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.

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...

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.

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.

Pause for Station Identification

I know that our intent and expansive readership is eagerly awaiting a recap from last Thursday's tournament, but unfortunately, I am out of town sans the internet on a work-related trip.  Thus, instead of rushing out a post, I thought I'd hold off and throw one up later.  Though from three days before the tourney, let me tell you it was a great time!

As it is, I wouldn't mind floating an idea by ya'll.  As it is, we have a few members of the Cold Lampin' family.  We've been playing together for years.  We enjoy each others company, rare though it is these days.  As I figure it, we are a fully legit club.  Would anyone be up for looking into club swag?  I got the idea after throwing together a custom disc for my wedding party.  I know MRK has done the same thing for his.  Why don't we have a custom disc of our own?  And if not a disc, a shirt or a towel or some other business.  You know... to remember the homies.  I don't know about pricing or anything, but if we're interested, I'm sure we can work something out that is affordable for all.  And if not this year, we can look into the future for options.  But the short and skinny of it is that I have always appreciated you folk.  When I think of disc golf, I often think of ya'll.  And I would like to have a memento as our hokey pokey cuz that's what its all a-bout.

~Diggs

Tourney Week: Double the Fun

If you hadn't caught the pattern here, our tournament season is punctuated by events about every month or so.  We started at Doane and continued at Acorn.  The next couple events will be change ups to our regularly scheduled programming.  MRK and yours truly will be joining forces for the Minnesota Majestic's Amateur Doubles tourney this week before the 2nd Annual Cold Lampin' Disc Weekend in July.  Unfortunately, neither MRK or myself will be able to play the actual Majestic individual tournament.  Employment requirements preclude such joys for me.  It would have been nice to get in another A-Tier event on the calendar.  No matter, we roll doubles!

In complete honesty, this is probably the tourney that precipitated the beginning of our tourney careers.  I find a certain comfort and confidence in playing with the King.  I've known this kid's game since he rolled with ultimate discs on the course; I was there when he found his first disc the Panther (no joke, his first disc was a find); and we have continued to develop our games throughout the years.  I have a firm idea of his tendencies, his capacities and his mental game.

More after the jump...

I'm Still Here...

It has been a long time since I have posted and it’s not without an excuse. That is while bunking in with the inlaws they have decided that having internet access is more of a desire as opposed to a necessity in this day in age. I have been without the beloved internet for going on three plus weeks now.  I get buy but my inbox these days is constantly overflowing. Disc golf on the other hand sadly has almost taken a back seat to Amateur Baseball at the moment.( I hit a solo homerun last week by the way. It was my first homerun since 12 year old baseball. So after a 14 year drought…I was due you could say.) With a course being at least a 45 minute drive each way I really have to plan my trips wisely.  The plan was to meet up with URBWes at SMSU and play a round but the blessed Southern Minnesota Wind gods thought snapping trees sounded more fun.

I am looking forward to next week with the Minnesota Majestic coming to the Twin Cities. Diggs and I will be making our debut in the amateur doubles tournament that takes place on the Thursday before the tournament starts.  Playing in a doubles tournament is something that we have wanted to do for quite some time and now are finally making it happen.  The doubles tournament will take place at Hyland Hills Ski and Snowboard Area. It’s a wonderful course nestled in Bloomington, MN. Diggs be ready for lots of elevation changes. It’s a course that can be a bear cat if you let it.

I think this course will fit well to our playing styles with Diggs monster drives and my mid range game we will complement each other well.

Throwin' in Mormon Country

The last week of May, the wife and I had the opportunity to go on vacation with her family.  Destination: Utah.  We flew into SLC before taking off for Moab, a touristy town to the southwest toward the Colorado boarder.  The area is renowned for the outdoor opportunities and beautiful vistas.  You can see the Moab area in movies such as Rio Grande, Forest Gump, and even Galaxy Quest.  We spent the week biking, hiking and rafting.  I even finagled a round of disc out of the trip.

The party consisted of my father-in-law, sister-in-law, and BroLo El Cunado who joined us for the disc weekend last year.  Packing limitations precluded bringing the full bag.  Knowing the folks I'd be playing with I stuck with putters and midrange discs.  To my chagrin, I neglected to pack even a fairway driver.  To double the chagrin, I realized that the fear of losing a vital disc from the arsenal caused me to pack discs that are not familiar in the slightest.  The only one I had thrown more than twice in the past year was an Aviar I have used for putt practice!  At least El Cunado remembered to bring some drivers.

And I was apprehensive about losing a disc.  Having scouted out the course ahead of time, I noticed remarkable differences between Old City DGC and those courses with which I have experience.  I have played courses in the midwest, northeast and the dirty south, and all of them had a remarkable similarity between them.  Grass in the open, deciduous and pine trees in closed places.  The occasional bush or prairie grass patch for good measure to keep you honest.

This course was in the desert.  Not having been in many deserts before, the vegetation was completely foreign to me.  Instead of grass, the ground was primarily sandy with tufts of brush to help conceal your landing zone.  Trees, while sparse, still helped frame your lines.  But the biggest difference was in the bushes.  Most clumps were thorny and impassible.  This exaggerated the punishment for inaccurate shots.

All told, though, the course was very manageable.  With the KC Pro Roc I had just picked up at the Acorn Open, I was nearly par for the course (though I do admit that I lost El Cunado's Glo Nuke... sorry man, I'll make it up to you).  While perhaps not the most challenging of courses, I would be hard-pressed to think of many better landscapes in which to play.  The course was fairly well maintained, and the mountains in the background framed a wonderful afternoon of disc.

And now we can add another state to the list of those traversed by the Cold Lampin' Collective.

~Diggs

Mixing It Up @ the KCWO

This year was the 30th annual Kansas City Wide Open.  Please note that this tournament has been a tradition since before either of us reached the developmental stage of zygote.  That is a long time. 

The beauty of being a fan of the game these days is the commitment of those who support the sport.  Aside from the rare appearance on Conan or ESPN's former show Cold Pizza, the mainstream availability just isn't there.  In spite of this, options for viewing the sport at its elite levels is readily accessible on the internet (thank you discgolfplanet.tv!).  Meaning I get to see what the talented among us can really do.

I was doing exactly that, taking advantage of a replay of the Final 9 round of the Kansas City Wide Open.  The way these broadcasts typically role is a heavy focus on the lead card in the men's open division with occasional splashes of coverage from other notable male players and the women.  As expected, amateurs don't get any love during the broadcast.  The KCWO mixed it up in what I consider a very positive way.

Instead of focusing on the final men, the opened things up to include the women.  By that I don't mean that the coverage bounced between the two groups; I mean that the two lead open groups, men and women, played together.  We had the opportunity to watch Valerie Jenkins throw alongside David Feldberg, to see Paige Pierce putt next to Will Schusterick.

This seems to resonate with the recent focus to expand the scope of the sport to include more women (Women's Global Event, anyone?).  I appreciated this expanded look at our sport and the possibilities that lay within it.

There was also something strangely satisfying to watch Paul Ulibarri carry Catrina Allen's bag or Nate Doss carry Val Jenkins.

I was half hoping she'd turn to Nate after a bad throw and scream, "Damn it, Bobby!"

~Diggs