it was an excellent podcast; go listen to it), links golf is a puzzle with an answer that changes each day. It’s up to you to seek out those questions for yourself. You’ll be glad that you did.
One of the great logos in golf: The Myopia Hunt Club 
“Myopia Hunt Club. 10/10. No Notes” The Waggle had another tremendous week of golf, and we were able to visit both the Myopia Hunt Club and the Cape Arundel Golf Club within a few days. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a tough combo to beat. Conditions at both were fast and firm and simply delightful. The Waggle is not a stranger to either course, but something really “clicked” into perspective at Myopia for me on this go-around- no doubt in part due to the incredible conditioning and playing reasonably well. It’s a very special place to play golf (Top100 #67 in the world), and following an eagle on the second and all-time locker room visit, I found myself highly reluctant to leave at the end of the day. It’s one of New England’s - and the country’s great golf courses, and I will be thinking about this latest visit for quite a while. An unexpected return visit to Cape Arundel a few days later was not on my calendar at the start of the week but I was happy to be a last-second substitute for a scheduled game in progress. Despite threatening skies that chased off both the 43rd President of the United States (not kidding) and most of the other players on the course, our group persevered, and getting to play CAGC in “summer shape” was incredibly enjoyable. If there is one place that you can play this year that will improve your understanding of golf and golf course design, it is Cape Arundel and its world-class set of Walter Travis greens. I learn something on each trip and received a warm welcome on this one in particular; shout out to the legend, Napi!
Mike Norcia of Forewind Golf on the 18th tee at Cape Arundel 
“Long Shadows on the Covered Porch” Finally, it was with a certain amount of fanfare and excitement that the first
episode of the collaboration with Forewind Golf was released last Friday. Thanks to all of you who checked it out, offered support, and spread the word. Mike and Justin are talented individuals, and it has been a pleasure to watch them work through their process during this project; I learned a great deal. We hope you enjoy the result.
Here’s the blurb from the Forewind site:
Forewind Golf Presents "Made for the Wind," an all-new video series. Made in collaboration with The Waggle Golf Journal (IG: @thewagglegolfjournal). Created by renowned golf videographer Justin Joslin (IG: @justin_joslin), this new series dives deeper into the game-where traditions, craftsmanship, and adventure collide. Each episode goes beyond the fairways, exploring the stories behind iconic courses, hidden gems, and the passionate golfers who play them.
"Granliden on Sunapee” - YouTube
The link to the original article on Granliden in The Waggle Golf Journal can be found in the archives or at the following link:
As always, all of the podcasts can be found on Spotify and can be found here:
We hope everyone enjoys this first effort. We think it came out pretty great.
Check out Forewind Golf’s webpage here (some very cool stuff to peruse) :
Special thanks go out to: Andy Fowler and his crew at Granliden for helping to keep the place alive, Mr. David Ruedig for taking the time to sit down and talk, Justin Snyder at Lake Sunapee Country Club for all of the behind-the-scenes help, and Peter Bowman at the Hooper Golf Course for making the drive up.
What a week it was. Watch this space for a feature article and podcast this week! See you then.
Great podcast AJ, as usual!