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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 comments:

  1. Today-
    46 in 12:03=58:03 & 44 in 11:59=55:59

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  2. 10 under in under 12 minutes? Wow, nice! I don't think I have the conditioning quite yet for that. Although speed disc might just be the thing to give it to me! Did you bring a bag, or just a few discs?

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  3. And were you solo? If so, did you play a mando layup on 18?

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  4. Hey Jim-
    Great write ups on your mid-week rounds, very entertaining. I have been having an equal amount of fun with speed rounds and one disc rounds. Yesterday I used a FB and a putter for my first speed round, no bag. The second speed attempt I used just my FB. I also shot a FB only round of 42 in between speed rounds. The great part was this all took less than an hour.
    I did lay-up 18 on both speed rounds, but not the one disc only round, (which went through dead center). I'm thinking, if you threw 20 drives on 18 how many do you think you would misjudge? I'm guessing that I could judge all 20 correctly. We should try this.

    I consider all my unwitnessed rounds unofficial. Why? Because having someone watching adds pressure. Another option could be to carry a digital camera that is taking a movie of the whole round. My camera can take over an hour of movie. Let me know what you think.

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  5. You shot a 12 down with only a FB?? One off your personal best?? Wow. Talk about confirming everything I wrote! I would have thought you'd do better with something more puttable. You must be playing REALLY good golf these days. Or you must play worse around other people...?

    I actually concur, I suppose, with your idea that solo rounds should be considered unofficial, not only for your reason, but also because of the ...uh...problem of people misremembering their own score.

    The same concept is why I believe in the mando-layup on 18 for solo rounds. I don't believe everyone is capable of judging themselves accurately. Even your description of your own accuracy would argue my point...anything less than 100% means the legitimacy is in question.

    But of course, if solo rounds are unofficial anyway, then that sort of negates the need for a mando layup.

    Were you suggesting that a filmed solo round could be considered official? How would you film yourself? Sounds like more trouble that it's worth.

    I would, however, LOVE to see more footage of myself throwing, as there's no better way to see what you're doing wrong! Or right, I suppose...

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  6. Erin, one more thing:

    I can't for the life of me remember if my best round is a 12 or 13. It's true. I must be getting old. It was done with Dave and your Dad, and we started from a provisional teebox on 1 due to a soccer game or something going on on the field. When we finished 18, I was either at 11 or 12 under, can't remember which. And it was close to dark. So I replayed 1, with your Dad with me, and birdied it in the dark. If Rick can recall what I shot that night, then we'll know. If he can't, then I think we need to take my name off the record. I just called over at CAC, and their phone line is so bad that I couldn't hear a thing. Dave doesn't remember, since he's a complete space cadet like me.

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  7. Jim-
    I remember you telling me 13 down. You felt unsure about playing hole one from a different tee box, so you hesitated to call it official. Was the alternate tee more or less difficult?

    I play much better disc golf alone. Much better. I stood 14 down after 16 the other day, ended 13. I think I play worse around other people because my flow is interrupted. I end up throwing because it's my turn instead of being really ready. My head is clean playing alone, and during a speed round I don't have to think at all. What a great sport that is nearly as much fun playing solo as with your buds.

    Filming yourself should count I think, if you can manage it...

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  8. I replayed 1 from the legit tee at the end of the round. It was harder than usual, actually, because it was almost pitch black.

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