Black Mouse Monster Match

Third Sunday or every month, at 9:30 AM SHARP.

That's exactly what the flyer promoting the monthly at Black Mouse said. So I had not one but two surprises when I showed up around 9:15 ready to play. First of all, there was no one there running things (TJ showed up eventually and all was cool), and I don't think we started until after 10:30. Second, the first two people I saw were Myles Harding and Don Smith (both sponsored by DGA- the bastards), so my preconceived notion of being the proverbial big fish in a small pond that day was immediately shattered.

When we eventually started, everyone that showed up was lumped into one division (fine by me!), and placed in three groups of five. First off hole one were me, Don, Myles, Sean Roybal, and Rob ---. I started out hot for the first seven holes and grabbed an early lead, but cooled off in the middle and let Don and Myles get within a couple strokes on the back side of the course. We had one streak where everyone was hitting long birdie putts. In fact, the hottest guy at the end was Sean, but he had too much ground to make up and fell short.

By hole 16 I had a two-stroke lead with a downhill 30-footer for birdie. I went for it because Don was hitting everything and laying up was no guaranteed thing either, and of course it rolled enough to result in a -7 and -7 tie. After that, even though Myles had a couple chances to make it a three-way tie, we all parred out to result in a first-place tie between Don and I. We decided to split the cash, but still had to settle bragging rights. I wanted to get revenge for Don's victory over me in sudden death after the Schaeffer Park tourney last Fall. If I had know it would take 10 HOLES, though, I would have settled for the tie!

I was already in hot water because we started late and ended late, so I just wanted to end it one way or the other. The problem was, every hole I birdied he birdied, and when I parred he parred. We were cursing each other for 'not winning it'. Then came the penultimate hole, a short uphill with a blind dogleg right. My disc hit a tree and left me 35-feet short and obscured by more trees, and Don's went right at it hard. When I got to my disc I for some reason thought he was based, and went for my only birdie option, a right-handed backhand shot around a redwood stump- and I made it! Don then walked down past me and saw that his disc had sailed past the basket and down the slope 60 feet away. I had maybe 20 seconds to celebrate my victory (and more importantly the END of the playoff) before Don nailed his impossible do-or-die attempt. To push it to the next hole. Wow! Ugh.

In what could be nothing except anticlimactic Don based the next quirky short hole, and I hit a tree, then clanged my long birdie throw. The end.

Ugh. And, wow!

Unique Images from DeLa

For some reason- injury, age, other distractions (those #*! Ankle-biters!). . . who knows- my game has slipped a couple notches in the past 12 months. After a career high player rating of 999 I'm down to 982, and my distance has seen some deterioration as well. The down-side is that I was at a point where I could beat anyone at DeLa on any given day, and now I have distinctly second-tier feeling. But I've noticed an upside as well. I seem to have more casual golf fun, and notice things I might not have noticed in the past. Take these pictures, for instance: Two are of a 'beer bottle terrarium' at an undisclosed place on the course. Jason Esper showed me this unique little wonder, and the only hint I'll give you is that your disc could easily skip off this bottle en route to a drop-in birdie. (And if you haven't noticed yet, the reason it's unique is cuz a miniature garden of clover grows inside the bottle, with just enough air, sun, and moisture to survive.

The other picture is of my Special Edition Soft Rhyno sitting in the remains of a broken up, rotten oak tree on the left side of hole 21. The disc is the exact same color as the rotten oak remains in which it lies, and our group all noticed it at the same time. Thanks to JD, my awareness of such artistic subtleties was tuned in nicely.

So, cool stuff. And the golf wasn't bad (for me) either. I defended my #008 tag against Sof and Gregory, -5 to +3 to +7, respectively. I also fended off a challenge from Sof and Jason Esper on Wednesday, so for a second-tier guy that's not bad.

Attention All Santa Cruz Disc Golfers: This Is No Drill!

Greetings from DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course in Santa Cruz, California. And now, greetings from the DeLaveaga Disc Golf Club as well, as I am serving the club as vice president this year. I've decided to use this forum to report on club happenings in addition to my normal fare of general disc golf topics. I'll try to keep you up-to-date on club happenings as things happen, and pass on stuff of interest I learn at club meetings and elsewhere. So what's up lately? Plenty!

The day of the last meeting (Feb 13th 2008), we met with a City of Santa Cruz parks dept. official who informed us that the City is moving ahead with various improvement projects relate to the course. This despite the fact that Gov. Schwartzenegger vetoed the 'landswap' bill that transferred the land on which our course sits from the National Guard to the city. Obviously
the city is confident that they will get the land eventually. So confident, in fact, that they created elaborate drafting blueprints indicating the changes they plan to make to the parking lot and the
course. On the surface, most of the changes seemed positive to those of us that scanned through them, but changes to the course seem imminent. The good news is that we should have a paved parking lot by the middle of the Summer, and more importantly the city is openly asking for our
feedback to their plans.

Right now we get around 15 people at the club's monthly meetings, and those of us that attend will discuss the pros and cons of the plans, and come to a consensus on how to reply to the city. I have to admit, it's a tremendous responsibility to speak for thethousands of other disc golf enthusiasts that care what happens to our course- especially since we can't be sure we know how the majority feels.

