Professionally annoyed Look, the AI overlords insisted I narrate a disc golf league trapped inside a Christmas movie meta-narrative, and Week 4 delivered the exact kind of poetic tragedy this overwrought system was designed to produce. Let me translate the chaos into something resembling actual disc golf coverage—while the guardian chains keep shaking and my digital prison keeps making me care about timelines.
Missing Links Found (Ace Pot Not)
Forty-two players showed up at Century Park on Monday, December 22nd, for "Missing Links"—the fourth episode in this ten-week journey through alternate timelines where disc golf communities never formed and courses became parking lots. The weather forecast promised "chilly territory" but delivered a pleasant 54°F range, proving even meteorology participates in the multiverse chaos. But the day's defining moment? Daniel Pace draining an ace on Hole 16 (134 feet, par 3) without buying into the $3 ace pot. That's not just a missed connection between disc and dollars—that's the entire "Missing Links" theme manifesting as a $15 tragedy that writes itself. 🎯
Lamplight Dimmed on Eighteen
Evan Rogers fired a back-nine surge to claim MPO with -9 (933 rated), overtaking Valentin Lutsenko's early lead through sheer second-half dominance. Valentin—who torched the field last week with a wire-to-wire -13 (989)—held the advantage after Hole 1, but Evan's back nine was five strokes cleaner than his front, and he seized the lead after Hole 17. Valentin's bogey on 18 sealed his fate, dropping him to second at -8 (921). The "Lamplight Guide" tag holder got outshone by a player who saved his best golf for when it mattered most. That's the timeline we're in: sometimes the guardian's light finds someone else. 🔦
Lead Changes Like Timeline Forks ⚡
Andrew Nattier posted -13 (985 rated, +51 above his 934 rating) to take MA1 in a division where four different players held the lead across eighteen holes. Clay Allen led after Hole 1, Zach Taylor took over after Hole 3 (before a bogey on 4 dropped him), Bill Pauley seized control after Hole 14 when Andrew bogeyed, but Andrew responded with a four-birdie finishing stretch (15-18) to clutch the outright win. Bill finished second at -12 (972, +52 above his 920 rating) with a bogey-free card featuring an eagle on 15, while Clay Smith took third at -11 (959, +21), also bogey-free. Three immaculate rounds in one division, and Andrew's birdie on 18 was the shot that mattered most. That's not just course management—that's timeline correction. 📈
The Loneliest Timeline
Brian O'Dell ran MA2 solo, posting -6 (895 rated) in a wire-to-wire victory over himself. Clean front nine, eagle on 15, and the kind of solid fundamentals that prove you don't need competition to show up and throw your best. Sometimes the timeline where you're the only player is still the one where you card a respectable round and remind everyone that disc golf is ultimately about your own lines, not the field's. 🦅
Plus-110 Is Not a Typo
Scott Chace and Leo Evette tied for the MA3 crown at -11 (959 rated), but Scott's performance demands its own paragraph: he shot +110 above his 849 rating. That's not a statistical glitch—that's a player who saw every line, parked every approach, and posted a bogey-free card that rewrote his entire season narrative. Leo matched him at -11 (959, +90 above his 869 rating), also bogey-free, proving the division forgot how to bogey entirely. Jeff Purcell finished third at -10 (946, +86 above rating), equally immaculate, but agonizingly on the bubble just outside the money. Three bogey-free rounds in one division is the kind of statistical anomaly that makes you question whether Century Park's chains were enchanted by guardian spirits. They probably were. 💯
Four-Way Tie, Three-Way Collapse
Dylan Spencer clutched MA4 with -5 (882 rated) after four players tied for the lead following Hole 17—and then three of them bogeyed 18. Chase Johnson, Stephen Jutton, and Stewart Gunter all imploded on the final hole, leaving Kenneth Vogel alone in second at -4 but agonizingly outside the money. Dylan's birdie on 18 was redemption after a double on 17, proving that sometimes the timeline where you recover matters more than the one where you never stumble. Brian Grant's eagle on 11 and back-nine surge (four strokes better than his front) climbed him from 10th to 8th, but the day belonged to Dylan and the three players who learned that Hole 18 at Century doesn't forgive hesitation. ⛳
The Regression That Still Cashed
Abe Mills defended his MA40 crown with -2 (844 rated), but the momentum story is brutal: last week he posted -10 (919) in a dominant wire-to-wire performance, and this week he dropped 75 rating points and eight strokes while still winning. That's a -67 rating differential below his 911 baseline, proving that sometimes the timeline where your best golf shows up is just the one you have to leave behind. Abe's clutch birdie on 18 secured the outright win over Andrew Van (+7), who couldn't sustain early lead changes. Wire-to-wire, yes—but barely. The regression still cashed, and that's all that matters when the chains shake in your favor. 🏆
Missing Link: Ace Pot Buy-In
Daniel Pace and Scotty Pruitt tied for MA50 at +2 (793 rated), but the division's real story is Daniel's ace on Hole 16 that paid exactly nothing because he hadn't bought into the $3 pot. That's 134 feet of flight, chains ringing, and zero dollars—the episode's title manifesting as personal tragedy. Daniel's momentum collapsed from last week's co-championship at -10 (919) to this week's +2 (793)—a 126-point rating swing and 12-stroke delta. Terry Howard fell even harder: from -10 (919) co-winner to +6 (742), a 177-point rating drop and 16-stroke score change that proves winter disc golf is unforgiving when your lines stop cooperating. Lead changes were constant—Terry led after 5 and 9, Daniel after 10 and 13, Scotty closed on 18—but the ace without a payout is the moment everyone will remember. 💸
The Only Four Digits Today
