Tag: dis golf

Results from the Enduro Ice Bowl at DeLaveaga

by frisbeebrain, posted in DeLaveaga, Enduro Bowl, Ice Bowl, Local Tourneys

According to TD Mark ‘DeLaDiscman’ Karleskind’s Facebook wall, 95 people played the 56-hole marathon at DeLa last weekend, with more than $1,000 and mucho canned food donated to local charities. Steve Lonhart (winner of the Open Masters division) was nice enough to take the stats from Mark and dump them into a spreadsheet (table inserted below).

I didn’t play, but here are a few things that jump out at me just looking at the scores:

  • The competition gets tougher every year. This year’s ranks included multiple World Champions, two fists full of 1000-rated and sponsored players, and a tour bag full of players that are close to that 1000 rating and/or have won on tour before.
  • Scheduled to play were also Nikko Locastro and Gregg Barsby, but they didn’t make it after raving at the Harding place the night before.
  • With DeLa in the traditional ‘super short’ Ice Bowl setup, the amoun of bogey strokes players tool was again as telling as their birdie total. Nate Doss won Open with a bogey-free -29. Chris Edwards ended up in fourth place, even though he had 26 birdies to 3rd place finisher Shasta Criss’s 24 (due to his seven bogey strokes compared to Shasta’s two). In the Open Masters division Pat Brown’s 27 birdies equaled winner Lonhart’s total, but he had three bogeys compared to two for Steve, and ended up tied with Jon Baldwin for 2nd.
  • The advanced division is even more telling. The winner, Sean Jack, shot a -9 with 13 birdies and only four bogey strokes. By comparison, TJ Goodwin had 17 birdies but only managed 6th place because of 14 bogey strokes.
  • 65 of the 95 players signed up in Amateur divisions, with AM2 once again the most populous at 31 players. In this type of event, where all divisions earn cash (not just the Open divisions), a guy shooting -6 (the AM2 winner) wins way more money than the guy that shoots -29 (Open winner Nate Doss). And we wonder why so many people play AM2!

Congrats to the winners, and everyone who finished the seven-hour marathon. Here are the scores:

MPO                     Score    Place    Birdies
Doss, Nate             -29          1           29
Avery Jenkins       -26           2           28
Criss, Shasta         -22           3           24
Edwards, Chris     -19           4           26
Moravec, Steve     -17          5           21
Visel, Robert         -16          6           18
Breazeale, Greg    -13           7          19
Borjeson, Jammer  -9            8          16
Esper, Jason            -7           9          14
Powell, Mike          -7           9          12
Peremba, Mike       -6          11         15
Smith, Don             -6          11         19
Demers, Anthony   -1          13         11
Utley, Kevin           -1          13         10
Gonzales, Ruben     4          15           8
Sjostrom, Evan       7           16          8
Tegenkamp, Mark   7          16         10
Volhontseff, Marcus 13       18         90

MPM                    Score    Place    Birdies
Lonhart, Steve        -25          1           27
Brown, Patrick       -24          2           27
Baldwin, Jon          -24          2           26
Rob Ryan               -18          4           24
Fiedler, Geoff         -13         5            19
Scott, Matt               -7          6            16
Werner, Doug          -4           7           10
Hapner, Martin        -1           8            9
Hines, Steve            15           9            6


WPO                 Score    Place    Birdies
Jenkins, Valarie     -3         1             12

FW1  
Weigand, Suzie    35         2               1
Randall, Lorena   34         1               2

MA1                     Score    Place    Birdies
Jack, Sean              -9            1            13
Davis, Kyle            -8            2            13
Gero, Zachary        -7            3            13
Brookman, Sean    -4            4            16
Goodwin, TJ          -3            5            17
Hardcastle, Patrick -2           6            10
Badovick, Scott      -1           7            12
Wirtz, Brad              0           8             7
Nyerges, Jeff           0            8            11
Shustack, Matt        1           10           11
Rios, Miguel           2           11             7
Lewycky, Rocky     6           12            6
Hast, Jesse               6          12           11
Chance, Eli              6          12           10
Butler, Richard        7          15             8
Ramirez, Rey         13         16             6
Wootan, Daniel      13         16             7
Ferdig, Elliot          13         16            6
Jacobs, Matt           18         19            8
Kestler, Joe             25         20           4
Miller, Carl             35         21           1

