For the love of the sport. A place for DG enthusiasts to share their thoughts.

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Missouri Winter Wonderland

Posted by mleefry


Hey Dogleggers, long time no talk!  I promise I haven’t forgotten about you guys—I actually daydream about blogging quite often.  For those who don’t know, I’m currently in my junior year of college, so let’s just say that I have to write a lot of stuff that’s not about disc golf during the school year and my brain can only produce so many words in a week.

Anyway, I’ve been DYING to tell you guys a little bit about the crazy winter we’ve been having here in Missouri.  It’s been a winter wonderland.  Not “wonderland” like the deep snow and beautiful trees on a Christmas card—we’re not quite northern enough for that.  I mean WONDERland, like “I wonder if it’s going to be 60 and sunny, or if it’s going to be so cold the news anchors are telling me not to let my dog outside for more than 10 minutes.”  So, let’s take a look at Missouri’s last few weekends.

Four weeks ago today I played in the 28th Annual Ice Bowl in Columbia, Mo.  Columbia is not only my hometown, but the home of the original Ice Bowl in 1987.  As we all know, the official Ice Bowl slogan is “No Wimps, No Whiners,” and for the 28th Annual there was nothing to complain about.  The weather was beautiful, in the 40s and no rain or snow.  I was very happy to be able to play in a division of 5 women, two of us celebrating one year since our first tournament!  On top of that, I shot my personal record on the Oakland Top course with a 2 stroke improvement.  It was a wonderful day!

Five ladies competed in the women's division at the 28th Annual Ice Bowl in Columbia, Mo.

Five ladies competed in the women’s division at the 28th Annual Ice Bowl in Columbia, Mo.

Ice Bowl Shirt

Winners of each division at the 28th Annual Ice Bowl in Columbia, Mo.

Winners of each division at the 28th Annual Ice Bowl in Columbia, Mo.

After such a great experience at the Columbia Ice Bowl, I was really pumped to play the following weekend in Jefferson City, Mo.  However, the night before the tournament there was an ice storm and it wasn’t safe to make the 30 minute drive.  Instead, I spent the day playing a 4-hole NOMAD course at my house and gathering with my neighbors to scrape ice off of my street.  Not so wonderful.

NOMAD target set up in my backyard while it was too icy to drive to a course safely.

NOMAD target set up in my backyard while it was too icy to drive to a course safely.

My street covered in ice, and everyone trying to clear it off.

My street covered in ice, and everyone trying to clear it off.

 

I didn’t get any golf in the following weekend.  There was more snow and I turned 21, so I think you can infer that I was a little busy doing other things…

Final Birthday

Last weekend I finally made my way down to Jefferson City to play league at their new course.  They still don’t have permanent baskets or tee pads installed, so we played the front nine twice with temp baskets.  Just by looking at the front nine and hearing rumors about the back nine, this course is going to be a BEAST.  There are a few water hazards, lots of elevation change, and a mix of tight tunnels and long fairway shots that have to be strategically placed.  (It’ll definitely be worthy of a course guide when it’s finished.)

Although it only snowed a little while I was there, there was plenty of “leftover” snow on the ground, cause it hadn’t been above freezing in at least a week.  The park’s namesake Binder Lake was frozen enough to walk on (although I never recommend walking on ice!), which is pretty rare.

During this round my winter weakness was particularly evident.  I’m usually pretty good at not letting cold affect my mental game, keeping my throwing hand warm, and not letting my feet get wet.  But the worst thing about winter disc golf is wearing so many layers that it limits my range of motion.  For the most part it doesn’t impact my driving, but trying to follow through on a putt when I feel like the Michelin Man is just not going to happen.

Geese on the shore of Binder Lake in Jefferson City, Mo., near their newest course.

Geese on the shore of Binder Lake in Jefferson City, Mo., near their newest course.

