Hangover - Summer 2026 Preview?

 Long drive on #12.

 

Scepter's range is the old Falcon Watch range in the middle of the neighborhood. You can not take a golf cart to it. 

 

Looks like we're down to 10 players... not good when we initially booked 20. But because of the forecast, they'll probably just be happy if any of us show up.

 

Speaking of... we play in the rain if the course is open. So be prepared.

 

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I'll get to PopStroke around 6:30pm on Saturday for food and drinks. As of now the wife will be joining me. That could always change.

 

I'll see 3 of you there! 

FBGC Championship - Summer 2026 Recap

It was the Cellar's Revenge yesterday as our top three finishers all came from the unsupervised final group of the day. Moostie overcame a triple-bogey on the first hole, to shoot a -4 (net) and win for the second straight time at Hunter's Green.

 

Reid made a quad on two and still finished solo-2nd, his best finish since August of 2025. 

 

And Melberg opened with 8 straight pars, and set a new course record (76 gross) despite double bogeys on 9 and 18.

 

John did not do as well, probably because he tried to switch out of this group before the round!

 

Faz won the closest-to-pin for the 2nd time ever - netting him a healthy $14. 

 

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Everyone else was unimpressive. I highly doubt Ho's 13 stroke swing from front to back is a record, but it was his first official trunk-slam of the season.

 

Hunter's Green was in excellent shape, and the brutal heat went away for a couple of holes - before coming back - as we dodged all the rain.

 

It's by far the best value we're getting right now, so hopefully it continues. 

 

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With Gorecki bailing on Reunion, Marcus is now back in - a huge boost to his chances. Ho is in 2nd - but not really relevant with his low handicap and current mental state. Moostie is only playing one more event so he's basically OUT.  Dave is only playing two of the final three.

We could easily see Marcus win the season without scoring another point!

 

Reminder: anyone who doesn't play in 4 events BEFORE the finals can not be in the field for money or points. They're still welcome to play for fun down at Rosedale. This rule is going to apply to a bunch of people.

 

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This weekend is the Hangover - our season party. The "others" have picked PopStroke out in Wesley Chapel, which I believe will be our first visit to the area. Bring your wives... perhaps your kids? Maybe your putter?

 

Their food is decent, and I've hung out there a couple of times without even playing putt-putt.

 

Everyone who makes an appearance will be playing for the side-pot at Scepter on Sunday (9:56am).

 

Speaking of, I guess we're dropping the field down to 12 based on those who said they were in. I'll see some of you Saturday! 

Open spot this sunday

Topor had to bail due to a family emergency. If anyone wants to get back in or bring a friend, let me know. 

Reunion Hotel Option

My contact at Reunion has agreed to waive the 2-night minimum stay, allowing us to go the day before (August 8th). There's 4 beds in each villa, and the cost will be $82 per person for the night.

Here are the people who asked me about doing this:

 

Chandler (me!)

Gary

Geoff

Ho

Billy

 

Comment if you're interested in doing this, and if we get another villa filled I'll set it up.

 

Villa #2 - (need at least 3 people):

 

The Championship - Summer 2026 Preview

Long drive on #17

The most important TOUR on golf continues this Sunday, with a sprint to the finish.  No more breaks unless there is a rainout.

First up is The FBGC Championship - something we still need to rename. It's our 2nd Major of the season, and we'll be at the private Hunter's Green with an after-member start of 11:28am.

 

It'll be hot, but not as bad as recent weeks. It also looks to be dry, which is nice. Fort Brooke was founded in the boiling swamp of the Hillsborough Bay... so hydrate and soldier on.

 

Their greens were punched a couple of weeks ago and they've been closed that entire time. Hopefully that means it won't be so bad? We've seen a wide range of putting surfaces this year, and you'll need to adapt.

 

All 16 spots have been paid for.

 

Base tees are the WHITE... with allowance to move up to WHITE/GREEN if you're in the 55/25 club. Gary is moved up... Reid told me two weeks ago he wanted to move up... if any of that isn't correct let me know.

 

The course is fairly difficult with only a few under winning so far in our history.

 

See you Sunday.

Match Play - Summer 2026 Recap

We had a very hot and slow day yesterday. The 4.5 hour pace at 8am was set by some 2-man scramble tournament going on in front of us. I don't think I've ever played a fast round at Jovita on a weekend.

 

Aside from that... it was a pretty good day. Conditions - especially the greens - were the best I've seen in awhile out there. The course played very easy for some reason, with nearly half the field finishing under par (net).

