Topics

31

General Banter / 90 days of disc golf: It should have been a 3, and other comforting lies.

« on: June 24, 2012, 02:49:49 PM »

- It should have been a three... but I got a five.
- This is a stupid hole.
- Hyzer? What! That disc always flips.
- How do you bogey a birdie hole?
- Did you see that? That was the wind. The wind ate my disc.
- This is a stupid tee pad.
- I should have thrown a big hyzer.
- That was in and the basket spit it out.

... The list goes on and on and on and on...

We are home. The wounds are being counted and the laundry is being sorted into two piles; "wash it" or "throw it away." The heat is giving us more than enough reasons to stay home and just relax. For some reason, there was no parade waiting for us when we rolled into town. No banners hanging across Main street, no screaming fans throwing flowers at our feet as we passed by. Just an empty apartment with a nice soft bed waiting for us. It's nice to be home.

We fled Seattle a day early with plans of playing highbridge in Spokane - one of our favorites. Our four day trek home includes stops at Diamond X in Billings, and a few other courses splattered here and there which we want to try. There is a real hope that Gilette, Wyoming will produce the first real 18 hole disc golf course worth playing in the entire state of Wyoming (hope, hope, hope).

We stepped on a tee and my forearm started to burn. I can't grip a disc and i'm not sure what sort of injury I am dealing with. It just hurts to grab a disc... No discy golfy for me. No highbridge, no Diamond X. We did play Gilette and Rapid City, sort of. They are both pretty tiny courses and I was able to walk them without playing (something I think is tantamount to a prison sentence to a disc golfer). Neither course is astounding and I think Minna was 12 under after 12 on both courses. I do give Gilette credit for making a disc golfer feel good about themselves. Each tee sign was in yards, so it felt good using my buzz to throw 340 yards. It was a crusher. The 550 yard par 3, was the best birdie of my life.

So the leisurely four day trip home became a sprint to the finish. And in retrospect, it was the right choice. Being on the road isn't easy and I'm baffled that the touring PROS can do it week-in and week-out. I respect them even more now than I did before as it would seem that to be a great player on the tour it takes more than just a good drive and putt. It takes a great deal of endurance.

We left Beaver State and noticed on Facebook that Eric McCabe made it back to Emporia by early Tuesday morning. Then we saw that Val Jenkins and Nate Doss made it to Warwick, New York by Wednesday morning. That's just ridiculous! If you dont know, Val and Nate LIVE in a custom van which looks like a surveillance van. It's smaller than an RV but larger than a mini-van. A genius idea. Perhaps the next 90 days summer tour will wise up and "van up."

Money is tight so we are going to sell off all our spare discs to raise funds for the push East. So far we have three weeks of six covered, but that may be all we can physically do. The best news about the East Coast push is that everything is closer together and Wyoming isn't in our way. I think we also learned a few tips to avoid missteps. First and foremost, don't live like you're dying. Whoever sang that stupid country song should come rub my sore muscles while I kick him in the face. Live like you're alive today and there is a good chance you will be alive next week. I know that doesn't sound like a great country song, but no country song after 1980 (with a few exceptions) is worth singing.

Thanks for hanging in with us on this tour. We will be back in July with Worlds, Fly Boy, Pittsburgh, Hambrick, Toronto and a gazillion courses in between.... We hope.

32

General Banter / 90 days of disc golf: Iron Leaves rust in the fall

« on: June 20, 2012, 12:23:49 PM »

It's cold in Seattle. While all of our friends and family are baking in the hot Kansas sun back home, we are freezing to death in the Emerald City. The weather has been perfect for us up to this point. As we crossed from Iowa to Oregon there wasn't a single drop of rain or a dark cloud to ruin a single day. It's a good thing the bad weather held off, most of the courses we played on the way up here would have been miserable if they were wet.

West Lake turned out to be one of the hardest courses we have ever played and easily one of the top five hardest courses in America (for us anyway). We decided it would be best not to overwhelm ourselves with too many courses before the Fling so we spaced them out to one course per state. Iowa - West Lake in Davenport. Nebraska - Cottonmill in Kearney. Wyoming - some 9 hole course in Rawlins. Utah - Riverdale in Ogden. Idaho - College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. All of these came at a point in the trip when a round of golf was needed. Long drives are mentally draining and a round of golf sort of recharges our batteries.

