RISE Update: 5 Days In and The Numbers, The Grind, and My Personal War with Jacks Point

It's been five days since RISE went live and I wanted to give you all a real update, not just numbers, but what it actually feels like to play this thing as someone who literally built it.

The numbers first:

• 158 players signed up

• 100+ have submitted scores

• 350+ rounds played across Tara Iti, Jacks Point, Te Arai North and Te Arai South

• ScottW and Dozer84 have already completed the entire Season 1, all 12 challenges. Absolute machines. Congrats!!

• 60% pass rate overall which tells me the difficulty calibration is landing close to where it should be. Tough enough to mean something, fair enough to not feel impossible.

Now let me be honest about my own experience.

I'm halfway through, now 6 of 12 nodes cleared. And I've loved every second of it, even the ones that made me want to throw my club through the screen.

Tara Iti went pretty smooth. Passed Trial by Wind and The Architect's Test on my first try. Felt great. Felt confident. Then The Dune Master hit me in the mouth.

Shot 71 twice. Target was 70. Failed by one. TWICE. The target dropped to 71 on my third attempt and I shot... 71. Passed by the skin of my teeth. That's RISE doing exactly what it's supposed to do — you don't just lose and get punished forever. It adapts. But it doesn't hand you anything either. You still have to earn it.

Then Jacks Point. Beauty and Brutality went clean first try. But The Remarkables Test? That one got personal.

Attempt 1: Shot 34, target was 33. Failed by one.

Attempt 2: Shot 35, target was 34. Failed by one. AGAIN.

Attempt 3: Shot 37. Not even close that time.

Attempt 4: Target dropped to 35. I shot 35. Passed.

Four attempts on a single 9-hole challenge. And when I finally cleared it, I'm not gonna lie, it felt like winning a tournament. That relief. That "FINALLY." That's the feeling I was trying to build into this system and experiencing it firsthand confirmed everything.

Then I turned around and shot 67 on The Mountain Queen, a full 18 at Jacks Point — first try. Beat the target by one. RISE is a rollercoaster.

I'm not the only one grinding.

back9baird went 6 attempts on The Architect's Test before breaking through. Clay and Steve L both needed 5 tries on Trial by Wind. WVRedBeard missed by a single stroke twice before finally punching through on attempt 3. And shout out to mdowhower who's 6 attempts deep on Trial by Wind and still going. That's heart.

The close calls are everywhere; people failing by exactly one stroke, coming back, adjusting, and pushing through. That's the whole point. RISE isn't about being good enough on your first try. It's about what you do after you miss.

What I know is coming (and I'm excited and terrified):

Te Arai North and South are next for me. I designed and have played these courses. I know every hole. I know where the trouble is. And I'm still not confident I'll pass clean. That's the beauty of the dynamic difficulty system, it doesn't care that I built the courses. My targets are my targets.

What I need from you:

If you've been playing, how does it feel? Is the difficulty fair? Too easy? Too hard? Are the boss battles (full 18-hole rounds) landing right? Is the progression pacing good or do you want more challenges per course?

If you haven't tried it yet, jump in. rise.tekbud.com. It takes 5 minutes to get started and you're off. Your targets are built around YOUR game, not someone else's. A 20 handicap and a scratch player both get the same sense of pressure, that's by design.

Every round you play helps me tune this thing for Season 2. Your feedback is literally shaping the future of RISE.

if you haven’t started it, why not? What’s holding you back from giving it a shot?

Let's keep building this together. 🏌️6 down and 6!to go for me. Congrats again to the two that finished season one. 100% open to ideas on season 2.

I can’t wait for for more people to try RISE. I honestly think its dynamic difficulty system is the flat out key to golf improvement and I don’t think that with the variability of golf there’s ever been a better way to improve. This is a game changer, I’m absolutely sure of it .

Oh and I started on Black Sheep splining today ☺️

Brent