One Grand Disc Golf Tour

11-18-08

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.

11-17-08

I had intended to pack the van last night but I ran outta steam. I stayed up long enough to fold the clothes and buried myself in my ultra cool Frisbee quilt for the night.

In the AM, I checked the fluids and air pressure. Then I went out to check the van too. D’oh! I got out of the house at around 8 but it took about an hour to get outta town. From there, it was easy drivin’.

I got to Hardeeville, SC’s “Sergeant Jasper Park” by 1:30. After a long chat with the British lady running the park I started the round at about 2pm.

“The Sarge” (#999) started out with a multi-route hole, either a short hyzer over a corner of the crystal clear lake or an anhyzer along the trail through the woods with it ending heading toward the water. Most of the subsequent holes were very tight, wooded holes.

Today, I confirmed something I had suspected all along… “Carolina” is an old Native American word meaning “Narrow Line, huh?”

Over the years I’ve tried to become less critical of new courses because, not unlike a baseball glove, it takes quite a while to wear them in. Although, if this were a baseball glove, it might have 6 fingers. I 3’d nearly every hole because there was usually one too many trees in the middle of whatever line I chose to attempt. Again, though… time has a way of opening up fairways once considered “too tight”.

Nearly all the tees are natural or mulch. I’ve never been a fan of mulch tees because you never get the same footing twice. But I certainly understand the budgetary considerations of mulch vs cement. One of the tees had a 4’x4’ cement square in the middle of a bridge, which I thought was pretty innovative.

Hole #15 is a beautiful but treacherous par 4 that bends to the right with an OB rope line all along the right side for those who turn too early (like me). I fished my disc outta the muck and proceeded to throw another turnover properly this time. And by “properly” I mean I made certain that it was absolutely lost this time by turning it too hard again and landing it in a much deeper lake. Oh well, it was a free disc anyway, which I found brand new back in late July or early August…no name…it’s a keeper!

Speaking of which I just found a USDGC CE Roc (nearly brand new, no name on it) at the tourney in Clearwater. So, rather than put it in lost and found where any old schmo could just pick it up and walk with it, I stood it up on my dashboard for all to see, figuring that if someone recognized it they’d say something. More likely, they probably think I steal people’s discs and I’m not smart enough to hide them.

Heading toward Augusta for tomorrow’s 1K round, I nearly ran out of gas traveling a 40 or so mile stretch with no gas stations on a road going through the Savannah River Site. It’s a government site and I’m stating publicly that I DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THEY DO THERE. All I know is that apparently it doesn’t take consumer grade petroleum to do it. Otherwise I might have found a station without sweating bullets about running my tank dry. My fuel count-down gauge is notorious for moving very slowly until it gets on the low numbers and it suddenly plummets. Just another product of Lee Iococca’s twisted sense of humor.

Brian Graham and I went out for some outstanding seafood and talked about everything disc golf, including some cool juicy stuff that you aren’t allowed to know yet! Neener neener neener!

Tomorrow: ONE THOUSAND!

11-16-08

We had burritos for dinner Friday night, for lunch at the tourney on Saturday, and again Saturday night.  So it was only fair that I had a Micky D’s breakfast burrito on the way to the course this AM.

After Saturday’s rounds, Brad lead by 3 and I was tied with Billy and Mike.  I put together a pretty decent round, getting a 3 on all of the multi-shot holes, but… I had a deuce putt at the tough #5 with a big drop off behind the basket.  I had to straddle it and missed the ONLY putt inside the circle for the round.  The putt got legs and ran down into the water costing me 3 strokes!  Had I hit it, I would have gained two strokes on Brad to come within 1, but instead I lost another stroke on the round to go 4 back.

For the 2nd time today, we started on 13 and, again, I started off by deucing 13, 14, 15 and a birdie 3 on 16.  In fact I deuced 17, hit a birdie 3 on 18 and 1!  Things slowed down considerably after that.  I waaay over drove #2 and blew by on the approach and had to make a crazy air-bounce turn over putt around (under really) a tree to save par.