It's a great feeling to find a new course. One of our favorite moments is when we know we're close to a course and we start staring in the woods desperately trying to find a basket. It's like an Easter Egg hunt and when you finally see that first basket you jump around like a little kid. Finding a basket after a 6 hour drive is like finding water in a desert, it's like God is sparing you from a horrible death. We're so excited about finding a new course that we often grab our discs and run up to hole one and throw without stretching, looking for a map or making sure we're wearing the right shoes (that would be me).

West Lake was tough. If you can't throw 350 with confidence, you can't play this course. Period. Stay away. It's a Championship level course.

Cottonmill was closed when we got there at 6 AM and we parked outside the park and hiked in. Not a bad course at all. Very scenic, and well worth the mile walk it took us to get to the first tee.

The course in Rawlins was a tiny nine holer in a city park. There were kids everywhere but we still drove down on them. Road fatigue and the elevation rotted our minds and we weren't thinking clearly.

Riverdale was overrun with mormon families out playing disc golf together. Mothers carrying babies as they tee off. It was crazy. We wanted to throw at them but it was easier to press on and just chalk up Riverdale as a bust. It was a bit underdeveloped anyway.

College of Southern Idaho was immaculate. Beautiful campus course with a tiny creek running through it that eats discs. The sprinklers were on and we just played through them. It was an interesting twist to the game to have rain coming up from the ground.

All of this was enough to get us to Estacada...

We drove across America in three long days and arrived two days early for the Fling with the thinking that we would need the practice if we wanted to do well. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We camped at the course - four nights for 34 bucks - the course was only twenty feet from our tent, super nice. They even had warm showers on site. But if you are not into sleeping in 40 degree weather, which we are not, then camping is not a good option. Thankfully, we had these pink hoodies we could wear while we slept.

The Beaver State Fling is one of the larger tournaments on the tour. It packs out every year and there is a waiting list of over 500 people waiting to get in. So it came as quite a shock to us that when we played our warm up round on Thursday, the day before the tournament, the course was horribly ungroomed and unmarked. In fact, it wasn't until 6 PM that the course was ready for Friday. It looked as if nothing had been done to prepare for the big event. The fairways were mowed but the grass on the sides was almost three feet high. It looked like Blue Valley when it doesn't get mowed. It was the only thing anyone warming up on the course wanted to talk about. "This place looks like sh1t." "I'm shocked it's not mowed, or marked." "This sucks." And it did. It did suck. But the reasoning behind the look was explained as this. "We wanted the fairways to be distinctive and for all errant shots to be punished." In my opinion it looked like horse sh1t.

The player's pack was a laminated caddy book with each hole broken down into parts. I guess they spent all their money on that. We also picked up a beer glass. A patch. A dry towel. And some tickets for free food (I'm telling you... free food is the best way to lock me in!!!!).

The tournament was rough. It's two huge courses and if you don't know the shots you're going to suffer. Minna and I both played badly in our opening rounds but we were both able to come back and cash. I finally get to take the money!

I'm standing in line to enter a tent to get paid. Des Reading is behind me. Climo behind her. Barsby is in front of me and Feldberg is wandering around trying to cut in line. If you are not familiar with Barsby, he has the combined energy and personality of six circus performers in the body of a 13 year old. Given a moment of silence he is going to fill it.

If you are not familiar with the IRON LEAF story, I suggest you look it up on YOUTUBE and then come back to this point in the story...

Greg leans over to Ken, "Hey, you know if you look up your name on YOUTUBE, I'm the third video you see? I get all that free press."

Ken grins. Ken likes to grin a lot.

Greg continues, "I have this whole idea for the Iron Leaf and I have this design..."

Des interrupts, "I finally figured that whole thing out. I was shocked."

Ken looks at his feet and shows some a toothy smile.

Greg says laughing, "I can't believe how all that worked out."

The rest of this story is a secret but it involves the true meaning behind the Iron Leaf. Let's just say the story is deeper than a bad hole at Worlds.

