Keeping Up Foreign Relations

I dig Pappy's idea of seeing what's in everyone's bag. Its a way for us to get to know each other more intimately. Plus, I geek out about such things. So let me deliniate the contents of my meek and meager bag (hint: they're all pretty much Innova anymore)...

Putters:

• DX Birdie (174g): 1st putter and biggest mistake
• DX Aviar (174g): severely understable due to use
• Aviar-X (174g): a.k.a. the gummy putt

Mid-ranges:

• DX Wolf (172g): 1st disc ever purchased... my beloved Wolfie
• DX Roc (177g): dig it!
• Champ Spider (169g): my go-to middie

Drivers:

• Champ Valkyrie (175g): opaque
• Champ TeeBird (174g): opaque
• Champ Roadrunner (168g): way too light! also opaque!
• Star TeeRex (171g): not opaque
• Star Wraith (175g): also not opaque
• Champ Starfire (172g): continuing the the vein of non-opaque discs

There it is, the little collection I use to get by. Sorry I don't have some fancy picture to better illustrate my bag. Perhaps, in lieu of the coming of winter, a way to keep the hits a coming would be to offer disc evaluations. Hmm... just a suggestion.

Push the hand...

~Diggs

p.s. isn't it interesting that winter is quite often literary symbolism for DEATH? Just food for thought.

Frick! Cold!

Cold weather is the bain of my existence.

I believe most of you are familiar with my sentiments on winter weather. And please understand, my logic is undeniable. Yet I live in a place full of people that await the freezing temperatures. I believe this to be the overwhelming power of peer pressure and conditioning. At some point (I'm sure in full sarcasm), some hipster punk claimed that winter was his favorite season and that he loved the cold. In fact, nothing in the world thrilled him like loosing feeling in the extremities and feeling incontinent with his nasal secretions.

Then some poor schmoe, wanting desperately to fit in with said hipster punk, actually convinced himself that he liked winter as well. He invented activities that proved his affection for cold, like polar bear swimming and cross country skiing. He proceeded to enculcate his "kin" with his obsession until they too convinced themselves that enjoying the winter weather was even morally acceptable.

And by some fluke of the evolutionary process, these individuals were not shuned from the collective gene pool. Instead, they moved to Minnesota and raised up a following, as would a cult leader. This is not really the fault of these poor fools for falling for this load of pockey; their wills had been weakened by years of dealing with scooping driveways, astronomical energy bills and the symptoms of SAD's. But fall for it, they did.

And to think, all this because of peer pressure. This is why I am against cliques, public education for middle schoolers, and gerrymandering (cf. the monster Geryon in Dante's Inferno, Canto 17).

I have heard these poor saps respond to my qualms with the oft refered to phrase, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Well I say its pretty friggin' hard to make lemonade when all the water's frozen.

Peace,
Diggs

Humble Pie

I believe I promised an account of my first complete round of the Bethel course, so here is an abbreviated version: if the round were a school, I would be the kid with the dunce cap on.

Alright, so I scheduled a time with Beilby, a resident theology prof and all-around bamf at disc (he just so happens to be the disc golf prof as well). Anyways, this guy has gone twelve down at Acorn while having two bogeys in the round. Basically, I am his humble servant. So we get out there and play the front nine, each of us playing at an acceptable level: he sitting -4 and myself at a +1. I wasn't entirely happy with the +1, but I also wasn't very familiar with the course, anyhow.

But as we begin to set up for the back nine, a friend joins. This friend is a grounds worker at Bethel and just so happens to be the brother of my roommate's girlfriend. But more notably for our discussion today, he is also the guy who placed 3rd in the Pro-Am's at Nationals. Did you get that... NATIONALS! The dude might go pro.

Anyways, we get to the back nine, which I had not played up to this point. And for the first 3 holes, I'm actually keeping pace. My drives are landing at about the same places as theirs and I'm sitting -1 for the side to their -2. But hole 4 was alongside Lake Valentine and the wind was a presence. This compelled me to make a very stupid decision, a shot selection I swore to myself I would never make... I backarmed my light Roadrunner. For those of you who know the relationship I have to my Roadrunner understand that this could only end in tears... my tears. The shot left me with nothing other than punch out and my subsequent approach was just me being pissy and throwing the stupid disc. Yay for double bogeys.

