A Disc Golfer's Journal

As some of you know I’ve recently begun to revisit my interest in photography. This regenerated interest was kindled with Disc Golf in mind. Having said that, please have a look at the disc golf art found on FineArtAmerica.com

Out of the 700+ photos I took, 45 of them made it to post-processing. Here they are. Click on them to see a larger size. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was out at Cliff Stephens DGC yesterday to take in part of the Pro Open. I spent most of the time I was there following the 2nd round lead card which, at that time, comprised Champ (Ken Climo) , JohnE McCray, Daniel Riendeau and Cameron Lincoln. It was a thrill to see these guys launch discs the way they do. If you haven’t had the opportunity to experience that, do it. It’s amazing! I had my DSLR with me and took 700+ photos. I’m still going through them. When I’ve finished I’ll be posting some of the best ones here so stay tuned!

The results of the tournament can be seen here:

http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/97473

I’d like to say congrats to one of my disc golf mentors, Mike Graves. He played in his first Pro tournament this weekend and came in tied for 6th, in the cash! Way to go Mike!

 

Disc Golf ROCKS!

 

I’ve been out of the habit of posting on this blog for some time now. No better day than today to resume! Today I had the pleasure of being on the same card with Lyle “Fish” Fisher, Joe “Highzer” Milano and Bruce Perrin at Taylor Lake in Largo. Lyle shot a 52 (-2) and recorded the best round of all disc golfers today. Bruce shot a 68 and took first in the Rec division. I had my best round ever at Taylor notching a 55 (+1), improving on my previous best by 4 strokes! That was good enough to take 2nd in the Intermediate division. Joe shot a nice 59 (+5)!

I also snapped a couple of pics with my iPhone. An obvious one is the scorecard which I’ll refrain from posting. The other is of the new basket setup on Hole #7. If you look closely you’ll also see Lyle’s disc approaching the basket.

Is that sweet or what? This is our club participation and penalty dollars at work!

Disc Golf ROCKS!

The 2011 Tour del Sol Finals, sponsored by Sun King, took place this past weekend at Taylor Lake Park in Largo, FL. There were a total of 54 players spread across 9 divisions.  I’d like to thank Mike Barnett of Sun King Disc Sports, the Tournament Director. He put on a great tournament, as usual. I’d also like to thank Mark Bailey for all that he does. This guy is amazing! He is the commissioner of our disc golf club, the Sand Slugs of Taylor Lake Park. The effort he puts in to make sure that we have the very best disc golf experience possible is phenomenal! Kudos to you Mark!

“WE ARE THE SAND SLUGS, MIGHTY MIGHTY SAND SLUGS, EVERYWHERE WE GO, PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW, WHO WE ARE, SO WE TELL THEM, WE ARE THE SAND SLUGS, MIGHTY MIGHTY SAND SLUGS.”

I had the pleasure of playing in the Recreational division along with 11 others. The results can be seen here. I’m really glad that I chose to participate in this tournament as I really enjoyed the rounds I got to play and the time spent with some of the people in the Rec division. It was competitive, yet not so much, in an awesome kind of way. I had my best tournament ever, breaking 60 in three of the four rounds. Yeh, Rec played from the AM pads (there are only 6 out of 18), but for me, at Taylor, those scores are best ever! I’m very happy with how my game is progressing.

The open division of the tournament consisted of 10 players, many of whom are professionals including Rickard Wysocki, PDGA rookie of the year, and our very own CR Willey, designer and creator of the Taylor Lake Disc Golf Course. Many of us had a special treat after we had finished our rounds on Sunday. CR Willey coordinated a final round event in which 4 open players and 4 advanced players played a total of 4 double holes. An example of this would be teeing off from the #4 tee and playing the #6 basket. As you can imagine this is quite a challenge and quite a distance. I think most of us “less than advanced” players, were completely in awe. I know I was. To see these players throw a disc so far and so accurately is, well, amazing! Here is a video of Richard Wysocki with an amazing drive from tee #14:

The winner of the open division was another of our very own Sand Slugs; John Lorentzen. He edged Richard Wysocki and Bryan Moore by a stroke. Congrats John!