MA2                         Score    Place    Birdies
Antos, Mike                -6            1           13
Kitrick, Ian                 -6            2           16
Huff, Chris                 -5            3            13
Sadell, Matt                -2            4           12
McNamara, Ryan        6             5           11
Blevins, Tad                6             5             6
Chambers, Colin         6             5            9
Pinheiro, Turner          6             5           10
Mabbatt, Richard        6             5            9
Zavi, Nick                   7           10           11
Vokos, Drew               8           11             5
Hamm, Jason              9           12             9
Holbrook, Jim           10           13             5
Walsh, A. Crosbie     10           13            3
Barkley, Matt            12           15            8
Smith, Timothy         12           15          12
Hussey, Caleb           13           17            2
Shepardson, Noah     14          18            9
Seagrave, Travis        15          19            8
Brady, Mikey             18          20            8
Seven, Evren             19          21            1
Hernlund, John          19          21            5
Eslit, Jared                 19          21            6
de Gier, Peter             20         24             5
Weigand, Philip         22         25             3
Nelson, Koleman       22         25            3
Hamm, Curtis            23         27             2
Crocker, Adam          28         28             3
Mine, Dan                 29         29             4
Hagner, Nate             35         30             1
Hamed, Jason            35         31             1

MM1                      Score    Place    Birdies
Hastings, Derek        -4            1          14
Russo, Jacob             -2            2          15
Sahlit, Tom               -2            2           11
Carroll, Flynn            1            4           11
Joplin, Mike              3             5          14
Hevia, David             5             6           7
Brallier, Dave            5            6            6
Wind, Jef                   6            8            8
Leebrich, Scott         25           9            3
Utley, Jason              40          10           0

Felton Freeze Results

by frisbeebrain, posted in Black Mouse, disc golf, Enduro Bowl, Ice Bowl, Local Tourneys

We all know that the most important results of all the Ice Bowl charity events held worldwide this time of year are the cash raised and food collected to help feed the hungry, but for those that care to see the results of the Felton Freeze posted (not me, certainly!), here they are. Another big thanks to TJ Goodwin for making it happen!

Open
Jon Baldwin         -12
Chris Edwards       -8
Shasta Criss           -8
Sam Aldrich          -7
Levi                       -6
Matt Scott              -5
Elliot Ferdig           -4
Merle Witvoet        -3
Eric Nelson            -1
Don Smith              -1
Jason Esper              E
Patrick Hardcastle    2
Daviar                      3
Stan Pratt III            4
Jack Trageser         6
Brian Turner            6
Kevin Kelley          12
Angel Acebal          12
Ruben Gonzales      13

Advanced
TJ Goodwin        -8
Miguel Rios        -5
Tim Smith           -5
Chris Groh          -3
Kyle Davis          -3
Sean Jack            -3
Jack Pfefferle      -2
Mike Antos         -1
Heath Konkel       E
Kyle Milburn        1
Kyle Schloss         2
Alex Beete            4
John Kostoff         4
Rory Hodgson       5
Matt Sadell            6
Nic Kons                7
Robbie Visel           7
Brendan Sage         8
Cody Marchessault 9
Aaron Kvek           11
Rich Puente           11
Gabe Ketterman    11
Daniel Crim          12
Daniel Wootan      12
Rob Brox              12
Peter DeGier         14
Jason Hamed        14
Peter McBride      15
Joseph Kestler      16
Nick Zavitsanos   16

AM 2
Jim Holbrook                        E
Rick Mabbatt                        1
Steven Wood                         2
Thomas Wheeler                   3
Mikey Crane                         5
Iam Kitrick                            6
Derek Kotval                         8
Colin Chambers                    8
Tom Guzzetta                        9
Solomon (SOLI) Newtree    10
Frank (SKIP) Cayle IV        11
Philip Weigand                    11
Evan Borthwick                   12
Ryan Santiago                      12
Brandon Irwin                      12
John Hernlund                      14
Erik Altman                         14
Nate Hagner                         16
Kimo Elliott                         16
Shayne Erickson                  16
Scott Leerzick                      17
Alex Loveless                      17
Paul Redwood                     17
Billiam Posey                      20
Chris Illes                            22
Del Pikles                            24
Gary Jaccod                         28
Travis Schot                      DNF
Matt Moorhead                 DNF

