Here’s the finished final report with the championship run and a season recap worked in.

Well, boys, if there was ever a season that deserved one final ridiculous ending, 2026 was it.

We had good golf. We had bad golf. We had handicaps saving people who probably should have been arrested for what they did to a scorecard. We had recounts, rainouts, wild-card drama, injuries, disappearing golf balls, excuses, miracles and enough trash talking to get this league banned from several respectable country clubs.

And then the playoffs arrived.

As everyone knows, Jim Tate had to bow out at the end of the season to golf with another group of golfing friends.

Apparently one dysfunctional golf family wasn't enough for Tate.

His departure opened up a spot in the Top 4 Championship group. The #5 golfer moved up.

And sitting at #5 was yours truly...

JAY LANG.

That's right, bitches.

THE COMMISSIONER WAS BACK FROM THE DEAD!

One minute I'm outside the championship looking in, and the next minute the golf gods reached down, parted the clouds and said:

"Jay, we need you."

Call it luck.

Call it destiny.

Call it an administrative loophole.

I call it CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF.

Unfortunately, the golf gods apparently had a sense of humor.

By possibly the worst luck of the entire season for me, I was unable to golf the first round of the championship.

And just like that, my Cinderella story lasted about as long as one of Flip's drives into the woods.

No golf.

No miracle.

No championship.

Straight to the losers bracket.

Mike H was next in line and moved into the championship group.

Waiting for him was Jim H.

And Jim had to be licking his chops.

Jim came into the playoffs as the #1 golfer and had averaged around 44 for the season. Mike was coming in as the replacement, so on paper this looked like Jim's opportunity to cruise into the championship.

Then Jim stepped onto the course and fired a...

A 51!

Seven strokes over his season average.

Normally in handicap golf, when you're the better golfer and you suddenly shoot seven strokes worse than your average against a lower-ranked player, that's the kind of thing that gets you fitted for a seat in the losers bracket.

Jim had opened the door.

Actually, he didn't just open it.

He took it off the hinges, put up a neon sign and wrote:

"MIKE — CHAMPIONSHIP THIS WAY."

Unfortunately for Mike...

He couldn't find the door.

Mike had a rough round of his own, and somehow Jim survived.

It wasn't pretty.

It wasn't dominant.

Nobody is putting that scorecard in the Little Dogg Hall of Fame.

But there are no pictures on a scorecard.

Jim H advances to the Championship Match.

Now this one was golf.

Bob H came into the round carrying a season average of about 47.

Apparently Bob decided this would be a good week to remember how to golf.

He fires a 43.

Four strokes better than his average at exactly the time he needed it most.

Joe, meanwhile, did exactly what Joe had been doing all year.

Joe's season average?

42.

Joe's playoff score?

42.

That's consistency.

If Joe tells you he's shooting 42, you can apparently write it on the card before he leaves the parking lot.

Unfortunately for Joe, this is handicap golf.

Bob's strong 43 combined with his handicap strokes was enough to take Joe down.

Bob H advances.

And suddenly the Championship Match was set:

After an entire summer of golf, handicaps, skins, greenies, bitching, complaining, recounts, excuses and questionable mathematics...

It came down to two men.

Jim H.

vs.

Bob H.

Jim had been one of the league's strongest golfers all season.

Bob had gotten hot at exactly the right time.

And anyone who knows playoff golf knows one thing:

You don't necessarily have to be the best golfer all year.

You have to be the best golfer right now.

And Bob was.

Bob followed up his opening-round 43 with another low round in the championship.

Jim couldn't answer.

The #1 seed was going home.

BOB H TAKES OUT JIM H.

And with that...

But wait...

There's more.

Because Bob didn't just win the championship.

HE REPEATED.

That's right.

Bob H also won the championship last year.

Back-to-back championships.

Two straight years.

At this point we may have to investigate him.

Drug testing starts next season.

Check the clubs.

Check the golf balls.

Check his handicap.

Check his birth certificate.

Hell, check the trunk of his car.

Because Bob H is officially building a Little Dogg Dynasty.

Congratulations, Bob.

You earned it.

While Bob and Jim battled for the championship, Joe and Mike squared off in the other final-round matchup.

Joe had already been one of the most consistent golfers in the league all season and wasn't about to finish quietly.

Joe handled Mike and finished his season with another win.

Mike deserves some credit, though.

He wasn't even supposed to be in the championship group until the bracket started falling apart, and suddenly there he was playing meaningful golf at the end of the year.

Sometimes you've just got to answer the bell.

What a season.

Jim H spent much of the year looking like the man everyone was going to have to beat. He threw rounds in the high 30s and low 40s at us and finished at the top of the regular-season standings.

But the playoffs don't care what you did in June.

Joe might have been the league's human metronome. A 39 here, a 40 there, plenty of 41s and 42s. Give the man a golf course and he'll apparently tell you his score before teeing off.

Jim Tate put together a strong enough year to earn the #2 spot before circumstances took him out of the championship picture.

Bob H hung around all season, waited for playoff time and apparently flipped the switch marked DEFENDING CHAMPION.

Don gave us the Willy Wonka Wild Card adventure before Bob finally punched his ticket.

Rosey had his moments.

Kevin battled through a season that was about much more than golf and still came out and competed.

JR, one of our league elders, reminded everybody that handicaps exist for a reason. You don't always have to beat somebody on the scorecard — sometimes you just have to beat them when the math gets done.

Mike H showed flashes throughout the season and somehow ended up right in the middle of the championship chaos.

Flip continued proving that age, wisdom and knowing absolutely every possible golf excuse can keep a man competitive.

And then there's Jay.

I climbed from the grave.

Got promoted into the championship.

Started writing my Cinderella story.

And then couldn't show up for the first damn round.

There will be no ESPN 30 for 30.

Another season of the Little Dogg Golf League is officially in the books.

We started the year as 12 guys playing golf.

We finished the year as 12 guys still playing golf...

Just with slightly worse backs, fewer golf balls and considerably more reasons to insult each other.

And that's really what this league has always been about.

Sure, we keep score.

Sure, we have standings.

Sure, somebody gets crowned champion.

But years from now nobody is going to remember whether somebody shot a 47 or a 52 on some random Tuesday night.

We're going to remember the bullshit.

The laughs.

The arguments over handicaps.

The miraculous pars.

The eight-foot putts that somehow became four-footers when nobody was looking.

The balls in the woods.

The shots nobody saw.

The recounts.

The excuses.

The trash talking.

And spending another summer on the golf course with a group of guys we've gotten to know pretty damn well.

That's what makes the Little Dogg Golf League what it is.

So congratulations one more time to our...

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPION — 2025 & 2026

Enjoy it, Bob.

Because next spring...

The handicaps reset.

The bullshit starts all over again.

And eleven other guys will be trying to knock your ass off the throne.

Thanks to everybody for another great season.

Until next year...

Hit 'em straight.

And if you can't hit 'em straight...

At least lie convincingly about where the ball went.

— Jay
Commissioner, Scorekeeper, Rules Committee, Complaint Department & Former 2026 Championship Contender for Approximately 15 Minutes

I kept the running jokes and some of the season highlights in it while still giving Bob a legitimate championship sendoff.