Level 20 in disc golf is usually Hole 13

Is it just me, or do a disproportionate amount of disc golf courses feature a design that makes the thirteenth hole the most difficult? My home course is DeLaveaga, and number 13 there is the legendary I-5. It's probably why I've always noticed this odd . . . phenomenon . . . coincidence . . . or maybe it's the opposite of a coincidence. Maybe it's part of the course designer credo.

At my little local short course, Black Mouse, the longest hole by far is number 13. But before the course was reconfigured to pacify a science teacher, number 13 was the trickiest**. An uphill 290-footer that forces you to throw way around a gnarly tangle of Redwoods and brush, it's still the toughest par for me on the relatively easy course. Go figure. I know I've made the same observation at countless other courses, too, but one in particular is on my mind.

Hole 13 at Winthrop Gold - site of the United States Disc Golf Championship next week - is known as 888. Because of the length. But it's a par five, and the course includes a par four that is 900 feet. So length isn't what makes this hole the toughest of what is a parade of challenging holes. Much like 13 at Black Mouse, this hole is hard because it barely gives a disc room to breath, from tee to basket.

Without yet seeing it in person (that'll change next week), but based on the caddie book and descriptions by numerous people that have (including current chap Nate Doss), here's an idea of how it plays:

A narrow strip of tree-studded fairway bends slowly to the right, eventually running into a dead-end 800 feet away. At that point, the basket is about 150 feet away in the middle of an island green. The hazard on this hole is called bunkr, and landing on the wrong side of the red bunkr line incurs no penalty stroke. However, you must throw again from the original lie. So if there is a shot that really gives you problems, you might pile up some strokes.

Standing on the tee, you see a wall of low-hanging trees on the left and a parking lot on the right, divided by a 3-inch curb and the aforementioned bunkr.

• The first task is to break through or go over that line of trees, without crossing over the bunkr line that defines the other side of the fairway.
• You then need to keep between the two roughly parallel bunkr lines that are maybe 50 feet apart, while dodging trees strategically placed throughout
• Depending on your power and your risk-taking personality, there are numerous opportunities to reach the island green from between the trees, starting from around 400 feet away from the basket, 500 feet from the tee. I'll most likely have to cover 600 feet of that skinny fairway before I can take a shot at that green.

I have a feeling that my respect will grow for this hole after I've actually played it.



**NOTE: I just contacted the designer of both Black Mouse and DeLa, HOFer Tom Schot, to ask him if there was some secret course designer rule involved, and he said there was no such rule, so that's that. But now he'll begin seeing tough 13's everywhere too.

USDGC- Be careful what you wish for

Since it debuted 11 years ago, playing in the USDGC has been first a wish, then a dream, then a goal, and finally an obsession of mine.

For the first few years, I wasn't even cashing in Masters Cups and Faultlines regularly, and my scores were usually 20 strokes off what I'd need to qualify for USDGC. So it was kind of a 'maybe someday' kind of thing. Then I began to figure things out on the course, and eventually I'd make getting one of those five qualifier spots in the Masters Cup one of my objectives. By the time my player rating peaked at 999 (arg!), I had missed qualifying by either one spot or one stroke (or both) three years in a row. So last year, as my age hit 42 and my distance seemed to diminish a bit, I decided to bite the bullet and find another way to get in. I served as an assistant tournament director for the Masters Cup this year, and Daviar graciously gave me his spot.

Be careful what you wish for.

Tee off in Rock Hill, South Carolina is now nine days away, and my throwing arm is not just sore and feeble, like usual. It's got something seriously wrong with it, and I don't know what it is because I won't see a doctor until after I return (because he/she might tell me not to play, and obsessed people always play).

So now I'm committed to playing this course that is long, exacting and, according to all the stories, potentially demoralizing- without my 'A' game. And everything being relative, my 'A' game in the USDGC is realistically a 'B-minus' game at best. But I do have a plan, and if I can pull it off I might even make the cut or even beat more than half the field. Hey, a guy can dream!

