Master's Cup 2007 - Final day

Well I was playing well, and putting well, until the second to last hole. I ended up shooting a +16, but took a 8 on the 26th hole to really mess up my final round. I was happy to play well and while I did not putt as good as I did yesterday, I scored much better. I had more birdies and was on pace to be around my score of yesterday of +12, when disaster struck.

Kristin had come up to watch me finish before heading home and caught up to our group on the 24th hole. I had been playing well and pared the 24th hole and had a nice drive and birdied the 25th hole, throwing well up that huge hill and making a long putt.

I stepped the the 26th tee knowing that I had parred it the last 2 days despite having poor drives. I wanted to drive it down the middle and not put so much pressure on my up shot, but instead held onto to a bit long and it hit a tree and took a very unfortunate kick. After everyone else threw, we went to look for my disc. Searching for a few minutes, I decided to go back and re-tee in case we could not find it, and then keep looking to speed up play. I wanted to throw this one just out in the middle somewhere, but instead it caught a gust of wind and blew well to the left and into the trees. At the time I thought that was ok, I had been there both previous days and managed par.

We kept searching or my first disc and I finally found it well down the hill on the right and so called it unplayable. I could never hope to get out of the spot I was in and so took my provisional. After climbing up the hill, I went to look for that one and expected it to be a little off to the left (and lying 3). What I found was that it had rolled some 200 ft, all the way down to the 25th tee, and would require 2 "thumbers" to get back to the fairway. So after the long hike and taking 5 shots, I was 100 ft. from the basket and hoping to make a 7.

I kept my cool through all of this and figured it was almost over and I was well out of contention, but still I didn't want to finish this way! My up shot landed about 20 feet from the pin and I missed the putt for an 8p - ouch! My drive on "top of the world" was not as good as the previous day when I easily pared, so I ended the tournament with a bogey and +16.

Still the tournament was a ton of fun and got me more excited to play and work on my game. Here is a link to the final scores. I am in the Male Intermediate Open Division

Master's Cup 2007 - Day 2

Played much better, shot a +12, and hopefully moved up a few spots. I putted very well and didn't seem to miss anything inside of 20 or so feet. The pins were moved up on almost every hole, with I think 4 exceptions, and so that also helped. I was easily the best in my group and shot 19 strokes better than yesterday.

I had a nice time again as I played with a guy who had come all the way from North Carolina to play in the event. He was a truck driver and didn't even like college basketball (how can that be living in UNC country??).

Hopefully I can continue to play well and finish in the middle of the pack. It is nice to shoot more of my normal score and we'll see how it all ends up tomorrow.

Master's Cup 2007 - Day 1

Well I think I pretty much shot myself out of the tournament!

I was really not sure what to expect from myself, given my recent playing experience, but had hoped to play better than this - +31. I seemed to be just a few feet off on all my throws, which at DeLa means I hit a lot of trees. I still had a great time and played with a couple of locals who were on fire.

Also the pins were all in the longest position, which is unusual for the AMs, as they typically set it up so SOME are long, but not all of them and may have accounted for some of my high score. Still I usually am not this bad... I was not trying to throw with the big guns, but sticking to throws I knew I could make - but justed couldn't seem to execute. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Master's Cup 2007

Well I decided again to play in the Master's Cup in Santa Cruz, despite not really playing all that much leading up to it. I always enjoy seeing the people there and have a lot of fun.

I decided to play in Am 2, instead of masters (over 40) as there are a number of locals that I have played with in other tournaments in that division. I don't think Gregg is going to play as he has a conflict, but Les and a few others are bound to be there.

LA Disc Golf

While on vacation, I played the La Mirada Disc Golf course (see below). It was a really nice course, with all nice mowed grass and only modest obstacles, but was still challenging.

It is where they hold the Golden State Classic which is coming up in a few weeks (May 4th-6th) as well as Southern California championships. In fact I saw Steve Rico while I was there. He is a small guy with a BIG arm. I only got to play a few holes before it started to really rain, but what I did play I really liked (plus I was one under)... I hope to get more chances to play other courses like this over the coming months.

While I was there I picked up the discs above. The yellow one is a SL Champion (169 grams) and the orange one is a Tee-Rex X (171 grams) and is suppose be a bit more stable than the regular Tee-Rex (although the manager of the shop said that it didn't turn out to be that way in the Champion version - which is ok by me as I like the Star Tee-Rex I have now and was looking for a back-up) and I really liked the Golden State stamp.

Soft Banger-GT

I went to Santa Cruz yesterday to play a few holes at Dela and played with Robert and his two sons (Jason and Justin). They were very good for being so young, about 11 and 8. Robert mentioned that there was a new version of my putter and so I went down and found one at DJ's Mini-Mart.

It is a soft version of the Banger-GT. I like how it feels and so had to get one to try out. Hopefully it will putt as good as it feels.

MD1

While in Santa Cruz on Saturday for our Christmas dinner (see other blog), I stopped by DJ's Mini-Mart and pickup an First Run Discmania MD1 (177 grams). This is suppose to be a similar disc to the Innova Roc, as it is made by Innova and when compared to the KC Roc in the store looked identical. This disc is in the "S" line plastic, similar to the star, and is heavier than the one I already have in DX plastic. I can't wait to see how it flies...