It's nice to be in this tent. It's nice to get a check with money on it. It was nice to finish strong and drive away from this beautiful place with a smile on my face.

We drove to Horning's hideout and saw another one of the dgcoursereviews top ten courses. It was, again, a disappointment. The baskets are homemade. I rest my case.

We slept next to the ocean and watched the sun go down. We are headed to Seattle, then home. We have ten days at home and then we are headed East for six weeks.

Then it started to rain.

33

General Banter / 90 days of disc golf - bigger and badder

« on: June 11, 2012, 11:04:46 AM »

Greetings from somewhere on I 80 just east of davenport, ia. We're headed to west lake park to take on the challenge of what everyone we talk to calls, "the disc killer." evidently the course is famous for eating plastic. We'll see. We just finished up four days at the toboggan course without losing a single disc and confidence in the honey badger-mobile is pretty high. Minna played one round on the beast and shot a play-in qualifying 67. But she didn't play it to get in, she just wanted to face that giant and kick it in the nuts.

The past three weeks have been filled with allot of challenging golf all over the north central region. A call from Tank on Wednesday sent us to northern Wisconsin for a team tournament at Sandy point disc golf resort. The request actually sounded sketchy, something more a kin to a weird hook-up request; "hey loomis, you and minna wanna come hang out with me in the woods?" so we jumped on it! Who doesn't want to drive 12 hours to the middle of nowhere to hang out with a bald man with a scratchy voice?

Therefore is beautiful and if you're reading this you are exactly the type of person who needs to go there. It's beautiful and it is all disc golf. This is not a summer camp with kids in mind, it has modern cabins and a pro shop. Spiders were at a minimum which is also a huge plus. However, after mosquito bite number 2000, you're ready to buy some spiders for protection.

 27 holes of challenging golf and a Pro shop. A private beach. Running water and a lock on the bathroom door. Perfection.

Team golf is a little odd but it was an honor to play for Kansas city. It's a grueling test of endurance. 84 holes of golf in less than 36 hours. Then there is the party which is non-stop. I won't name names, but thank god there is no random pee tests after this event. Our team finished 7th out of 8 but we were by far the most interesting and fun team. We wore pink. Need I say more?

Minna and I went up to high bridge to play bluberry hill - one of the top rated courses in America. Doss won a world championship on this course. It's an impressive course but it was also a soup and the smell in our shoes is still with us to this day. It's another resort location but it has no amenities other than 5 courses in one location. To get there you will a Sherpa guide and a pint of blood you can jack into your arm after you're done playing to replace what you've lost.

On our way to sandy point and on the way home we played shaver park, legion park in Iowa. Brown deer and dredska in milwaulkee. Standing rocks in Stevens point. Vallaharta in Madison. So when we rolled back into Kansas city on Monday, our bodies were spent. And we had the wide open in three days.

We both played well at our home tournament. we both cashed but could not accept the green because were idiots. To date, the wide open was one of the top ten tournament experiences for us. Everything about it was great except for the whole no cash thing.

With less than 12 hours of rest we left town for my last AM tournament. En route to Detroit, we played valparasio, Indiana and all we can say is that is now one of our top five courses. It has maybe one minor CON and it took us an hour to think of one. Other than that, the course is perfect.

We stopped at lemon lake to play but Minna caught me with abutter in a place no one should ever get hit with a disc. It crippled me. That's all I have to say about that.

We made our way to flip city and the number one course in America. Again, you'll need a Sherpa guide to find it. The gps was pissed and just gave up on us. We found it and our reviews were not as glowing as they were for valpo. It's a neat course but it's not even in our top 50 of awesome places to play. It is fun, but there are six monster courses in the area which trump this one. Come see it so you can say you saw it, but if you want good golf, save yourself the trip and go elsewhere.

Like birchfield! Located in Lansing, Michigan this course is huge, with a hundred possible layouts. Which is a pro and a con. Good because it has variety and keeps itself open for all levels of player, but bad because if you are playing one layout and someone else is playing a different layout it would be hard to avoid clashes on the courses. We played at dusk, I got an ace, it was very cool.

We played toboggan. I took 17th and I'm happy that my AM career is over. I'm sure a lot of AMs are too. I'm a pain in the ass socially, which is why I'm going to masters.

