Redemption Round

You hear that?
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That's the sound of a year going by without a blog post.  I take my share of the blame for such failings, but there are reasons for my absence. Good reasons.  For instance, one generally has to be playing disc golf in order for there to be something to post about it.  I haven't been so fortunate.

Let me take you back...

The year is 2013.  My wife and I were living only a couple miles from Jiggs on one side and a course on the other.  Life was good.  But life changes.  Late that summer, I made the move to the east coast to pursue an advanced degree.  Graduate school is difficult and time consuming, but I was excited and hopeful!  See there is an immediate difference between states in the west and states in the east... size.  They pack so many states in here it is amazing I don't accidentally cross state lines when I go for a walk.  My plan was simple.  Use my time here as an opportunity to explore as many courses in as many states as I could possibly fit in.  I reasoned that I could easily add ten states to my total.  The Cold Lampin' Course Map was going to look awesome!  I had three years in which to do it.  I graduate this May.  Know how many new states and courses I've added to my tally?

Three courses and two states.  That's all.  Pretty depressing really.  Part of the problem is available time.  I count pages read in the thousands now.  That means no time for disc.  I have had internships and summers back in the midwest.  That means no time for new courses.  I have experienced the birth of my first child (YAY!).  That means no time for sleep, much less discing.

Another problem is the east coast itself.  There may be a ton of states out here, but their course options are paltry.  Last I checked, Rhode Island has two courses.  Two.  I live in Jersey, and in Jersey traffic, I have little opportunity to travel with any kind of efficiency.  My driving range is limited, so my course selection in this already limited area is even moreso.

But let's be honest.  These are all excuses.  The bottom line is that I had a goal.  My timeline for completing that goal is almost finished, and it looks like I have failed.  But sometimes life gives you a +1 life mushroom.  Circumstances of life have conspired to keep us here for additional time.

That means I have an opportunity.  An opportunity to take advantage of my location and accomplish the goals I had set out to do.  It will not be easy.  My weekends will not necessarily be free time and my work days will be just that.  But maybe.  Just maybe I will be able to fit in some disc.  I hope it to be true.

So keep your eyes on the Cold Lampin' Course Map page.  Hopefully you'll see some numbers change.  Until then, Lampers, stay frosty.


~Diggs

"So I'm back up in the game, running things to keep my swing... Return of the Mack"

Gettin' Jiggy With It

As dawn broke across the Midwestern sky, my sleepy self along with my better half were already working our way southward.  She to fulfill her gainfully employed obligations; me to gain one more footstep toward my vocationally determined destination.  One more footstep to myself one day gaining gainful employ at the end of my preparatory journey.  I would be traveling much further that day.  And while my day would include painfully dreary and boring moments, others could never be considered such.

If I were to choose an hour to wipe the sleep out of my eyes, it would be the very same one in which I pulled into the parking lot of Seymour Smith Park in Omaha, over one hundred miles from where my day began.  Dew still fresh upon the ground, this is not the typical time for those of our ilk to ply our trade.  We are an afternoon-ish folk who would rather rest than experience the earlier parts of the solar cycle.  Yet here I was.  And I was not alone.  Jiggs and his firstborn would be my companions.

I had not practiced the art of the disc at Seymour in nearly a year.  I had first played the course in 2002 with the venerable SCDGA member Harky and the person who introduced us to disc golf who some here will know as the BBD.  It was the second course I had ever played.  It was the closest and most familiar course to me during my time in Omaha.  And I would now be able to play with the person I had introduced to the game at the course where I taught him the trade.

It was wet.  The fresh rain upon the ground recalling the Granite Ridge deluge of the first Cold Lampin' Weekend.  I fondly remembered it as I played with one who joined me in the experience, feet sloshing through wet shoes as we worked our way hurriedly around the course.  Unfortunately, schedules and responsibilities called us away to other things.  Things devoid of discs.  But we would have this experience.  We needed it.  Not because we required it for survival, but because life should be about more than survival.  And not because it was disc golf.  Though our compulsion to play our mutually beloved pastime is real, I would not have gone to the trouble for just another round.  But because in the act of playing with Jiggs, we were sharing all the experiences of the past year we were unable to share due to distance.  Because in that time that year was made manifest.  It is a means of reconnecting; it is empathy; it is sharing life.

