SCDGA... Represent!

This past Wednesday, Bethel held their first annual DG tourney. A 5$ entry fee got you a t-shirt and entrance into the 18-hole tourney at the new campus course. Now, I'm broke... but I ain't that broke. And I have homework... but there isn't enough homework in the world that would keep me away from such festivities. So, despite the fact that I handed in a late paper for the first time in my four years of college and am probably looking forward to an all-nighter tomorrow, I made like Tonto and jumped on it.

Thankfully, I was not alone. The King himself decided to give it a go, as did a number of other friends and acquaintences. On the notables list for the event were Jim Beilby (PDGA rating around 950) and Josh Gerth (placed 3rd at Amateur Nationals last year). Fortunately, they (and they alone) played in the pro division. The rest of the 38 competitors played in the men's division. Unfortunately, URBWes was not able to attend. Music majors always have these concerts that get in the way. He was greatly missed during play, but was sweet enough to show up for the award ceremony. Wes is basically the man.

Anyways, Pappy and I had the fortune of playing in the same foursome. We were assigned hole 6 on the shotgun start. I'm not going to lie, I was anxious. For Pappy and I, this was our first tournament and neither of us has an abundance of experience on the course. In fact, I had only played the blue tees twice. So, stepping up to the box on my first drive, my legs weren't quite steady. But the impetus of not looking like a goober was enough to get beyond my jitters. Shame was my motivation.

We both got off to a good start. A slight set back in my drive on 7 made me make a tough putt to save bogey. Despite this, Pappy and I were on top of our foursome throughout, taking 1 and 2 respectively. Let me tell you, Pappy's drives were on. So much so, I considered renaming him the Long Range King. He even set the standard for the CTP on hole 2. So, I ended up playing catch-up for the whole round. It was all I could do to stay within 1 of the guy. I'd tie it up with a birdie and he'd come right back over the top, Stallone style. At the end of the day, my saving grace was my putt & approach game. Odd enough, my putting game is what has kept me out of negative digits more than anything. But I made smarter plays than normal, putted consistantly and it worked out.

Pappy and I ended up finishing +3 and +2. Until the score was calculated, I could have sworn I was still behind. So we made our way back to the award ceremony to see how we did. They placed up to tenth, and I was just hoping to make top ten. I figured the winner would be somewhere around -1, so the King and I had a good shot at hitting prizes. But I guess nobody else had as consistent of a day as we did because they placed tenth at +6. Ridiculous! I saw a bunch of guys hitting 30 ft putts over and over again before the tourney and yet they still started at +6? But I knew some of the guys had a good chance of going negative. I was just happy to hit my goal of a top ten finish.

...And they kept placing... and Pappy and I still waited. In the end, Pappy ranked 3rd, pulling down three free discs; and I pulled out 2nd, taking home three free of my own and a $10 gift certificate. Pappy even won one of the three CTPs, though I forget what he got for that one. What's more, the winner finished +1! We were so close to the W! But I'd say we represented well for our Iowa brothers. We made a strong showing, got over our anxiety and had a good time. Hopefully, more tournies are in our future.

Keep your feet on the ground

and keep reaching for the stars

~Diggs

Song of the Week: "Come Home" by Willie Herath