Talk to you soon... (forgive the typos, this is iPhone typing)

34

Barter Town / Ti Nukes.

« on: June 09, 2012, 06:15:25 AM »

Am nats has em. Anyone want one?

35

General Banter / HELL YES...

« on: June 04, 2012, 08:35:35 AM »

That was a lot of fun. After all the hard work, the planning, the whining, the debate, and everything else... This was one of the best tournaments I have ever played in. I'm not sure what amount of magic it took to make it all happen, but I applaud every single one of the people involved. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Everyone but Timko. Screw you and your evil OB lines!!!!

..just kidding.

36

Barter Town / PRO LINE MONSTER

« on: May 29, 2012, 01:24:41 PM »

Looking to unload it.

37

Barter Town / first run mrx

« on: May 23, 2012, 02:17:41 PM »

For those who care enough...

38

Barter Town / bar stamp buzzz... no ink. red.

« on: May 23, 2012, 02:17:09 PM »

anyone... anyone?

39

Barter Town / Champion Edition Firebird

« on: May 23, 2012, 08:42:18 AM »

In pretty good condition. Some ink. 175. Orange.

Fo Sale.

40

General Banter / 90 days of disc golf: Memorial

« on: May 15, 2012, 10:33:42 PM »

It was the warmest winter in all of my years in Kansas City. Usually the cold weather keeps me off the courses and I'm stuck inside day dreaming about disc golf. This year was different - I was on the course every single day. The thinking was that we should play while we still could because eventually winter was going to arrive and this party would be over. Best to live it up while the gettin's good. But that cold never came and the party just kept on a-rockin'!

The main problem with playing all winter long is that we never let our bodies slow down and let them heal up from all the playing. Every major sport has an off-season and during that time, you let your body do what it needs to do to prepare for the next season. Mainly, rest. We just never stopped and our bodies were achy.

The talk of where to go and what to do for this season wasn't much of a discussion at all. "All new" was what we agreed upon; New Courses, New States, New Tournaments and New Experiences. We knew that our resources were limited and this could very well be our last big year, so we had to make this season count.

And so it begins...

THE MEMORIAL:
The first stop was a no-brainer. We had played Fountain Hills on a trip last July (Minna almost died of heat stroke but played it to an unbelievable 59), but we wanted to play the Memorial for the experience. Traditionally, the Memorial is a disc golf destination/oasis which people flock to after all the horrible months of freezing cold snow back home. People kill themselves to get into the tournament just so they can play in shorts again, and free themselves from their parka. Everyone looks like pasty-white bears freshly awakened from long hibernations; They're groggy and hungry and they just want to sit in the sun and warm up.

The price is reasonable, but the schedule is horrible. You play during the middle of the week and the tournament ends on Saturday. Most people are in school or working during the week so this tournament is a real sacrifice if you want to play it. The fact that it fills up shows just how desperate people are to play in the sun again.

The AM side gets only three days of play to the PRO side's four. The thinking is that the AMS will want to stick around an extra day (extra night in the hotel, extra rental car day, extra food, etc) just so they can watch the PROS play. I guess some do stick around, but not us. We were going to play PRO but we couldn't afford the extra day.

We decided to fly and it was a wonderful experience trying to explain to security what the x-ray configuration of my disc golf bag contents was all about. "They're disc golf discs." Which is then followed by a long explanation of what disc golf is. I don't know if other people check their discs as luggage, but I would rather lose all of my luggage than my favorite buzzz and putter in baggage purgatory.

SIDE NOTE: Minna is deathly afraid of heights, so flying is a real treat.

We stayed in a cheap hotel near the airport and made our way to check-in at the Vista Del Camino course. The AM side was given a decent player's pack containing a Memorial back pack (does anyone want mine?) sunglasses, the new "ti" plastic discs and a few other odds and ends. Pretty decent haul when compared to the entry fee. We walked passed the Feldberg vs. Crazy John clinic and watched Paul McBeth quietly showing off his putting prowess on hole 3. He hit every putt from 80 feet and in. It was insane. And very warm.