Women’s Open
Kristine King            E
Jenna Johnson          10
Johanna Atkinson    13
Jenny Umstead         20

Women’s AM
Tami Tracey              18
Suzie Weigand           22
Terri Duncan              25
Christine Hernlund    26
Elena Novik               27

DeLa with Nikko

by frisbeebrain, posted in 2011 Pro Worlds, Nikko Locastro, Touring Pro, Touring Pros

Nikko Locastro is in town to defend his title at the Otter Open in Monterey, and decided to get here a week early to practice the courses that’ll be played at the 2011 Pro Worlds. I played some holes at DeLaveaga with him on Friday to get some action footage while interviewing him for the upcoming TV show Discmasters.

I’ve heard that Nikko is a workhorse before, and Friday I got to see it for myself. On each hole he threw as many drives as the flow of play would allow, along with multiple putts. That pattern culminated with at the Top of the World, where he emptied his bag trying to ace the basket in its mega-short position. Ironically, his very last shot is the one that hit the cage- and I think we did catch it on film.

He seems to me to be a decent enough guy, and more mature and focused than I was at his age. We’re supposed to play a full round at Black Mouse and talk some more next week, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a funky tight little wooded course with all kinds of blind shots that you gotta play to learn the lines. Maybe, just maybe . . .  either way, I look forward to learning more about what makes this rising star in the disc golf world tick.

The Vibram Disc Golf Review ‘Preview’

by frisbeebrain, posted in disc reviews, Vibram

When I began playing disc golf more than 20 years ago, all discs were basically the same in terms of material. They were all plastic, and they were pretty much all the type of plastic we now refer to as DX (Innova’s term) or Pro-D (Discraft’s). Yet despite the fact that the market for golf discs is now inundated with a continual flood of new models – most available in at least three grades of plastic – one thing has remained constant: They’ve always been made from plastic. Until now.

A couple years ago, yet another company decided to vie for a share of the steadily-growing golf disc market, and it’s decision is significant for two reasons. First, the company is Vibram, whose founder is credited with inventing the first rubber soles for shoes. Their numerous products are manufactured in Brazil, China, Italy and here in the U.S. More than 1,000 footwear makers use Vibram’s rubber soles in their products. You’ve most likely seen their ubiquitous little octagonal yellow logo on the bottom of hiking and work boots.

To paraphrase the character Ron Burgundy from the movie ‘Anchorman,’ they’re kind of a big deal. In fact, in the comparatively tiny cottage industry that is the disc golf world, they’re a very big deal. This is the first time a large multinational corporate name has entered the disc golf marketplace in a significant way. The implications of that may prove to be far-reaching, but for now it’s enough to understand that disc golf has reached a point that it has attracted the attention of a corporation the size of Vibram. And so far, Vibram seems to have a strategy of growing the market for its disc golf products by growing the popularity of the sport in general. In a short period of time, it has become a major sponsor of two annual events, and a documentary film that will debut at the Pro Disc Golf World Championships in Santa Cruz, CA this Summer. Check out details of each if you’re interested:

The fact that Vibram is all about rubber is the second part of the significance of their entry into the disc golf market, and the reason I wanted to write this review (yeah, I’m getting to the actual disc review). Although there are more golf disc brands out there than ever, Discraft and Innova still have an iron-fisted grip on the market. Ironically, if Vibram is successful it will be largely because of grip. You see, their discs are made of rubber (or as they put it, a rubber compound) and they claim that rubber makes for a better grip, and a more durable disc with flight characteristics that change much less than all plastic discs over the life of the disc. If they are right, and if those two factors end up affecting the purchase decisions of the average disc golfer, we may see a future where the answer to the question ‘What kind of plastic are you throwing” is “none- I’m throwing rubber.” But the proof is in the putting (and the drive, and the upshot), so let’s get to the review.