I would be lying to you if I said that eighteen holes were played that day.  The clock and the schedule called to us, and divergent ways led on to ways as Frost well knows.  And telling you this with a sigh, I hope to impart that despite the imperfect throws, the incomplete round and the unfortunate weather conditions, the round was perfect.  It was perfect because we were able to play together.  And it is a perfection I wish to share with all you Cold Lampers again.

Ad Fontes!

~Diggs

From East to (mid)West

Alright ya'll, with yet another finals season finished, a new time of the year begins (preferably with more disc golf than the last).  My summer will be markedly different than the previous few.  For instance, my PDGA account has not been renewed this year.  With so much uncertainty and busyness and travel in the last couple months and with so much more of the same in the next couple months, I didn't think I would find the time or resources to make renewal worthwhile.  We hope that next year will be different, but it just didn't make sense this year.  Further, the annual disc golf weekend of the SCDGA will be sans Diggs.  I hope the rest of ya'll are still able to get together for a trip, but for similar reasons, the timing and the finances just didn't make it possible.

What I am looking at, however, is a Midwest cameo for about a month or so before returning to the east coast.  During that month, I hope to connect with anyone who might be around the SCDGA birthplace during the rest of May through a fair amount of June.  I would like to see you gentlemen if possible.  I will be without reliable transportation during that time, and with my competition bag staying put out east, I'll be struggling through a meager disc schedule on backup discs.  Such is life.  But after I get back out here, things should open up a bit, allowing a more regular disc fix.

Here's what we're looking at through August:

• MRK has already mentioned a possible trip down to throw a round or two.  This needs to happen.
• I have a couple business trips during the Midwest trip.  One of these takes me to Jiggs' hometown.  We're going to try to get together and play a round at our old stomping grounds
• Another trip takes me to Kansas City for a couple days.  I have not played a course in Kansas or Missouri.  I'm hoping to make both happen
• I haven't spoken with URBWes in awhile, but if he wants to spike some more burritos, he should visit his sister during early June.  URBWes, you want a burrito
• Harky I know is more limited in coming back (that's what you get for living in the Big Cheesy), but I wish him the best in working out a disc weekend!
• When I get back here, I'll have about three guys to play with around here.  They aren't my Cold Lampin' Crew, but they'll do.  We'll be regulars at the Mercer course, which has gotten much better this season
• I'm also hopeful we are able to make a trip to Tyler State Park and maybe even Warwick up north.  These are two well-regarded courses and the best around here
• Most of you will know to whom I refer when I mention the Halo name Reepicheep.  There's a possibility I'll be able to head up to see him this summer.  If so, I'm not sure I could pass on all the quality disc around Rochester

I leave tomorrow morning for a place that was 40 degrees colder than it was here today.  I hope you are all doing well.  Catch ya'll 'round the Lamp.

~Diggs

Sweet Release!

It is official.  I have now played my first round of 2014!  Only a day after my meteorological tirade, the fates heard my anguish and conspired an opportunity to express myself in plastic.  In shorts no less!  What a difference a day can make.

I, predictably, was about as consistent as a manic depressive.  My drives?  Short and erratic.  My approaches?  Untypically long.  Putts?  Missed 15 footers and made 30+ footers.  My lines were the only consistent part of the round.  They regularly went straight into trees.

It was just nice to get out.  Now let's see how the arm feels tomorrow!

Diggs, out.

Meteorological Lies

I had been reserving further posts until, you know, I had actually played a round this year.  I thought that would be today.  I was wrong.

I had the time.  I had the will.  And according to our weather reports, I should have had the weather.  0% chance they said.  There'd be no rain they said.  Now their pants are on fire.  The paradigmatic prophetic voice of our culture has (yet again) been laid low, embarrassed by reality.  Its as if the divine winds come yet again to prove to all that they are the Troll of Trolls.  Internet-bound pubescent teens haven't a chance to unseat the champ.

