2026 Season

But two of the best stories from the final round belonged to Josh Lamb and Nick Matwijec.

• Lamb fired a career-best 42, the lowest score of his 84 clean rounds across six seasons. Matwijec answered with a career-best 40, the lowest of his 95 clean rounds across seven seasons. 👏

• There were season milestones all over the card as well. Hughes finished with season-best marks of 43 gross and 32 net. Chad Miller tied his season-best gross with a 49 and set a season best with 15 putts. Matt Sreca also posted his best putting round at 15, while Kasper matched his season-best putting round with 14.

Not a bad way to turn out the lights.

🐦 The Best Golf We've Played at Crestwood

If there is one broader story that defines 2026, it is this:

The league played some damn good golf.

• The final count was 85 birdies or better, the most the league has produced since the Pine Hills days. That shattered the previous Crestwood high of 74 in 2020 and was a massive jump from 54 last season.

• For historical context, the league had 95 at Pine Hills in 2012 — but Pine Hills was a shorter course playing to a lower par, so it isn't a perfect apples-to-apples comparison. At Crestwood, though, there is no ambiguity: 2026 set the bar.

• That's 11 more than the previous Crestwood high and 31 more than last year. Safe to say the birdie jar got a workout. 🐦🐦🐦

• The scoring numbers tell the same story. The league finished with a 48.6 scoring average, the lowest since moving to Crestwood in 2013. The previous Crestwood best was 48.9 in 2024, while last season finished at 49.2.

And once everyone finally found the flat stick, another record fell.

• The league's 16.70 putting average was the best since putting statistics began being tracked.

• This wasn't simply two or three guys dragging the averages down, either. Among the 27 golfers with previous Crestwood history, 11 posted their best-ever Crestwood scoring average and 10 posted their best-ever putting average. Six — Ben Woodlan, Jake Lyman, Matt Smaldon, Matt Sreca, Will Cotter and Frank Acquaviva — did both in the same season.

• There were also eight players who improved across the board from last season in the site's key year-over-year categories — low gross, low net, scoring average, putting average and handicap.

So yes, there were individual stars in 2026. But one of the most impressive stories may be just how much better the field got as a whole. 📈

📊 The 2026 Leaders

There were enough tight races this year that a few trophies probably need two or three names engraved on them.

• Most Points: Eric Kasper & Frank Gentile Jr. — 120 each. Firley and Smaldon were next at 115.

• **Most Wins: **Joe Firley — 13, edging Gentile Jr. at 12.

• Scoring Average: Ryan Bates — 42.0, ahead of Jeff Sergott at 42.4 and Kasper at 43.6. Bates' 42.0 was also his best Crestwood season ever, beating the 42.6 he posted in 2014.

• Putting Average: Ryan Bates & Jeff Sergott — 15.4, with Firley right behind at 15.5. The raw numbers give Bates the slightest edge, but for league purposes it's a shared title.

• Low Gross Round: Ryan Bates — 35.

• Low Net Round: Tom Gannon — 24.

• Best Putting Round: Joe Firley — 11 putts. 🕳️

• Year-End Handicap: Jeff Sergott & Matt Smaldon — 5.

• Most Improved: Ben Woodlan — 6.9 strokes, improving from 63.2 to 56.3. Jake Lyman was next at 3.5, which shows just how far Woodlan separated himself from the pack. 📈

• Most Skins: Pat Beckwith, Shawn Hughes & Eric Kasper — 5 each.

• Skins Money: Ryan Bates — $56, despite finishing with four skins rather than the league-leading five.

• Closest-to-the-Pin Wins: Ryan Bates — 3, with No. 3 coming on the final night. ($90) 🎯

• Total Money: Ryan Bates — $251, combining points, skins and CTP winnings. Kasper finished second at $232. 💵

- And the birdies-and-eagles race needed four spots at the top of the leaderboard: Bates, Smaldon, Kasper and Todd Allen all finished with eight, with Beckwith only one back at seven.

🔥 More From the Scorecard

Some numbers don't necessarily need their own trophy, but they're too good to leave in the bag.

• Ryan Bates, Eric Kasper, Frank Gentile Jr. and Jeff Sergott each recorded three redless rounds — nine holes without a single double bogey or worse.

• Sergott was also par or better on an impressive 50.8% of every hole he played this season.

• And two golfers were still charging when the horn sounded: Joe Firley and Matt Smaldon both finished the season riding six-match winning streaks. 🔥🔥

Then there is Shawn Hughes, who put his name into a part of the record book that may never need updating.

• His June 1 hole-in-one established the league's closest-to-the-pin record by putting the marker in the only place nobody can beat....the bottom of the cup. ⛳🎯

• It can be tied.....It cannot be topped.

🌎 Final World Golf Rankings

• Eric Kasper finished the season as the world No. 1, followed by #2 Frank Gentile Jr., #3 Ryan Bates, #4 Jeff Sergott, #5 Matt Smaldon and #6 Joe Firley.

• Kasper can therefore add World No. 1 to a season that already included 120 individual points, 11 wins, five skins and, most importantly, another league championship. 🏆

⛳ We're Not Done Yet — Two-Man Scramble on September 14

The regular season is over, but there is still golf left on the calendar.

We're playing a two-man scramble Monday, September 14, at the same time and same place.

Todd Allen is organizing, so if you haven't already committed — or haven't let Todd know whether you're playing — please get in touch with him as soon as possible so the field can be finalized.

One more chance to swing hard, blame your partner and claim the other guy's drive was definitely the one you were planning to use anyway. 😏

🍻 Year-End Outing — September 19 at Conklin's Players Club

• Then we'll officially put a bow on 2026 with the year-end outing at Conklin's Players Club on September 19.

• We're still looking for votes on the food options, so if you haven't voted yet, head over to the league website and get your selection in as soon as possible. 🍔🌭

• Teams for the outing will be drafted and posted once they're ready.

Until then, congratulations to Eric Kasper and Joe Firley, our 2026 champions; congratulations to all of this year's statistical leaders and record setters; and thanks to everyone for another season in the books.

Seventeen weeks down. A new team-points record. A Crestwood birdie record. The best scoring and putting we've seen there. And, somehow, everybody is still willing to come back and do it again. ⛳🍻🏆

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