Thursday, February 26, 2009

Willits Tourney, March 8th (and 7th!!)

Ok, all you disc hooligans, here is something to sink your gnarled teeth into:

Our Sunday tourney on March 8th will be at the KOA course in Willits!  Not only that, but the grand prize for the handicapped winner will be nothing less than a brand new traveling disc golf basket!!

That's right people, the tourney you've been itchin' for is finally coming, and none too soon to get prepared for the big KOA Pro/Am Jam in June!  

And if that weren't enough, a number of us will be spending that Saturday night at the campsite, getting up to goodness-knows-what kind of shenanigans, likely to include but not limited to:  a doubles round on Saturday afternoon, a night round involving lighted baskets and either glow discs or lighted discs, liars dice, puttputt golf, campfires, BBQ, and throwing Davey into the pool.  

There are some things to be worked out.  I need to know how many are going to be spending the night, so I can reserve enough campsites.  Also I am deciding whether or not to book one cabin for our group, in case it dumps rain Sat. night and we need an indoor area in which to frolic.  I would be interested to hear any input on that.  Thusfar we have four confirmed for Sat. night for sure:  myself, Davey, Ryan, and Derrick.  Let me know if you're in!  

Then the next thing to establish is the time of the Sunday tourney.  I would lean toward making it earlier, since we'll already be there.  Something like noon seems like a reasonable compromise.  What do people think?  Chime in!  

Fyi, bc of the prize, the entry fee for this tourney is 10 bucks instead of 5.  Unless people are willing to kick in 15, in which case I might make my money back on the basket!  But in any case, 10 bucks will get you in.

Also, I loved Nate's idea of everyone bringing a CTP prize, so everyone try to remember to do that, and I'll try to bring a few.

Also I think I'm going to place an order with Catch-a Canoe for a bunch of lighted discs, so we can play the night round.  If you want me to order you one, OR if you have some extras other people can use, let me know.

Alright, let the chatter begin!!

Monday, February 23, 2009

I made my Putts!

Well, the 22nd day of February of the year 2009 saw 4 brave men withstand a fierce south wind and some wet weather. Those 4 men among men were your author (Davey D), the ace champion from two weeks ago (Vince), Nate Dog Nathan Anderson, and one James Eldgride, who traveled all the way from Arcata to play in this round. Looking back on my round there were 6 important shots, 4 of which were putts. After grinding out a par on hole 1 the first important shot occurred. I was looking at an easy putt on any other day but on this day a definate easy miss (especially for me) but I stood near the track and as I let it go the beautiful sound that so many Frolfers know happend...CHING. Jim said it best, "don't give it a chance to miss". I hammered the MFer in there. After birdieing hole 3, I attempted to send a big hyzer out on hole 4 but fell short. I stood in between the burn pile and the Excite Bike mound (on the other side of the Excite Bike mound as if I picked up my old school Nintendo control and made a sweet jump). Anyways, back to disc golf...I attempted to lay up but that south wind knocked my feeble attempt down. I was looking at a tough par save but I have a feeling y'all know how this story is going to end...yes I made an important par save which was my 2nd important shot. I parred hole 5 and my 3rd important shot was birdieing hole 6 for which I stood on the hillside short of the basket but once again made my putt for birdie. After parring 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 I was 3 under which was a pretty good score on this day. After a crazy disc flight and a weird roll I stood to the right side of the basket (if your looking at it from the tee box) as the wind was whipping I sent the putt slightly to the left hoping the wind would whistle it into the chains and falling into the basket...I was right and made my birdie. I parred 13, 14, and 15 and I stood (barely, because the wind was pushing us back) on hole 16 eyeing this like a hawk would eye a lowly field mouse. I picked up my destroyer and threw it straight at the sonofabitch. PARKED. Yes, I birdied hole 16...maybe my shot of the day. I bogeyed hole 17 (only bogey of the day) and my last important shot was throwing my disc through the uprights as Jason Hanson, field goal kicker for the Detroit Lions, has done so many times but my shot was for a winning effort (unlike the winless Lions of last year...by the way Jason Hanson is one of the best field goal kickers in history...do your research and then come talk to me). I ended up parring hole 18 bringing me to a 4 under for the day. Thank you for joining me on my journey. So, the scroes were as follows:

David-4 under...2 under my handicap
Nate--8 over.....1 over his handicap
Jim---Even........6 over his handicap
Vince-9 over......7 over his handicap.

P.S. Check your email I am going to send a mass email about ideas for a tourney in Willits on Sunday March 8th.

