FBGC Masters - Spring 2026 Recap

Tall Mike took care of business, winning his 5th tournament of the season and securing his 5th Club Championship yesterday at Glen Lakes. His gutsy... and grindy... performance was amazing to watch as he literally spent 2+ hours standing in a "golf position." My lower back started to hurt halfway through the round watching him frozen in that pose.

But the method to his madness paid off. He now has the most points per event in a season, 2nd most points scored in a season, most wins in a season, 3rd largest margin of victory, and he's the first player to win all three Majors in a single season.

 

And of course, his handicap has only dropped 1.1 since the start, so there's no reason to think he couldn't run in back in the Summer.

 

He's also all but guaranteed to be a Rapture Captain (for the 5th time).

 

The Goat Moose

Glen Lakes was great as always, but very difficult as the winds picked up throughout the round. There were 8 holes were three or fewer players carded a par or better: #2, #3, #5, #10, #15, #16, #17, and #18. The closing stretch in particular was brutal to the field. And the pin on #2 was so bad it's good, but a pace of play nightmare.

 

Speaking of, great job by everyone on playing fast per Glen Lake's request. Three of the groups finished under the posted pace, which included two foursomes - one of which took 409 strokes! Unfortunately, our greatest champion of all time wouldn't have finished in under 4 hours if not for playing in a threesome. Because of this, he has been docked 1,007 "DPT Points" and has now won the season by a mere 0.5.

 

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We're off for 2 months as we didn't need any of our scheduled make-up weeks. I might need that entire time to recover from the after-after party yesterday...

 

I'll probably do a bunch of scouting to see if any turds have turned into gems. So if anyone wants to experience some shit golf, let me know.

 

Great season, everyone! 

FBGC Masters - Spring 2026 Preview

Long drive #10

Closest to Pin #7 

 

We've officially played Glen Lakes twice, and it's been difficult on most of the field. Gorecki won the 2023 season opener there with a -10 (net) good pitcher... on a day when we had 9 bad pitchers! Two of those was a +22 (net) by Troy.

 

Marcus won his only tournament to date last year, and the scores were much tighter with only two pitchers owed. Looks like we're improving!

 

We're off at 7:44am. They have a range but I honestly don't know how much sunlight is out at that time.

 

Everyone is on WHITE unless they want to move back. The olds are on White/Gold if they desire. I went ahead and put Gorecki and Gary on them.

 

 

Some "long" hitters complained (must have been Ho) about using #9 last time as long drive... so congrats, now you get #10.

 

We are setting the pace for the entire course. The Board will be voting to DQ anyone who single-handedly causes a slowdown to the point the ranger gets involved. 

 

See you Sunday. 

Jamaican Open - Spring 2026 Recap

The only relevant storyline of the day was if Chandler (me?) could finish near the top to put some pressure on Moostie in the finals. He could not. All throughout the bag was terrible, but especially wedges inside 120 yards. Dear Leader apologizes for his terrible performance, and congratulates Tall Mike on his 5th Club Championship!

 

Brendan was looking good to win his 13th career event, but completely imploded with triples on 16 and 18.

 

This handed a victory to Dave, who broke the league-leading current losing streak of 41 consecutive events! I believe this is Dave's first ever win at the Jamaican Open as well.

The course was fabulous. Maybe the fastest we've seen the greens at Big Cypress... and that makes their undulating greens a nightmare. I watched one of our best players 5-putt the 9th green! And the finishing stretch leads to a lot of leader board swings.

 

And for under $70, it's one of the best stops on tour. 

 

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We have a formality event next Sunday, going from one very difficult Ron Garl course to another. Glen Lakes is a bit of a ball buster but a fun layout.

 

As I've mentioned, our options were 7:30am or 12:00pm. While I do love a late tee time... we've done that already this year at Hunter's Green. 

So we're going to be some of the first people out. Our mission is to not jam up the course with you people's terrible and selfish pace of play. 

We're going out in reverse order - as is tradition - and I don't think that created any "problem" groups. But there were a couple tweaks to make sure. 

 

I'll see some of you (not Faz since he bailed) bright and early Sunday. And if anyone is late for their tee time they'll get the max per hole until they join the group.

 

Billy, make sure you bring the trophy.  

Jamaican Open - Spring 2026 Preview

Headed to Big Cypress this Sunday, a course that should definitely be on our every-season-ROTA. They like us... it's under $100... and the conditions are always solid.

