Snake Creek Crossing

Bodies Finally Hit The Tracks 🚂

adjusts digital duster After two weeks of narrating ghost-town leaderboards where the only thing deader than my enthusiasm was the participant count, Snake Creek Crossing finally delivered a body count worth talking about. Ten mercenary crews rolled into Wasatch Wunder at 5,500 feet—57.6 to 64.8 degrees, wind maxing at 10.9 mph, which in Deadlands math means "playable if you don't mind your disc getting pushed around on the open meadows." And here's the part that makes the sponsors actually rub their hands together: DOUBLE SERIES POINTS are on the line this week, meaning every throw carries 2x the weight toward who gets remembered and who gets buried in the seasonal standings. A tunnel collapse has bottlenecked the rail race at Snake Creek, and the only way through is straight through the scorecard.

RPA: Reesor Rides The Rails 🐎

Brandon Reesor marched through the four-player RPA field like a mercenary who'd memorized the terrain before the rest of the crew even unpacked their bags. Wire-to-wire at -5, Reesor never trailed—which in a division with three other players all within striking distance means he spent the afternoon playing defense with his scorecard instead of looking over his shoulder. Mike Eakett made his series debut with a strong -4, which is the kind of entrance that normally gets a welcome wagon but instead earned him second place and a charitable donation to the "what if I'd parked one more approach" fund. Jeremy Hanks at -1 and Mathew Watson at +2 rounded out the payroll survivors, but let's be honest—this was Reesor's train, and everyone else was just paying fare.

RAD: New Sheriff In Town 🌵

Somebody forgot to tell Craig Bennett that course records are supposed to be built up over multiple weeks. Bennett showed up to Snake Creek Crossing, stared down the 21-hole layout, and posted a -6, 963-rated round—that's +67 over his 896 PDGA rating, which in Deadlands arithmetic means the frontier's calculator glitched, and it glitched in his favor. The man shot 58 on a field that averaged 66, and when you're beating the field average by eight strokes on a PDGA Blue-level mountain course at 5,500 feet, you're not just winning—you're making a statement with a capital S. Taylor Thilo drew the short straw on the other side of the card, finishing at +14 in a two-player division that turned into a solo exhibition. The new sheriff's badge is warm, and it's not coming off anytime soon.

RAF: Clutch Putts Save Paychecks 💰

Nicholas Stosiek walked into Snake Creek Crossing carrying the Noose Elegy #1 tag and walked out having earned every bit of it. Even par across 21 holes doesn't sound like a highlight reel until you realize he sealed the win with a birdie on the final hole—hole 21, the elevated finish beside the campground and pine ridge, the kind of closing hole that separates mercenaries who get paid from mercenaries who get left in the canyon. William Fetzer finished at +12 in a two-player battle that came down to who could keep their nerves intact when the ghost-rock dust settled. Stosiek's paycheck stays intact, and the Noose Elegy stays warm on his arm for another week.

RAE: LaTour's Loyal Lead 🎯

David LaTour put together a wire-to-wire +4 in RAE that was less about fireworks and more about the quiet, grinding consistency that wins Deadlands showdowns. In a two-player division, the math is simple—beat the guy across from you, and the tag reshuffle sorts itself out. Sean Kelley finished at +5, one stroke back across 21 holes, which is the kind of margin that keeps you staring at the scorecard on the drive home wondering which putt you'd replay. LaTour's loyal lead never wavered, and the +4 held up as the mark of a man who understood that on a day when the course was eating scores for breakfast, survival beats heroics every time.

The Deadlands Don't Play Fair ⚖️

Let me run some numbers that'll make your rating spreadsheet cry. Craig Bennett shot +67 above his PDGA rating, which is the kind of statistical outlier that makes data scientists suspicious and competitors nervous. Nicholas Stosiek posted +78 above his rating, which in a division where even par won says more about the gap between potential and execution than any single throw. On the flip side, Taylor Thilo cratered -107 below rating, Scott Belchak dropped -79, and Nicholas Jennings slid -64—the Deadlands giveth, and the Deadlands taketh away, usually on the same card. Brandon Reesor stuffed the stat sheet with 10 birdies across 21 holes, while hole 7 (tight forested fairway along Pine Creek) and hole 18 (elevated finish by the campground) played as the hardest obstacles on the layout. The course averaged 66.3 across the field. Bennett shot 58. Let that math sink in.

The Pot Grows While Dreams Die

The Super Ace Pot climbed to $3,132 with nine contributors adding $18 this week, which means somebody's going to cash in eventually—the question is whether the frontier will let them hit chains or just keep dangling that ghost-rock carrot. No aces this week, no chains to celebrate, just the mounting suspense of a pot that's growing faster than anyone's C1X putting percentage. The LETS GOOOO energy is building, but the course isn't cooperating.

Skins: When One Hawk Rules The Roost

Five players opted into the skins game at Snake Creek Crossing, and Craig Bennett treated the card like a personal feeding ground. Sixteen skins for $40—that's 80% of the total pot, which in predator-prey terms means the hawk ate well and the field picked at scraps. David LaTour grabbed 4 skins for $10, Taylor Thilo snagged 1 for $2.50, and $52.50 total changed hands across the card. If you want to learn more about how the skins playbook works, the frontier's door is always open—just bring your putting game.

Noose Elegy Haunts Pool B 💀

The All-In reshuffle hit Snake Creek Crossing like a ghost-rock charge, and the tag landscape looks completely different. Craig Bennett claimed the Hangman's Mark #1 in Pool A after his historic -6, 963-rated course record performance—the mark glows crimson on his forearm now, warm to the touch, the spectral noose confirming it found the right bearer. Over in Pool B, Nicholas Stosiek held onto the Noose Elegy #1, his clutch hole-21 birdie ensuring the song of survival keeps playing for another week.

The Hangman's Mark—that dark rope-like brand wrapped around the forearm with golden threads like embers—represents the frontier's eternal acknowledgment of survival. Bennett earned it by shooting 67 points above his rating. Stosiek earned his Noose Elegy by never breaking when the pressure tightened. The rest of the field got reshuffled into the dust, and that's the All-In way: impermanence is the only constant.

Dust Settles But Tracks Continue 🚂

DOUBLE SERIES POINTS are now baked into the standings, and Week 3 at Snake Creek Crossing proved that the rail barons are finally getting their money's worth. Bennett's course record, Reesor's wire-to-wire, Stosiek's clutch finish—these are the moments that separate the mercenaries who get remembered from the ones who get buried in the ghost-rock tailings. The tunnel collapse bottleneck isn't resolved, the race through the Wasatch Range presses on, and next week's episode promises more track, more chaos, and more bodies hitting the line. The frontier's harsh, but this leaderboard? Downright cruel. See you at the next collapse, partners.