Friday, February 20, 2009

I know were all thinking it part 2


I know we are all thinking it but I will come out and say it: what is Matthew shooting at? A 180 for hole 9? Is he just posing as Lindsay was? And what is up with those glasses, Tom Cruise?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

New skins record

Well it is with great shame and recrimination that I report a record for most skins.  After a horrendous round by both Dave and myself, wherein I alone missed 7 makable putts, the easiest two of which would have netted me 5 skins, Erin ended up taking home 15 skins.  He seemed somewhat embarrassed by this, given the pathetic performances of his opponents, but a record is a record is a record.  I will say that I have a memory of taking home an even greater number of skins against Davey and Matthew, but that was pre-blog.  So post up the 15, Erin--Dave and I deserve the humiliation.  But we will rise and take you down in similar fashion soon enough!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Presidents Day Tourney

Tournament Results:

Handicap Winners
1st Place- AJ at +1
2nd place- Erin at +2
3rd place- Jim at +3
4th place-Matthew
5th place Tie-David & Derrick


CTP was a Brand New Champion Groove, which we all wanted!
Jim wanted it most and took it with a nice shot on 8.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tournament Run Down

Well folks, Sunday sucked. That is, if you were me, or Roy.... Now if you were Jim, Vince, or Larry- Sunday kicked ass! For me, it was hand numbingly cold, my feet were wet along with the rest of me, and I was stupid enough to play the whole round with one disc for.... fun?!

We had more than 10 but less than 15 players, all anxious to tee du to the pelting rain. At my request we split into three small groups and succeeded in playing one of the quickest tourneys ever. I started my round badly and felt like going back to the parking lot and hiding under a tailgate, which Yoda had already wisely done. I stuck it out chain out after chain out, while Jimmy tallied his birds. There was little banter in our group and groans from the others. That is until hole # shorty.
ACE ACE ACE ACE ACE! Vince makes his presence known with a flick through the tree line and into the bucket on 13. The $68 pot takes him outta da red. As far as I know that was the first flick ace on this hole. Nice one!

After we started to conglomerate around the uprights, whispers and eyebrow raises pointed the probable win in Roy's direction. He shot a tourney best -2bh which with a +4 handi would have won it with a -6. That is if his handi was +4! For some strange reason his handicap had actually changed from last week?! +3 was the new hc and it dropped poor Roy one behind Heavy Metal Larry. Cheer up, second place ain't so bad. This was Larry's first tournament win, and we were all stoked for him. Ironically he was going to sit this tournament out because he, "Hates to play in rain." Which I doubt is still true ehh Larester? Jim took the overall purse with an uncontested -8, while I shot my tourney worst -4. I think all who played on this nasty winter day were proud to carry the tradition of no tournaments canceled.

A full write up is in order, but a sneak peak at the Ukiah ice bowl results show 4 of 6 Mendocinians in the money. Derrick or Tom how bout a synopsis?

Monday, February 9, 2009

idea; logo design contest

so i sit here this nippy morn sippin my coffee thinkin again about this idea. Tom mentioned to me once and i think it would be really great, if we could come up with some sort of logo for the mendo frolf club. one idea i had was to hold a contest for it. i thought that involving the community a little more might be a good way too help keep the course in good standing with the school, and the rest of the community. i also thought that we could gather any donations at the sunday tourneys for this idea and others. even a buck or so from some of the players would add up quick enough. i would be happy to donate some flow for this idea. a prize of mayby 200$ to the logo design contest winner would sure bring in a lot of great art to choose from i thinkin. i think we could talk to the art teacher at the school and have him/her announce it to the art class and we could hang up some flyers around town. mayby eventually we could even order some discs with the logo or t shirts, stickers or something.

also these would be great prizes if we ever had a bigger tourney out there, with divisions for high school kids and newby locals,if we could pull off a charity tourney sometime i think it would be much more unlikely for them to take out the baskets ever. maybe starting next year we could have our own mendo ice bowl.

just some ideas, i know im newer to the club so mayby this has all been talked about before. but i would appreciate knowin what yall think

Sunday, February 8, 2009

I know we're all thinking it...


but no one asked yet, so I will:

What exactly is Linz doing throwing from there??