No progress on 3 or 4 and had a very similar putt on 5 again but this time for par, which I hit.  I figured that after my hot start we should be pretty close.  I don’t like to check on HOW I’m doing compared to other players because I feel as if it distracts me from just playing each hole to the best of my ability.
(If there is a substantial risk v reward at hand, I might check. But I don’t play any holes at Cliffy differently based on my standing)

I birdied #6.  Brad got 8.  I got 9.  Brad got 10.  We both had a chance on 11 but the wind made it tough.  I didn’t realize that we were tied for the lead going into the last hole but I knew it was close.  Brad sawed off his hyzer drive and weaved through the trees to end up about 15 left.  I swung wide around the tree and caught a bad skip and dribbled into the lake for my ONLY bogey on the round.  End game.

Some very interesting side notes.  Val Jenkins winning the women’s division wasn’t a big shocker.  However, Nikko Locastro besting the current PDGA World Champ and the best player of all time on his home course is cause for some chatter.

Geoff Bennett’s participation in the Moccasin Lake Open brought his 2008 tournament total to 54!  The Player’s Cup should give him the record outright.

As is tradition, the MLO is also the final event for the Fab FL Tour.  Garrett “Double G” Gurthie was the overall points winner for the 08 season and he got a nice bonus check for it.  I tied for 4th in the Masters with Steve Slasor, but I end up missing a lot of events.

I don’t know if I even SHOULD mention this but some folks from EA sports (makers of Tiger Woods Golf video game) called me and want to play a round at Turkey Lake.  There was no actual mention of plans to make a disc golf video game but I got the impression that that is where it was leading.  I tried to steer them towards Climo since he’s pretty much OUR Tiger Woods and he plays the crap outta that game at home.

Drove back to Orlando to unpack, repack and head out again in the morning.

Tomorrow: Sergeant Jasper Park in Hardeeville, SC enroute to IDGC.

11-15-08

The first round started off slow but I birdied #7 through 11 before finishing on 12 for a –6 to lead Brad by one.  Mike Paulette and Billy Seaman were just behind us.  I had gone back to the Sonic as a putter and hit some verrry nice putts.

The 2nd round felt as if I was throwing fungo discs filled with lead.
I was throwing really hard but the discs really weren’t going very far.

Only two of the holes had the same score as the first round.  I was putting OK but I wasn’t getting close enough to have a reasonable putt.  Maybe I should start throwing max weight discs as hard as I can throw on  every hole!

Brad put together another decent round and passed me by 3 while Bill and Mike tied me.

I need a nap.

Tomorrow: MLO Day 2

11-14-08

Rearranged the van, finished packing and headed toward Clearwater around noon.

Normally I play the pre-tourney dubs but I was seriously feeling the need to just find my body’s level.  I played a multi-shot round in an attempt to tune in.  “Attempt” being the operative word.

Murph and I did a trade a while back, he gave me a nice 71 mold from the 87 PDGAW and I had to dig out an 83 PDGAW “Shuttle Puppy” (same shape as a puppy but it was made by DGA)  I told myself I would go looking for it on Thursday but I stumbled upon it on Wednesday in a place I would NOT have looked.  The disc is perfect!

After the dubs round I gave him the new addition to his PDGAW collection and dropped by his and Kathy’s place for Shawn Herrigan’s Irish burritios.  The couch was comfy.

Tomorrow:  Moccasion Lake Open

11-13-08

We had a pretty good meeting with the lady from the City of Orlando Parks dept.  From the notes she was taking it sounds as if she’ll actually take the efforts that we’ve expended into consideration.  However, I am afraid that we may still have to move blue tee #2.  If that happens my future plan to possibly expand hole #1 into a par 4 will be shot.

If the head of parks doesn’t see things our way, we may have to change as many as 3 holes, thus becoming yet another disc golf course that has cleared land (that they had no intention of touching) only to have them recognize how well THEY could put it to use and we get shuffled to the side after doing much (most) of the work for them.

I like how those 3 holes are working right now.  18 Original is one of the best holes in the park. It pretty much brings you right up to T2 #1 tee (red and blue) And T2 blue #2 provides a perfectly do-able shot that rewards accuracy and punishes greedy drives for people trying to bite too much off on the drive. (which is why the hole is named “Greed”)  I don’t know that I will be able to recreate that sort of challenge from another angle.