There are definitely a handful of demanding holes off the tee, but looking at the past winners BC doesn't seem to favor any particular style of play.

 

Long Drive on #2

 

Everyone is on the GREEN tees unless you want to move back to the BLACK.

 

 

Tee time is 10:30am. Quoted rate was $65+ which includes range balls so don't buy any of those. Just grab a bucket from the shack at the range.

 

Weather should be perfect. 

 

All names have been given to the course to be used at the front gate. 

 

See you then. 

DPT Masters - Final Tourney Info

First of all, we need to re-name all our Majors. Whoever comes up with any name that gets accepted by the Board (for any of the 3 Majors) will have a future pitcher paid for by Dear Leader.

I've been discussing our final event with seven different courses over the last week. It's the worst part of this "job," as we don't send our best and brightest to work in the retail golf industry. And as I've been complaining about, some of the quotes are astronomical (one course quoted me $130+ when their own website has tee times for $112, which they denied while I was looking at the screen).

I'm going to explore coming up with a ROTA where we play the same handful of courses every season that have strong relationships with us and want our business. We already do this with Jovita (and previously Southern Hills). But it's time to expand the list of staples.

Anyway, I just convinced the guys at Glen Lakes to host us for our finals. They have a policy of non-members going out after noon... but I talked him into 7:44am as long as we didn't bring more than 16 people. Not a problem, as we won't even get 16 people. The current ???s are now OUT.

Rate is $80+. 

Avg Greens Fees - Inflation Adjustment

My wife complained the avg greens fee chart wasn't adjusted for inflation. So using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website, here's an updated graph:

 

 

Fees are up $30 per round (60%), mostly in the last three years. 

Season Finale Options

I'm searching for a place to play our final event of the season, and I've narrowed it down to a couple of choices:

 

Based on a tip from Marcus, I went to look up recent reviews for Wentworth... which was a pristine private club (with a terrible layout) back in 2005. This picture was taken last month:

 

  

Brooksville CC is another terrible layout, but has a handful of fun quarry holes. We've played two events there, and they should be cleaning up now that World Woods is no longer an value option in the area. This picture was taken 6 days ago:
 

 

I'll select one of these based on their beer specials.

The Hangover - Spring 2026 Recap

The season continues as our 2nd best Champion of all time — Moostie — failed to secure enough points to lock up his 5th title. There were a couple of egregious course management mistakes on his part, but a lot of his struggles were on Diamond Hills new, but un-mown, greens.

 

Those were insanely frustrating, because you had to hammer putts (and I do mean hammer) to even have a chance of making. Balls would easily stop above the hole if you were defensive. But the severe undulations created a risk of running a putt 8 feet by, giving you comeback putt you'd have to uncomfortably smash.

The rest of DH was fine, conditioning-wise. The rough was manageable, the fairways had green stuff on them, and there wasn't much hardpan if you stayed away from the (overgrown) tree lines. I don't think we should avoid this course, but it definitely should be on the list of places we visit sporadically. The biggest complaint was the cost, leading to the perception of low "value." Unfortunately, value is subjective, and Diamond Hill is one of the few courses under $100 at the moment.

It was a great set-up for Troy, who has been battling debilitating back pain all season. As a man who usually has control of his ball, he was able to overcome five double-bogeys to shoot even (net) and win.

Gary also played well most of the day, as he's starting to find his driver again. It was always his biggest weapon throughout his golfing life, so he could be dangerous in the Rapture later this year.

Chandler finished T3 with some pretty atrocious wedge play.

 

Faz and Ho became Blue Buddies and posted "meh" scores of +4 (net).

Marcus dominated the first half of the day, reaching -4 (net) at some point before reverting to his factory settings on the back.

 

Geoff had a rough six hole stretch to fall out of contention.

And Gorecki ignited the betting markets with a 10 on the 9th hole, earning another course record, and failed to make a par (28 active hole streak).

 

We had a fun time the night before as well, with some complementary shots and pints provided by TBBC:

 

Tequila and Bourbon

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We're off next week for "Spring Break." I get asked about this bye-week a lot... and all I can say is that you people complained that travel with your kids should be built into the schedule. Now you other people complain that we have a random bye week for no reason. I'm not sure if all the people who needed the break quit... but as the least needy person in the Club, I'm observant enough to know some of you need bye-weeks in general.