One of my drives at the new course in Binder Lake Park

One of my drives at the new course in Binder Lake Park

Jefferson City Disc Golf Club's President Stan Balke putting from a tree on the new course

Jefferson City Disc Golf Club’s President Stan Balke putting from a tree on the new course

Just six days later, I played my first short-sleeved round of the year at Carrollton Park in St. Louis.  It was a beautiful, sunny day reaching a high of nearly 60 degrees.  Can you say complete weather 180!?  Then, fast forward to today, when the high is expected to be only 38 degrees; my disc golf feat for the day will only consist of writing this post and wishing I were at the Gentlemen’s Club Challenge, where it is currently 65 and sunny!

Precarious basket at Carrollton Park in Bridgeton, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.

Precarious basket at Carrollton Park in Bridgeton, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.


Mancation 2012: Denver Disc Golf (Part I)

Posted by randomtiz


Whew, what a trip!

I’ll start with that. Months in the planning and almost as long to finally get a review up on the blog. This past Labor Day, several of the Dogleg crew flew out to Denver for a guy’s weekend full of local brew tours, good eats,  and of course, disc golf.

There is soo much to cover from our trip that it’d take me hours to write up. So I’m breaking this trip review down into two parts to spare you all the details. I’ll sum it up the best I can and try to focus on mostly the disc golf part of it. At the end I will also provide a link to our Dogleg Flickr account so you can see most all of the pics we took from our trip (Special thanks to Jason for submitting his pics and for being the only other one to take a camera).

We had been talking this trip up forever it seemed, but just couldn’t get it all worked out on finding that perfect weekend to go that all of us could make. It’s always nice to get away from your local routine courses, terrain and weather and branch out to something new. Something far away that has very different terrain and weather conditions. Here at Dogleg, all of us share a strong passion for disc golf and (the majority of us) good beer. Where else has an excellent selection of both? Denver, Colorado. Home to several big beer names as well as loads of microbreweries. Not to mention all the disc golf courses!

With so many courses to choose from and so little time, I had to turn to our Twitter friends for Colorado disc golf recommendations. North Colorado Disc Golf (@NoCoDG) shot us back some of their favs which included Johnny Roberts, Badlands and Birds Nest. They also told us we should really go higher up in the mountains and play Beaver Ranch. One minor problem, we lacked a car. The closest course to our downtown hotel was roughly 6 mi away. Too far to walk and about a 45 min bus ride…exactly. We walked most places or either took the bus. Either one, it took forever to get longer distances.

Johnny Roberts DGC (Arvada, CO):
Saturday, we decided upon Johnny Roberts DGC located in Arvada to be our first course of the trip. We checked into renting a car for the day, but everywhere around was rented out. So we took to the ol’ trusty local metro transportation of the bus route. After waiting nearly 20 min for the bus to come to our stop, we were now on a 6 mi journey to Arvada. 45 minutes later, we were to our stop in Arvada.. Don’t get me started on local transportation. 

Anyway, after walking a few blocks we come up on the park. Doesn’t look like the best part of town, but heard that we just had to play this course for the history of Colorado disc golf. A couple of people calling it the “granddaddy” of  Colorado’s courses. You could tell. The park was crowded and the signage wasn’t real clear of where the start of the course was from walking up to it. Hole #1 you throw across an open field, which seemed a bit dangerous for other people and young ones playing around and running through it. There were a few holes where you threw across the sidewalk, which also seemed a bit dangerous to pedestrians and bicyclists.  One of my favorites parts of the course early on was the creek that runs through the park. This intertwining–very wide, yet very shallow–creek became a great obstacle through half of the course’s fairways. Several holes had the pin placement fairly close to the edge of the water. I thought this was pretty clever and as it required much more accuracy in laying up on your throws.