I’m probably NOT going to be able to invest the sort of time into the course that it will take to change it with the same kind of flow and challenge.  I’m going to have to concentrate on actually earning money for a while.  I understand that goes a long way toward having a decent relationship as well.

After the meeting, the ODGC president, James LeBaube and I strapped on our bags and headed out on the “original” course looking at how to play with a new layout for holes 4, 5 & 7.  Naturally, we had two different ideas for how this should be done.  I wasn’t as excited about his suggestions as the ideas I’d like to implement but they would satisfy our basic needs, which is to eliminate a lousy hole and get more out of the land that is available to us.

The great thing is that we have extra baskets and carpet that we can put in place to experiment on this area until we find the magic formula.  It’s an oddly shaped piece of land but it has some dynamic possibilities.

Tomorrow: To Clearwater for the Moccasin Lake Open A-Tier

11-12-08

It was pretty exhilarating to get out and jam again.  I was amazed at how well the body held up and actually felt better with each combo.  This confirms what I’ve known all along… the more I move the better I feel.  It has always been that way.  But it is getting harder to come back from an injury.

Tonight I did a beach party for HP at WDW’s Beach club.  Early rain forced everyone inside for the first half of the party.  So I did some freestyle in the hallway.  It’s always a bit awkward trying to control the disc while glancing around 360 degrees to make sure I’m not going to clock somebody with my double spinning crescent kick (under the leg pull) just before setting up the trick.  I’m proud to report, nobody took a size 12 Nike to the face on my watch.  “Hey…why does his face say ‘Ekin’?”

I’ve auditioned a freestyle pairs routine at Disney with Dan Yarnell.  They liked it but, of course, they couldn’t think of a place to use us.

Billy Crump did an interview with me in Melbourne a couple years back.  One of his questions was “What are your disc golf plans for the future?”
I said “I’m not going to stop competing, promoting, teaching, designing and building courses until I’m inducted into the Hall of Fame AGAIN!”  (Was that pompous?  I can never tell these days)
Right now, I feel very differently about that.  I’m soooooooooo tired of the ignorance in and out of the sport.

Here in Florida, it is nearly impossible to SELL a course.  If the park wants a course, they’ll go ahead and get one.  And they’ll often either try to design it themselves or let a local guy do it.  But to actually convince a parks person that it is a viable activity that has the potential be the most successful recreation venture in the park… I may as well be trying to sell left-handed crescent wrenches.  The hardest sell is getting them to actually do it properly.

I’ve given my services away for nearly 20 years because I had hoped that people might notice the difference in quality.  They don’t.  It’s there but they don’t often see it.

We did 13 “Have Course-Will Travel” events about 10 years ago, which involved contacting a park (system) gaining permission to run an event, designing it, setting up 18 holes the day of a tourney, running two rounds and then tearing it down.  All this in hopes that they would come out and see how it works.  Only one park system got involved but NONE actually moved forward with disc golf.  The only course we got from the HCWT events was the Gran Canyon, which became one of the greatest courses in the world.  Now, it has gone away.

One of the events that we did was in Manatee County between Sarasota and Clearwater.  Afterward, they “allowed” us to put 18 wooden posts in the ground with no tee signs.  Well, surprise!  Nobody came out to play it.  Now the parks director is absolutely convinced that disc golf is not popular because he tried it and it didn’t work.

Forget that dg has grown by 15-18% every year for the last 20.  Forget that 15 miles south, Sarasota has a club with over 500 members!  Forget that Pinellas county, directly to the north has SEVEN disc golf courses.   Forget that the Fabulous Florida Tour was called “The Best State-Level Tour Going” by Brian Hoeniger.

When I spoke to the director of the State Parks system I was told point blank that disc golf goes against their mission statement because they don’t put in amenities where something can be thrown.  Yet I see baseball/softball fields.  He told me that disc golf isn’t passive enough…yet more than one of our state parks features mountain biking trails where people RACE!!!

