Confirmed opening and grilling!

Welcome to the second full-length edition of The Golf Report with Jason Edson! We have just a couple announcements before we get into the news of the week. Today includes one new section, Weather Reports. We'll give you the latest updates on the upcoming weather for the next week gathered from several sources. We don't claim to be a definitive source for scheduling your tee-times, but we can provide some insight to aid in your planning. As the season progresses, we'll also be publishing Reviews of everything from courses to clubs. But enough about the future, let's delve into what's going on right now.

Courses

CONFIRMED OPENING!! The Golf Report saw actual golfers at Thomas Memorial in Turners Falls! After checking their website, The Report was able to confirm that they are open!

Northfield Golf Club - After a brief conversation with an employee, The Golf Report found that this course plans on opening Saturday, April 4th. Weekday rates for this year are $14 for 9 holes and $21 for 18. The Report will follow-up with a next week to confirm this opening.

Weather

As odd as it may sound, The Golf Report believes that last weekend's rain actually did some good, washing away a lot of the snow that still sits on The Meadows and Oak Ridge. Both courses had a lot of snow around the trees that wasn't melting because of the constant shade.

After today's showers clear off, expect sun and mid 50's for Tuesday and Wednesday. Those two are going to be the best days for golfing, but be watchful tomorrow because the water table is still high and the courses could be pretty damp. Thursday and Friday look like rain, and the weekend forecast shows the best weather of the week, right when greens fees are higher.

Next week doesn't start off well, with rain expected Monday and Tuesday.

Cigars/Grilling/Beer

Grilling Season is open! The Golf Report grilled some steaks and vegetables last Wednesday and is pleased to announce that it was great. After getting a great lead on cedar planks, The Report is now looking for a shorter cigar that will only take 15-20 minutes to smoke, just enough time to enjoy while cooking.

Sam Adams Summer Ale was recently spotted at the 99 Restaurant in Greenfield. A top-5 summer drink, this is great news for all the beer drinkers out there. The only problem is that the taste is very different this year. It's heavier with less of a lemon taste and more bitter. This could just be because it's the first keg of the season.

That's it for this edition of The Golf Report with Jason Edson. If you're going out this week, let us know how it goes and you could be included in a future report! The Golf Report will starting a series of reviews for our local courses as they're played, but if you go to a new course or something out of the area send us your reviews and the might get published. And finally - keep sending us any reports of open courses or driving ranges to jedson81@gmail.com, we need these updates to keep you playing instead of staring at your clubs in the living room.

Cigar season is open!

The Golf Report with Jason Edson makes the following announcement:

"At 8:39pm Eastern Time on March 22nd, Cigar Season is officially declared open!"

Mini-Update - Confirmed pricings!

Salutations and welcome to a special mini-update of The Golf Report with Jason Edson. This short edition will focus on updates that The Report has received from various field operatives and course managers to relay to our readers. Keep in mind that all prices do not include carts unless specifically mentioned as The Golf Report always advocates walking the course.

Courses

The Meadows - Pricing confirmed! Weekday rates will be $13 for 9 holes, $18 for 18. Membership is $550, $500 if done before March 31. During a conversation with the manager, The Golf Report has learned the course is hoping to open in 2 - 3 weeks provided the weather doesn't get too wet.

Thomas Memorial - Field reports, confirmed by The Golf Report, show that 90% of the course is free and clear of snow. The remaining snow appears to be around the edges of the course and under tree cover.

Oak Ridge - Pricing confirmed! Citing the poor economy, The Golf Report has learned in a discussion with the manager that Oak Ridge will NOT be increasing their prices this year. This leaves weekday pricing at $14 for 9 holes and $18 for 18. Oak Ridge is also offering a 20% discount for new members, with a pre-discount pricetag of $767 for full membership and $617 for weekdays only.

Driving Ranges

Northern operatives for The Golf Report have confirmed that the driving range in Winchester is almost free of snow, but the sign is not up yet.

Another operative has confirmed what The Golf Report stated in our last edition about Sammy K's. They are typically a late opening range and will probably not be open until mid or late April.

The Golf Report with Jason Edson would like to thank all of its readers for supply such great information. Anyone wishing to share important golf or golf-related information can e-mail us at Jedson81@gmail.com. Before we leave you with a cartoon strip that we want to share, we want to remind everyone that we're still looking for good quality cedar planks for grilling.