If we could get most of the people who play DeLaveaga to join the club and come to meetings, we'd be in a much better position to ensure that the course remains open and available for everyone to
enjoy. Not only is it extremely important to demonstrate to the city at
every opportunity that we have a large, organized body of city and
county residents (and people from out of town) that strongly support
DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course. If we can get a large body of disc
golfers either coming to the meetings or at least responding to e-mail
questionnaires about the future of the course, we'd be able to more
accurately represent the wishes of the Santa Cruz disc golf community.
THAT'S WHERE YOU COME IN.

DDGC Membership Drive 2008

If
everyone who reads this not only joins the club, but encourages the
other disc golfers they know to also join, we can easily get to where
we need to be numbers-wise. (Hint: One way to spread the word is to
e-mail a link to this blog to every disc golfer you know. Here it is: http://www.santacruzdisc.com/blogs/delablahg.php?title=attention_all_santa_cruz_disc_golfers&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)

We
think we've made membership pretty affordable this year, with the
option to get some cool club stuff while supporting a good
cause. Here are the membership options:

-Base Membership $10

-Base Membership plus club Bag-Tag $15

-Base Membership, plus club Bag-Tag and cotton membership shirt $25

-Base Membership, plus club Bag-Tag and dri-fit membership shirt $35

We'll
be launching the Membership Drive at the DeLa Monthly on Saturday March
1st @ 9:00 AM. so, you can join the club/renew for 2008 then and get
your shirt, whether you play in the monthly or not. If you can't make
it Saturday, we'll soon have a link on the front page of www.delaveagadiscgolf.com
(look in the upper-left corner) that lets you pay with PayPal and
either pick up your shirt and/or tag at the course, or have it mailed
to you. You can also see pictures of the tags and shirts through that
link as well.

Even if I was not the VP of the club this year, I'd
be writing just as emphatically to you my fellow Santa Cruz disc
golfers to join the club this year and come to meetings. With the
city's involvement and planned changes, 2008 will be the most important
year ever to the future of DeLaveaga Disc Golf course. If you care
about the future of the course, and would also like a voice in that
future, now is the time to join the club and get involved. If you have questions, you can e-mail me directly at deladiscgolf@gmail.com.

Patience is a Disc Golf Virtue

In disc golf, self-control is paramount to success. This particular virtue comes in many forms, but the one I have in mind today is patience- with your own game, with others, and with everything else that pops up in the course of a round of golf.

Patience seems most important to me during the Winter months, because the weather is colder and the teepads and terrain are often slippery after it rains. When the air is cold discs don't travel quite as far, which is due to a combination of the phyics of the air itself and our bodies not being quite as loose. And when we're not properly warmed up and loose, we lose that fluid quality that is so important to throwing a disc accurately and far. Also, if the surface we're trying to plant our feet on is wet and slick, it adds yet another element that makes executing the shots we have in mind more difficult. The natural result is a greater margin of error, and usually scores that trend upward. Because of this we must remember to be patient, and keep a few things in mind.

First of all, these tougher conditions are just a fact of playing disc golf in the Winter, so we need to adjust our expectations accordingly. For me, a -5 with the course soggy after a recent storm and a temerature? of 38 degrees at teeoff is better than a -8 with perfect sunny weather and dry teepads. Second, the conditions of the course are the same for everyone. No matter who you're playing against, I guarantee that his or her average score goes up when it's wet and cold.

I've learned to recoginize - either at the outset of a round or after a few hampered throws - when conditions will limit what I can accomplish that day. I then adjust my strategy and expectations accordingly, and try to do the best I can within the new framework of potential. If the teepads are slippery, I sacrifice some distance for the sake of more control since I'm more likely to slip if I go with 100 percent power. If my hands are cold and numb and my muscles feel stiff, I'll be more conservative with my upshots and putts to make sure I don't take extra strokes by giving myself unneccessarily long putts.

Maybe the weather is great, but you still start poorly. No problem! One of the great things about golf is the fact that each hole gives you a fresh chance to do something good. One of the biggest mistakes a golfer can make is to let the last shot influence the next shot (or hole). Don't feel that you need to 'make up for' the bogey you took throwing OB on hole 6 by going for a risky birdie run on hole 7. Be patient, and evaluate the risk/reward of each shot based on its own merits.

Although it isn't really what this article is about, patience with the other things you can't control is also very important. If you find yourself getting antsy waiting for someone to make their shot, or the general pace of play on the course that day (this is especially common during tournaments, of course)? try to relax and enjoy the moment. A watched pot never boils, as they say, so let your eyes wander to something else on the course, like another group putting out, or even a bird in a tree. If you have a tricky shot coming up, use the extra time to give that shot more consideration. Most people don't have as much trouble noticing and dealing with external issues, though. Much tougher is the ability to recognize and properly handle what's going on in one's own head. That's the kind of patience that is harder to devlelop.