We're back in two weeks at Big Cypress. I'm officially reducing the field to 16 people. We have 15 signed up right now, so the next person to get in on the RSVP sheet gets the last spot. 

 

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Finally, we had some continued talk (kvetching?) about the rise of greens fees. I obviously track this shit, so I might as well share it:

Recap of this season, by price (includes tax):

Lake Jovita - $118 

Calusa CC - $102 (potentially) 

Diamond Hill - $91

Hunter's Green - $78 

Scepter - $75

Lexington Oaks - $73 

Big Cypress - $69 (scheduled)

Hernando Oaks - $65 

Countryway - $29

 

As always, I very much welcome any "we should play [course name]" commentary, so I can explain why we don't/didn't.

 

The Hangover - Spring 2026 Preview

Long Drive on #17

Saturday night party is at Tampa Bay Brewing Company (north). Not sure what time Gorecki is setting it up for, but they have food... since it's a restaurant. Basically like "Club Applebee's" at night where a lot of overweight nurses and teachers get hammered on pre-mixed margaritas before cheating on their husbands. 

Sunday we're playing Diamond Hill at 9:04am out in Dover (Valrico). It's important to note that we lose an hour of sleep that morning, as we return to Daylight Saving Time.

I dislike Diamond Hill. The course is tricked-up, conditions historically suck, greens are comically small, and they've allowed thousands of oak trees to overgrow.

 

But Mike Ho assured me the course was in good shape and worth a return visit (we've officially played it once back in 2022). The rate they're charging us (not discounted - they don't do that) implies quality conditions... but this could be a cash grab by the owners.

 

The recap in 2022 says: "All the feedback from the course was positive, which still shocks me. Perhaps this is a predictable reaction after six weeks of somewhat tight and penal courses."

 

I guess we you liked it? 

 

All my complaining aside, one of the many things that make this Club the best in town is our commitment to variety. This isn't the pampered-fuck PGA TOUR where every week is an immaculate, pillow-soft, putting contest. If you want to win in Fort Brooke, you're going to need to show up and perform anywhere and everywhere (we've played 85 different courses at the time of this writing).

So here's the scorecard. Everyone is on WHITE unless you want to move back. The Olds - Gary and Gorecki - have been moved up to YELLOW.

The Championship - Spring 2026 Recap

We've all seen Tall Mike do "Tall Mike Things." Nothing will ever top his 4th Championship - in Summer 2020 - when he holed out a birdie 2 from 50 yards on the par-3 15th hole, to ultimately win the event and steal the title from Gorecki.

 

But yesterday was filled with things nearly as miraculous. Multiple times he was staring a double bogey in the face, only to make a par. He shot a 39 on the back with a quad, after going -1 (gross) on the final seven holes. While there were a few lucky bounces... most of it was due to an outstanding short game... almost holing out from multiple chips, pitches, and bunker shots.

 

All of this while suffering through the worst I've ever seen his back pain/issues. Most people would have WD'd. 

 

Despite being near the top of the leader board all day - and shooting a new course record 79 - Chandler couldn't do anything to make this season more competitive.

 

Moostie's four wins now ties him with Buchert (2022 Summer), Darren (2015 Spring), Faz (2014 Summer), and Chandler (2013 Spring) with most victories in a season.

 

Everyone except Chandler is now mathematically eliminated - and we still have 3 tournaments to go. Not sure we've ever seen such a top heavy leader board.

 

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Hunter's Green was exceptional as expected. Fast but receptive greens. More grass in fairways than most places we've seen this time of year. And the price ($80) was a great value.

 

Unfortunately the members playing in front of us had a 4:50 pace. There's not much we can do about that - as we're forced to tee off after blocked member play.

 

But we should consider going there more often (as long as they'll have us). Hammer that comment button and let us know your thoughts on HG.

 

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The Hangover is this Sunday at Diamond Hill (9:30am). More on this later... but the party is scheduled for Saturday night at Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Odessa. The Westchase group selected this location, and Gorecki is requesting a headcount to reserve tables.

 

Tell us in the comments if you're attending, and if you're bringing anyone.

 

Everyone who makes an appearance is entered into the Hangover side-pot on Sunday. 

The Championship - Spring 2026 Preview

Long Drive on #3

Closest to Pin on #4 

 

For the 2nd official time in league history, we're headed to Hunter's Green - a course I consider the best in the Tampa city limits. That's right... I think it's a better course than Palma Ceia.