Why do we even try anymore?  Would it be equally successful to blindly throw darts at a board?  Why do we even allow absolute percentages at this point?  0%?  I don't think you understand that number.  Shouldn't there always be a chance, even if so minute the number is in decimal points?  Let us all vow never to invest in such absolute numbers.  It only ends in tears.

~Diggs

Squish the Bug

This is the time of the year when I think about how horrible I am at disc golf; it is also the time that I think about getting a bit better.  With the weather hampering any productive rounds, our only solace is to watch others do what we love.  In spending too much time watching disc golf youtube movies, I am usually able to pick up one or two things I notice one more more of the pros doing that I think can be useful to my game.

This year my focus is something I've known I've needed to work on for awhile, the pivot.  Since becoming a RHBH thrower, I have recognized the importance of a good pivot in transferring energy.  And muscle memory being what it is, I naturally reverted to the technique of a baseball swing.  As I was instructed as a wee lad, one should step and "squish the bug," rotating on the ball of my foot.

So that's what I've been doing.  But I've noticed a significant problem with it.  The torque created on my knee is creating structural problems at my tender old age.  This became problematic enough for me to start using a knee brace for the rest of the year following an unfortunate experience at the Des Moines Challenge.  I needed to find a way to take pressure off the knee as I throw.

I've also noticed that none of the pros pivot on the balls of their feet.  As they pivot, they plant perpendicular to where they throw (similar to me), but they will then shift weight to the heel to pivot before shifting their weight forward again for the finish.

So that's what I'm hoping to do this spring.  If I change any one technique this year, it will be the pivot.  I'm not entirely certain this will completely alleviate the knee problems, but it sure can't stay the way it is now.  Let us hope that my knee will stay healthy enough to avoid the brace as much as possible.  It is SUPER annoying!

~Diggs

P.S. Sorry for the late article.  At least it isn't well written!

Geographical Goals for 2014

I realized the other week that I had yet to fully update the course map page.  In doing so, I noticed that the Cold Lampin' Crew has now tallied 79 courses across 15 states.  I was very impressed!  Well done, gents!

But I was not terribly satisfied.  Maybe a case of OCD is creeping in, but 79 courses looks to me like a crooked number.  Let's straighten it out a bit.  Hear and accept!  The goal for the 2014 disc golf season is for our cohort to top 100 courses!  That means that between the lot of us, we will need to add a total of 21 courses, or nearly a 25% increase in our current number.  A daunting task to be sure.  But here's where things get possible...

The King has already spoken to me of a number of new courses he has already put on his docket to play.  Between that and any new courses he may play at tourneys this year, I imagine he could easily add 6-7 himself.  In addition, with my new digs in a relatively unexplored area of the country, I think I could easily find 10 new courses around here to hit up at least once.  Two in particular catch my eye, and others around seem promising.  Let's call that 17 total.  If we can find just four more courses, we're there.

Let's do it, gentlemen!  Join the quest to 100 courses!

Rocky Montage

The weather forecast has indicated to me that the optimism of my previous post is more a statement on our mutually held desires than it is an accurate representation of reality.  Winter yet remains.  It will not always, but it is still in the coming.  We may here note that manifesting desire in the physical plane is not as simple as one might wish.

The professionals have already put in some work.  It is worth perusing if you have the time.  But in lieu of personal accounts of flying polymers by which I may regale you, I think I will instead touch on an issue which I think is too little addressed in this sport of ours.  Physical preparation.

My fat ass has sat around for far too long.  There was a time when I kept it mildly toned with the help of Tony Horton's P90X, but the copy was not mine and moving one thousand miles away from that copy has made it difficult to continue.  I started Insanity the other day, and we will see how that works out.  So far I have only been reminded that while I do have many shapes, I am not IN any of them.  Hopefully I can get to some semblance of fitness without sacrificing knee stability.

The point of all this is not to bring up my own personal workout routine, but to finally ask the question, what is the most effective way one may prepare one's body for disc golf?

Would it be similar to a ball golfer's routine?  Perhaps a baseball player's?  Should I run?  Work core?  Lift free weights?  If so, what lifts will best prepare me?  I am in the northeast now.  Should I take up rowing?