The Memorial gets its name from the Fountain Hills course which has a Memorial for Vietnam Soldiers near the teebox for hole 1. I am assuming the tournament name as an easy choice over the second most noticeable feature of Fountain Hills. "The Memorial" is much classier than calling it the "Discraft Duck sh1t Open." And even though it is called the Memorial, we were not asked to remember anything. Just show up and play.

We both played well and finished top twenty. We also were able to witness the future of disc golf when Paul McBeth and Dave Feldberg destroyed the courses and shot 14 under at Vista. Everyone realized at that moment - The game has to grow. These PROS are stepping up their talent and they will need bigger challenges. Time to make things even harder.

RAM N SALMON:
Prairie Center got a face-lift. The old course I spent so much time playing when I first moved to town is barely there. Many of the trees have died and been cut down making the course a less attractive choice when looking around for a place to play. Then Andy and a few of his friends spent a bunch of time improving the course to make it harder than the original and I was excited to get back to the course and play it. Cooper asked me to join him and we really thought we had a solid chance at cashing in the tournament - A chance no one else gave us. We played well enough to be in second after the first round and we were on the card with Eric McCabe, Tank, Arturo and Mike D for the final round. Not too bad.

We didn't cash. But we got to watch a lot of great disc golfers attack that new course.

BOWLING GREEN:
This one almost didn't happen. Minna had to move into a new place and we had already played the tournament the year before, so it wasn't on our short list of tournaments to play. But when Minna was able to move a week early, we had a window and we decided to jump on it.

She won the INT division last year but it was on a different set of courses and she really wanted to play the courses on the ADV side. I was in first place after the first round but pulled a muscle in my chest and didn't end up finishing strong, so for me, this was a tournament of revenge - to come back fighting and get some payback.

The cost is nominal and the player's pack is silly, we were given two discs and some literature. No backpack! Can you believe it? The best part of the weekend was the fly mart - McCabe was there with DD and Discraft selling Ti plastic; we were able to find some rare plastic we liked, and we were able to watch Kansas play into the final game with Kentucky, on their turf. Always a good time. The fly mart is a real attractive element to the tournament and I hope future tournaments try to incorporate into theirs.

We both played well and both finished in the top five. The revenge was there and we said goodbye to the tournament knowing full well that we were done with our BOWLING GREEN AM days, and with AM in general.

GLASS BLOWN OPEN/COLLEGIATE NATIONALS:
I stayed AM for nine extra months so that I could live out my fantasy of playing for Kansas. It meant the world to me that I was able to suit up and play, especially at 39. I'm sure the rest of the team wasn't thrilled with having a teammate my age, but they were very generous with making me feel welcome.

Collegiates is held in Augusta, Georgia where the 2006 World Champions were held. The courses are novelty in design, with lots of baskets buried up to the top of the cage so you have to slide it in, or placed on top of two 55 gallon drums next to a hill to make it a spooky putt. There are a few hanging baskets and lots of baskets on top of 30 foot mounds. There are four courses, all of which are tough, and the format meant you would play most courses twice. Two rounds of doubles and four rounds of singles.

The fee was low for a four man team, and the player's pack contained four discs with the collegiate stamp and a pretty amazing dry fit. The player's party was pizza and cookies, the usual fare for college students who thought they were in heaven. And there was a lot of insanity with 53 colleges all trying to beat the sh1t out of each other at GUTS.

If you're not a fan of Kansas, forgive me, but we did well and finished 14th. We earned an invite to next year's tournament and we had a great time being a team. In disc golf, it is one of my top five favorite disc golf memories.

Sadly, the footnote to this whole experience has an all too real ending with a death and a great deal of of life-interrupted. I won't give details, but what was once glorious is now a tragedy.

...Meanwhile...

In Emporia, the Glass Blown Open was being literally blowing away. By now everyone has seen the video of Jay Cram putting into a head wind only to watch it fly 60 feet behind him. I think I will take a basket on a 55 gallon drum over 55 mph winds any day. I don't envy those who had to play in the wind, but I hear the courses were excellent and everyone had a good time. The price was pretty high, but the player's pack was chock full of goodies including a glass mini and a ti WASP (which Minna never got) and some other odds and ends.

