A little pick me up

I was stressed out when I got to the course today. I'd been trying to leave work to get lunch and play a round when I kept getting detained. 2 hours later, I finally got out and it was really overcast, somewhat windy and I was a little worried it was going to rain on me. (It did, but only a little.)

There were a lot of girls on the course. Yesterday, there were a lot of boys. I can see why you wouldn't have a mix, at that age. (Cooties!) Still, kind of odd. Speaking of little girls, I had something happen today that hasn't happened in years of playing disc golf.

I was approaching my disc after my first throw past the tennis court and I could see a group of 3 very young girls walking down by the creek. I mostly took note of them so that I didn't throw in such a way as to hit one of them. Amazingly, even with the distraction, I landed a really nice one close to the pole. As I started walking towards it, I noticed in my peripheral vision that they were walking a little faster along the creek, but also directly towards the pole. In the back of my mind, I could see one of them picking it up and, trying to be helpful, flinging it back to me. Only, in my head, she flings it around behind her and it ends up in the Provo River.

Sure enough, they get there, pick it up and offer to throw it back to me. I have to make several hand motions (not those!) to encourage them to just drop it. She does and the trio walks over to look down at the river. I resist an urge to charge them, screaming, to see if I can push them in.

The game was good, though. I got some nice longer distance putts and my overall accuracy on drives seemed to have improved. Now, if I could just get rid of this pain in my left shoulder (not my throwing arm, thankfully) it'd be all good.

A Maze in Greys

I tried to take two pictures of a girl with two adorable dogs (pretty sure one was a Jack Russell terrier) but neither of them really turned out, such that you can see the dogs (or the girl) but this one is pretty, so I'll put it up.

Heavily overcast, only a light wind, very comfortable temperature. I didn't think there was any wind at first, but a couple of my shots that went high went higher than normal as the wind picked them up. The wind does not generally do me any favors which doesn't make all that much sense to me. Seems like I should get better distance downwind.

I took a little different path today because of the aforementioned girl with dogs. She was playing with a bright orange frisbee with them and I didn't want them getting any ideas about biting into MY discs, so instead of playing across the field by the tennis court, I went over the deserted playground and actually played holes 1 and 2. (Hole #2 being the forbidden hole that runs by the river.)

No problems, though - I was able to manage a low throw that landed absolutely perfectly between the court and the river. I wish that my next shot had gone as well. It flew absolutely perfectly ... into the light pole 40 feet away with a resounding CLANG. It didn't even just deflect off and still get some distance - no, head on, dropped to the ground. Oh brother.

I was trying something a little different on the drives today tilting the disc just a little to the right as I threw. Gave me a much straighter path, if a little less distance. Something to remember when I need the accuracy.

Social Commentary:

After yesterday's weird stuff found in the park, I found myself noticing items left this time. Kids are quite forgetful, aren't they? I found several large items seemingly abandoned at various places. There was a scooter and two bikes.A couple of kids went by on (different) bikes and one of them picked up the shoes that were there yesterday. He was riding what looked like a little kid's bike, except that it appeared to be electrical. (There were no pedals, and it made a little sound as he took off.)

For some reason, this makes me think of when I was a kid and rode my bike to Normandy Mall. I had just installed a holder on the bike for a water bottle. I locked the bike up to go inside, probably to Funway Freeway. =) When I came back out, someone had stolen the water bottle!

I'm surprised, after a quick search, to find out that Funway Freeway was a chain.

Hungry Game

Usually, I like to take my golf outing right before lunch. I find that playing after I've eaten is less satisfying, like somehow the act of digestion lessens my ability. Today, I kind of took lunch early and then played later. Seemed to work out.

As I told my dad earlier, when I stepped out of the car and onto the course, with my discs swinging lightly in my hand, it felt so good. The car had been a little stuffy and warm. There was a light breeze blowing and, oh, it just felt like heaven. (I am going to be very disappointed if there are no disc golf courses there.)