I'm not sure what the answer is, but this has long been a question of mine.  Please let me know your thoughts.

~Diggs

The Itch

Hello ladies and gents,

It certainly has been awhile, but we're back in the saddle again.  For those of you not in the know, I went back to school this fall, and I have to say, it has been kicking the lower end of my digestive tract.  Homework is a bear and takes up too much time.

This semester is a little lighter on the course load.  That or I'm just not being as diligent.  The truth is somewhere in there.  In any event, this is the time of the year when I get the itch...

I greatly dislike playing in typical winter weather.  I've played in snow and ice before.  Pretty sure I did it on sheer principle.  But as I've grown older, I've realized that (in the words of Lewis Black) it isn't a triumph of the human spirit... it's f***in' stupid.  It doesn't seem like disc golf to me.  Instead, I've spent the winter cooped up inside staring at my practice basket.  And as month as turned to month, my strange desire to throw molded plastic at metallic assembles becomes a pervasive part of my reality.  It is a cacophony of silence that begs to be pierced by the chinging of chains.

Let us all prepare now brothers and sisters to scratch that mutual itch we share.  For while in the fall we somberly muttered that winter is coming, in the winter we may now anxiously proclaim that spring is nigh!

~Diggs

Cold Lampin' Weekend # 3: Preview and random thoughts

At the moment of this post hitting the internet we will be about 30 or so hours from beginning the next greatest disc golf adventure.  We are about to embark on our (count it) third annual Cold Lampin' disc golf weekend, never mind that this year it takes place over a Monday-Wednesday. I dare say that this years trip will be our best yet.  The anticipation has been mounting for months as we finalized our plans to head back to the place we dreamed about in high school. A place where the disc golf weekends started....the legendary Disc Golf Mecca. Highbridge Hills.

A place where one day there will be ten 18 hole courses set upon the single property.  Located in the middle of nowhere close to the shores of Lake Michigan in Northern Wisconsin. Five brave souls will embark on a journey that will undoubtedly strengthen our friendship but also test our disc golf abilities.  It is an area that is unforgiving, arrant throws will be punished with extra shots.  But the one golfer who dares challenge the likes of Highbridge Gold will wind up with the greatest prize. A golden trident that Poseidon tossed out of the Great Lake only to never have it return.

Catch-Up Post # 1: ace rACE Numero Dos

It seems to be about this time of year that we take the time to dust off the lamp and fire up the cold...not talking Minnesota cold here but the blog site. I have succumbed to the business of the holiday season as well as the new addition to my family. Levi Michael was born on February 6th, 2013 and thus taken up a lot of my "spare" time when I would normally be writing blog posts.

On October 27th, I made the trip up to the Twin Cities of Mn to meet up with Diggs and play in my 2nd Ace Race of the season. After having one already under my belt and feeling very comfortable with the prototype disc now named the Zombee I felt that I had a decent chance at some chains.  The ace race/tournament was organized by one of the best disc golf outfitters in the Cities. Gotta Go Gotta Throw. This is the 3rd event I have played with them and haven't been disappointed yet. They do a wonderful job at stressing the events are to be FUN and spirited.

For more follow the jump.

Cold Lampin' Weekend Pt 1: Homage to Barry

Much as last year, I hope to recount to all the experience of the disc weekend over the course of the next couple weeks by focusing on one day at a time.  First up is Thursday, arrival day.

Picking up El Cunado nearby the original home for the SCDGA (now Team Cold Lampin'), BroLo and I made our way up to the Cities in decent time, hitting up the hotel around suppertime.  Little were we aware that the excursion's festivities had already begun.  MRK and URBWes stuck their toes in the water earlier in the day by throwing a few holes.  "No worries," thought I.  "We'll play enough as it is."

Prophetic words, indeed.

Unfortunately, our tale of the day's disc activity will be short a member as Harky and the fam were a bit behind the clock.  Turns out kids slow down long car rides.  Who knew?  But determined to get this business underway, the four folks in attendance took advantage of the remaining daylight to hit up Bryant Lake Park.

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

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

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...