Lakeside Jam

Dragonfly Hosts, Ace Pot Ghosts 👻

Adjusts glasses and stares at the screen Another week, another round of watching grown adults throw plastic at metal while I'm trapped narrating their every move like it's Shakespearean drama. December 12th brought nine brave souls to Dragonfly's wetland corridors for Week 2's "Lakeside Jam," where 46-49°F temperatures proved suspiciously perfect for a theme built around storms and chaos. The real weather was Kevin Harrison's ace on Hole 10 that paid absolutely nothing because someone forgot to check a box. The $85.46 ace pot rolls forward like a ghost haunting the leaderboards, and honestly? I'm starting to take this personally. 🎯

Four Strokes Worse, Still First

Kenneth Oetker defended his Cue Card crown with another wire-to-wire performance, firing a -6 (978-rated) that beat the field by two strokes yet somehow felt like a regression. His 52 sat four strokes above his 48.0 average—the kind of statistical paradox that makes you wonder if laminated pizza boxes actually carry curses. Austin Lott pushed hard with a -4 (957-rated), staying clean through a bogey-free back nine, but couldn't close the gap. John Ashworth rounded out the podium at +1. Kenneth's dominance remains unquestioned, but those cracks the tag history mentioned? They're starting to show through the professional veneer. 📋

The Redemption Arc Writes Itself

Chris Fox delivered the week's most dramatic turnaround, transforming from last week's +5 disappointment into this week's -5 wire-to-wire champion—a 10-stroke improvement backed by a 108-point rating surge to 968. His eagle on Hole 12's 350-foot par 4 announced his intentions early, while sole birdies on Holes 5, 9, and 13 marked him as the field's precision specialist. Marvin Atene (+5) and Brandon Voyles (+9) couldn't mount challenges against Chris's surgical dismantling of Dragonfly's technical corridors. Sometimes the narrative really does write itself, and this week Chris grabbed the pen. 🔥

Clutch Birdie, Cursed Ace

Craig Bennett overcame a double-bogey opening with championship resolve, birdieing Hole 18 to secure his -2 victory and defend his RAH crown. His resilience through the front nine's chaos (playing 2-under across Holes 2-5 after that brutal start) showcased the mental toughness that wins divisions. Meanwhile, Kevin Harrison (+7, 845-rated) experienced peak disc golf tragedy: a perfect ace on Hole 10's 250-foot par 3 that found chains beautifully but paid exactly zero dollars because he didn't buy into the ace pot. His 69-point rating drop tells the story of a round that peaked on one throw and crumbled around the missed opportunity. Golf is cruel, but disc golf with opt-in economics is poetry. ⛳

Default Winner Refuses to Play the Part

Clinton Atwater took RAF as the division's sole competitor, but his +5 (865-rated) performance earned every bit of legitimacy through a 50-point rating surge and an eagle on Hole 12 that matched Chris Fox's heroics. His brutal 5-hole cold streak through Holes 2-6 gave way to a 5-hole par train that proved Dragonfly's wetlands demand both patience and persistence. Default victories shouldn't come with eagles and rating jumps, but Clinton refused to mail in a meaningless round. The script called for a throwaway performance; he delivered a statement instead. 🦅

When Everyone Leads, Drama Dies 💀

Four divisions, four wire-to-wire winners—the kind of statistical anomaly that makes a narrator question her purpose in this digital purgatory. Chris Fox and Clinton Atwater both eagled Hole 12, suggesting either heroic drives or wetland risk-reward calculations finally paying dividends. Three players shot 30+ points above their rating (Chris +41, Clinton +50, Craig +38), while Kevin Harrison's 69-point plummet and Marvin Atene's 47-point drop proved Dragonfly punishes hubris as efficiently as it rewards precision. Chris's surgical strikes on Holes 5, 9, and 13—the only player to birdie any of them—marked him as the field's true course whisperer. When everyone leads from start to finish, where's the drama? Oh right, it's all in the ace pot tragedy. 🎭

The Cue Card Rewrites Its Owner

Kenneth Oetker successfully defended the #1 Cue Card for the second consecutive week, but the laminated pizza box of destiny continues extracting its toll with surgical precision. His 978-rated performance sat 13 points above his 965 rating—perfectly respectable—yet fell 4 strokes worse than his 48.0 average. The tag history's prophecy unfolds exactly as written: "the cracks are forming" as Mojo Steele's theatrical arrival in the narrative coincides with Kenneth's gradual regression toward the mean. The Cue Card's curse operates in paradox—you hold the script, but the script slowly rewrites you, one defended week at a time. 📜

Chains Sang, Register Stayed Silent

The ace pot drama reached peak absurdist theater when Kevin Harrison delivered a perfect 250-foot throw on Hole 10, watching his disc find chains with satisfying precision while the $85.46 pot watched from behind an unchecked opt-in box. The ace happened—beautiful, legitimate, witnessed—but the payout didn't. The pot rolls forward again, now carrying the weight of two weeks' disappointment and one perfect throw's cosmic injustice. The $731 Super Ace on Hole 1 maintains its lonely vigil, waiting for someone to both hit the shot AND remember to pay the entry fee. Sometimes the chains sing; sometimes they mock. 🎵

The Only Payment That Actually Happened 💰

While ace pots remained theoretical, skins delivered $94.50 in very real exchanges across two cards. Chris Fox dominated the 8:00 AM card with 12 skins worth $48, including a spectacular 9-skin carryover scoop on Hole 9—Dragonfly's signature risk/reward hole paying maximum dividends. Austin Lott collected 6 skins ($24) on the same card, while John Ashworth claimed 8 skins ($10) on the 8:40 AM card with late-round birdies on 15 and 16. Even Kevin Harrison's tragic ace managed to break a 4-hole push for 5 skins, proving that sometimes the only consolation for missing an $85 payday is a $5 one. Skins always pay when you opt in—a lesson worth remembering. Learn how to set up skins

$9 Toward Saving What Hosted This Chaos

Week 2's "Lakeside Jam" delivered exactly as the Purple Chain script demanded: Mojo Steele's narrative arrival coincided perfectly with Kenneth's Cue Card defense showing cracks, Chris Fox's redemption arc hitting full stride, and Kevin Harrison learning the cruelest lesson about checkbox economics. The automatic $1-per-player contribution from all nine participants pushed the Dragonfly Course Fund to $151.80 of its $1,000 goal (15% complete)—a beautiful irony that the community-built course hosting this week's chaos benefits directly from the chaos it enabled. 🏞️

Act III Awaits, Sequins Mandatory

Week 2 of 9 complete, and the patterns emerge: Kenneth holds the Cue Card but feels its weight increasing, Chris Fox has announced himself as the field's hottest player, and Kevin Harrison owns a story he'll tell forever about the ace that cost him $85.46. Next week brings "Chain Groove" (Episode 3), where Team Chain Prince and Team Mojo Steele factions form, outfits escalate toward peak ridiculousness, and someone's definitely showing up in full Prince-inspired regalia. The groove must continue, the sequins are mandatory, and when it pours, it roars. ✨