1 K Day!
November 19th, 200811-18-08
And so it is done.
Alarm was set for 7am. I disabled the alarm at 6:45 because I was already up in eager anticipation. The hotel had about the best free breakfast I’ve seen without paying for it 6 times over with the room rate.
I made it to IDGC just before 9am and took a quick walk/jog around the new Jim Warner Memorial disc golf course. It’s a pretty big course. Not a lot of forgiveness for poorly executed shots. There are a couple of holes that don’t really reward well executed shots but the course is very new and all that will eventually be worked out.
We met behind the building to video a quick intro with Ben and I before heading out to the course.
It was very cold and windy. Once it is below 50 I no longer have an opposable thumb unless I keep it someplace warm. (No more suggestions please)
I started off with a birdie on 10, which will be 1 once completed. Terry Calhoun, Ben’s dad, had flown down and played the round with us. I had never seen Terry throw but he was putting some very nice shots down the fairways, which explains why he won his division at this year’s PDGAW. In fact Ben’s mom also won her division. (Is there a precedent for a married couple winning their respective divisions in singles play?)
Also in attendance was Stan McDaniel who made the 2+ hour drive down from Charlotte to witness the round. I handed him my camera but true to form with any notable event the batteries went dead after the first hole.
Ben & Terry (sounds like a good name for Ice Cream) were far more comfortable with the cold than I. By the time we went out for the back 9 my hands were having trouble releasing properly. The only disc I felt I could deliver with any degree of reliability was my roc. Fortunately, this is the kind of course where you can hold your ground with a solid rock shot that stays in the fairway…usually.
Ben and I had our share of excellent and ugly shots but few birdies were racked up. I had hoped to make a run at the course record which was held by Jason, the course superintendent. Had it been warmer and less windy I may have approached it but it’ll have to wait for another day.
We putted out simultaneously so as to avoid any controversy over who finished first. I won the toss to see who would throw first but that doesn’t count for much.
Afterward, we did an interview with PDGA radio, which should be on line by Wednesday morning.
Ben took off to play another course thus capturing the all-time/lifetime record of 1,001 and counting.
He now holds the most courses played in a week (40) in a month (I don’t know the number but it’s huge) in a year (over 600…so far, it will be over 700) and lifetime.
I’m considering playing another 17 courses before new year’s just to say I played 200 in a year, which would mean that Ben only played 500 more than me this year. Sit back and think about that for a moment. Do you think you would have the stamina to play 700 courses in a year? (Did you know that he started in April?)
After the interview I wrangled Jason, who hadn’t eaten all day, into walking the proposed front 9 of the mini course. I flagged the tee and pins and headed back in to the center to thank Brian for everything before heading into town to have Lydia Guisto (rolfer extraordinaire) elbow my back and hips for nearly two hours. I’ll feel like hell tomorrow but should be ready to huck some plastic at the Players Cup on Friday.
THANKS to everyone at the International Disc Golf Center for working so hard to bring Ben’s and my goals to fruition. If I were PDGA treasurer I’d give you a raise. But I’m not. So all you get is a suck-up! Sorry.
Tomorrow: Checking out a couple of dgc’s on the way south.
For more on the round…click here.










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