I tried to force the next drive and shanked it, causing a bogey with similar results on the next hole, putting me +4 for that set of three holes. The only redemption came when I was able to settle down and make good shot selections for the last three and came up with a near ace on 18. I ended the round with a disappointing +3 to Beilby's -9.

Interesting side story... after the round, Josh and Beilby just started ripping huge drives. To give some perspective, they started at about the pin on 18 (the island around the Sem parking lot and blasted them towards the hole on 1. Some of their drives actually ended up just shy of the dead tree within the funnel the evergreens make. In a moment of wisdom and humility, I decided not to participate in the event.

I'll give my thoughts on the course at a later time, but know that I am much more keen on the course now knowing what the designer was going for on certain holes.


Charis kai Eirene,
Diggs

50th Post!

I don't quite have time to expound much on my round with Beilby that allowed me to take in the whole Bethel course. Besides, at a milestone post like #50, I should be telling you why you need to keep on reading the blog.

The reason is because I told you to! (sorry for the dangling preposition)

But hopefully I can inspire some hope for the development of our respective games. I'm not going to lie, I had it handed to me yesterday, but it wasn't just a lack of arm strength. The major difference was a knowledge of the game. And Pap, if you want to know as much as possible about the sport, believe me, much more awaits to be learned.

On a lighter note, I would like Mikey to know that in November, both Amos Lee and Ray LaMontagne are going to be playing in the Cities. I think Amos is pretty sold out, but Ray's a possibility.

Not only that, but Amos Lee just came out with his new album, "Supply and Demand" last week, prompting me to buy the first brand new album from a store since high school. And Mike, its pure awesome.


Dance by yourself and think of me when you do,

~Diggs

What's In My Bag.

Well readers, its been a while since I have put some words of wisdom on this site. I just want to say my life has been crazy for the last few weeks which has hindered my game considerably. I havent been as focused as I usually am when it comes to our sport. I've tried to combat my lack of playing by staying connected with the sport as much as possible. Yes, I have been surfing the PDGA website like a vulture at acorn. I just have a desire to know as much about the sport as possible. I want to learn what it's like to be the best.

Anyway...the point of my blog. I wanted to give a preview as to what discs I carry when I am out on the course.

Let's start off with some short stuff.

In my bag I have:

DX Aviar 147 g
DX Birdie 165 g (I never use it. It's just a filler for the bag to stay "filled")

Moving up the range to the mid section I carry

DX Spider 170 g

My drivers flow like this:

DX Puma 174 g (This is the first disc I ever found when I started playing this sport)
DX Beast 174 g
DX Eagle 150 g
Pro Starfire 168 g
Champ Valkyrie 163 g
Champ Roadrunner 175 g

Of all the discs I carry in my bag. My favorite one to throw has to be my Roadrunner. The kinds of shots I tend to use this disc for are forehand shots that have to weave around a dogleg or something. They are unique shots.

Second favorite is my Aviar. I love putting. It's the most challenging part of my game. I'm not the best at it...but I'm working to improve it all the time.

And thats a look at what the Mid Range King carries with him on the course.

Bethel Course

I'm finally getting a real look at the new Bethel course. Monday I played with Pap and company, a perfectly mundane round to be sure, ending even overall. But to be clear, this was only a 9-hole round, strictly on the yellow tees. I doubt I'll ever play the red tees, but hopefully I'll be able to play the blue ones in the near future. I supposed to go with Beilby this week, so we'll see.


But as soon as I pound through the whole course, I'll be able to offer my full opinion of the course. Obviously it won't compare to Acorn, but its a fairly promising guy. Stay tuned.


Your smile is a drug,

~Diggs

On Etymological Misconceptions...

In the past, I have recieved a lot of flack for a pet peeve of mine involving the terminology of the sport. Let us make one thing clear... the name of the sport is "disc golf", not Frisbee golf. Granted, in the past I have almost been as the Spanish Inquisition about appropriate uses. More recently, I have loosened my Pharisaical plight to the more novice of people. Whereas before, I would correct anyone who would say frisbee (or the deplorable frolf) around me, now I only correct those for whom the adjustment is necessary to be taken seriously on the course.

First off, let us consider the argument against, a three-pronged attack from which there is no deniability:

1. Official terminology from within the sport always uses the term "disc", not "frisbee". For example, the leading body for the sport is the Professional Disc Golfing Association (PDGA). Hence, if the sport does not refer to itself in any relation to the word "frisbee", why should anyone.