I’ve probably lost about 7 disc golf projects in the last 3 or 4 years.  (3 to the SAME parks director in 3 different parks systems)  Parks people are just NOT willing to put money into this game unless they personally play the game.  My last install was just north of here in DeBary, and that, pure and simple, was done because he had played and he liked it.

I wish I could take every parks person in Florida out for a round of disc golf, but I can’t.  Until that day, few of them will EVER get it.

Tomorrow: Another meeting with another parks person about another disc golf project that will take my time and lose me more money.  But the course will be nicer, thus enhancing my resume, which the parks people will continue to ignore in favor of the local am player with no experience who will do it for free.

Sorry to be such a bitter old fart tonight.  Going broke doing something you love has a way of doing that to a guy.

I’ve been talking to a couple of people about starting a program within Florida Disc Golf Design that offers 9 disc golf holes for 9 months.  Maybe take $500 to cover site evaluation, hauling targets, design, installation etc.  We’d have to have a clause saying that if they accept the trial baskets and eventually decide to get their own baskets they must buy them through us.

Chad and I met at the north course to discuss it.  3 other guys showed up for the round.  Then two more joined us in mid-round.  We played “Wolf” for $0 per skin since a couple of the guys were playing for the first time.

For the first time in weeks, I actually felt as if I could deliver a solid drive.  Obviously, I need to have my practor romp on me more often.  Just can’t afford it.

Chad and I went back to his abode to continue the discussions of how to offer parks a chance to try it out without screwing ourselves in the process.

Another disc buddy called and I bailed out to freestyle with him.  We started off slow but I managed get the body moving after a few minutes.  It helps that I had FOUR Icy Hot patches on…1 on below each shoulder blade and 1 on each hip/glute.  I felt much better than expected today, I just hope I can expect to feel better than expected tomorrow!

Tomorrow: Diz Beach!

11-10-08

Got a late start.  Office Max sent me a coupon for $10 off of any purchase of $10 or more.  The item I wanted was $9.99.  D’oh!   I picked up a couple of 60 cent Sharpie’s to replace the ones that fell off the ring on my golf bag.
The item that I went  to OM for was clear self-sticking laminating sheets so that I can cover and protect the signs explaining the new “extra” baskets on the course.    I went to BFP@TL to put them up but forgot to bring screws and zip ties.
Instead I walked around and looked at the areas that I hope to rearrange in the next few months.

I zipped by Barnett park and tried to talk to the director of parks and rec but he wasn’t in.  I left my card and went over for a round of speed golf.  Shot a solid –11 from the short tees in 17:21.

I had an appointment with  my chiro at 6.  He uses this little jack-hammer  gun  on my low back and neck.  Some of it was pretty nasty.   Once at home I quickly got some ice bags on my back and neck and then took a hot Epsom bath while watching a flick on the puter.

I don’t feel very confident going into this Diz gig on Wednesday since I’ll be doing a lot of freestyle on the beach.  Most of my “jam” game is based on tricks to solicit this kind of response “Holy crap!  That guy’s going to kill himself”.  So far I haven’t been able to manage my own death,  but I’ve had plenty of practice in beating myself up and paying someone to fix me.

Tomorrow:  Website brainstorming and practice for the upcoming tourneys.

11-09-08

I didn’t hear from anyone about going to Crystal River to play Red Hawk dgc at the Plantation.  So I went to Barnett to see if anyone might want to go over after the handicap.  Nope.

At the “Parkside” handicap, I ended up in a 3-way tie for 4th and took 2nd in the CTP giving me 5th place and all but a buck back.   Dave, the guy, who won and I got teamed up for doubles on the north course and we won that.  Johnny Mac and Joe McC and I felt like running out the sun so we managed to get another round in from the longs at Parkside.  I went back to putting with the Sonic and started bagging the lengths I want to be hitting, for an –8.  (Respectable) We finished in the dark.

JBKS will be happy to hear (read) that, since I needed to wash my sheets and blanket that I officially broke out the awesome, super mac-daddy Frisbee quilt that she made for me last year.

Time to dive into it.

Tomorrow: Probably more practice and course work