I'm going to try to post some entries in the coming week, but they'll most likely be about things other than me and my game (we've heard that before, you say).

Wish me luck. Or better yet, wish me endorphins.

It takes a disc golf village, and . . .

So I've had this book idea for a couple years. I want people to know 1) Golf is a great game- perhaps the greatest game ever invented; 2) The version of golf that most people are familiar with - the version with clubs and balls - has numerous limitations that keep most people from ever experiencing the greatness of golf, and; 3) There is another version of the great game, and this version doesn't have any of the limiting factors of the original version.

I've got a few thousand words down that I'll likely use, but most of the work has gotten done during the past three months, during a forced vacation (I enjoyed it immensely anyway) from my normal vocation. Now I'm back to work again in the field that brings home sufficient bacon for my family to live in Santa Cruz (mortgage banking technology), and the book project necessarily takes a backseat. My simple-minded plan is to keep the project alive by using this blog to present the material for the book to those who read DeLa Blahg, most of whom I'm sure share my passion for the sport. So please, consider posting replies to my entries. After all, it takes a disc golf village to enlighten the world. Stay tuned for more.

Day Four on the DL

DL being the Disabled List, for those who don't follow baseball.

I put myself on the disc golf DL four days ago, after shoulder pain of unusual intensity and resonance, and haven't thrown a disc since (Well, that's not true. I threw two putts from 15 feet today to test the water, and didn't like the results). I feel forced to sheepishly admit that, having grown accustomed to throwing discs throughout the day, every day, I think I'm now going through withdrawals.

It's bad enough having to remind myself that I can't play every time the urge pops up. I also have to lay off putting at home, and I have a basket right between my house and office. Every time I walk between the two and see the basket, I realize it has been way longer than normal since I've thrown a disc.

Jump-putting to Conclusions

My old shoulder injury returned with a vengeance last Friday while playing a round.

• I finished the round, because I have an obsession with finishing rounds
• I kept an appointment to play early the next morning - even though I had to play right-handed most of the time and ended up shooting +21 - because I had been looking forward to it for days
• I tried to apply the basic instructions I give to beginners to myself, throwing right-handed. I learned (again) that knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things.
• Hopefully I can restrain myself and stay off the course until my shoulder at least regains its most recent level of 'serviceableness' (sp).

Didn't follow the worlds very closely once I realized that Natron wasn't going to contend for his 3rd Worlds title. But when I saw the final leaderboard, one thought came to mind: None of the former Worlds or USDGC champs was at or even near the top of the standings. The closest was Feldberg, finishing 13 strokes off the lead.

Since I've never played any of the KC courses, I'm speaking from a position of relative ignorance. But based solely on the observation I just made, I'm guessing that maybe the courses collectively put too much emphasis on distance and power. I'm guessing that these Worlds' were more about the physical than the mental, and that adversity mostly took the form of long, grueling holes. How else do you explain a leaderboard of almost all 'young guns' who can throw 500 feet all day without wearing out? And when is the last time a Worlds or USDGC ended with Ken Climo, Nate Doss, Dave Feldberg, Barry Shultz, and Stevie Rico all 13 strokes or more off the lead? Look it up (because I'm too lazy to do it). I'll bet that hasn't happened since 1991, when Climo won his first Worlds.

Whistler's Bend in Roseburg Oregon

A few months ago my wife wanted me to plan a camping trip in somewhere in between Santa Cruz and Portland, Oregon, where her brother and his kids live. I remembered hearing that Roseburg in Oregon had two good disc golf courses, I asked around and found out that the longer course with Mach III baskets - Whistler's Bend - had excellent camping right there in the same park. And then later, when I asked some Oregonians about the course during the Master's Cup, I found out that a great river for rafting and swimming - the Umpqua - bent around the whole park like a horseshoe.

I told my wife that I found the perfect place, mentioning the proximity to both our homes', the hot showers, the playground, and the river. And oh, by the way, a funny coincidence . . . the park has a disc golf course! She was thrilled for me, as demonstrated by her closed-lip smile.