Minna couldn't find her game and she couldn't figure out what to do. She was pretty upset and it was a full week before she got over it. Minna learned the hardest lesson in disc golf; There are those who can throw a disc, and there are those who know how to play golf, but not everyone knows how to do both. She discovered that she wasn't playing golf at the GBO and now she spends her time learning to play the game and not just how to throw.

SWOPE SPRING RENEWAL:
I love swope.

This was another last second decision. Minna and I played this tournament in 2011 and won as a mixed pair, so this year I played it with someone else. Brian Gaskil - a friend from Marshall. The cost is low, and if there was a free disc, I don't remember or forgot to pick one up.

The big surprise of this tournament was Avery Jenkins. Avery was in town and seems to love Swope as much as I do. He had a lot of great things to say about the course and his history playing there. Of course, he won his world title in KC so he has a real soft spot for the town and I'm sure he always will. I played two rounds with Avery making it the second tournament this year I have played on a card with a former World Champion. Only this time I won. Well... I didn't win, but I did cash.

THORNFIELD:
David Emerson has cancer. In his own words; he should be dead by now. I have known him for a few years and he has been nothing but a great man to me and the sport, so I don't want him to die. What blows my mind is that he could be spending his time with family, close friends or running all over the world finishing up some bucket list, but instead he decided to run a disc golf tournament. He's thin, he's weak, he can't play anymore... but he has the strength to put on a disc golf tournament in his spare time. If he is willing to give his time, I'm willing to give mine.

Thornfield is another Brigadoon course. It shows up once or twice a year, and you have to play it while you can before it disappears. You have to relish the course and all of it's unique beauty because as soon as you have lost your mind playing it, it's gone - and there is no revenge. There is no second shot to make up for a bad one.

The cost is high, and the player's pack is irrelevant. The player's pack should just be a map of the course. You play both for the course and for David. One day this will all be over, and all we will have are the powerful memories and those are worth every penny we spend on them.

Coming up...  The WIDE OPEN.

41

Found and Lost / does anyone know the people who live...

« on: May 14, 2012, 08:18:39 PM »

...along 17's fairway at Rosedale? I have a Pro Destroyer in one of the yards and need to go look.

42

General Banter / 90 Days of Disc Golf: Year of the Honey Badger - Disc Sale

« on: May 11, 2012, 08:46:23 AM »

We have a ton of plastic to unload before we start our next trip. Your purchase of the discs buys us gas, food and bug spray, so we appreciate your support. Lots of stuff to sell, nothing over 10 bucks, most of it just 5. and every little bit helps. I would think that a certain number of people in the area would be glad to be rid of me for an extended period of time so I expect you to buy two or three discs.

So far we have traveled to The Memorial in Phoenix, The Collegiate National Tournament in Augusta and Bowling Green in ...Bowling Green. And we will continue our trip with The Wide Open, then Am Nats (including a trip to Flip City), then a monster haul of a drive to get to The Beaver State Fling in just four days(with stops in Montana, North Dakota, and Idaho). We come back home for ten day and then it's on the road for Fly Boy Aviation, Worlds, Pittsburgh, Brent Hambrick, Rochestor, and finally The Vibram. In between those tournaments we will be playing every state east of Missouri, with one stop in Toronto.

There is still a lot of planning left to do, and if you have any suggestions for our trip we are open to any ideas or suggestions. We are not above delivering packages across the country if we can manage it.

Thank you for the support. We promise more stories and photos (if someone remembers her camera) this year.

43

General Banter / Kansas

« on: April 16, 2012, 09:15:45 AM »

Cal Patton
Bobby Damsch
Joey Brown
Loomis
Jake Lazzo
Brandon Melton
Dan Kubicki

We finished 14th and made it into next year's tournament.

44

Found and Lost / HOLE 10 at ROSIE - FOUND

« on: April 07, 2012, 10:58:27 PM »

It's Loomis Green so if someone doesn't claim it, I won't shed any tears.

It was found on the hillside below hole 10 at Rosie. Most likely a flick gone awry or a rather poorly attempted anny. Tell me what it is, etc. and you will get your precious back. If not, I'll feed it to the REC players!!!!

45

Barter Town / Sidewinders

« on: April 03, 2012, 02:48:30 PM »

Looking for old champ sidewinders and roadrunners.