Single Disc Record

Yo Peeps,

So I noticed there was no record yet for a round using only one disc, so I decided to establish one this afternoon.  As Erin knows from having played two speed rounds today, the conditions were totally benign.  I had a light mist and only a whisper of a breeze from the north.  I started out using a Destroyer.  I had thought this disc choice out.  I thought about my Monster, but I worried about putting with it.  I briefly considered something more putter-friendly like a Comet.  But the idea of getting that thing to the baskets on 1, 10, 14, and 16 without Erin's wingspan was daunting.  I would think a Wasp will do just fine for him, but for us mortals, the driver seemed like the way to go.  Started out and birdied 1, 3, 4, and 5, before figuring out, after bogeying 6 and 7, that putting with the thing was going to be a bear.  So I pressed the reset button, went back to the car, and got the beat-up (read: not-so-stable-anymore) Tee-Rex. Started again, and birdied 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 for a 7 under on the front. Turns out the thing putts pretty well!  

After another birdie on 11, I realized that I might have a keeper round going, and was going to have to do a mando layup on 18 without a spotter, so I put in a last-minute call to Erin and Linz, hoping one of them might be able to burn out and give me an official judgment on 18 by the time I got there.  Unfortunately, as I was later to learn when I ran into Linz at Harvest after the round, they were off exploring in the woods and didn't get the message.  Well OF COURSE making the call threw the karma off a bit, and I proceeded to miss the birdie putt on 12, then, after making an ace run and hitting the basket on the skip on 13 (!), it somehow rolled about twenty-five feet away, just out of range of the putting Tee-Rex.  Parred 14, managed a birdie on 15, a near birdie on 16, and a fab par on 17 where I had to choose between the layup or going for the par from just behind the treeline (no guts no glory, people!).  At that point I was 9 under and REALLY wanted to be able to try for double digits.  I waited a few extra minutes for the Erin/Linz cavalry, but none arrived, so I executed my first successful layup par on 18, to post the first official one-disc-only record as:  9 down.  And bogey-free!  

There is a lesson here, people.  Think about it:  my first round ever using just one disc, and I threw a bogey free round which was only 4 shots off my all-time best?  I HIGHLY recommend the one-disc round to everyone!  Not only is it fun, and not only is it incredibly liberating to leave that big clunky bag in the car and walk around a course with only one disc, but I found that using one disc really allowed me to focus solely on the job at hand: getting the disc to the basket.  I think, in relying so much on disc choice and disc engineering, that we forget the adaptive, intuitive ability to work a disc wherever and however we want it to go.  It was fun playing many different kinds of shots with just one disc, and I know it was good for my game.  I left thinking that I might take most of the discs out of my bag, and rely on my ability to play different shots with a few discs, instead of having one disc for each kind of shot.

It reminds me of a story about golfing great Ben Hogan.  He was playing a round with an amateur player, and the guy kept asking him which club he was using on every shot.  Finally Ben, who was not known to suffer fools gladly, had had enough.  The next time the guy asked him the question, as he stood about 150 yards off the green, he turned to the guy, pulled out ten different balls, dropped them on the fairway, and without a word, hit them all onto the green-- with ten different clubs!  The message: don't get caught up in picking the perfect club.  Pick any damn club, and play the shot that will get the job done! 

As with ball golf, so it is with frolf!  Amen!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Speed Frolf!

I take this opportunity to applaud the latest Mendo frolf incarnation, speed frolf!  And I narrate here a cautionary tale for all to take to heart.

It was an erratically windy afternoon when I arrived at the course for only my second speed frolf round, the wind direction being from the south.  The experienced Mendo frolfer, being told the wind direction, will not be surprised to hear that the course was dripping wet.  D. Stein having taken off to Seattle and having left me with his hound, I was escorting two canines along on my speed ride, and sporting full rain gear.  Playing within myself and yet moving right along, I found myself 5 under through 16, with nary a bogie on the card, and, considering all the wiping of discs, tearing off of overheated clothing, and yelling down the hounds, having made fine time.  Any Mendo frolfer will tell you that this score is particularly solid in an increasingly strong south wind.  When I bogied 17, I was hardly bothered and motored up to the 18th tee, to execute perhaps only my second attempted lay-up on the 18.  

Let me pause here to say that I had decided that the only fair way to play the 18th without a spotter is to play a mando (manditory) lay-up shot short of the uprights, given the relative impossibility of fairly judging whether one's own shot goes through or not.  I believe this needs to be the ongoing rule for any official rounds played solo.

