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US Speedgolf Open Preview - Let's Gooooooo!

We are less than 24 hours from Luke Willett arriving on the tee in his rainbow speed suit. And you are fewer than 2,000 words from reading my last joke about Luke’s apparel choices.

From the two players battling for global speedgolf supremacy, to Scott Dawley’s legacy as a tournament director, this event has storylines. Get ready to meet the three-time obstacle course racing world champion making his speedgolf debut, the senior speedgolfer who refuses to play like one, and the second generation speedgolfer looking to follow Carl Palmberg's example by winning on the big stage.

It's time to let it fly.

Course Preview - Temecula Creek Inn

Welcome to Temecula Creek Inn (TCI), nestled in the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains. TCI is home of Speedgolf Temecula, one of the most avid speedgolf clubs on the planet.

By the numbers (courtesy of speedscore.org)

• 4.4 mile / 7.2 km run on the most efficient path (I ran 4.9 this morning in my practice round)
• Golf par: 71 | Time par: 48:31 | Speedgolf par: 119:31
• Black tees: 6,221 yards | Sage: 5,654 | Autumn: 4,965

Elevation profile (thanks to Kyle Peyton's Strava)

The course rewards creativity off the tee and precise distance control in the approach game. If you want my opinion, there are four holes that will separate the contenders from the pretenders.

• Hole 5: 180y uphill par 3. Most players will be trying to stretch a 7-8 iron or feather a longer club. Pins on the back shelf are very hard to access. Green is on a hill, so errant shots bounce away. Making a 3 here feels like stealing half a shot. If the wind is blowing, you'll wish you were wearing spandex like Luke Willett.
• Hole 6. From the top of the property, you want a 230 yard shot (but not an inch longer, lest your ball bounce into trouble). From there, 150 yards downhill to a green with thick, luscious rough and bunkering all around. No good misses here.
• Hole 9. A par 5 with a narrow landing area for the tee shot. Longer hitters can reach in two shots, but the green is elevated and a miss short bounces back into the water.
• Hole 13. A long par 4 where the fairway pinches in right where you want to land it. Elevated green with a giant bunker in front and thick, wet rough behind.

👉 Course Preview: US Speedgolf Open - Speedgolf Hype​

The Speedgolf Baby US Open Power Rankings

Oh boy. We're talking about rankings. And when you talk about rankings, everyone has an opinion. When the ISGA rebooted their World Rankings earlier this year, I got an earful from speedgolfers around the globe. Common complaints included:

• Nobody on that list has beaten World Champ Jin Ota head to head since 2024. How is he #2?
• Scott Dawley can't even walk a mile without his foot hurting. How is he ranked above Jason Hawkins?
• Lauri Alakuijala has too many letters in his name. He should be disqualified.
• Rob Hogan is washed up. He should be off the list.
• Rob Hogan is the only two-time World Champ. He should be #1.

You get the idea.

Filip "SpeedStache" Beerens even created his own European speedgolf rankings system. According to SpeedStache, you should earn points for how you do against the golf course, not how you stack up against the competition (the ISGA methodology only cares who you beat, not by how much).

Readers of this publication may know that I am a data professional, so I take statistical rigor seriously. That's why I'm pleased to announce that the Speedgolf Baby rankings will be employing a bulletproof and transparent methodology. It will be impossible to argue with my rankings. I've taken everything into account.

I'm pleased to present...

The Speedgolf Baby VIBES-ONLY Power Rankings Straight From Adam's Brain to Your Inbox

That's right. No formulas, no minimum divisors, no benchmarking against course par. Just good old fashioned, straight-from-the-hip rankings. Starting with the Women's division.

Women's Division

The women’s field at the US Open isn’t deep this year — but it is mighty. The main storyline here isn't who is going to win (I can tell you that with near certainty), but how she fits into the story of a new game being passed down to the next generation.

2) Katie Humphrey - Oregon

Katie's new to speedgolf, and we celebrate that! She made her debut at the Oregon Speedgolf Open 3 weeks ago. She's made the trip to Temecula to get a taste of what the next level looks like. Best of luck, Katie!