Last weekend the time for the trip finally came, and we managed to get there in about 10 hours with two little kids in the car. Not bad. The weather was very unseasonable warm, with highs of 100 and lows of 60 or so. It made my plan to do my disc golfing early in the morning even more appealing. Here is my review of the course, in short-attention span bulletpoints:

• As advertised, the baskets are nice Mach III's and the teepads concrete. But there are only teesigns and holemaps on some of the holes. None of the holes on the longer, more spread out back nine have signs. But most of the holes do have little wooden arrows pointing to the next hole, which helped quite a bit.
• Also as advertised, the front nine was more wooded and shorter, and the back nine was almost completely wide open. There were trees in the grassy, hilly back nine, but I don't think any of the came into play in my two rounds except the steeply uphill #13.
• The facilities are great, even for non-campers, and I found the first hole without a problem. It's right by the group campsite, where we stayed (I swore to my wife that I had no idea), and the 'first-come, first-serve' sites are by hole 14, Whistler's 'Top of the World' shot.
• Speaking of hole 14, which I think is 600-plus feet (or maybe 700 from the extended tee I was told to look for and found), I found it to be fun and challenging in one sense only: It's always cool to chuck a disc 700 feet down a big hill. But there were absolutely no trees or any kind of OB forcing me to take a certain route. I suppose a less-skilled player would find it challenging to throw straight long enough to clear the foliage that covered the first three quarters of the fairway, but anyone with decent power should be able to get to the large open green with little problem. Birdie or par every time unless you three-putt.
• On the back nine, almost ever hole (except #14, ironically) was exactly the same to me in one sense: It was long enough that I couldn't reach it, but short and open enough that upshots for par were fairly routine. I realize that players with longer arms than me (those that can throw 450 in the air) would get a few birdie looks that I didn't get. And typical recreational players probably have longer upshots due to their shorter drives, making the second and third shots more interesting. But my range is fairly average for 'serious' players, and I thought most of the holes on the back would've been more fun if they were either 50-150 feet shorter or longer (I'd prefer a mix of the two).
• I'm normally a critic of water hazards where you can lose a disc, since - to use a ball golf analogy - discs for us are more like clubs than balls in the sense that they are not simply replaced by another one identical to the one lost. But I have to say that I liked holes 7 and 9 at Whistler's Bend. Both baskets were in locations close to a sheer 70-foot drop-off, with the gorgeous Umpqua River below. Hole 7 is a 400-footer that requires placing the disc in the right part of the fairway, then an accurate upshot for par. Hole nine is a wide-open gradual downhill hole with a medium-width fairway; narrow enough that you must take a straight-at-it approach if you want a chance at birdie. Problem is, when you go straight at the basket on a downhill hole with a drop-off 20 feet behind, your distance control is of the utmost importance. My most gratifying drive at Whistler's Bend was on this hole, where I put my Aftershock within 10 feet (short). Another reason I didn't mind the water hazards: The one time I went over the cliff - on #7 where my drive landed initially safe then trickled over the edge - I was able to scale down the cliffside and retrieve it from the narrow beach. If the river was running higher, though, it probably would've slipped into the Umpqua before I even peered over the edge.
• Check out all the pictures I took there by clicking here
  

One of the unique appeals of disc golf

My preference when playing disc golf is to play with one or two other players, but I don't mind a foursome or sometimes a fivesome. Anything more than that though, in my opinion is too much. In fact, I'd rather play alone than in a large herd, and I often do just that.

Today, in fact, I opted to get a quick round in at nearby Black Mouse rather than not play at all. And while out there, I realized that disc golf (or to specify, disc golf at DeLaveaga) is kind of like a good hike combined with a great sporting interest. I've heard ball golf described as 'A Good Walk Spoiled,' or something like that. I know that quote is a tongue-in-cheek thing, but it still stands in sharp contrast to how I genuinely feel about disc golf:

"Disc golf is a good hike made better".