Cases start early. Call doesn't care what your tee time is. Eighteen holes is a commitment nobody in this group can make on a Tuesday.

So we stopped trying. We play nine, we play them early — sunrise, fog, frost, whatever the course is doing that morning — and we're done before most people have had coffee.

That turned out to be the whole thing. Best ball format for nine holes. Each round we play to break our own scoring record. It's a simple game and it's harder than it sounds.

Mafia Guests get their own Leaderboard. Come play the nine and your number goes up next to everyone who has. Some of the best rounds out there weren't ours.

That's the Mafia. It's not a club you apply to. It's a format, a tee time, and a number you're trying to beat.