Vibram sent me one sample each of the four models they currently market: The VP, the Ridge, the Summit, (all putters) and the Ascent, a fairway driver. Before I get into specifics on each disc, a few general notes:

  • All their putters are available in three ‘firmnesses’ of their X-Link rubber compound– soft, regular, and firm. I appreciate the straightforwardness of these labels, as opposed to a certain coffee franchise that insists on calling a large a ‘Venti’. But I digress. The soft is extremely soft. Other adjectives come to mind, like floppy, bendy, and even sticky. But curiously this pliability doesn’t affect the stability. The regular firmness is much more like a regular plastic disc to the touch, but still noticeably grippier, and their Firm blend is still as grippy as, or more so than, an old-school, low grade plastic golf disc.
  • I didn’t get to test the same disc model in different grades of rubber, so I can’t comment on how the flight characteristics vary in the same model when the firmness is different. But as you’ll read in my review of the VP, I doubt it varies much.
  • After a month of play on several Santa Cruz, CA area courses (plenty of rough terrain, including rocks, trees, roots and dirt), all four discs have held up very well. None of my sample putters suffered any nicks or cuts to the rim, and the sharper-edged Ascent driver only has a minor nick on the inside rim. To me that’s especially notable since with plastic, the softer or grippier the disc the more likely it’ll show wear and tear.
  • According to Steve Dodge of Vibram Disc Golf, they plan to release a couple mid-range discs in 2011, which I am particularly eager to test. To me superior grip is especially important when the shot requires pinpoint accuracy.
  • Rather than embrace the existing flight ratings charts shared by other disc manufacturers and retailers, Vibram has created its own system. Give them credit for conceiving an entirely new method for measuring disc flight characteristics, one that is arguably more scientific and logical. But their method for measuring Fade and Turn in a disc is based on a listed optimal speed, defined by how fast the disc must be traveling to fly flat in terms of MPH (miles-per hour). Since most of us don’t have radar guns handy this isn’t very practical, but we can do the next best thing which is to figure out the relative speed of a disc, that is, how discs compare to other discs we’re more familiar with. All in all, I found their discs to be consistent in practice with the ratings they give them, which is the important thing. And as Dodge explained to me,“the system is forward looking because once we have a complete line-up of discs, a player will be able to say, ‘this driver works for me, so this mid should work for me’. I think this is better than the current systems which don’t help a player find a suitable next disc.”

 Coming soon, (after I’ve had a chance to play with the Vibram discs for awhile and test Vibram’s claim of superior durability) the individual disc reviews of the Vibram VP, Ridge, Summit, and Ascent!

Ruminations on speed golf

by frisbeebrain, posted in disc golf instruction, instruction

Every now and then I substitute my thrice-weekly 3-5 mile run with a bit of speed golf. At Black Mouse DGC, a short but very mountainous track, it’s a great workout. My habit there, if time allows, is to play the course twice and aim for a time of less than an hour. Today I finished the first round in 26:26, and the the entire 36 holes in 53:05. If my math is correct, that means that the second 18 holes took 13 seconds longer than the first 18. I thought that was kinda cool, that the time it took to finish each round of 18 was so similar.

Reflecting on this bit of arcane information got me to thinking, though, about the relationship in speed golf between speed of play and score. Although it seems like a person could go faster if they were not concerned with score, once that person decides to play ‘speed golf’ for exercise I don’t believe that holds true. After all, the shortest distance between two points (say, tee to basket) is a straight line, and if you rush so much that your drive goes wildly errant and careens far off a fairway and down a hill, any time saved by rushing is canceled out by the extra hike to get to the errant disc and extra effort to hole out from there. Here is some more data from my morning round:

  • The first 18, I shot a -2, and the second 18 my score was -4
  • Although Black Mouse includes numerous blind holes and is heavily forested with redwood trees, ferns, and thick ground cover, the first round I was able to locate all my drives and upshots immediately. The second round, I had to search briefly a couple of times.
  • I didn’t feel like a lagged at all the second round due to fatigue

My guess is that if I had had as smooth a round the second 18 as the first, in terms of locating my drives, I would have finished it in less time rather than 13 seconds more. Maybe that just means that my hypothesis holds true in courses like we have here in Santa Cruz County, as opposed to flat, open, un-wooded areas.

According to Wikipedia’s entry on speed golf, speed golf competitions in ball golf use a formula where stroke play score is added to the time required to finish the round. Would the same formula be the most sensible with a disc golf version? Or would time elapsed alone be enough, with the idea that a round where the player does not shoot a good score is never going to yield a top time? I have an idea that the Running Man will have an opinion if he reads this.