My first drive felt just about perfect ... except the aim. I ended up nearly halfway to the NEXT hole. Oops. Fortunately, my 2nd shot hit the pole, so it wasn't a loss, but a birdie.

On the whole, fairly uneventful round. I did manage one S-curve around a tree that I felt pretty good about. Those usually don't work out.

Found some weird stuff on the course today, maybe it had to do with the wind:

A broken Aerobie boomerang
Something that looked like it was a firework
A pair of plastic glasses (ooh, they must have come from the hole with the hat)
A small pair of shoes and a soccer ball sitting on top of them, forgotten by some little kid

Digest

I've played 3 times since my last post. (I feel like I'm saying a confession.) And hey, this is my 50th post about lame outings playing Disc Golf. Woohoo!

I don't remember Friday's game all that much, but I do remember that it was a nice day. I don't have any pics either, but I'm sure I had fun.

Saturday, I went down to WMH for a nice deserted course. Very little wind, but a little overcast. Not too hot, at least.

I was doing reasonably well with my Strike Team - Katana and Buzzz until I got to the third hole. On my second throw, it was a little far for an approach shot, so I threw the Katana with a modified grip to keep it from zinging past the target, and...

If it's not clear, the Katana ended up in the basket. Here's a less magnified shot so you can see how far away I was.

I let out a whoop of joy! I couldn't believe it went in! I think the elation stayed with me a long time. When I got to the 9th hole, I decided to go another half-round. When I got done with that, I thought I could probably finish out the course again, so I did that. Ended up doing 18 holes. Score!

Today (Monday), the weather report had said it would start off cold, but gradually get warmer by the end of the day. This did not pan out. I had a narrow window between meetings to go play and it was cold and windy. Temperature around 47 degrees and heavy wind gusts. I probably shouldn't have played, but shockingly (not) there was no one on the course, and there I was, so, why not?

Well, the wind; that would be a good why not. It was just ridiculous. I managed to actually hit two trees on the 2nd hole - I released poorly and it flew right into the tree there, which only tipped it and sent it more or less vertically up and then it hit the 2nd tree and dropped to the ground. On the short hole across the creek, I managed to land in the playground, which has never happened before - glad there weren't any kids there. On the tennis court hole, the wind picked it up and turned it over so that it went way right, and then nicely rolled for a ways. I told myself I should have skipped the marsh hole, but I decided to play it safe, and only risked the Buzzz when I got close. Good thing, too, because I managed to hit the railing on the bridge over the creek.

I gave up at that point because it was starting to rain/snow on me. I probably could have finished it out, as it turned out, but I really wasn't enjoying it at that point. Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be better. Not going to hold my breath for it.

Buzzing close to the pole

Another beautiful day, perfect for tossing a disc around.

This is a pic of where I was after 2 throws on the 1st hole:

(Literally, there I am.) I was worried about the 2nd hole, because my shot went a little wide to the right, but not quite into the rocky dry creek bed. But after one more shot, here I am again.

I can't say things continued swimmingly after this, but nothing too bad happened. I took along a 2nd driver with me to practice throwing sidearm. Man, I am so bad at it. The few that I got to go sort of straight and less wobbly only get about a third of the distance that I get throwing backhand. More practice needed, I guess. I have to remind myself that when I started out last summer, I was probably only getting half the distance I am now.

On a nice day, I don't care what they say

We're going to try this again, and see how it goes. I converted the MOV file from my phone to AVI and then uploaded that. From the preview pic, it looks like it's going to be sideways. Awesome. (On my phone, I could actually see the disc flying, but here, I can't. Bummer. May have to try it out with the camcorder at home.)

Absolutely perfect beautiful day on the course. This is the first time I've been able to get out since Friday and it was worth the wait. Not too much wind, plenty of sun, nobody in my way. There was even a jogger girl running around the track the opposite direction of me, so we crossed paths 3 or 4 times.

