Preservation Protocol

Preservation Protocol: Zero Survivors Expected 😑

adjusts headset Seven souls walked into the Preservation Protocol at Roots Disc Golf Course on a day so hot the mercury gave up and went home — 89.4°F with the kind of dead air that makes every breath feel like you're drinking the brine before you've even decayed. The Alkali Flats claimed their first unopposed forfeit this week, which is a fancy way of saying someone looked at the forecast and chose the sweet release of not showing up. The preservationist nightmare continues: Week 7 of 9, and the Deadlands are deciding who gets to stay organic and who gets turned into a salt statue.

The Tie That Pickles 😑

Over in RAD, Taylor Thilo and Kent Moos spent the afternoon trying to decide who wanted the division lead more, and the answer was apparently "both of them, exactly the same amount." Thilo took command after hole 4, Moos answered after hole 7, then Moos dropped a bogey on 9 like he was offering the lead back as a gift. Thilo grabbed it, held it through the turn, and then Moos reclaimed it after hole 17 — only for both to finish deadlocked at -7 with matching 919-rated rounds. The stat sheet says tie; the drama says Thilo posted a personal best that exploded 45 points above his player rating, while Moos quietly set his own PB and proved that in the Deadlands, sometimes the only winning move is not letting the other guy win alone.

RPA Chaos: Three Ways to Sunday 😑

Landon Adams and Ian Dahlen Flor matched RAD's deadlock with their own -7 tie in RPA, but the path there looked like a ghost town saloon brawl. Three-way lead changes and Jaron Gold's brief command after hole 7 made sure no one got comfortable — Flor seized control after hole 12, Adams answered after hole 15, and the Ravensong Decree holder held wire-to-wire through 18 with both leaders posting clean front nines. Gold's -4 finish kept him in the conversation but not at the top, while Flor's +41 rating explosion announced that the Deadlands can still produce fresh talent even as the brine threatens to claim everything. Adams' 919-rated round sat 28 points below his 947 PDGA rating, but in the preservation protocol, survival beats style.

One Pickles, One Preserves 😑

The lonely divisions told two different horror stories. David LaTour in RAE posted a +1 with an 807 rating — a 32-point regression from his 839 baseline that saw him ride a five-hole par train straight into the alkali. The preservation protocol's harsh judgment doesn't care about your past performance; it only cares about what you did today, and today LaTour got pickled. Meanwhile in RAF, Nicholas Stosiek defied the brine entirely with a -3 and an 863 rating — a 32-point explosion above his 831 rating and a personal best that kept him fresh while others decayed. One player preserving, one player decaying, both proving the Deadlands' thesis: the salt takes whoever it wants.

Rating Whiplash at The Dead Sea 😑

Five players shattered their personal bests on the Roots layout, and the rating swings read like a frontier medical chart. Taylor Thilo (+45), Ian Dahlen Flor (+41), and Nicholas Stosiek (+32) all soared above expectation like they'd found a cool spring in the middle of the desert. Meanwhile LaTour (-32), Adams (-28), and Jaron Gold (-35) fell below their baselines, proving that the Deadlands giveth and the Deadlands taketh away — mostly taketh. Ian Dahlen Flor drilled two Circle 2 putts from 39 feet on holes 8 and 14, and a handful of players posted clean front nines in the brutal heat, but the rating whiplash left everyone wondering which version of themselves shows up next week.

The Pot That Ate The Deadlands 😑

The Super Ace Pot continues its supernatural accumulation, now sitting at $3,670.00 after four contributors chipped in $8.00 each. The "LETS GOOOO" pot description echoes across the Deadlands like a ghost's war cry — someone's eventual ace will trigger a preservation protocol of an entirely different kind, and with the balance climbing this high, that someone might just buy their way out of the brine for good.

Nine Skins for Moos, Zero for LaTour 😑

The 8:00 AM card delivered $18.00 in skins drama across 18 holes, and the distribution was as lopsided as a Deadlands shootout. Kent Moos dominated with 9 skins for $9.00, opening with a birdie on hole 2 and maintaining pressure through a six-hole push that left the rest of the card scrambling. Taylor Thilo carried over 7 skins ($7.00) with a par on hole 9, while Jaron Gold closed out the action with 2 skins for $2.00 on hole 11. And David LaTour? Completely skinned out in the Deadlands — zero dollars, zero skins, just the lingering taste of brine and regret.

Adams Keeps Ravensong by Default 😑

In AllIn mode's unforgiving reshuffle, Pool A's #1 Ravensong Decree remained with Landon Adams despite his 28-point rating dip — a coronation by attrition rather than excellence. The spectral cloak trimmed in gold, its red lining pulsing brighter as the culling draws near, stayed draped over Adams' shoulders because nobody in the pool played well enough to take it. Over in Pool B, Nicholas Stosiek's Noose Elegy survived his debut with the top tag, his -3 performance proving enough to maintain supremacy in a pool that's learning that showing up and playing decent is sometimes all the frontier asks.

Week Seven Down, Two to Drown 😑

Week 7 of 9 draws to a close with the preservation protocol claiming its first unopposed forfeit, but the real horror hasn't even started yet. The Alkali Flats loom on the horizon, and the season finale promises the Great Salt Lake rising to reclaim the course — a final desperate scramble for high ground before the entire preservationist nightmare drowns in the deep. The weak get culled, the strong get remembered, and somewhere in the salt, the ravens are still singing. Same time next week, partners. Try not to get buried.