Sunday, November 30, 2008

It was just my day..

It feels damn good to finally win. It's an interesting system, this whole handicap thing. Even though we play against each other, it's really just your handi that your battling.

It was beautiful once again, and there was a big turnout of 15. We split into three groups and did a traditional tournament start with each group starting at a different hole. This worked well at first, but we found ourselves crossed up too much, anyone have a better method?

Here is the wrap up:
Erin (me) won the handicap pool ($60!) with -13 bh and a-6 after handicap.
Bryan placed second ($10) after a three way playoff against Rusty and Brian with a -4 bh & ah.
No aces this week, although Mathew kissed some chains on 15.

I'm heading north this week up into Oregon and beyond. I'm definitely going to play some disc and I will be blogging it up when I get back. Thanks for a great day!



Monday, November 24, 2008

Sunday Tourney Ace Pool Aces

First of all, big cheers to Erin for setting up this blog for Mendo disc golf, and by extension, the Mendocino Frolf Club!  Looks great, and, once we get into the swing, should be a big bundle of fun for everyone.  Secondly, nevermind my question about signing up.  Everyone just has to respond to your invitation, and everything is pretty easy to figure out from there.  
Those things acknowledged, I'd like to post about sunday tournament aces and the ace pool.  In another post, Erin mentioned hole 14, and I was going to clarify that actually hole 14 has only been aced once in tournament competition since the ace pool has been established. Then it occurred to me that I have been present to witness all three tournament aces in the ace pool era!  Am I the only one?  I'd like to describe what I recall from each of them!:
The first ace occurred, appropriately enough, on hole 1.  Davey Stein, madman extraordinaire, pulled out a relatively new disc for him, a bright red-orange dx-plastic Firebird acquired at the Willits tourney he had attended with fellow MFCers Matthew, Erin, Rick, Tommy, and myself. There was a strong wind from the north ("The sea was angry that day, my friends!"), and when I saw Dave let it go, I wasn't optimistic.  First of all, the disc came up to level almost immediately, and it looked as if the thing HAD to turn over, which would have spelled doom.  The strong north wind at the Mendo course has a powerful propensity to keep these kinds of throws turned over until they come crashing to earth short right, or at best, long right.  But the dx disc was new enough that the Firebird stability kicked in, and the disc refused the turnover, glided flat for a piece, and then began to turn back left.  At that point, it looked to me like the big wind would get under it and unquestionably carry it well left of the basket.  As we watched, though, that Firebird instinct to tumble to earth began to take over.  The wind tried to push the throw left, but the Firebird, against all odds, said "not today buddy!" and made a beeline down toward the basket.  And damn if that thing didn't fold neatly into the chains!  We all jumped up and down and turned to mob Davey, but he was gone, tearing around the parking lot, wings straight out, a la a goal-scoring european soccer player!  His winnings?  Something in the neighborhood of a cool $150!  What a memorable ace to kick off the MFC ace pool!  Fly like an eagle, Davey!
I was lucky enough to register the second ace pool ace on hole 4.  That day we had south wind, which is somewhat unusual and generally signifies a coming rainstorm.  Despite having two previous aces on the hole in past years, I hadn't been playing the hole particularly well as of late.  I pulled out my dark red star-plastic Monster, and let 'er rip well right of my normal target, letting the wind bring her back over.  I don't remember much, other than holding my finish and watching as that red beauty dove behind the bush that fronts the basket.  It made the kind of sound where there isn't much doubt of the result.  A great feeling!  My winnings?  About 100 clams baby!  How sweet is it...
Big number three was thrown by Big Derrick on the aforementioned hole 14, and of the three, it unquestionably had the highest level of difficulty.  With the south wind making a heuser throw to the right over the blackberries unattractive, D scoffed and threw an anheuser shot to the left.  The thing tore through the defenseless wind, and then disappeared to the right, headed for paydirt, until we heard something no one really expected:  big chains!  Since it is a blind shot, we had to yell to the group ahead to confirm the ace, which Dave and Erin promptly did, and the third ace in MFC ace-pool history was official!  And unless I am mistaken, the shot was Derrick's first hole-in-one ever!  Even better.  It probably deserved the greatest monetary reward, but unfortunately came hot on the heels of ace #2, so yielded the lowest (how much was it, Derrick?).  Fortunately we ain't in this for the money, and ace#3 will live on as a killer toss nonetheless!
I hope this post is just the start of an ongoing thread on these first three aces, and all the astounding ace pool aces to come!  

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Sunset Discin'

Can't beat these conditions Folks. Today's frolf tournament was Beautiful and sunny with NO wind. We had a casual showing with 11 peeps. The scores were casual as well, well except for Bryan..

Here were the non handi scores:
Terry +6 Tim +11
Rusty +3 Roy +2
Nate +7 Bryan -4
Brian +9 Jim -8
David -4 Erin -8
Tom -4

Bryan won the Handicap round with a -5, Roy came in second with -4 Jim and I tied for the overall with -8's and after three playoff holes I finally won! Nate won a new Star Wraith with a CTP throw on hole 12. Nate it's in my bag when I see you next. See you all next week.

I'm going to try and have current handicaps posted on the blog every Monday or Tuesday if Mathew is up for it.



Monday, November 17, 2008

Another Nate Win and an Impressive Ace!

The tourney was awesome. Temp in the 70's along with some extra low scores thrown in windless skies. 13 players in all, we split into two groups and teed. The first CTP, a new star wraith, was won by Dallas Albright on hole three with an 8ft from pin measurement. (He passed on the prize so it will be offered up next week.) The second CTP, a sticker, was won by Dennis on Hole 13. The highlight came soon after with an ACE on 14 by Derrick!
This blind hole has hosted 2 of the three ace pool shots. As far as I know Derricks throw is the first official tournament anheiser ace, cool.

After doing the final tallies Nathan was announced as the handicap pool winner with an even round, -6 under after hc. Bryan and I were tied for second with a -5 after hc. We went to the top of the world 18 and both missed the uprights. He parred, I didn't. Dallas won the non-hc with a -12 and I was one back at -11. That's the wrap.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

-Little Lake Tournament-

Sunday November 9th was an experiment. Would it be possible for our Sunday A course group to abandon the high school and try something new? You're damn right! Thanks to everyone who came to the pond course and had a good time. I had a lot of fun designing the course layout with Davey-D and even more fun watching people make some great throws and putts with what I thought would be a tougher course than it really was. Having an occasional change of pace and playing a new course is not only more fun, but it helps your golf game as well. I'm already contemplating how to improve the course layout, so when my turn to be TD rolls around we can all head back up the hill to play what I promise will be a more challenging disc golf course..

My only regret? No photos! and also all those lost discs...especially Roy's newly earned Ace disc.
Plans to siphon the pond and return lost discs is in the works. Thanks again everybody!

Oh yeah, here are the results:
Nate Dog won with an impressive -1 under, -7 under after hc.
Derrick claimed his second place prize with a -4 under after hc, nice one..
Tom and David tied for third at -3 after hc, and I won the overall purse with a -7 before hc.
No aces, come on people.
Hey Mathew, maybe we can come up with a way to post each players last 10 scores or something? Let me know what you think.