Alex Myers shares insights from playing with Remec Carlson, the 'CEO of Golf,' at the Golf Digest Open. The event features a best-ball format and serves as a qualifier for a national championship.
Key points
Golf Digest Open features eight two-person qualifiers
Top three teams advance to a national championship
Best-ball format provides a safety net for players
Remec Carlson is known as the 'CEO of Golf'
Event held at Jack Nicklaus signature course
Mentioned in this story
Golf DigestRemec Carlson
Golf Digest OpenMcLemore ResortDutchmanâs Pipe Golf Club
Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get at golf through daily training, practice and playing. Read more from his âLate Scratch?â series here.
Part of my plan for improving at golf this year involves getting more official rounds under my belt. But while I waited for the first local tournament I signed up for to get here, I found a perfect event elsewhere to ease my way into competition at the Golf Digest Open.
In case youâre not familiar, the Golf Digest Open is a series of eight two-person qualifiers all around the country in which the top three teams in both a gross and net division advance to a national championship, which is being held in November at McLemore Resort. So, you get the feeling of serious tournament competition, but the best-ball format gives you a bit of a safety net. (Not to mention, participants also get breakfast, lunch and plenty of swag.)
For two months, I had May 11 circled on my calendar for the first of these events in 2026 at Dutchmanâs Pipe Golf Club in West Palm Beach. And the exclusive Jack Nicklaus signature courseâas well as the overall event experience of the eventâcertainly delivered. But I became just as excited about who Iâd be playing with once I learned Iâd be partnered with Remec Carlson. The YouTube golf and Instagram star who makes instruction content goes by the nickname, the âCEO of Golf.â And I was able to learn a lot about taking ownership of my own golf game and playing in competition from him. Here are six takeaways.
Emphasize the warm in warm-up
After meeting Remec by the range, I headed to the practice green, but I kept one eye on him as he warmed up because he does a lot of videos dealing with practice routines. On this day, Remec didnât hit a ton of shots, but he seemed to hit a variety of clubs. When I asked him about it, he explained that ahead of a tournament round, the main goal is to get your body warmed up. (Sam Weinman has written about the secret to a .)
Q&A
What is the Golf Digest Open and how does it work?
The Golf Digest Open is a series of eight two-person qualifiers where the top three teams advance to a national championship.
Who is Remec Carlson, the 'CEO of Golf'?
Remec Carlson is a YouTube and Instagram golf star known for his instructional content and insights on improving golf skills.
What are the key takeaways from playing with the 'CEO of Golf'?
The article highlights six important lessons learned about taking ownership of one's golf game and competing effectively.
When and where is the national championship for the Golf Digest Open?
The national championship for the Golf Digest Open will be held in November at McLemore Resort.
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This was not the time for a long grind session in which youâre working on a bunch of things. Also, the Palm Beach heat and humidity had me drenched in sweat after just a few swings so you certainly didnât want to overdo it. Although I kind of wanted to since Dutchmanâs Pipe has such sweet practice facilities.
Anyway, Carlson said he starts with shorter clubs and usually picks odds or evens with the irons. He hits balls with each of those clubs until he hits a couple good shots with each club. Then he moves on. Simple and efficient.
Do this to deal with delays
But on the golf course, youâre usually not in control of how fast things move. The pace of play at this Golf Digest Open was actually solid, but as a twosome playing amid a sea of guys grinding out scores with a dream golf trip on the line, Remec and I found ourselves waiting a lot. It gave me a great opportunity to pick his brain about a lot of things, from practice routines to content creation to course strategy. And one of those topics, naturally, was dealing with slow play.
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As a former Division-I golfer and someone who still plays in tournaments, Carlson has spent plenty of time biding his time on a golf course.