***Note to bloggers… If you like this blog and would like to see more content on a regular basis please click the “Like” button on the top right of this site. Thanks, -Mark

DG Rocks

It was another awesome day on the course at Taylor Lake Park. The weather conditions were nothing short of perfect! I had the pleasure of flying with Mike Graves (-2), his son Trevor (-14, yeh right!), and my nemesis, Everett Chimbidis (-13). I witnessed my 3^rd ace today. Mike flew a beautiful disc on hole #7 that crashed the chains at 261 feet. And he called it! Great shot, Mike!

I was last on the card… AGAIN! I shot a damn 67. I actually played well today for the most part. I made 2 birds and quite a few pars. Problem is, I blew up on 3 holes. Had two 6s and a 5. Trevor, you remember the (-14)?, can you say bagger , shot a very nice 62. Oh, and that older dude, Ev? He shot a nice 63. Way to fly youz guyz! I won’t mention what Mike shot, well cause… he’s an advanced player and you know how they are!

Off to the left of the pad on hole #11, there was a gator sunbathing just out of the water. Oh, and on this drive I threw my Westside King in the drink. It’s ok, Trevor waded in and got it for me. Thanks bud!

Ev shot some video with his grand spanking new 4s on Hole #16! It was his fault I teed off into the tree 10 feet in front of me, LOL!

Oh, and here’s my mentor, the advanced, Ace throwing Mike, teeing off on #16 as well:

The 2011 Moccasin Lake Open was under way at Cliff Stephens so I stopped there on my way home. My friend Mike Gilliume was playing so I tagged along with him and his card for the last 4 holes, took some pics and video. Here’s one of Mike driving from Hole #10.
They were the lead card for the Recreational Division. I didn’t stay long enough to see if Mike won but he was playing very well and certainly might have.

Next weekend is when the pros will be playing in the 2011 Moccasin Lake Open. Maybe I’ll have my new Nikon D7000 by then!

DG Rocks!

 

I haven’t made a blog entry in almost two months. I’ve been what I call B-Lazy or Blog Lazy. Something happened today that regenerated my desire to write about Disc Golf though. I played my usual Saturday AM round at Floral Park with the gang. Didn’t shoot very well but had an awesome time, as I always do. Later in the day, I had just had dinner and was watching a college football game on the tube. The phone rang and the incoming number was displayed on the TV. It was a number I didn’t recognize so I figured if it was important they’d leave a voice-mail. A few seconds later my cell began ringing from the same number. OK, this must be semi-important. The caller obviously has both of my numbers. So I answer it. It was Mike Barnett of Sun King Disc Sports. I had played a round with one of my disc golf nemeses Everett C. after work yesterday at Cliff Stephens. On hole number 4, I threw my only Ace disc into the water and could not see it to get it back with the golden retriever. This DX Glow Beast is really beat up and flips for me 99% of the time. For those that don’t know, there is water on the left side on hole 4. Well, this was the 1%. I aimed it just to the right of the edge of the water knowing it was going to flip and turn to the right. Damn thing went straight into the water. Shit! I lost my one and only Ace Disc!

But…. today Mike Barnett called me! He was also at Cliff last night when a squid went in the water and found my disc. Mike had remembered meeting me at one of the tournaments and gave the squid a couple of bucks to get it back. Thanks Mike! I really appreciate it! I owe ya!

Mike runs a Disc Golf store in Sarasota called Sun King Disc Sports. He also runs countless Disc Golf tournaments.

As I told Mike on the phone, this has happened to me 3 or 4 times in the one year I’ve been playing. Yeh, I still suck and keep losing discs. The great thing is that for almost every disc I’ve lost I’ve had it returned due to someone like Mike taking the time to call the phone number on the disc. I’ve said this before and I maintain…..

Disc Golf ROCKS!

Went up to Floral Park today to fly with the gang. Had a great time as usual. Shot a lot of video. Only able to post about half of it. It just takes too long to upload. Here they are:

Click HERE to register for this tournament!