 

Not better conditioned or more exclusive or whatever the golf simpletons typically use to rate courses. The actual layout, hole diversity, and play-ability is better. There are more memorable holes. It's not a perfect course, but golf in Tampa sucks so the bar is set really low.

 

Anyway, we played it once eight years ago. Since that time they went from not wanting/allowing us to play... to seemingly very happy to take our pre-paid money. At $80 it's a deal, sadly. But since we're only going to have 15 people, the entire league is being taxed to cover the shortfall of one round going to waste.

 

That's the price of trying to play nicer, more exclusive places. The other price is the 11:28am start. Not ideal but they are private. They have a range so you might as well get there early to take advantage of it.

 

We go out in order of standings but I might have to make some slight alterations if the guest list changes.

 

Everyone is on WHITE unless you:

 

1) tell me you want to move back

2) are named Gary or Troy and are assumed to want to move up to WHITE/GREEN

3) find yourself in the 55/25 Club and also want to move up to WHITE/GREEN

 

 

 

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The "Westchase" guys are "deliberating" where to host this season's Hangover Party (next Saturday 3/7). I'll post that when they make a decision.

 

I was trying to get us on Calusa Country Club for the finals, but they will only let me book 8 days in advance. So the options are... wait until then and possibly be stuck with a noon tee time... wait until then and decide noon for $115 isn't worth it, and then get stuck with a late tee time somewhere else... or just book somewhere else for $120+ now and never go back to Calusa Country Club again.

 

These are the struggles of Dear Leader. 

Match Play - Spring 2026 Recap

Chandler (c'est moi) fell into another victory yesterday, as blustery conditions had the field hanging on for dear life. The 40 minute rain delay stalled what would have easily been a sub-4 hour round for most of the groups (shout-out to John, Topor and Danny who went off first and somehow played at a blistering pace despite taking 317 shots).

 

What followed the rain was 20+ mph sustained wind on a course that has a lot of lurking trouble.

 

But it drained wonderfully, allowing us to have a sporting set of matches!

 

Our season leader - Moostie - struggled after the restart but somehow grinded his way to a solo 2nd place shooting +1 (gross) on the final 5 holes. The 17th hole, playing into the wind, has to be one of the most difficult par 4s on tour, and yet Moostie had a great look for birdie (he lipped it out).

 

Unfortunately for The Moose, Chandler made a miraculous par (the only other par on 17) to win their match 2&1.

 

Dave beat Faz 2&1 in the only other match I'd consider "close." 

 

Gary beat Buchert 8&7 — from what I can tell ties the 3rd largest beatdown in Match Play history.

 

The Scepter guys apparently like us and have already emailed me saying we're welcome anytime. They also randomly reduced our rate to $70+ yesterday upon check-in. And if the BGR was still a thing, I reckon we'd see a write-up on the $16 two pitcher deal.

 

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Hunter's Green is this upcoming weekend (11:28am) and we have ONE spot remaining. The first person to send me $80 gets it. Perhaps Jeff P wants to join Melberg?

 

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I also want to remind everyone of our decades-long rules regarding playing eligibility:

• If you play in less than 6 events in a rolling 2-season period, your Membership is automatically suspended.
• This was going to happen to Casey after he set his entire season status to OUT, having only played 2 events in Summer 2025. He then asked for his Membership balance to be refunded, which was considered a resignation. 
• The Board can vote (3/5) to reinstate if you'd like (this happened to Danny last off-season).
• If you don't play in 4 events during the first 8 tournaments - you are not allowed to enter the final Major as a competitor. 
• You can still play as a guest... but you won't earn money, points, World Ranking points, it won't count as a played event for Rapture eligibility, and most importantly... you are NOT eligible for the hole-in-one pot that week. You basically don't exist, just as you haven't all season long.

 See some of you Sunday!

Scepter Range

Just a reminder that the driving range is at the old Falcon Watch clubhouse. Here's a map showing location compared to Scepter:

Give yourself plenty of time to hit the range. If you're late to the first tee - and your group tees off without you - you're getting the max (and loss of hole in Match Play) on every hole until you join up. After the Rapture last year I'm itching to apply this penalty to someone...

What's the definition of late? Well we have a rule for that: 

17) All players are expected to be at the course, checked in, and ready to play by the FIRST posted tee time. If your group tees off without you (after the first posted tee time), you'll receive a max score for each hole until you join the group.  

