2026 Red Dead

There’s nothing that I like more than arriving at the tournament site at the same time as the tournament staff. It allows me to prepare in a relaxed way, making sure that I have everything in order and my body and mind are both warmed up and ready to go. The temperature was cool (~40 degrees) and, while the air was a bit wet, the weather was not traditional “Red Dead” weather. Typically, there would be a torrential rainstorm or a hurricane or a blizzard; so the mild conditions were a bit of a surprise.

A rather nice surprise.

Most of the players meeting was the traditional “thank-you”s to the sponsors, followed by some explanations for some of the more… er … “interesting” holes — double and triple islands, pins 8 feet from OB, deviously placed mandos, etc. Then we were off.

My card consisted of myself, one world champion, one FPO player, and one FA3 player. Starting on hole 18 (which was the first of the temporary holes), I managed 3 straight pars, then 2 birdies in the first 5 holes. After the 5th hole, I checked the camera and saw that it frozen on a still image from the preparations on hole 1. I shut the camera off, then turned it back on (Step #1 in the IT professional’s handbook!) and it seemed to start functioning correctly again. However, this caused me to get out of my routine for the drive on the 6th hole (hole #23). I misread the headwind on the tee pad and overturned the drive over the OB on the right side of the fairway. I stayed out of my head and played the rest of the hole for a bogie, instead of trying to over-throw to save the par (which usually ends up costing even more strokes!) The final 3 temporary holes (#24 through #26) were pretty straight forward, and I finished to temp section with three birdies (#21, #22, and #26) against one bogie (#23). The next hole (#27) was traditional hole #17, turned into a triple island (with 2 “rivers” cutting the fairway into 3 pieces) that I also managed to birdie.

First 9 holes complete at -3. Now THIS was starting to feel like redemption from last year!

The rest of the holes would be played as the traditional yellow layout, with additional OB and mandos. We would eventually jump from hole #16 to hole #18, since hole #17 was used to create the triple island hole #27. I know the yellow layout pretty well, so I was pretty confident that I could score going forward.

Holes #1 and #2 are barely drivable by me, so I played conservative and took pars on both. Hole #3 is the same (barely drivable), but an unfortunate obstructed lie after the drive, and a less-than-precise approach, left me with a circle 1 putt with the basket surrounded by a dangerous drop-off. I didn’t commit to the putt and hit the cage, giving my my second bogie of the round. Again, I was able to put the error out of my head and put my drive on hole #4 (a short par 3 with a temporary island surrounding it) within 10 feet of the pin to grab a birdie to offset the bogie on the previous hole. The drive on hole 5 was one of my better efforts on this fairway, but I was unable to sink the “long-ish” bridie putt. My typical drive on hole #6 usually lands on the left side of the fairway, but with the additional OB added for this tournament, I knew that I need to play my drive a bit farther to the right than normal. Unfortunately, I didn’t push the drive far enough right, and I ended up about 6” OB on the left side of the fairway. Missing the long circle 2 par save putt gave me another bogie.

Deep breath.

“You’re still under par, and you’re playing pretty well. You’ve only made two real mistakes, and your putting has been pretty consistent, so shake off the frustration and keep it going!”

Hole #7 is barely in driving range, so I played conservative and took a par. Hole #8 was reachable, and I managed to have a long circle 1 look for a birdie, but I missed to the right, and grabbed another par. Hole #9 was another island hole, so again I made the conservative play, avoiding the OB and grabbing another par. A slightly early release of my forehand on hole #10 took birdie out of play, so I took another par. Hole #11 is out of my reach from the tee pad, so there’s yet another par. It was at this point that I realized that I was actually playing a smart round, correcting for small errors with smart, accurate shots and making sure that I was in control of my mind and my emotions. Hole #12 and #13 are not normally “birdie-able” by me, so I didn’t push.

2 more pars.

My drive on Hole #14 faded earlier than I wanted and came to rest behind a tree - so I played smart to another par.

Hole #15 isn’t reachable, so I successfully played for another par.

Hole #16 was a repeat of hole #14, where the drive faded left a bit too much, causing an obstructed lie. Another par.

The final hole, #18, is out of my range as well, and I added one final par to my score.

The final total was -2 (90), 19 strokes better than last year!

Now, to be fair, last year we played the full (modified) red layout in sustained 25-per-hour winds, but this round was rated at 930, compared to the rating of 893 for last year’s attempt.

Mr. Jay Gobrecht took the win with a -5 (87), rated at 949. I found out later that we were tied going into the last 4 holes, but I’m not sure that I would have played them any differently if I had known that fact. Of our last 4 holes, two of them (#15 and #18) are well beyond my driving distance (315’ and 340’, respectively), and the other two (#14 and #16) both demand pretty precise drives — which I attempted and just fell a bit short.

All-in-all, I’m pretty happy with the round. I had a few mistakes, but I succeeded in playing a smart, patient round, without pushing outside of my own playing style. I capitalized on some of my good shots, and didn’t exacerbate the bad ones with MORE bad ones!

This bodes well for the next few tournaments. I have some areas of improvement (as always), but the new mentality and the new form changes are starting to pay dividends.