 

Marcus got his 2nd victory of the season and is playing some very consistent golf at the moment. His driver is really good, and he avoided any huge numbers with only two double bogeys on the day. He now has a commanding lead, but will be missing at least one tournament coming down the stretch.

 

Gary finished one back, with his best tournament performance since January 2023 (where he also finished 2nd at Glen Lakes).

 

And we broke BOTH course scoring records, with Ho tying a personal best 72 (gross) on the North Course, and Gorecki shattering Danny's previous worst with a 121. Genius move by the Board to bend the rules for Gorecki and get us all two more pitchers of beer!

 

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Quick match-play notes:

 

- Gary's beatdown of Melberg (8&6) was not only Melberg's worst loss of his career... it was the first time he's ever been closed out before the final hole!

 

- Dan/Brendan had Dan winning 2&1 on their physical card... but they only had Brendan receiving 9 strokes (they didn't use the custom scorecards). Brendan actually got 10 strokes, and lost on the final hole!

 

- Watching Geoff make a 40+ foot putt on 18 to tie his match against Reid was cool. However, he didn't fist-pump like Reid would have.

 

- Ho handed Chandler (me!) his first match-play loss since February 2022 (ending a no loss streak of 12 events)!

 

That's about all I got. Great turnout at the grill afterwards!

 

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We're off this upcoming weekend for the British Open at Royal Birkdale. 

 

Fun fact... the last time The Open was played at Royal Birkdale was 2017. Ho, Greg, and Robbie were playing as guests to become FBGC Members.

 

On Sunday, we were rained out at Pebble Creek, and most of the field got sloppy drunk at the pub (Mulligan's) watching Jordan Spieth beat Matt Kuchar. We had such a great time, we made The Open a permanent bye-week on our calendar (this was actually John's suggestion).

 

A few times over the years we've met at bars or houses to watch, but like most things in life, it's impossible to capture the magic and spontaneity of our youth.

 

Enjoy the week off!

Match Play - Summer 2026 Preview

Long drive on #15 

 

Pairings have changed for the 3rd time... Big John "forgot" he was in.  Crum's guest pushes him and John to final group.

 

8am shotgun start at Lake Jovita North this Sunday. I'm waiting on Ho to officially tell us what holes we're starting on... but this is the first time we'll have Match Play in a shotgun. Which kinda changes the official final score, unless we just "start" every match on hole 1.

Overall it doesn't matter. Stroke on the holes the card says you stroke on. The same winner (or tie) will happen regardless.

 

Everyone is on the WHITE tees unless you tell me otherwise. The 55/25 can play the GREEN tees if they desire.

 

We should be fine missing any rain due to the early tee time. Here are the match-ups and strokes received:

 

Hole 1A 

Marcus

Topor (6)

 

Ho

Chandler (6)

Hole 1B

Geoff

Reid

 

Melberg

Gary (5)

Hole 18A

Dan

Brendan (10)

 

Troy (6)

Adam

 

 

Hole 18B 

Crum (1)

John

 

Ghost John

Gorecki (5)

 

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It doesn't seem like we're going to hit our minimums for Reunion (12). So go ahead and ask any friends if they want to fill spots. The Reunion spots are supposed to be pre-paid by Friday... and we only have 8 people signed up. Looks like the hole-in-one pot is about to be reduced by $1,000!

 

See you Sunday! 

Upcoming Pre-Paid Rounds

Both events are full at the moment. Everyone who was a maybe or didn't sign up is now OUT.

 

We have two rounds coming up where we need to bring a minimum number of golfers. If we fail to do that, any balance owed will come out of our Club funds. Unfortunately, that balance is only about $850... so we could end up dipping into the hole-in-one pot!

August 9th - Reunion (Nicklaus) - Need 12 people minimum - July 10th deadline to pay

 

Go to this link: Reunion Deposit Payment

 

Group Name: Chandler Brown Golf Group Aug 2026

 

Arrival date: 08/09/2026 

 

Deposit amount:  $118.95

 

Pay with your credit card and then let me know you've done so for my records.

 

Signed up so far:

 

Chandler

Ho

Topor  

Geoff 

Gary

John

Brendan 

Gorecki 

Dave

Billy 

Reid 

Tom (guest) 

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July 26 - Hunter's Green - Need 16 people minimum

 

Event is now full.

 

Get on it. Nicer courses come with more hoops to jump through. If we'd rather have the flexibility to bail last minute with no consequence... then we can do an entire season at Southport Springs. Doesn't matter to me. I just like to golf and compete.