Copyright 2009. "The Golf Report with Jason Edson" Is trademarked, all rights reserved. Member of the Edson Group industries. Various other legal mumbo-jumbo goes here. Do people actually read these? Free golf tee to the first person who comments on how great my blog is without mentioning this offer. Blah Blah blah. Want to be a contributor? E-mail me stuff and I'll include you! Don't want to receive this anymore? Want to unsubscribe? Screw you! I worked hard making this!!!!!

2009 Preseason primer

Hello and welcome to the first edition of The Golf Report with Jason Edson. The report will focus on course conditions, informative articles, interviews, and even highlights from recent rounds. We'll also be discussing the ever-important items of cigars, grilling, and other golf related activities (including the future article on keeping your wife happy while playing a lot of golf). As you can see, this report will have everything the local golfer needs.

In today's issue, we will be discussing snow melt on local courses and driving ranges, as well as rumors about openings and costs. Not all information is known about all locations, so a hint or two might be dropped to someone who lives or works in the area. Please keep in mind that this is a super-size first edition of The Golf Report, but there is a large amount of data to share in the preseason edition. at this point, I know what you're thinking - enough babbling, give me the information!

Important note - Rumors continue to swirl about course openings, and here's what The Golf Report knows. Several courses in South Hadley and below are open, but the report has yet to confirm that any courses or driving ranges north of South Hadley are open.

Courses

Confirmed opening!!! The Ludlow Country Club, a private 18-hole course in (you guessed it) Ludlow has 9 holes open, and The Golf Report could be playing there as early as this Friday.

The Meadows - Rumors are flying around this course. After a couple ownership changes, the bar is looking nice and a sign outside says "Join before March 31 and save." The rumor is a $500 yearly membership with a 50% off sale. Unfortunately, they never answer the phone to find out the truth behind the rumors. The Golf Report might be taking a drive by soon to judge snow cover and to knock on doors.

Oak Ridge - The course closest to The Golf Report still has approximately 40% snow cover throughout the course, but the carts are lined up and ready to go. Their website still isn't listing 2009 rates. Not a favorite course of The Golf Report with it's 2-5 holes packed into a small space and only one par three.

Thomas Memorial - The only one to post it's 2009 rates. $12/$18 (9 holes/18 holes) weekday rates ($15/$22 weekend), $650 membership includes USGA handicap. A course only played once by The Golf Report, it was found to be very enjoyable but packed so tightly together that a bad golfer on the course can lead to several injuries in other groups. No report available on snow levels, perhaps a reader that lives near the course could deliver a field report to be published in the next edition.

Northfield Golf Course - Due to not being in the area with any free time, there is nothing to report on the favorite course of The Golf Report. Fear not - information will be gathered before the next edition!

Driving Ranges

Sammy K's - still about a 30% snow cover on a traditionally wet driving range. The Golf Report will be going to the store to look at some hybrids and will quiz the owner, but this range opens late and unless there is a long period of favorable weather it could be close to a month before opening. The Report knows of a certain reader who works near the range who can provide much needed data.

The Golf Report knows of driving ranges on Route 202 in Orange and in Winchester as well as a Chip 'n Putt in Winchester. Two other readers are known to live/work near these. A field report would be very welcomed and will be communicated to the rest of the group in the following edition.

Cigars/Grilling/Beer

A quick update for Cigars in this edition. The humidor is stocked, and after a sample on Sunday The Golf Report can confirm high-quality and proper humidification over the past several months. This will be a good year for smokes.

Grilling season could be here, and The Golf Report is debating a test run tonight. Anyone knowing a good place to buy quality cedar planks for cooking is requested to contact the Report with information.

Barely worthy of note in beer is that Bud Light has a new can design. Too bad that the company decided to improve the can instead of improving the taste.

That's it for the first edition of The Golf Report with Jason Edson. Feel free to forward on to others and let the Report know if there is anyone to add to the publication list. A special thanks goes out to Chris for supplying the logo up top which effectively sums up the skill of the readers. Want to be a contributor? E-mail me something and I might (ok, I probably will) put it in

Copyright 2009. "The Golf Report with Jason Edson" is trademarked, all rights reserved. Member of the Edson Group Family of Companies. Various other legal mumbo-jumbo goes here. Do people actually read these? Free golf tee to the first person who calls me out on this - Sorry, someone already won. Blah Blah blah. Want to be a contributor? E-mail me stuff and I'll include you!