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!

 

-------------------------------

 

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!

 

------------------------------- 

 

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)

 

-------------------------------------

 

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) 

---------------------------------------

 

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.

The Concussion - Summer 2026 Recap

It was a pretty good day of competition yesterday at a bombed out and depleted Southport Springs. Seven players were within 3 strokes of the winner! That's a lot of people who feel like they could have won.

 

And everyone probably left at least 3 strokes out there due to a few unfortunate green bounces. So I guess it all evens out and the right guy won.

 

I'd tell you more about his round but he's already done that.

 

As for conditions, a few people said I over-sold the shittiness. Some said I was pretty accurate. Nobody said it was worse than expected... which is good. Geoff had a valid point: playing lift-clean-place everywhere definitely made it less noticeable.

 

And we still had a ton of birdies (and an eagle) which is fun. 

 

We'll try SPS again in 3 years, as it is the correct amount of "quirky" for this tournament.

 

------------------------

 

We're off for 4th of July this weekend. Next weekend is Match Play at Jovita North... an 8am shotgun start. We'll be grouped by standings the rest of the way, so check the event sheet to see who you're playing as people inevitably bail.

 

------------------------

 

A few schedule updates:

• Have you put the Rapture on your calendar yet? October 8th - 11th?
• Are we even going to get 12 players to qualify?
• Only 7 players have sent me money ($80) for the July 26th round at Hunter's Green (11:30am).
• This is one of the best deals in town, and we have to bring 16 players. Very soon I'm going to start filling the sheet with outsiders. I've put a few paid posts on golf architecture message boards, looking for replacements for some of you people.
• I've somehow talked Reunion into honoring our rate ($119) for 12 players on August 9th (Jamaican Open). I'll be posting a link for that soon... and anyone attending needs to pre-pay by July 9th.
• We can add up to 16 players depending on how fast people pre-pay. 

The season standings are tighter than usual at this point of the schedule. 

The Concussion - Summer 2026

This event is more and more starting to resemble its founder.

 

Long drive on #18

 

Annoying things to note:

• #7 is a par 4. It'll say par 5 on the scorecard. That is incorrect according to GHIN (and our app), so we're playing it as a par 4. 

• GameBook has the nines reversed. But I have every group starting on #10 (within the app... we're still physically starting on #1), so you shouldn't have an issue in the app. 

• According to this post - our Fall of 2020 Board Meeting unanimously established that a "greenie" can't be a 3+ putt.

• There is no range on Sunday - only two shitty nets near the first tee.

• We're playing the WHITE tees.

• The grill is not open on Sundays.

• Beers are somewhat cheap, but only available in the pro-shop. 

Reunion Golf

Reunion is offering us $119 (all in) for the Jamaican Open (August 9th) - starting at 10:20am on the Nicklaus course. It's the same deal they offered us last year, which I turned down for being too expensive.

Now a year has passed. What do we think, chat?

Any appetite for this?

Concussion Time Change

Southport Springs is in rough shape. Slow, fuzzy greens… with a bunch of dead spots. Fairways are the same.

But the scout team voted to just keep it booked since Countryway and The Groves are reporting similar conditions. 

We are going to play lift-clean-place everywhere.

We also moved the tee times up to 7:45am. There’s no range… so let’s get in and out faster.

If you’re someone who can’t handle shit conditions, I’d recommend you skipping next week.

Throwback Thursday

Spring 2013 Hangover Party - April 5th - TAPS (downtown Tampa)

Drinking mind-erasers.

 

FBGC Open - Summer 2026 Recap

Didn't we rename this thing?

 

Anyway, Waterlefe is an amazing course. It's a fun and interesting layout that really elevates players who are hitting it well. Any non-committed, scared swings are penalized heavily.

 

Unfortunately the greens still hadn't recovered a month after being punched. This is not normal, and it's clear they haven't been watering for whatever reason. The rest of the course was in great shape, and some of the rough was surprisingly juicy.

 

So who hit the ball the best? I watched a handful of Marcus' tee shots and he was striping it. With only three "blow-ups", he was able to win comfortably as the only player in red-net figures. Three birdies on the day is impressive! Marcus now has two career wins — both Major victories — and jumps to the top of our standings.

 

Billy made par on the final three holes... which is also very impressive... and high-fived Dave as he passed him on the leader board.

 

Everyone else isn't worth talking about, but here are some odds and ends:

• At most places, if you're in the clubhouse first, you can watch yourself move up the leader board. This is very true at Waterlefe with a daunting finishing stretch. This week we saw Chandler (that's me!) move up the leader board long after the round was over... because some idiot in his group (also me!) didn't give him credit for his birdie on 17 in the app.
• The par-3 15th at Waterlefe is the closest we'll ever see to the par-3 12th at Augusta. This is not a joke. In fact, it's probably more penal because the surrounds are tighter and the green is more severely sloped. We had one birdie (Geoff) and two pars (Chandler, Ho). Everyone else made a double-bogey or worse!
• It's very difficult to win at Waterlefe with a double or worse on the first hole. Geoff made a 9 on it and won by a stroke back in 2013! Buchert did it again in 2022! But most people who eject on this hole are done for the day. 

We're off for Father's Day weekend. Southport Springs will host our next event in two weeks. See you then! 

FBGC Open - Summer 2026 Preview

Long drive #12 (par 4)

 

First tee time is 10:12am.

  

Not much new to say about Waterlefe. This will be our 10th official event on the course, placing it only behind Southern Hills (17) and Countryway (13).

 

Everyone fears this course, but it's actually rated slightly easier than average in terms of difficulty (+4 median net to par). Wide fairways and sizeable greens help lower the scores.