1) Paige Vancil - Oregon

Last fall in Japan, Paige Vancil teamed up with the legendary Lauren Cupp, bringing home silver for the red, white, and blue at the Team World Cup. Now, she's the favorite to win gold. And she's following in the footsteps of two great speedgolfers: Steve Vancil (her dad) and Carl Palmberg -- the second-generation speedgolfer who took our sport by storm when he set the Swedish national record and then defeated Luke Willett at the European Speedgolf Open.

In this newsletter, we talk a lot about growing the game. Sure, I want to see more elite athletes pick up the game. But do you know what I want even more than that? I want speedgolf to become a pastime my kids and I can enjoy after I'm even older and less competitive than I am today.

👉 US Speedgolf Open featured on local news in Southern California​

Senior Division

These guys might be over 50, but they're not here for a participation trophy.

3) Shingo Bamba - Japan

Shingo is the guy with the stylish glasses, the Kobe Bryant arm sleeve, and the biggest smile this side of Mt. Fuji.

2) Luther Olson - Wisconsin

Luther Olson is 50 years old? You can't be serious. There are billions of dollars being spent on biomedical research to understand and reverse aging, but to my knowledge nobody is studying speedgolfers. I think we have the fountain of youth on our hands.

Memorable Luther Olson story: A few years ago in Kentucky, I got sent out 10 minutes before Luther. He passed me on hole 15 by bombing his drive over my head and finishing the hole before I could even figure out what was going on.

1) Joe Matsui - Japan

The legend returns! Three years after we saw Joe Matsui as a surprise featured speedgolfer at the 2022 US Open, he's back in the US. This time he's looking for gold in the Senior Division. Luther Olson is faster, but Joe is the better golfer. This one could go either way, but I'm betting on Joe's years of experience as the deciding factor here.

👉 Just Announced: Scandinavian Speedgolf Open 2026​

Open Division

12) Mick McBeth - New Zealand

The chaotic Kiwi who says sleeves are optional, Mick McBeth is coming off a foot injury. He finished 11th at Worlds, but I have him 12th in these rankings. Prove me wrong, Mick!

11) Nic Goodin - Missouri

Nic Goodin, the Southpaw from Springfield, could shoot 68 at TCI, but can he break time par? In Kentucky this year, we saw him shoot an impressive level par 72 in a leisurely 63 minutes. Cardio is the question for Nic.

10) Jim Davis - Michigan

Jim Davis -- the Rad Radiologist -- makes his first tournament appearance since finishing 16th at Worlds in 2024. I played a practice round with Jim in northern Michigan this summer. It was a nice pleasant trot for Jim, meanwhile my heart rate was in the 170s trying to keep up.

9) Will Robson - England

Will Robson, a golf pro with luxurious locks of hair, finished 5th at the European Open and 5th at the British Championships. He's been playing speedgolf for just over a year, and his ceiling is sky high. But he's going to need to do something special if he wants a top 5 finish in this stacked tournament.

8) Gatjeak Gew - South Sudan via Arizona

Gatjeak Gew took it up a notch this year, hosting his own event -- the Arizona Speedgolf Open -- and playing in Ireland, Kentucky, and at the SoFi Center with Rob Hogan. He felt like he ran out of gas at the 2024 US Open, which he led through the first two rounds. Expect Gatjeak to show up with long legs, long drives, and soft hands.

7) Veejay Jones - Colorado

Veejay Jones is the most interesting story of this year's US Open. He's a 3 time obstacle course racing world champion and, in a testament to Scott Dawley's relentless hustle, Veejay finally agreed to try speedgolf this year. Veejay is a scratch golfer with a VO2 Max that would make your doctor do a double take. He's got a golf game and he's got speed, but experienced speedgolfers know that it takes time to put those things together. I expect flashes of brilliance from Veejay, but I don't expect him to own our sport after this weekend.