2. The only reason the term frisbee ever even became associated with the sport is only a result of name-brand association. This exists elsewhere as well. You may hear tissues be called Kleenex or adhessive strips be called Band-Aids. So people also call all discs frisbees instead of the prescribed "disc" because this is the only term they know discs by, notwithstanding the fact that Innova or Discraft are the notable names within the disc golf community. Which brings me to my third point...

3. FRISBEE DOES NOT MAKE DISC GOLF DISCS! In fact, here is a link to Wham-O, the company that brought us the Frisbee: http://www.wham-o.com/default.cfm?page=ViewProducts&Category=2. I believe it would be reductio ad absurdum to demonstrate the futility in calling the sport by a brand name that has no actual association with the sport. Therefore, I will say no more on this.

That said, let me lighten up on those found in violation of using inappropriate terminology. I care no longer whether or not you call the sport frisbee golf. In the past, I considered myself a regulator of such things, but apathy has begun to win me over. So do not feel obligated to check your verbage when in conversation with me about the sport. Only those who declare a sort of devotion to the sport may receive a small nudge, but only for posterity's sake.

Just be aware that within the sport are people who consider frisbee to be the TRUE "f"-word. Such people often demonstrate this in their language.

Thank you Deb for reminding me of my past zealotry.



"Dr. Jekyll is wrestlin' Hide for my pride"

~Diggs

North Valley: A Love/Hate Relationship

First off, I'd like to say welcome to the new readership (if indeed they do actually read this stuff). Apparently I have friends outside of the disc golf community. And it seems as if these friends have discovered this blog, despite my unintentional attempt at exclusivity. To the new readers: if the subject matter does not suit your fancy, I would not be offended if you get terribly bored with this blog right quick and decide never to return. This is the nature of things. But if you do, indeed, have a fascination for all things disc, we wouldn't mind if you stuck around.

That said, let us continue...

In the Southeastern "burbs" of the Cities is a place called Inver Grove Heights. Whilst traversing Inver Grove Heights, you may happen upon a park, right off of I-494. Within this park is a disc golf course that goes by the name of the North Valley Park Disc Golfing Course (I understand this is an unnecessary build up, just bear with me).

One may surmise from the title of this piece that I both love and hate this course. I am still baffled as to how I can live in this paradox. Anyhow, MRKing and UrbWes and myself made the trek to this course last Saturday.

These are the reasons we went:
1) It was my birthday on Tuesday and I'll be buggered if I'm not going to disc the week of my birth. I didn't emerge from the placenta for nuthin'

2) Because it was my birthday (week), I got to choose where we went

3) I have an over-developed sense of accomplishment and I thought my recent level of play meant that I'd be able to perform up to par (and even hopefully below it)

4) I'm an idiot. I like the course. Read these as mutually exclusive, causitive or resultative


Here's the reasons we should not have gone:
1) I'm an idiot (see above)

2) The wind was like somthing out of the "Wizard of Oz"

3) I had been playing well lately, but my Karma just isn't that great

4) If I was going to have a bad day, I might as well have chosen Kaposia

Anyways, I had a rough time of it. MRKing lost a disc (though played well otherwise) and we met a new friend, Brian, a 23 year old computer graphics major from ------ College in downtown. In retrospect, the round really wasn't that horrible. I mean, let's be honest. I'm no Ken Climo.

But I included some pictures, taken from Pap's camera, for ya'll's enjoyment, including the first ever picture of our dear friend, URBWes!


Keep it Loose
Keep it Tight

~Diggs

A Day at Roy Lake

Hey disc dudes~
Here are some pics from my round on Saturday up in the wilderness of Northern South Dakota. I went up to Sisseton for my wife's grandma's 80th birthday party and researched to see if there were any courses close so that I could get a round in and experience a different setting for this beautiful game. The course was right near Roy Lake, and it was a wonderful backdrop for a great round on a beautiful course. Well maintained, well mowed...it was great! We played two rounds, one to get the lay of the land and I kept score the second time through. I had maybe my best round ever, six under and loving every minute of it. Even better, my wife's uncle and father came with me and loved playing the course. It was a great round on a great course and I would love to go back.

peace,
mjbombadil

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