Hole #2 Basket next to Ralston Creek

In general, this was a very tight course. It had several very narrow fairways off the tee pad with lots of trees and brush lining the sides. On the holes that had open fairways, you had to deal with pedestrians and young bicyclists crossing by as you were about to launch. I could see where people could get hit often. They had nice, concrete tee pads and decent signs on each hole. The sign’s graphics were a bit weathered, but were designed very well. Each tee pad sign had an actual photo of the fairway, prominent hole number, distance to each pin location, and an overhead graphic of the fairway. Awesome! But, it was a little difficult–once you got to the basket–to figure out where the next hole began.
[Review continued after the jump.]

Joe on Hole #3 Tee Pad

Tim on Hole #6 Tee Pad

Hole #6 was a longer hole and liked to suck discs into the creek off to it’s left. Not only did they roll into the creek, it left an almost impossible clear shot out through the thick brush. Here’s Joe tossing up towards #6’s basket.

Joe for Par on #6

Thanks to the tip from a few fellow locals, that there is no longer a Hole #8. Apparently Hole #8 line of throw used to cross back over Hole #7..all out disc war, right? Throwing towards one another and high speeds of spinning plastic.  Hole #7 was neat too as you threw over the bridge down the creek line to a basket way off to the left alongside the sidewalk. Hole #9 was an Ace-able hole for sure. You tee off a slightly elevated pad and toss ~150 ft down to a lower pin placement on the edge of the creek. This is when the sandstorm hit. I mean hit hard! This is some of the hardest wind I have ever played in. The sky got dark and the wind blew furiously. Much of the course alongside the creek is dirt–which was where we were. I have never seen wind pick up dirt and blow it like that. It was ridiculous and you could hardly keep your eyes open but for a few seconds. Dirt, debris and leaves were flying everywhere. The wind storm lasted a good 15 or 20 min as we scurried as fast as we could through the next several holes. The wind in general made it very difficult to get in a good throw. Lots of our throws were picked up by wind changes and taken way off course. Bogeys and Doubles to follow.

Jason looking for his disc in a tree on #18.

The wind stopped, but the holes kept getting harder. More lines along the creek, more mandos, and tighter tee shots. Back 9 I fell apart and finished +7. All in all, I’d like to give this course at least another shot. Too crowded for me, but loved the challenging and technical game that it brings out of one. Not much for the scenery, I was expecting to be surrounded by more firs, pines and aspens..and hilly, mountainous terrain. I wasn’t going to stop at this course to my “Colorado Course”. I am, however, glad we got to play this one–especially to appreciate the history of Colorado Disc Golf.

Course Rating: 7/10

*CLICK HERE FOR PART II – CONIFER PARK @ BEAVER RANCH!

-jt


Gwinnett County Open 2012

Posted by randomtiz


Any of you guys up for playing the Gwinnett County Open this year? It will take place this coming November 10th and 11th.

I know Stephen had mentioned to me the other day that he and Jeremiah might come up for it. I’m down if they’re in town. Let me know who else. I’d like for several of us to all sign up together and get going on that.

This year it is a 2 day, 4 round, B-Tier PDGA Sanctioned Tournament. Players will play 2 rounds on Saturday at Lenora or Alexander and 2 rounds on Sunday at the other park.

I couldn’t find a whole lot of info for it. But as it comes available, please check back here on our blog, http://www.gwinnettcountyopen.com/ or follow them on Twitter @GCODiscGolf.

  • All Juniors divisions:                      $20
  • Recreational Men/Women:             $35
  • Intermediate Men/Women:            $50
  • Advanced Men/Women/Masters:     $50
  • Pro Men/Women/Masters:              $60

-jt


Discraft Ace Race

Posted by alphagenerator


Discraft Ace Race at the North Jasper Course on Aug 11, 2012 with the players meeting starting at 9 AM and tee time @ 9:30 AMI am taking the $25 payment via cash or PaypalPaypal: Send payment to Jeremiahbret@gmail.com (please use Personal > Gift option) Include your name, email, and working telephone number.What: Discraft Ace Race (http://discgolfacerace.com/)
2 Rounds of 18 holes, one shot per hole… only aces count!
No prior experience of disc golf required, all experience levels welcomed (Instruction for new players will be available) First Place will receive a stack of discs!