6) Steve Vancil - Oregon

Any sport psychologist will tell you that positive self-talk is an essential ingredient of elite performance. Steve Vancil proves that you can excel while being extremely self-critical. No round of golf -- no matter how low, no matter how fast -- is good enough, in Steve's eyes. And that's one reason he's playing in the Open division at age 60. He loves a challenge. And this weekend -- he's going to get one. The five players ahead of him on this list are very tough to beat.

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5) Kyle Peyton - Temecula, California

To say that Kyle Peyton has burst onto the scene in 2025 is perhaps an understatement. He launched speedgolfapp.com, he's behind Speedgolf Hype on YouTube, oh yeah and he won the Arizona Speedgolf Open, beating Gatjeak and Steve Vancil. The player Kyle most reminds me of is 2022 Nic Goodin, who dominated the first 27 holes of the US Open on his home course before finally getting run down by the great Rob Hogan. Kyle knows every hill and valley at TCI, and he knows this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shock the world. He's going to bring it.

4) Jason Hawkins - Kentucky (🥇 2019 & 2021 US Open Champion)

You shouldn't trash talk The Hawk. It's just not a good idea. But Jason was going to beat me no matter what, so I'll let it fly. Jason has a sterling record at GlenOaks -- his home course, where you need to know the course AND be able to tolerate extreme heat and humidity. But away from GlenOaks, he goes from 'untouchable' to merely 'quite good'. Sure, he beat Gatjeak by 22 in Kentucky. Sure, he won the TGL event at SoFi (beating Gatjeak and Kyle Peyton). But can he really hang with the top players in the world... at age 47?!? That's what we're going to find out this weekend.

3) Luke Willett - England (🥇 2024 US Open Champion)

"Fastest golfer on the planet" is an extraordinary claim, requiring extraordinary proof. Luke Willett has proven it. He played Espoo Ringside in 39:37 at the European Open. According to SpeedScore, time par at Espoo Ringside is 2.5 minutes longer than Temecula Creek Inn, which means a never-before-seen sub-40 effort is nearly assured, unless his speed suit gets caught on something.

As always, the question with Luke is: what will he shoot? A couple of rounds in the low 70s should do it, but there's trouble on this golf course. And with only three clubs in the Silo, Luke will need a lot of skill and a bit of luck to pull it off.

2) Robin Smith - New Zealand

If there's one player in the world hungrier for speedgolf success than Luke Willett, it's Robin Smith. He's come a long way from the 2022 World Championships, where he was known as "Jamie Reid's partner", or maybe "the Robin to Jamie Reid's Batman". After earning bronze at the 2024 World Championships, Robin pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor, winning in Australia and Ireland, finishing second at the NZ Open, and installing himself as the #1 ranked player in the world.

So why is Robin second on this list?

1) Jin Ota - Japan (🥇 World Champion & 2023 US Open Champ)

Because the World Champ is in town, baby!

Jin Ota is 140 pounds of pure speedgolf skill. Am I biased because he wore a Speedgolf Baby t-shirt to accept his World Championships trophy? You bet I am. But seriously: what does it take to shoot a great golf score at Temecula Creek? Precise play from tee to green. What is Jin Ota's calling card? Precise play from tee to green. Ota-san is the champ until proven otherwise, and my official prediction is that he will become the second player ever to win two US Speedgolf Open titles.

Closing Thoughts

If you made it this far, congratulations! You now know more about the US Speedgolf Open field than most of the players do. Rankings are fun, but they’re just a snapshot of the chaos we’re about to see when 62 golfers and 62 GPS watches hit start in Temecula.

By Sunday afternoon, the vibes-only rankings will be obsolete, the rainbow speed suit will have either achieved lift-off or crash-landed, and we’ll have a new set of stories to tell — maybe even a new champion.

Speedgolf is still small enough that every player here matters. Whether it’s Paige carrying the Vancil family torch, the 15 senior speedgolfers reminding us that this sport ages well, or Jin Ota defending the belt for all of Japan, everyone toeing the line this weekend is helping build what speedgolf will become.

Now let’s see who makes us rewrite the rankings next week.

Adam

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Adam Lorton

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