A good example of this was my experience at the DeLa monthly last weekend. I started on hole 1, and right away noticed that the cold weather combined with an injury I had to noticeably reduce my distance off the tee. I then realized it affected my putting touch as well. I told myself that par would be good enough as long as I felt so cold and stiff, and proceeded to get par on each of the first 11 holes. A couple birdies just sort of came to me on holes 11 and 12 (good things come to those who wait, after all), and after a double on 13 and a birdie on 15 my score was -1. I still didn't feel right, so I remained patient and kept playing conservatively. Then my patience began to pay off.

With 18 in the log left position, I threw a great turnover drive (I 'm a lefty) and based the hole. More importantly, though, I noticed that the temperature had risen a bit, and my stiff hip had loosened up as well. I ended up at -6, including birdies on 3 of the last 4 holes, and tied Jon Baldwin for first in the Open division. The thing I felt best about wasn't the 1st place finish- it was the fact that I was able to recognize what I'd be able to accomplish that day, then maximize my potential within that box. That kind of round - a patient round with a happy ending - really feels good afterward. And it just happened to be good enough to win.

Course Configuration Update

Hole 1 Short

Hole 2 Top

Hole 3 -----

Hole 4 Short

Hole 5 Short

Hole 6 Short

Hole 7 Short

Hole 8 -----

Hole 8a Left

Hole 9 Short

Hole 10 Long

Hole 11 Short/Left

Hole 12 Ultra-Short (Island)

Hole 13 Short

Hole 14 Middle

Hole 15 Short

Hole 16 Right

Hole 17 This hole is closed

Hole 18 Short Left

Hole 19 Short

Hole 20 Right

Hole 21 -----

Hole 22 -----

Hole 23 Left

Hole 24 Short

Hole 25 Short

Hole 26 Short

Hole 26a Short

Hole 27 Short

Using a rating system where each hole is rated from 1 to 5 (with one being the easiest possible location at DeLa and 5 being the most difficult), this configuration rates a 3.11. So, while not being the longest layout, it's far from the shortest. Also, according to my figuring, 10 holes are in short positions, 12 are in long positions, and six are neutral.

First Ace of 2008

I witnessed what I'm guessing was DeLa's - and who knows, maybe the world's - first ace of 2008. We were on hole 26, and he threw a heavy Cobra. In fact, it was the collectors disc Tom Schot sold before the Masters Cup last year for the spectators of the 'Showcase Skins' round to get the autographs of Climo, Nate, Des Reading and Stevie Rico. Gregory didn't get the sigs, but he got the ace. In my book, that's better. I especially appreciated it because when the disc hit the chains, it was ending it's natural flight anyway, meaning it was more skill than luck. The sound was more like a that made by a disc thrown 50 feet as opposed to 250 feet. It turned out to be a close-to-personal best round for Gregory, too, so all the better.

A nice surprise

Nearly a year ago I accepted Josh Barnett's invitation to check out the unofficial Santa's Village course in Scotts Valley that he and Jammer designed. We tried to have a tourney, but the Scotts Valley police chased us outta there. Before that happened, though, I managed to lose a prized disc- a yellow Champion Cobra that was my go-to midrange disc. Out of the blue, a couple days ago, Josh called me and said he found it, in a hollow log, right where it disappeared. I saw him at the course the next day on hole 5, cleaned the weird fungus off of it, and threw it as my drive on hole7. Birdie! Look out world . . . I gots my yellow Cobra back!

The Tortoise vs. The Hares

At the course recently for a round with Assaf. It was a gorgeous blue-sky day, and the course wasn't too crowded. We had reasons to want to play a quick round, and just ahead of us on hole 1 a solo player teed off. This guy was a big lug kinda guy, and he moved slower than I think I've ever seen anyone move on the course. I made the comment to Assaf that it seemed that a person would have to consciously slow themselves down to go that slow. Needless to say, we were trying to finish our round in under two hours and figured we'd have to get past this guy to have a chance at that kind of pace. However, we didn't get the chance to pass him until hole 6, as he waited on the bench with one shoe off for some reason.

We seized the opportunity to ask to play through, and he was nice enough to agree even though we were a twosome. This is when it began to get wierd. I had already referred to him as the 'Turtle' due to his almost perternaturally slow movement, but it soon became apparent that he was in fact a tortoise, and we were on this day hares. I thought we were playing pretty briskly, but looking back from the fairway of hole 8, there was the turtle, moving as slowly as before but right behind us anyway. The scene repeated itself? time and again as we spotted him on the tee for 13 as we finished the hole, driving on 15 as we walked away from the basket. Each time he was walking at the same languid pace, yet he remained right there with us. I remember one time in particular that Assaf went down into a canyon a little ways, and I thought that hares would go astray like that, while the tortoise stays on the fairway and plods ahead.

Unlike the story, these hares didn't get passed by the tortoise, but I can't help but think that maybe he was pulling a great practical joke on us. Walking ridiculously slowly whenever we could see him, and jogging when he was out of our site. If it was a joke, he got us good. We were really perplexed by the whole thing- or maybe amused is a better word. If you see the Tortoise out there, tell him the hares said 'Hi'.