TEAMS DIVISION

SHOWTIME - Austin Ebersole

SCANTRON - Sam Scannell

4x Teams Champions - '23 San Diego Open, '23 New Swarm Classic, '23 Colorado Open and '23 New England Open.

Even though they came up just short of the season sweep there is no debate here. They held considerable leads going into the finals in 4 of the 5 tournaments, expanded on their leads in the finals in 3 of those 5 and even in the one they lost they clawed back from 5th to 2nd in the finals. Enough said. Although, to be honest a lot more could be said and all of it would be good.

KENZO - Ken Pytluk

ISLAND HOPPER - Jake Anderson

Now it starts getting tough - for a lot of different reasons. Vipers FC didn't compete as a team in the last 2 events due to a variety of circumstances - schedule conflicts, health, etc. So they were certainly vulnerable to being leapfrogged. But no one really took advantage and wrested control of the #2 slot through consistent play. In fact, half of Vipers FC (Jake Anderson) came in 2nd in New England as part of Island Cat. I shouldn't take that into account but how can't I?

Ultimately I still believe, Ken and Jake would likely be slightly better than every team not named Apex, having finished 2nd in 2 of the 3 they played together. But alas we'll never know...

MAINE EVENT - Mike DeRusha

SVL - Shawn Van Lancker

Spartan has also racked up two 2nd places ('22 Virginia FlingGolf Open and '23 San Diego Open), while also taking 3rd in Colorado. But a 5th in New England and not playing in Virginia meant that we can't move them up. But should we move them down?

Once again, while I feel like they could slip a ranking if they played another tournament given the heightened level of competition, no one played consistently better than them to justify dropping them. Their strategic team shot selection and precise short game really made them a great team to watch in 2023.

BIRDIE OF PREY - Krysta Smith

FLYIN' RHINO - James Braley

Slotting them in at #6 in the Mid Season Power Rankings  clearly left Flyin' Birdies feeling like they had something to prove to me and they did that by finishing 3rd in New England. But after mentally moving them up, they stumbled in Virginia and finished just out of the finals.

So now what do I do? After agonizing over it for awhile, I'm still going to move them up. Top 5 finishes in 3 of the last 4 tournaments is really hard to ignore. And other than Apex FC, they were the only power team that played as a team in every tournament this season.

As the first co-ed WLF Team, Flyin' Birdies ability to optimize tee selection to maximize reggie opportunities has added a layer of complexity to WLF Team Tournaments that made the format thrive in 2023.

BIG CAT - Mike Edwards

THE MOUNTAINEER - Zac Mulvey

OK - after the last difficult choice, it gets even harder. Do I drop Keystone another slot given that Savage FS has been playing so well for a good part of the year? Looking at it since Colorado, Keystone finished 5th in Virginia and didn't play in New England. But half of Keystone did with Island Cat and finished 2nd. And since I was giving some credit to Savage FS in the San Diego Open, fair is fair.

Ultimately I kept the first Teams Champions ('22 Virginia FlingGolf Open) at #5. Had they stumbled in Virginia last month it would have been easy, even without Savage playing. But with a solid effort that had them near the top for most of the day, I still think this is a team to be feared when things go their way. And if this ignites more DE vs PA rivalry, all the better (even though Soldier Boy is from PA...).

TINMAN - Neil Little

SOLDIER BOY - Ryan Stainbrook

PUBLIC ENEMY - Daniel Dillinger

To be honest, they are #6 because it would be a crime to drop them any lower. They finished 4th in New England and just writing this makes me think they haven't gotten a fair shake. If this motivates them to reach new heights next season, no one will be happier than your Commissioner.

Savage FS has seen a couple of different compositions in 2023, but I like where they have settled. Boasting two veterans, Savage FS has a ton of potential both in terms of where they are going as a team and how they can be marketed. Are you listening sponsors?

REGGIE QUEEN - Britt Morrison

SHOW'S OVER - Brooke Ebersole

ICE MAN - Brandon Hammond

LUCKY JACK - Jack Bovich

PODFATHER - Adam Copeland

BIG COUNTRY - Brooks Medford

So now we are at #7, so it must get easier, right? No - quite the contrary. Since Colorado, Fury finished 8th in New England but then took 3rd in Virginia. As a super-team, this was the first time we had a Bovich/Medford pairing and it seems to be a winner. Who knows if they'd been healthy and played the whole year?

As the first team with more than two members, I think we will look back on Fury FS as the cutting edge of where teams play is headed. Sporting an all-star roster of ranked players from the Mens and Womens divisions as opposed to two ranked players, I would not be surprised if Fury becomes the rule rather than the exception.

While it's hard to rank an apple against a bunch of oranges this is a really tasty apple.

DOC - Brian Sanders

HOLESHOT - Tab Thompson

If I had you guess which team would break APEX FC's string of 4 consecutive Team Championships who would you guess? Vipers maybe? If I told you it was a mixed-division team would that help? It must be Flyin' Birdies, right?

Nope. It's Big Air - a team that had never played together before Virginia and that didn't even have a team name until right before the finals. They were called Sanders Thompson which feels like it should have LLC following it not FC.

But on a magical afternoon at Massanutten, this team stormed out of the gate and then held off everyone en route to victory. Bringing a lethal combination of accuracy and short game while utilizing Tab's Senior Division status to optimize tee shots, this team gives us a lot to think about and gives EVERY TEAM out there hope.

PAR-T - Titus Harter

BACKFLIP BIRDIE - Obediah Harter

At the time of the Mid-Year Team Power Rankings, this team and the players on it were on no one's radar. Titus had just played in his first tournament in Colorado (albeit winning Top Newcomer) and he had just started playing FlingGolf period. His brother Obediah didn't even play. But everyone knows who the Harter brothers are now.

Every tournament they got better and they applied their meteoric rise in individual play to the Teams Tournament and it paid off big time in Virginia. Both brothers made the finals in the Individual Tournament, with Obie taking 4th place and so it was really no surprise that they channeled that same play into a 4th place Teams finish, throwing the Power Rankings into further disarray.

I can't wait to see what these two brothers from Missouri can do next year, both as individuals and as a team. But for right now, they are the kings of the Midwest.