I've been fortunate in my life to be able to work around the things I love. Over the past decade I have been focused on media and style— two compelling fields to me. In 2007 when I couldn't find what I was looking for in the menswear media space I created A Continuous Lean to help fill the void. What started on a whim late one night became a place where millions of people came to read about companies that were doing things the old way. About people who value craftsmanship and provenance. About brands that put all of the marketing into the product. Being a champion for those types of companies is something that remains critically important to me.
I grew up on the Eastside of Cleveland in a little working class town. The woods in our backyard happened to be connected to the back 9 of a small country club. I spent my youth in those woods looking for golf balls to clean and sell or sneaking through a hole in the fence to play the three holes on the edge of the golf course. Since those times the game of golf has always fascinated me.
Living in New York for most of my 20s and 30s I lost touch with golf. It wasn't until I met my wife that I started playing as an adult. My reentry wasn't pretty and my father-in-law is a saint for the patience he exhibited with me in those resurgent early rounds. Despite the steep learning curve, my golf obsession came rushing back in the overwhelming way we all know it can.
In 2016 we moved from New York City to Los Angeles and I was living in one the the best places on earth for a golfer. Around this time I started to see the ways that golf is changing. The way No Laying Up, The Golfer's Journal, Catalogue 18, The Fried Egg, Skratch, Erik Anders Lang and other people were offering new perspectives on what golf is and should be. Brands like Malbon, Radda, Whim, Sugarloaf Social Club and others are evolving what golf style can look like. Golf is changing and that's a good thing for everyone.
As golf enveloped me further I struggled to find the exact place that was right for me. I'm into Mackenzie bags, walking and carrying my clubs, but I'm also happy to ride in a cart, listen to music and drink while enjoying a round. I would be excited to play Kilspindie with hickories or Scottsdale National with PXGs. More than anything I just like to be out swinging a club and away from the pressures of normal life. Though at times I have found golf to be uncomfortably tribal. At the same time golf can also be one of the most unifying things I have ever experienced.
Over the past several years I've struggled to find a place that specifically expressed what I wanted from golf. That void is what led me to create ACL Golf. Just because I am interested in golf doesn't mean I am going to walk away from all of my preexisting aesthetic preferences. If I go to Scotland golf isn't going to be the only thing I do while I'm there. I'm going to visit a tailor in Edinburgh, I'm going to stay in a historic hotel and of course I will eat at Dishoom. That's the combination of all of the things I love in the world. My goal with ACL Golf is to highlight the concentric circles of good things around golf. It's not all golf or all style, it's a combination of the two in a way that does justice to both.
My view on style has always been very simple: wear what makes you happy. Like many things in life, personal style is an evolution. It takes time for us to figure out our preferences and how we feel the most relaxed. My perspective on golf runs on the same track. Just focus on what makes you happy and don't worry about everything else.
Happiness takes many forms for me: a perfectly tailored jacket, a twilight round with friends, a precision timepiece, a historic club's locker room or just that one elusive perfect-strike of the ball.
My hope with this site is simple — to highlight the many good things around golf. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
-Michael