For couples, BFFs, or family who will be participating, we have a doubles deal. For $35, two people can split the player pack with each person getting one disc to participate in the Ace Race.

Players all throw the same model disc: a brand new, never-seen-before Discraft prototype disc that is introduced each year especially for Ace Race. All 2011 participants received a player’s pack that included 2 Z line prototype Drivers, sunglasses, Mini, sticker and a metal water bottle….a $50 package for only $25!

Please contact me with any questions
Jeremiah Blackmon
205-300-3189


Rocket City Blast!

Posted by alphagenerator


Below may be a great chance for all of us to get together and play this month.   Two days 4 courses over Memorial Day weekend in Huntsville, AL…. Tim this may be a good reason for you to come into town to “visit” the in laws.  =)

The Arsenal will be part of the series!  Let me know if you plan on making the trip.

Jeremiah

The Rocket City Blast, hosted by the Rocket City Chain Gang, will be held on May 26th & 27th covering four courses. For your disc golf pleasure, the field will play Monte Sano, Brahan Springs, Mastin Lake, and Redstone Arsenal.

This event will be PDGA sanctioned as C-Tier for Pros & B-Tier for AMs with a minimum of 120% paid out to AMs.

Sponsorships will be in more detail later but, as a preliminary, hole sponsorship will be offered at each course for $25 each, which will include a personalized sign and a select disc. The sponsorship can be designated to your field of choice (pro, adv, int, ect). On a side note, if a title sponsor wishes to donate the required amount of money, then the sanctioning can bump to the next tier (ie if someone sponsors $500 to Pro, then it will become a B-tier).

I’ll have more information soon. Questions/Comments are welcomed.


North Jasper Round?

Posted by randomtiz


Hey fellas what’s up. My gf and I will be in town this weekend. Short trip but wanted to see if anyone was up for a quick Saturday morning round at North Jasper Park? Maybe around 11ish? Let me know.

-tiz


In Search of Roswell

Posted by randomtiz


East Roswell, to be exact. Sunday, here, looks to be the nicest weather we’ve had in a few weeks. So yes we will be taking advantage of that. A few of us are looking to take on Sequoyah first, then heading to East Roswell (E.Ros as I like to call it) to hit up their heavily wooded course.

Anyone in the area that would like to join us for a Sunday DG adventure, let us know. We’d love to meet up. Hoping you other guys are able to get out this weekend for a round or two. Looking forward to hearing some stories. Check back later this weekend for our trip recap.

-jt


NYE at Flyboy!

Posted by randomtiz


Flyboy Aviation – Main Hangar

All I can say is, wow. What an awesome Saturday morning to be out playing disc golf. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. Clear skies, low 60s and very little wind if any. This trip we’ve talked up for months and the day had finally arrived. The majority of the Dogleg Team drove in from Alabama and met two of us from Georgia yesterday morning at Flyboy Aviation in Whitesburg, GA.

Flyboy Aviation is a private disc golf mecca located on and around a private gated community airpark. It is made up of 27 holes—11 of which are considered water holes—that range anywhere from around an uphill 190 ft hole to a winding, slightly elevated 1,080 ft monster. This course has a variety of terrain and elevation changes that’s 12291 ft in total length with a par of 95. Flyboy is one of the top-rated courses in the country and a MUST for any disc golf enthusiast!

There was 7 of us in altogether, but they only allowed 4-5 per group to play; so we split into two groups. We started around 10:30am and finished the last hole around 4:30pm. Yes, 6 hours of playing with only breaking once for an on-site lunch. The course was beautiful and very well maintained. Each hole had a tee sign with a rubber teebox and equipped with a broom to dust off the teebox area.