Now that it's going to be getting up to 70, though, it's a sure bet the park is going to get crowded, so I'll probably be taking more trips down to WMH. I don't know how likely this will be, but I would love to take a trip up to Taylorsville for the course there. It was a very nice course I visited last summer. Maybe I'll even give Payson another shot (grumble) Need hiking shoes for that one!

The weather has definitely lifted my mood. I love the sunny days! =)

Full of sound and fury

I think Shakespeare said it best, "All this running around is not getting you anywhere." You know how in racquetball or perhaps playing catch with a small child, it seems like you are chasing after the ball more than playing with it? That was my outing today.

It's Friday, so I drove down to WMH and played the wide open field. Wide open and plenty of room to go way, way astray. I had several drives that I thought were among my longest ever, but in not quite the direction I wanted them. This is the first time I've ever had to throw between the two trees backwards to the first basket. On the plus side, my putting was amazing today. Luck plus the new stance and a heavier disc to combat the wind all combined into a couple of really nice clinks into the chains. (And one bounce off the top. I realize there has to be something to hold the chains, but did they really have to put a guard around it?)

I had a little trouble with a tree, but not the kind where the disc gets stuck in a high branch. No, more like this kind of trouble.

(Note: I couldn't see the basket from behind the tree where the disc landed.)

I attempted a little jump to the right and throw shot, but I probably would have done just as well if I'd fallen to the ground and thrown it from there. (I've read about the jump shots. I don't think they're for me.)

I played an extra hole at the end, and the way the wind carried it way away from my intended target, I knew it was time to call it good for the day. And it was good.

Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out

I took a picture of one of the many dogs at the park today, but it didn't turn out very well, so I won't bother including it here.

Nice warm day, still a little overcast, but almost no wind, so that made for a little bit more predictable flying. No tree landings or dry creek tumbles, just some nice drives and a pleasant walk around the course. There were a LOT of people there. One dog came running up to me, sort of aggressively, but he just ran in circles around me sniffing my leg. (I wasn't concerned. He was a Benji-looking dog, maybe a foot tall at the shoulder, but probably less than that.)

There was one couple disc golfing (also with a dog, but the dog wasn't chasing the discs.) The guy was sort of scruffy looking and the woman looked a little ridiculous when throwing because she was wearing this super long black skirt, but cut like Angelina Jolie's Oscar dress. I think I may have to start a new Twitter feed: @DiscGolfGirlsRightLeg

They were polite, though, and got out of my fairway when they saw me coming - they were mostly just going back and forth between two poles.

Sigh. Have to weigh the whole proximity vs. park popularity ratio.

Location, Location, Frustration

Today was a bit overcast, so not as nice as some of the other days this week, but still warm enough for shorts. Little bit windy again, threw me off, as usual. So my throws were off.

First frustration was having one of the many school buses pull up while I was walking to my first drive shot, then having to stand there waiting for school kids to get out of my way to the hole. Next was when I somehow managed to hit the tree on the 2nd hole. Not the one directly in the middle of the fairway, but somehow, the one over to my right from the tee. I was trying to hold the disc in such a way that it curved to the left a bit more and thus, go around the middle tree. Must've been a problem with my grip for it to zip through the other tree. On the plus side, I did miss the middle tree. =P

More frustrations were to come. On the short hop over the creek, my mid-ranger got picked up by the wind and carried over to the edge of the playground, full of kids. It could have been really bad, but wasn't. On the next hole, the one with the tennis court, I decided to drive low and that worked out, except that I ended up behind the fence instead of beside it. The next hole, the marsh hole, I threw an okay drive that I thought was going to have an awesome skip, but it somehow managed to hit the only thing around - the trunk of this tree.

So, had to throw around the tree (but not into the creek or marsh) The rest of the course was okay after this.

