Hole-ly Saturday

Around this time of year, a lot of strange names are given to days in the Christian tradition.  Ash Wednesday was sometime back (where folks put ash on their faces), marking the beginning of Lent (another odd word).  In a couple days will be Palm Sunday, followed consecutively by Maundy Thursday (not Monday Thursday), Good Friday (which didn't seem that good), Holy Saturday (a meh-type of day), and (the big one) Easter Sunday (and I have now hit max number of parenthetical remarks.  Congratulations, you have just witnessed history).  The day that nobody does anything (Holy Saturday)... (alright, I'll stop), will be transformed to Hole-ly Saturday in commemoration of the first tourney of the year for MRK and myself.  We will be participating in the Doane College Classic next weekend as intermediates.  Neither one of us has played this course, so it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.  My prediction?  MRK says it best...

 

~Diggs, out.

On Phoenixes & Rainy Days: A Highbridge HIlls SC Review, Pt 4... Pt 2

Highbridge Gold and Granite Ridge in Memorium...

First up, Granite Ridge!

Diggs and the King in front of the landmark sign, found on Granite Ridge's course

This is actually Blueberry, but this is a taste of the fog we threw through during the beginning of the round

This is URBWes on the last hole of the course with the fog lifting quite a bit

This was a neat fallen tree left to provide more difficulty

This shot taken in a field after a 300+ foot throw, and you had to hit that tunnel. I faded into the trees on the left and went OB in the creek bed. bummer...

URBWes meditating upon the round. The other fellow always seems to be pointing at something...

And now, Highbridge Gold!

BroLo El Cunado kneeling Tom Joad style next to a tree. I think it is a metaphor. You know? For how the big course brought us to our knees... Righteous.

This was the fun terraced green on Hole #18. The whole hole was terraced in much the same way

Hole #8 Intro for the Longest Hole

BroLo El Cunado being all sorts of man on the pad. I believe he had a triple bogey on this one


BryJohn showing his throwing skills. Dude never plays, but he played this one in sandals. Straight gangsta.

Jiggs showing us the Leaning Dutchman routine

After my first drive on hole #8. Can you see the basket? No? It's about 1000 ft further down behind that clump of trees up ahead. Probably didn't help that my Nuke had a meltdown off the tee

Fin.

~Diggs

On Phoenixes & Rainy Days: Highbridge HIlls SC Review, Pt 4

Pt 4... Stay Gold, Ponyboy (or Money Disc)

We have reviewed the Woodland Bear. We have reviewed Granite Ridge. Now we touch on the big daddy of Highbridge Hills... the Gold Course! We hit Granite Ridge in the morning and Gold after lunch. Play time was approximately 5 hours. That's 5... with a 5. Course length is ~8500 ft. Of the 18 holes, only four are under 300 ft; three are between 300-400 ft; and fully eleven holes are over 400 ft, including the (self-proclaimed) longest hole in the world, Hole #8 coming in at over 1300 ft.

This course was the pièce de résistance of our trip, the source of our desires, and the sun decided to show itself as we began to play. Since this was to be our most anticipated round of disc EVER MRK decided to make things a little more interesting. The winner of the round would be awarded a disc. Not just any disc; the disc with the sweetest name a disc could ever dream of... the Money Putter.

Let me tell you straight out that the best kept course I have ever seen resides in East Bethel, MN and is known as Blue Ribbon Pines. This one is a close enough second. The lines were well laid and well taken care of. To be fair, Jon had just gone out the day before to mow it all down. Jon's good that way. It was just a beautiful course. Gold offers a nice change in elevation; good use of vegetation and stone. It even mixed in a little water, though it really didn't factor into the course much. Gold does everything you hope a golf course to do. As Timmy Gill puts it, it rewards good throws and punishes bad ones.

Only a couple things work against the Gold course. A stage was left in disrepair and disuse after it's initial construction for the World Amateurs played there years before (round abouts hole 18 if memory serves). It just gummed up the aesthetics. Hole 16 was also a bit of a let down. Supposedly an island hole, the water had long since dried up, leaving what had once been (I'm sure) a very comely wooden ring around the island. The ring had unfortunately suffered a breach and the whole thing was in the process of falling apart apparently due to the extreme weight of the soil it was holding up.

Everything else was finger-licking good. Notable holes included hole 2(?) with a nice little elevated putt. I enjoyed hole 18 with it's terraced shots and an elevated green. Hole 10 was a tricky shot choice involving heavy pines. Another hole (of which number I forget, maybe 11) offered a neat little shot over a pond before anhyzering back right into this protected grove hidden within the side of a small hill. Hole 16's island green was a neat idea, even if she isn't as pretty as she used to be. And the most memorable of all was the famous hole 8, the big guy. It looked to be a ball golf hole converted wholesale into the longest permanent hole in the world, a hole that has garnered a legit par 6 from the PDGA. This thing wasn't just long... it was beautiful. Three tee pads in terrace formation lead to a gradual decline in elevation, bracketed on each side by tall pines. This opens up into a breath-taking view of the valley. A few trees line the right side of the fairway before emptying into grove of trees much closer to the basket, forcing a picky hyzer shot that better go as far as you think it will if you want to clear the brush and vegetation or a lay up anhyzer before a short approach and putt. Simply stunning. My only regret is turning over my Nuke WAY too much, crashing it into the treeline on the right and essentially wasting my first two shots on that drive and my recovery shot.

MRK and I ended the round in a tie, but since this was MY bachelor party and I can cry if I want to, I can now gaze upon the Money Putter neatly mounted near my home office, reminding me of that wonderful trip... that wonderful course... Highbridge Gold.

Stay gold, Ponyboy... stay gold

~Diggs

The Elusive Eluders

We take a break from the Highbridge review to bring you this update...

THE SEASON HAS BEGUN!

That is right, ladies and gentlemen, the 2012 disc golfing season is under way. Not only has the Memorial Classic been played, but the light winter has made it possible for disc to become more recreational activity and less survival adventure. We had 70 degrees today. Jealous, northmen?

Jiggs and I had the good fortune to knock some rust off last Friday, doing a little throwing at some soccer fields. It was an abysmal and windy experience... and sore, and sore. Today, we recovered enough to hit the local rec course for an actual round. I would be lying if I said I wasn't having the grandest ol' time out there. I would also be lying if I said I didn't have one of the more consistent rounds in my career... on the first day back. I have had better rounds with better numbers and prettier throws, but the fact that a great round happened on a day that I was expected multiple ugly numbers is significant.

I pulled 5 birdies while leaving 3 very make-able putts out on the range, compared to just one bogey. As I said, not super flashy numbers, but consistent! And consistency is ultimately what we are going for. I wasn't pressing or forcing shots. I was calm and collected. I let the shots glide out and I had confidence in my putting (for some strange reason). It all came together.

I even hit chains on my hole 3 drive, though the bounce out robbed me of my first ace. That's right, still without an ace over here. It yet eludes me.

Yet more significantly, the consistency which has ultimately eluded me throughout my career found me today. Let us hope that I remain consistently consistent throughout the season.

Good luck with your snow, everyone.

~Diggs

Memorial Live

FYI... the annual Memorial Championship is being broadcast live on pdga.com. You can also watch recaps after live coverage ends. Currently over 1400 people are watching it live, even in the middle of the day!