Either way, it makes for a great workout and one of the best ways I know of to have fun while doing it.

Being Jack Tupp on Disc Golf . . . it’s a way of life

by frisbeebrain, posted in Discmasters, Jack Tupp

For some time now, the majority of the posts on this blog have leaned towards instructions, course reviews, and equipment reviews, and away from the author’s personal experiences in the sport. This has plenty to do with my no longer competing at the higher levels, but I’ve got a couple tidbits to share that have nothing to do with my plummeted player rating and disappearance from the sanctioned tournament scene.

Disc Golf Class at Cabrillo College
The Cabrillo College Extension Program’s Spring catalog, which is mailed to nearly 100,000 households, features disc golf on the cover. They’re promoting my short class, called Disc Golf for Fitness, Fresh Air and Fun! I’m marketing it to and tailoring it for people of all ages that are interested in learning more about, and playing, disc golf. They tell me being on the cover might force us to add a second session, which would be awesome!

Monthly Disc Golf Show on Community TV in Santa Cruz plus YouTube
It probably won’t begin airing for a couple months, but I’m excited to be working on a monthly disc golf show that should be different than anything I’ve seen out there thus far. World champs Nate Doss, Valarie Jenkins and Avery Jenkins (all living in Santa Cruz) will be featured in most if not all episodes, and we’ll try to mix in equal amounts of footage of disc golf action, course reviews, tutorials, and discussion of various topics surrounding our growing sport. Hopefully we’ll be able to flavor it with some weirdness and humor to keep it interesting.

Avery Jenkins putts on Hole 10 at Pinto Lake Championship DGC while cameraman and producer Ben Baker films

My partner in this ambitious endeavor is Ben Baker, a Community TV producer and creator of the recent coverage of the Faultline Classic tourney in Santa Cruz. More information, including broadcast times locally on CTV and links to view the show online will be published here in the (hopefully) near future.

Baskets seem to find me
Took the family to Tahoe recently, and one of our goals was to find a great place for sledding. We were pointed in the direction of a hill at North Tahoe Regional Park. True to the suggestion we received, the hill was great for our kids for sledding. But I also received a nice surprise when I spotted first one snow-covered basket,

then another,

and finally one right near the hut where we paid to go sledding (don’t know how I missed that one when we first got there- must be slipping).

I inquired with the guy in the hut, and sure enough he had one disc (a beat-up DX Stingray, which I assured him was valuable as a roller and finesse turnover disc) for me to borrow. I tried a few putts with ski gloves, and a few with frozen digits. Not sure how those in other parts of the country manage to play their Ice Bowls. No whimps, no whiners indeed! Anyway, I checked it out on line, and apparently the course at the North Tahoe Regional Parkis quite challenging and fun. I’m on a mission to get back there in a warmer month and play all 18.

Clifford the Big-Armed Dog, and another oddball first for me

by frisbeebrain, posted in disc golf, disc golf instruction, instruction

Nearly all of us have played disc golf with people who can seemingly throw a disc with half our effort and make it go twice as far. Such natural power is to be envied, but it occurred to me today that in some ways these freaks of nature deserve our sympathy as well.

Watching Clifford the Big Red Dog the other day with my kids, I thought of how large active dogs need more room to get the exercise they need. If you have a 90-pound Labrador Retriever you should be taking that dogs for runs in open space every day. A Chihuahua, on the other hand, can get all the exercise it needs running around the back yard or even the living room.

It’s kind of like that with disc golfers that can throw 450 feet or more. If they live in an area with courses that have mostly short par 3 holes, imagine how bummed they must be! I try to be a glass-half-full kind of guy, and as my arm (which was never a big gun even in my prime) loses a little each year, I find that more and more holes present new, distance-related challenges. Usually that comes off as a bummer, but disc golf is no fun without the challenge, and this Chihuahua is finding more challenge every day. Yipee, I think.