 

9 of the 13 winners at Waterlefe have a first name that starts with "C".  So Faz with his inflated handicap should win Sunday.

 

See you then. 

Random Club History - 2012

On June 29th, 2012... Gorecki beat his dad in golf - straight up - for the first time in his life (35 years old at the time). He did this in an exhibition match at Legacy Golf Club (now part of Lakewood Ranch G&CC) with a score of 100 - 107. We were practicing for our first ever Major, played at Southern Hills the next day.

Geoff and I were lucky enough to witness this touching moment of Father/Son history.

Three weeks later on July 21st, we played the first (of only three) "Just the Tips" tournaments. It was a back-to-back tournament weekend due to a rainout. Only four people showed up. There were no greenies or sandies earned. Northdale was playing 6,824... and this leader board was amazing:

No, we will not be bringing this event back.  

The very next day we played a soggy TPC Tampa, which resulted in Gorecki's first ever victory and this gem of an excerpt from the write-up:

Everyone played like crap with the exhausting conditions, except Gorecki who shot one over his handicap to earn his first victory of the season.

Of course... he cheated all day... pairing himself with the Clique-o-Ballics, who couldn't watch him while they were constantly hunting for Dino's wayward drives. After we caught Gorecki hitting a mulligan on the first tee, he responded: "I'm not in your group, so I don't have to play by your rules." Commissioner Geoff pointed out: "You also don't have to win our money."

Skins Game - Summer 2026 Recap

As predicted in the weekly preview, Topor won at Seminole Lake this past weekend, with an impressive 44 (gross) on the front, followed by typical Topor-Ball on the back. He and Marcus had a double-bogey-party on the final stretch, with Topor's par on the difficult 16th proving to be the difference.

 

Other stats of note:

• Faz going 4 - 10 - 4 on the par-5 stretch on the back. He also hit 7 balls OB on the day which is probably a record for him.
• Gary making 6 pars in the final 7 holes on the front... only to implode with a 53 on the back (draining a long putt for birdie on 18 to avoid a pitcher).
•  Geoff with three sandies on the day.
• Dave did this back in 2022
• Buffalo Ben had 4 at the old Stoneybrook back in 2013
• Chandler (that's me!) hit all 14 fairways 

The rest of you were not noteworthy.

-----------------------------------

 

Seminole Lake had probably the best conditions we've seen in a long while. Great fairways, rough, and greens. The first group waited on every shot and still played in 3:52. Somehow, Tall Mike's threesome kept up! 

 

It sucks that they increased our rate 23%+ over last year... but at least it seems they're putting it back into the course?

 

-----------------------------------

 

We play our first Major of the season next Sunday at Waterlefe. Tee time is 10:12am (allegedly after their members).

 

They only increased their rates 13% on us year-over-year.  I don't think range balls are included. We might be at the point where it's too expensive to warm up anyway. 

Season Updates & Rapture Dates

Long drive Sunday is #5 

 

Everyone is on WHITE tees unless they want to move back:

 

 

 

-------------------------

 

Week 3 (Waterlefe) and Week 4 (Southport Springs) are booked and officially capped at the first 16 to RSVP.

 

Week 5 (Jovita) has 24 spots reserved, I believe.

 

Week 6 (Hunter's Green) is capped at the first 16 people to send me $80. There's a slight chance we can go to 20 people.

 

-------------------------

 

It's been a nightmare booking Week 3. The Rapture hasn't been much better.

 

Dates are October 8th to October 11th. Anyone who tells me later the dates weren't published will be sent a passive-aggressive screenshot of this post.

 

We are only taking 12 players. 

 

I have Candler Hills reserved for the Saturday round.  Juliette Falls won't let us book until 2 weeks out... so not sure how that'll work. The same manager chick was sending me emails in 2019 begging us to come back!

 

AirBnB options aren't great. I'll probably book us in Inverness again (40 min away from courses) just because those were decent setups (nice, many beds, pools) and the town actually has bars.  Black Diamond wants $350+ per person to play.

 

-------------------------

 

Speaking of greens fees, they've been a hot issue since the foundation of our Club. Our technology upgrade project has me going through old seasons, and I've been re-reading old posts. This one was our announcement of the new stroke play era, where I wrote:

"As I complained to co-founder Geoff regarding the incessant whining about tee times, greens fees, availability, locations, handicaps, etc... it dawned on me that we didn't really need anyone else..."

Here's a list of all our after-tax greens fees when that post was written (2012):
 

Heritage Harbor - $19

Northdale - $22

Bloomingdale - $24 

Summerfield - $26

The Eagles - $27

Bardmoor - $27

Crescent Oaks - $29 

Cypress Creek - $32

Heritage Isles - $33

Dunedin CC - $34

Pebble Creek - $36

Diamond Hill - $37

World Woods - $48

For context, $35 back then is about $52 now, adjusted for inflation.

See you Sunday!

Skins Game - Summer 2026 Preview

We're playing the best public-access option in Pinellas on Sunday, a 10:30am start at Seminole Lake. It's a solid old-school Florida layout... pretty flat with pushed up greens and lots of bunkering. Built in 1962 by Chic Adams who also designed Diamond Hill — a property and layout that couldn't be any more different.

 

Unfortunately, Seminole Lake is in high demand so there are no deals to be had and we have to go out after their members. Such is the state of golf at the moment.

 

It looks like mid to high handicaps excel here, as the firm greens rack up strokes for everyone at an equal clip. Gorecki won last year by 5 strokes (he was getting 27). This makes Topor the early betting favorite if he can play smart, avoid the numerous lakes and OB boundaries, and not physically overheat.

 

The weather looks dry and hopefully overcast.

 

We're going out in order of Skins Handicap this week, with guests sprinkled in as needed.

 

See you Sunday.