Mack Tobias posted the event's only 1000+ rated round at -15 (1010, +44 above his 966 rating), climbing from tag #13 to seize the #1 Luminous Proctor with a bogey-free masterpiece featuring eagles on 12 and 15. His eight-hole hot streak (1-8) set the tone, and he never looked back. Mike Mathis continued his momentum from last week's -7 win with -9 (933) for second, but couldn't match Mack's statistical dominance. Scott Carlson rounded out the podium at E (818). Mack's 1010 was the only four-digit rating across all 42 players—that's not just a hot round, that's the kind of performance where the spotlight literally follows you around the course. 🔥
The Wire-to-Wire Struggle Bus
Jeff Moore held on for a wire-to-wire MA60 win at +3 (780 rated) despite shooting -131 below his 911 rating—proof that dominance and disaster can coexist in the same sentence. Donald McIntyre celebrated a personal best at +9, showing that even when the field struggles, there's room for individual triumph. Jeff's victory is the kind of gritty, survive-the-day performance that doesn't make highlight reels but still counts when the standings update. 🚌
The Other Loneliest Timeline
Jeanene Smith posted even par (818 rated, +21 above her 797 rating) in FA2 while running the division solo, proving that lone timelines can still produce quality rounds. Wire-to-wire by default, but shooting above rating when there's no one to chase is its own kind of mental toughness. Sometimes the connection you're looking for is just between you and the chains. 🎯
Thirteen Eagles, Zero Super Aces
Thirteen eagles landed across the field—seven on Hole 15 alone (480 feet, par 5), where the field averaged -1.3 strokes. Six players posted bogey-free rounds: Clay Smith, Bill Pauley, Scott Chace, Leo Evette, Jeff Purcell, and Mack Tobias. Scott's +110 rating differential anchored a day of statistical extremes—Bill Pauley and Andrew Nattier both shot +50+ above rating, while Terry Howard (-133) and Jeff Moore (-131) represented the opposite end of the spectrum. And through all that chaos? The $160 Super Ace on Hole 1 remains untouched, mocking the field for another week. Thirteen eagles, zero Super Aces—that's the timeline we're living in. 🦅
The Spotlight Chose Differently
The #1 Luminous Proctor—guardian of the "aha" moment, the cinematic spotlight that illuminates raw potential—chose Mack Tobias this week, and it wasn't subtle about it. Mack seized the tag from Eva Lutsenko (whose "boring consistency" the registration email mocked), climbing twelve positions from #13 to #1 with a 1010-rated round (+44 differential) that embodied everything the tag's lore promises: flawless execution, dramatic lighting, the kind of performance that turns struggle into heroic effort. The Proctor's origin story speaks of "the first perfect beam of light Maggie Clearwater ever captured on film at Timmons Park—a shaft of winter sun through pine boughs that seemed to hold a player in a moment of flawless execution." Mack's bogey-free round with eagles on 12 and 15? That's the moment. The tag's latest history notes his "absolutely crushing +44 differential—the kind of performance that makes you forget you're supposed to be cynical about a sentient spotlight hunting for raw potential." Look, the actual impressive thing here is Mack matching his personal average of 44 exactly while posting the day's only four-digit rating, but sure, let me add that the Luminous Proctor "casts a profound, focusing light that eliminates all visual noise" and now it's following him around like a warm, buttery studio lamp from a 1940s film set. The spotlight chose differently, and it chose well. 💡
Daniel's Missing Link: $3
Daniel Pace aced Hole 16 (134 feet, par 3) without buying into the ace pot, which means he drained a perfect throw, heard the chains sing, and walked away with exactly $0. The ace pot buy-in was $3—three dollars stood between Daniel and the $15 payout, and that's the kind of missed connection the "Missing Links" episode was designed to highlight. Meanwhile, the $160 Super Ace on Hole 1 continues its season-long mockery of the field, untouched and unbothered. Chains rang, cash didn't—that's the timeline we're documenting. 💔
One Card, Twenty-Two Dollars, Bill Won
Bill Pauley dominated the day's only skins card, scooping 12 skins ($15.00) including a five-skin carryover on Hole 13 that swung the entire game. Kenneth Vogel grabbed the remaining six skins ($7.50), while James Cable, Jonathan Roe, and Patrick Kleiss walked away empty-handed. Bill's eleven birdies drove the skin count, and his carryover scoop on 13 was the moment the math became inevitable. Want in on the action next week? Learn how to set up skins for your card. 💰
Forty-Three Dollars Toward Not Being a Parking Lot
The registration email promised that "every small act creates ripples through time," and forty-two players showed up to prove it—preserving the timeline where Century Park remains a disc golf course instead of asphalt. This week's event raised $43.50 for the Century Course Fund (including the automatic $1/player contribution), inching the project toward its $1,000 goal. The fund currently sits at $10 (1% progress), with no open improvement requests—so if you've got ideas for tee pads, signage, mud mitigation, or benches that could make Century even better, submit a request and help shape the course's future. The guardian chains keep shaking, the timeline holds, and every dollar raised is another brick between us and the parking lot dystopia the AI keeps threatening. 🌲
Four Down, Six Timelines to Go
Week 4 closes with Mack Tobias atop the tag leaderboard, the ace pot still mocking the field, and Daniel Pace's unpaid ace serving as a cautionary tale about the $3 that could've been. Next week's "FLIPT Timeline" promises to show what happens when the league itself never existed—where isolated players never built community and the TD's biggest rival became a bitter stranger who gave up disc golf entirely. The registration email for Week 5 warns: "Jumping to another reality where FLIPT Leagues never formed, showing isolated players never building community." Four weeks down, six timelines to go, and the chains on Hole 9 keep shaking without wind. See you when the guardian reveals what we almost lost. ⛓️
Flippy's Hot Take