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Golf and the Surreal

Andrew Shallcross
Andrew Shallcross

If you're lucky, your life is full of surreal moments.

Moments like your high school graduation, and then maybe your college graduation. Followed by you saying "I do" to your wife, in a beautiful place, in front of your closest friends and family. Maybe you're on an island called Kauai, or in a church in Kansas. It doesn't really matter where you are, just that it happened, it was surreal, and you're incredibly grateful.

You then fast forward a few years later and you get to see your baby for the first time. Maybe it's in a delivery room overlooking Lake Champlain, or maybe it's somewhere in the midwest. Again, it doesn't matter where it happened, only that it did - and it was surreal. 

Watching the finish of the 106th New England PGA Section Tournament was on my list of surreal moments that I have been fortunate enough to experience. I could have been anywhere, but at this moment, I was at the Portland Country Club, it happened - and it was surreal.

The day really started 24 hours before tee time. I packed up my car with all the hardware needed to put this production on and headed east.IMG_3557-1I crossed the Kancamagus pass and it was all downhill to Portland from there. Kancamagus pass on the Kancamagus highway in New Hampshire.The first tee time was at 7:45 the next day. After meeting the head groundskeeper, Beans, around 6 AM, it was time to start setting up for production. Beans. Head Groundskeeper for Screenshot 2026-09-05 at 9.24.55 AMThe day was so fun. Back to back groups of some of the best golfing I have been fortunate enough to witness in person. After streaming 23 groups tee off from 1, it was time to break down the setup and move to hole 18 to watch what ended up being one of the most memorable moments of my life. Again - surreal!

IMG_3607I was so focused on producing the moment for everyone else to see for the entire day, that it took me until the final 10 minutes to turn around and - to my amazement - there was a sea of people behind me focusing on the action, just as there was a sea of people online viewing from far and wide. 

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It was at this moment that I realized we might actually be onto something much bigger than a livestream that went out to over 1600 people across 40 states.

We are tapping into this thing called Golf - and it's surreal. 

Dan Venezio of the Portland Country Club wins the 106th New England PGA Section Championship.

 

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