Saturday, July 28, 2012

A Fresh Reemergence:



It has been quite some time since I have played any serious disc. I threw a few rounds at the Village Park DGC in Sussex, WI last summer, but for the most part I have had many things sneak up on me just when I had planned to play more. Last year I was unable to attend Digg's bachelor party/Disc weekend to Highbridge in Wisconsin. What can I say, being a married father of, now two, children takes it's toll on your free time.

This years Disc Weekend has renewed my love of the game, and I surprised myself by not doing as badly as I thought I would have. I had a quite enjoyable time with my friends and was pushed physically during the weekend.

Things that I will take and remember from this weekend:
1- Digg's posting up for a beautiful ACE on hole 14 at the Blue Ribbon Pines DGC, and the free beers for everyone that ensued.
2- Keeping my scores relatively close to the group as well as my discs. ;)
3- Discovering the beauty of new discs such as the Vision by Latitude64, and the now lost Boss from Innova. I do plan on buying a new one seeing as how I threw around 350 ft with that disc and am hoping to get more out of it since that was only my first throw with it and I was a little timid.
4- I got a birdie on hole 23 at Blue Ribbon Pines (248ft) and two birdies at Acorn. It’s all about the little wins.
5- Last, but definitely not least, a rare sighting of the illusive BIRDMAN. Disc away birdman, be free.

I plan on posting and playing regularly from here on out. Expect disc reviews, course reviews and a few wish lists of discs and of courses from across the world.




Coming Up Next Week:  "It's In The Bag"
A comprehensive listing of current discs in my bag and my reviews on them, plus photos. And, how I intend to have my bag grow over the course of the rest of the season. 

Long Live Disc Golf

Friday, July 27, 2012

Cold Lampin' Weekend: BRP Prize

I am sure there will be a few more posts on this memorable weekend in which this Cold Lampin' Blogging community gathered for this past weekend (July 19-22).  I will simply share one aspect of it from my point of view. We have a tradition on these weekends that I have enjoyed these past few years and that is to put up one disc for grabs that will go to the winner of one round. The idea came while watching oddly enough golf... Tradition dictates that the previous years Masters tournament winner places the famous Green jacket on the new winner. Likewise, the previous year winner buys the disc for the following year.  These last two years they have been won while playing on what we would call the signature courses of the areas where we are playing.  This year a beautiful course nestled north of the Twin Cities in East Bethel, MN known as BRP or Blue Ribbon Pines. See My Course Review from a few years back here.

The disc this year is a special BRP edition SUPER color print (shown below) of the signature hole here at Blue Ribbon Pines. It's hole number 4 with beautiful pine trees stationed along the fairway.  In person it is a very intimidating hole. A 444 foot par 4 with OB on the left.  It takes in my opinion three great shots to give you a chance at a par.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Existential Resonance

The disc weekend has come and gone.

Such events hold high expectations for those in attendance.  Coming into it, we have certain hopes, certain dreams, and certain goals.  And the overriding concern is simply to have a good time.  While not a tournament atmosphere by any stretch, this also isn't your casual day at the park.  We hope to do well.  We hope to perform.  When you make grandiose plans, you understandably have grandiose expectations.

Expectations met. 

I dare say they were met unanimously.  Now, this does not mean that I was entirely satisfied with my play (as we shall see in future posts), but for whatever it was I was hoping out of the weekend, I received it.  We will get into some specifics later on, but as an initial introduction to the weekend, know that I come away extremely satisfied.

The reason for which I play found resonance within my being with the experience of the weekend.

And with deeply fulfilling experiences such as these, I find that the company reinforces such experiences.  Thank you, gentlemen, for sharing your weekend.  I hope we can do it again.

~Diggs

Monday, July 16, 2012

Cold Lampin' Weekend Countdown

Ladies and gentlemen...

Boys and girls...

The 2nd Annual Cold Lampin' Disc Weekend is upon us!  I am Diggs, your friendly Cold Lampin' tour guide, here to take you through all the ins and outs of the GREATEST DAMN WEEKEND OF YOUR LIFE!!!  It'll be challenging and exhausting and you will swear at innate objects at some point during the trip.  But it'll be worth it!  Oh... and it is in a week.

And now, some quick summaries of important details...

Friday, July 13, 2012

Not Snoozing at Slumberland: A Course Review


Ever have one of those days where you say to yourself, “Self, I am going to go play a new disc golf course today.” Today was one of those days for me. I decided that I knew I wanted to play a round of disc and since I live in a land where you HAVE to drive at least an hour in any direction in order to play. Well my adventure led me to take a jaunt west into the land of “Great Places, Great Faces, South Dakota,” Watertown, South Dakota to be exact.  A mere hour and a half drive straight west on Hwy 212 got me to my destination via a minor detour of road construction.



I get to the course not knowing much other than it is an 18 hole course with the front nine being very open and great for beginning to intermediate players and the back nine more advanced with some distance, elevation, and water hazard opportunities.

Pro # 1: Great Signage – Each hole had a clearly marked sign with where the basket was and distance and par giving those who have never played the course a since of direction. Never mind that most holes were pretty much straight ahead.

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Majestic Doubles: Truck Confusion

Well, that could have gone better.

Good news, we didn't get last.  We didn't even get last in our grouping.  We actually won our grouping.  But to be any more positive beyond that would be a stretch.  The amateur doubles tourney matched all amateurs against one another and took place at the Hyland Ski Course.  Being my first time on the course, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Guess what... its on a big friggin' hill!  Up and down and up and down and across then up a bunch of hills!  Ugh, it makes a man tired!

As I look back on it all, the result was pretty predictable.  Not only had I never played the course before, MRK (my partner) had played the course a grand total of one time.  Experience with the course was greatly lacking.  Also, experience with that type of course is greatly lacking.  Not too many courses I have played come close to simulating the elevation change and the accompanying length.  Our inexperience with the course means our distancing was off, our shot evaluation was inaccurate, and I just flat didn't know how to throw uphill or downhill like that.  It was learning as we were playing... in a tournament.  No bueno.

Oh, and neither MRK nor myself had really played since our last tourney in May.  I will admit that especially early on I was a liability to the team.  We took nearly all of the King's shots because, well, he played much better than me. 

Doubles are supposed to represent an amalgamation of the two players.  It allows a team to utilize the strengths of the two and mitigate the weaknesses.  It allows two attempts at the same shot.  But when you rely more or less on one of the team, the team loses the bonus of having a teammate.  The end result was that for a good portion of the round, I required the King to work alone.  The end result was a poor scoring performance.  We lacked birdies.  That is all there is to it.

On a positive note, I threw a disc 700+ feet on the last hole.  Downhill but it happened.

It felt good.

Maybe more about Taco Bell and Lion's Park and wheel bearings and watching the pros later.  Right now I'm tired.

Diggs, out.