âI just try to talk about anything other than golf,â Carlson said. âBasketball, hockey, whatever. Youâve got to try to find a way to distract yourself. Then as soon as you see the group ahead walking off the green, you get locked back in.â
Do this when in-between clubs
This happened to me a couple times, particularly when I was into the wind. The first time came on the third hole when I had 100 yards and tried to hit a hard 56-degree wedge. I couldnât have hit it any better, but a gust of wind made it balloon and come up a good 10 yards short of the green. It was an extremely frustrating bogeyâalthough, Remec made par for the teamâbecause I felt like I wasted a great drive.
As we walked off the hole, Remec advised that I take more club next time and swing easier to try and take some spin off. I told him I had tried putting the ball farther back in my stance, but he explained that made me hit down more on the ball and send it even higher into the wind.
A few holes later, I was faced with a similar shot. This time, I chose a gap wedge, swung easy and hit it to five feet. Did I make the putt? Nope. But that leads me to the next point . . .
Stay positive
It felt like Remec and I were playing well, but we just werenât making putts. And my close miss after that great gap wedge was my second from that range on the day for birdie, leaving me muttering about it as we walked back to the cart.
Thatâs when Carlson told me I needed to stay focused on the positives, in this case, the fact I was continuing to give myself birdie chances.
âYouâve got to tell yourself that if you keep doing the right things, the putts are going to start dropping,â Carlson said. âI used to get angry when I felt I should be doing better. The problem with that thinking is that you want to try to make up for that and you start to force things.â
It took a few more holes, but Carlsonâs words came true when we both made 25-plus footers for birdie on the same hole. Thatâs the opposite of ham-and-egging it and not what you want in a team competition, but it was nice to see a couple putts finally drop. And speaking of not forcing things . . .
Always err on the safe side
When youâre playing in a tournament or super focused on score, keeping big numbers off your card is paramount. I recently addressed this when I played a round with my swing coach, Quaker Ridge head pro Mario Guerra. And it was confirmed by Carlson.
Nowhere was this more clear than on a pair of front-nine par 3s on Dutchmanâs Pipe. On No. 2, Carlson took me through his strategy with a dangerous right pin near the water and a right-to-left crosswind. Carson aimed well left to the middle of the green and was happy with a two-putt par.
âEven the guys on the PGA Tour would play away from that pin, because the risk-reward just isnât worth it,â Carlson said. âAnd if they do hit one tight to a pin like that, itâs usually because they made a mistake.â
Then while we waited on the tee box for the difficult par-3 fifth, I had him take me through his thought process for playing the holeâthis time on camera. And then I actually followed through on this gameplan, taking a much different line than I would have, erring on the side of going long, to avoid both the water and a deep pot bunker:
Success! Especially because . . .
Playing on camera hits different
Whatâs the old saying? The camera addes 10 pounds? Well, it also adds about 10 pounds of pressure. Gold Digest social media coordinator Luke Hooten was on hand getting footage of the event and when he was with our group, I definitely felt a lot more nerves.
As an influencer, Remec is obviously used to playing in front of the camera, but itâs definitely something you need experience doing to be comfortable. So shout-out to all the content creators out there filming their rounds. Itâs a lot tougher than it looks!
And so, too, is playing in a tournament. Now, I should clarify that as a Golf Digest employee, I was not eligible to actually compete in the event. So no one saw a Carlson/Myers pairing on the VPAR-run live leaderboard.
HOWEVAH, I definitely still felt a lot more nerves than I do playing in a regular round when you factor in things like having a camera rolling. And playing an unfamiliar course. And trying not to embarrass myself in front of a great player. And still trying to shoot a score to see how weâd stack up, even if we werenât technically posting that score. (We shot even par gross, which would have placed us tied for seventh among 27 teams, but well behind William Thomas and John Giarrusso, who shot an amazing 66âcongrats, guys!)
Anyway, the day was both a great learning experience and a lot of fun. Yes, I'm biased, but Iâd recommend signing up for the Golf Digest Open. And Iâd recommend checking out the Remec Carlson's content. I wouldn't say I'm the CEO of my own golf game yet, but I'm at least climbing the corporate ladder.