So I execute my rapid-fire lay-up, leaving it short on purpose.  This is from my experience of seeing both DStein and Matthew throw lay-up throws long and under the uprights!  Ah but that is another story for another day.  Let me just say that I had no intention of going long.  So my short lay-up perfectly executed, I sprinted downhill for the all-important second shot.  I sized up the line and pulled my monster for the hyzer shot I hoped would leave me in park city for a new speed frolf record.  Where I went wrong, my readers, was in the calibration of the strong south wind's effect on a hyzer shot.  I was soon to discover my horrible horrible mistake.  As I lobbed up the shot, that wind came powering down onto the field with a fury, impacting the top of that left-curving monster with a downward thrust unlike any I've ever seen!  And as I watched with horror, my simple monster hyzer throw came rocketing to earth far ahead of schedule....lower and lower, until it just slid UNDER the all-important uprights!  NOOOOO!!!  My cries could be heard from Westport to Point Arena, my friends.  When all was said and done, I carded a horrendous 5 on 18 and hit the chronograph button.  

The final damage?  I had finished at 2 under, in a record time of 25:50, rounded to 26 minutes.  Do the math and shudder:  I came in at 78, one shot shy of Dave's current record of 77.  My final words as I completed the calculations?  AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

low gap ice bowl

sat feb 7th is the low gap ice bowl you guys prob already heard but i just wanted to make sure. i think tom and larry are going , as well as george(rusty) and roy, and myself. anyone else interested sounds like a lot of fun

Monday, February 2, 2009

Steinmaster D's Near Ace on 18 & other stuff


Great SB XLII frolf tournament everyone. Here are a few vids for the records.




Davey's Near ACE!



Jim Eldridge for the lead & the dough.




Tom drives the disc damn well, lefty!
This guy deserves some sort of award for his
ambi skills..

Damn that felt good!

As we tallied the scores after 9, I (David) quizically stated, "Wow, Larry is 3 under his handicap, Vince is 3 under his handicap, I am 3 under my handicap, Jim is 3 under his handicap, and Derrick is 4 under his handicap". As the round progressed I birdied hole 10 and 12 to only chain out of 13 and 14 leaving me with 2 unsettled pars. After 14 all members on our card were still in contention. Derrick unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you are rooting for in this story) threw hole 15 deep in the woods and ended up getting a 4 (I think). I missed my putt and with all the determination and anger I have seen in this man in some time Uncle Jim nailed quite a long putt over the chained link fence and some wooden posts. After 16 we were still all pretty much in contention. Now I ask for y'all to put your visualization hats on and let me take you for a ride of David Stein's last 2 holes. My drive on 17 was less than stellar and I stand alone in practically the middle of the field. What does one David Stein do but go to his bread and butter...that's right folks the ole Banshee but I wish I could tell you what I did a couple months ago which is birdie this hole but, NO I can't tell you this...I can only tell you that I ended up looking a long putt upwards for which I, in turn, nailed IT. This gained some cheers from the visiting Ukiah folk and a remark from Jim that went something like this, "I thought I had you". Well Jim...keep thinking because not on this day buddy. Jim in turn also made his par putt. Jim and I sat upon hole 18 looking down and the judges urging us to throw. Jim sits at 9 under (4 under his handicap) and David sits at 7 under (4 under his handicap). David throws first...as I am watching my beatiful Banshee fly through the air I calmly state, "make a run". No sooner then I utter those words, Bang, the disc hits the basket, inches away from a hole in one. Jim looks at me with both congratulations and disgust because he now knows that he has to birdy if he wants a shot at the coveted win. Jim throws and "It's Good" state the on-lookers. Jim has a putt to make. David calmly drains his putt and on 6 out of 7 days Jim makes this high pressured putt, but I guess today was the seventh day and what I learned growing up was that God rested on the seventh day. What does this mean? Does Jim have a God Complex or did he not get enough rest last night so he had to make up for it by resting on this day and putt? I don't have the answer just more questions....

With all that said, Jim shot a helluva round-9 under (nice round Jimmy) and won the overall crown.

Can someone put the scores on the blog.

Erin, I am dying to the see the video footage of my near ace. Can you put it up on the blog?

Have fun next week guys I will be in Seattle and unable to defend my crown. Good Luck!