Black Mouse Disc Golf Course has been my place for exciting happenings this year. There was an ace several months back, and more recently possibly my most surprising birdie ever. And now today, it happened again. I was playing hole nine, which for those of you who don’t know is a very short, sharp dogleg right that is flat until the dogleg then drops sharply downhill. I’m a lefty, so I throw a hyzer that is supposed to cut just around the Redwoods that define the dogleg before dropping down to the right. Today I hit those Redwoods and my disc stayed behind them, forcing me to try to save par with a sidearmed turnover shot that hopefully would slide under a tree guarding the basket. Instead, the shot hit one of the tree’s thin branches solidly, shot across the fairway (left-to-right), then ricocheted AGAIN (right-to-left this time) off a huge overturned root system of an Oak tree to the right of the basket and INTO THE CHAINS. It was a Surge, by the way.

Another sidearm shot (which I throw as little as possible due to my torn rotator cuff) that was meant to just get close enough to save par goes in for a birdie. When my putt on the next hole for birdie hit dead center but slid out, I just laughed and assumed that all my luck for the rest of the round was used up.

By the way, did I mention it was a running round- or two rounds? 36 holes, up and down rain soaked, muddy slopes, in 54 minutes and six seconds. Yeah, it’s a short course, but still . . . . not bad for an old Chihuahua!

Odd targets and unusual setting still made for big fun!

by frisbeebrain, posted in disc golf, frisbee golf, Local Tourneys

It’s easy to think that playing object golf is like washing clothes by beating them on a rock, with so many basket courses available to us these days. But it’s a reminder of how flexible and adaptable our sport is. Essentially, if you have a flying disc, anything can be a target, and almost any setting can be co-opted for use as a course. That being said, I’m glad modern business parks are built with !@#$%^&* sturdy windows and most office workers take the weekends off. Otherwise the (unofficial & unsanctioned) 7th Annual Palm/HP Tournament in Silicon Valley would have been much less feasible. Although they don’t really convey how fun it was to take part in this departure from the ‘modern’ game, click here to see pictures from the event.

Street is OB, target is in the background, with yellow tape

With almost no other people and cars there to complicate things, it was much more fun navigating through parking lots, past buildings, and around shrubs and trees than it woulda been on the wide-open vacant lot across the street!

As I understand it, the event was created to encourage employees of Palm (as in Palm Pilot) to try out disc golf. Therefore, the format is as unique as the rest of the tournament. First of all, it consists of an 18-hole par-2 putting course round, followed by 18 holes of object golf. Grass is outnumbered by concrete and asphalt by about a 1000 to 1 ratio. Second, even though I ended up winning $25.13 by placing first overall, it didn’t cost anything to enter. Gotta like that! And third, due to a payout structure with an objective of everyone walking away a winner (each hole paid something), first place isn’t usually even the biggest money winner! Looking at the spreadsheet used to determine payout made my head spin! Only in Silicon Valley, right?

The TD uses advanced algorithms to compute scores and final payout

Here is an incomplete list of objects used in this most unusual example of object disc golf:

  • Palm tree- the most common of all objects used on object courses
  • Light pole- second-most common
  • Manhole cover- discs had to come to rest on the cover, completely surrounded by metal
  • Bike rack- disc had to pass completely underneath the rack, and I incurred my only bogey on the regular course when my disc got stuck trying to pass underneath the lowest point
  • Sewer grate- disc had to end up completely in the grate, with the obvious hazard of actually sliding into the sewer! One year a kid had to be lowered by his feet to retrieve a disc!
  • Metal cage around utility meters
  • Fire hydrant- The first course I ever played, at UC Santa Cruz, had a hydrant for a target
  • Parking lot planter- disc had to come to rest inside
  • Median surrounding giant corporate park sign- same deal as the planter
  • Square trash cans
  • Metal benches- By far the most challenging as they were quite slippery and the disc had to come to rest on the bench as opposed to just hitting it. Someone actually completed the hole on a bench hole with his first shot on the putting course. Quite unbelieveable
  • All cars and non-playing humans were considered OB and carried a one-stroke penalty if struck. We had to place a ‘spotter’ in front of a couple cars that were obviously in flight paths, with the spotter using his judgment in decided whether to swat down a threatening throw.

There was one ace on the regular course: Fittingly, since it was the Palm Tournament, someone aced the palm tree hole. This event was proof that people intent on having fun with a golf disc can do so just about anywhere.

###