-jt

Stephen at #3 Teepad

Hole #3 was the first water beast of a hole. It’s roughly 440 ft from the teepad to the water’s edge. Then you had roughly a 285 shot to the basket from there to the basket. You needed a good 250 shot to clear the lake. Sweet setup, but scary this early on. Felt like we were in for a very long day after this one. The course is a nice mix of long, open fairways mixed with tighter, narrower baskets through the woods. Lots of elevation changes kept it interesting and challenging. There were a few holes that required you playing down the edge of the lake which really called for precision on your throws. I couldn’t imagine playing this course on a windy day, forget that unless you have a bag full of floaters.

As the day went on, the holes got harder, further and more challenging. Not to mention getting sore and tired from hucking long drives on several 700+ ft holes. All in all, it was a great day out on the field with most of us together playing an exclusive pro-level private course. Very glad we had to the opportunity to play and would love the chance to be able to play again soon.

TIPS: Make sure you grab the course map from the clubhouse. It’ll help you remember where the basket is after you’re already 8 throws in and forgotten where the heck you’re throwing towards. Bring SEVERAL extra discs. If it’s your first time playing this course, you’re bound to lose one in the drink..or three or four. If it’s hot, bring a swimsuit, you may actually swim and find your’s or twelve others. If you’re not comfortable throwing over water or don’t want to lose your fav disc, take the drop. But yea, bring older cheaper discs for the water holes unless you know you can chuck one 250+ consistently. Bring drinks/snacks with you. It’s a long way back to the hangar for this once you get past the first few holes. DO NOT litter. Please help keep this park up and well-maintained. By far, the nicest, cleanest course I’d ever played.

Justin - Basket shot on #9

JT on #20 Teepad

Jeremiah chillin' @ Hangar

Heads Up - Plane coming in!

#25, Teepad to Peninsula to basket...385 ft/ Par 3

(L to R) JT, Blake, Justin, Smalls and Stephen


Dogleg Team Heads to Flyboy!

Posted by randomtiz


NYE has finally arrived and the Dogleg Team has gotten the opportunity to play Flyboy Aviation in Whitesburg, GA! Stay tuned for updates, reviews and hopefully some pics later this weekend!

-jt


B’ham Play

Posted by randomtiz


Hey guys! Gees has it been like a decade since we posted last. I know we’ve all been extremely busy; its been crazy here. But just wanted to let you guys know–more than likely–I’ll be in town this coming weekend (Sept. 23-25). I was wanting to know if any of you guys want to get up to play a few rounds. Possibly some Birmingham courses or if there’s another area you recommend. Let me know you guys thoughts.

-jt

 


Jtown Meetup this Weekend?

Posted by randomtiz


I/We’ll be in Jasper this weekend and will more than likely be hitting up North Jasper Park Disc Golf. If any of you guys are interested in joining up for a game, let me know and we’ll figure out a time/day to play. I’d like to get up a match.

Stephen and Joe, I also have your official Dogleg biz cards that I’ll bring with me. Legit!

-jt


Houston Updates!

Posted by carsonce


Disc Golf in Houston is going well but is extremely warm.  Despite the heat, we’ve been able to play a couple rounds of disc golf each week.  We’ve got a group of 6 guys who play.  This past weekend five of us had a fun round at Mason Park and enjoyed playing disc golf in some cool 100+ degree weather.  We need to take a picture of hole 3 on this course.  I’m guessing the hole is less than 200′, but there is a wall of trees with no possible line between the tee box and the basket.  You just pitch a disc into the trees and hope it pops out the other side pinball style.  The long tee for hole 6 is brutally long and runs beside a bayou.  The long tee for hole 8 is probably the most scenic view from a tee box in Houston.

As for our home course at TC Jester, Tim and I played in a 6 week league and held our own in the red division.  Tim came in first in our division, won the raffle, AND won closest to the pin one week.  I drank lots of beer and improved my game (slightly).


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