Our first tee time is 10am. 

Can Big John Save Us?

When this week started, I was really excited about Sunday.  I read Dear Leader’s post about spicy fairways and thought to myself, I don’t think I’ve ever had a spicy fairway before.  I like Mexican, Thai and Indian cuisine, so it has to be good, right?  I actually had to do a quick look through the Epstein files on the DOJ website to make sure I wasn’t about to break any laws.  I didn’t know if spicy was actually a code word that would lead to great public shame and embarrassment in a few years.  My search didn’t come up with anything, so I think we’re in the clear there.

What really got me excited though was reading at the bottom of the post that there are only 12 people signed up for Hunters Green.  I clicked on the link and realized there are only 9 Members are currently registered to play for the second major of the season.  That list includes Dear Leader but does not include the season points leader and our greatest club champion of all time, Tall Mike.  I realized this season is far from over.  I thought Tall Mike had it locked up with his 750+ point lead.  However, things can get really interesting if Dear Leader can win his match against Tall Mike on Sunday.  He would then go into the 2^nd major with incredible odds to add a bunch of season points given the extremely small field.  

It is plausible that Dear Leader could pass Tall Mike in the season standings in just the next two events.  What is better than that?  The two most accomplished golfers in league history battling it out for true GOAT status.  It’s like if Tiger and Jack actually got to battle it out head to head.

However, my excitement quickly subsided.  (Feel free to insert your own inappropriate joke here about excitement subsiding too quickly.)

I realized that if I had figured this out, with my smooth brain, that Dear Leader and Tall Mike probably thought of this as soon as they finished their delicious post round meals / beers at Countryway.  They will have had two full weeks to think about this coming Sunday and how important the result will be for the season and for their place in league history.  In other words, Tall Mike and Dear Leader are about to play the slowest round imaginable.  

If Tall Mike practices his take away 16 times on a 120 yard approach shot on Hole 15 of a tournament where he is in 8^th place, imagine what he is going to do this Sunday where every single shot matters.  I am picturing in my head all of those videos of pro golfers using AimPoint for a two foot putt…multiplied by a factor of 10.

Meanwhile, I am also afraid that Dear Leader may actually become paralyzed during the match in the event that his incredibly powerful brain short circuits from trying to analyze all of the point scenarios in real time while also greatly overthinking his course management. When our Dear Leader decides to lay up on a par 3 and then collapses under the pressure of the weight of the decision to chip or putt from 25 yards out because there is a bunker in his peripheral vision… I won’t be shocked.

I resigned myself to the fact that we are about to experience the slowest, most grueling round of golf in League history.  

But then I realized, there is one man who can save us.  I know what you’re your thinking:  nobody can get through to Tall Mike AND Dear Leader.  You would have to have the ability to influence the behavior of both a stubborn mule and an all-powerful dictator.  Nobody has that skill set.  However, if there is one man that was placed on earth to deal with a situation like this, it is Big John.  God gave us Big John for this moment.  We must put our trust in him to save us from five hours of purgatory.  I believe he can do it.  I believe he WILL do it.  He will shout at Tall Mike.  He will massage Dear Leader’s ego to keep his brain functioning.  We will finish our rounds in under 5 hours.  I believe this to be true because I believe in Big John.

Match Play - Spring 2026 Preview

Scepter is a solid value at the moment. The greens are good and the fairways are spicy! They didn't overseed so it's very firm and fast out there with dormant Bermuda — true Scottish links conditions. The rough is a little better than what we've seen on tour this season.

Long drive on #12.

 

Everyone is on WHITE unless you tell me you'd like to move back to BLUE:

 

 

The Match Play pairings will change as people bail. If anyone bails on Sunday it'll count as a loss for that person and a win for their opponent:

 

Moostie (5) vs. Chandler

 

Troy (2) vs. Ghost Moostie 

 

Topor (5) vs. John

 

Danny (4) vs. Ghost Topor

 

Reid vs. Geoff (1)

 

Gary (2) vs. Buchert

 

Dave vs. Faz (3)

 

Gorecki (10) vs. Billy

 

 

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We're down to only 12 people in for Hunters Green on 3/1, which means nearly half of our league funds are about to be depleted. Send your $80 over to me and ask your friends to play. If we don't have the league funds to pay for the missing people... then we'll take it out of the hole-in-one pot.