#7 In Depth Report

Hole #7

"Lest she be bearing down on our port side at full tilt, with head bulled and eyes full of rage, we shall not back down, we shall not relent.  Dig men.  Dig deep into your souls and find the whaler in ya'.   The white whale smote ol' Ahab and the boys, but he's no threat to this crew.  Yar, we've slewn the Sperm whale from Finland to Fiji.  We've looked the leviathan straight in the eye and seen fear, man.  Fear!  The fish knows no fear like the fear of the whaler.  We are Gods, men. And when we find that beast, we will treat it to it's final struggle.  Oh yes men, we will.  What was that said in the back there?  We have seen horrors to compare with the fear we bestow upon our prey?  I say blasphamy.  I say you lie, boy.  There is nothing in South Seas, nothing in the iceberg ridden Atlantic, nothing in the great expanse of the Eastern Pacific...  no wait.  Yes boy, yes.  I see what you mean.  There is such a challenge that just might teeter a captain who could harpoon a whale's eye from 100 yards or make the feistiest Sperm Bull turn tail and run like a puppy barking at the wind.  Remember men.  Remember that fateful day.  Yes men, I was 5  down after 6 and then came #7."
This Passage is part of a larger work of fiction which was uncovered at the "Ford House Museum" in the Mendocino Headlands State Park.  Historians have been unable to pinpoint the exact year that this piece was written due to glaring inconsistencies in the age of the paper and ink and places written about.  
Anyone familiar with the Mendocino High School Disc Golf Course will instantly recognize the reference to the seventh hole at the very end of the passage.  This hole has managed to wrinkle and crimp the otherwise smooth and steady games of local players.  None would speak on record and the few willing to comment on the importance of such a hole have preferred to remain nameless.  Maybe the connection to the inaccuracies in the writing and the unwillingness of locals to speak of the hole on record, points to the occult.  
Rumors of a spiritual force inhabiting hole seven have not been known to circulate among the players.  Never have the words "ghost" or "phantom" been used to describe the strange happenings but some of the players might think such thoughts.  Alone and wallowing in an aura of thick self pity and mind melting depression, the local player might blame the addition of strokes to their score on the unnamed power.  
Trying to flick this hole is in itself a shameless act of pride.  There are a few days when the wind is light enough.  When the conditions do not instantly pick your disc up into the jet stream and deposit you up on the parking lot or worse, in the "nest".  South winds.  A possibility.  Too many times a flick has driven itself straight into the hillside, caught a bush or just dropped onto the iceplant.  Flicking the disc high enough to get up and over the hill to the basket all too often will be too steeply hizered and left crashing down upon the road.  Even if the player shot low enough into a NW wind, and put just enough hizer on it to prevent the dreaded flick-turnover; even if the south wind didn't push the disc down and drain it of all its natural glide; even if the conditions let you take a regular old flick at it; even if you are a lefty and have the privilege of backhanding the thing, then you would still have the wall of trees to contend with.  Is there a hole in that wall?  Sure.  There are many.  Just none very big.  The south leaning nature of the Monterrey Cypress, counters the arc needed to make a legitimate run at the basket.  You flick it and whack! there goes that one.  
Backhanding is the preferred method of frolfers on a typically conditioned day.  Up and over the benches, arcing left over the corner of the parking lot, mail slotted between the overhanging branches and the dumpsters and finally sending all of its energy down the hill.  This does not sound like any preferred shot I have ever imagined.   When players summit the parking lot and gaze down into the new frontier of the football field, they see their discs at the bottom of the hill and say, "Rats.  I hoped it would stick there on that 30 degree slope."  Shooting backhand over the parking lot is like aiming for the bottom of the hill.  If it sticks, than it was a miracle.  Don't leave it short.  With a NW wind, any shot left short could be whisked away and deposited on to the bottom of the hill.  From the parking lot, the upside down lay up putt has been employed to rule out the birdie and inflict the least amount of damage.  How many holes on this course require a full on lay up? Two.  Even under pristine conditions, a simple rejection of the disc by the basket, not caused by any misplay by the putter, will not only loose the player the one stroke but make the player putt from the bottom of the hill, after it rolls out and down to the flats, up to 50 ft. away.  That putt becomes the safest shot. A 15 yard, 10 ft. elevation gain, tailwind putt. 
Could spirits live on the land and control the discs to repel birdies?  Could those same spirits, in turn for your soul, leave you with safe lies and honest putts?  Players refuse to comment but maybe, they believe absolutely.  If the captain in the passage referred to the seventh hole on the Mendocino High School Disc Golf Course as an even more dreaded encounter than one with Moby Dick, than we must assume a certain level of mischief afoot.  Maybe the author of the passage was a time traveler, using a device discovered in a Mayan ruin in South America, who witnessed both the slaughter of the mighty Sperm whale and the sadness of the downhill rolling disc.  Maybe the alternate universe in which this piece of art exists is one where whaling captains take a healthy interest in land games such as Frisbee golf.  Maybe we all should consider these possibilities the next time we set foot on the tee of the Seventh Hole.