A lot of frustrations, but I felt pretty good anyway. I was outside, doing something I enjoy, and jamming along to a Beatles playlist. When we were regularly playing Beatles Rockband, I discovered that I liked reversing the words in "Hello Goodbye", to, "You say Hello, I say goodbye. Goodbye, goodbye...." It mostly works out. "You say Go, I say Stop, stop, stooooooop!"

Ace, pt.2

I might as well start here, since it was probably the best thing to happen on the course. Purely by accident, too. The wind was a big high today, so I left the Stingray behind. My first two holes were both one over par, thanks in large part to the wind. The third hole goes over the dry-ish creek, past several trees that I usually hit. I threw the Katana lightly over, it hit the ground almost vertically and bounced up ... and hit the post. Hard to call this one a skill shot, but hey, it evened out my last 2 holes.

After this, I noticed the tennis court was full again, so I aimed quite a bit off and still managed to hit the fence and startle one of the players. My shot from there went wide (unlike the first shot) and landed in the creek. *rolls eyes* I didn't have much confidence on the marsh hole, but it ended up okay. Last few holes, the same, okay, but not outstanding. Had to 2-putt the last hole. Bleh.

I still think the Katana is awesome, though. I can't recommend the Blizzard Champion model enough. I looked at the other drivers offered, but I can't imagine any of them out-performing the Katana. My next task should be to find a good mid-range disc, or, alternatively, learn how to throw sidearm.

Monday in the Park, I think it was the 12th of March

Fun day in the park with a glorious 62 degrees! Lots of people there, but mostly moms with kids, confined to the playgrounds. I did see a couple of golfers, but they were completely on the other side of the park from me.

I would like to give a little word of thanks to Kyle at DiscGolfTraveler. I watched a couple of videos on his site to help improve my form on drives and putts, and I think it really helped with the putting. Driving, well, I think I need a little extra work on it.

Naturally, on a day like today, there would be people in the tennis court. And naturally, I would manage to drive past the tennis court and then, oops, INTO the tennis court. (No one was hurt.) After that small fiasco, I had a nice drive towards the fence dome, with a relatively easy shot over the marsh. Or, how about, into the marsh? Bleh. I released at too much of a downward angle and it skidded in. Easy to retrieve this time (smelled awful!) I take the hit and throw my 2 mid-rangers from the marsh edge. Stingray and the Buzzz, both very different styles of disc, both got picked up by the wind, landed here.

Birds of a ... feather?

Highlight of the course came on the last hole, though. I remembered the video, used a hybrid power/fan grip on the Katana, let it loose and THUNK it hit the pole right off the tee. ACE!

The highlight of my day, off the course, was receiving this fine piece of work from my co-workers. Unfortunately, HR says no keeping it at the office, violates the "no weapons" policy. \/\/ hatever!

There's a short story behind it, but it's not that exciting compared to seeing this beside my desk.

On the hilt, it says Excalibur and King Arthur. Awesome. I think my manager enjoyed swinging it around a little too much.

Small World

I went back to WMH today. The drive was nice and de-stressing - very sunny and pleasant. Having a little trouble with my drives. Turns out my Katana can't slice through trees the way a normal one might be able to. I tried a couple of times. =P

Was having a bit of trouble with it fading to the left more than usual. It's probably me not angling the throw right. Still awesome, though.

While on the course, I noticed a small party of fellow golfers throwing to baskets heading towards me (so, in other words, doing the course backwards) When I got closer, I could see that it was an older couple and a little kid, maybe 6 to 8? I met up with them at one of the baskets and it turned out they were grandparents (and grandkid) visiting from Florida (Daytona, in fact)

Perhaps when my parents come out to visit me, they will join me on the disc golf course?

Proof

This isn't related to disc golf (oh no!) but I saw this on the way to work.

I remember in Florida when it would get down to freezing at night (rare) and we'd turn a sprinkler on and put it up in a tree so that we'd have icicles in the morning. That's what's happened here - sprinklers were still on, no snow last night.

Today was fairly nice for an early Spring day. Some people say they prefer having 4 seasons, unlike Floridians, who have 2 seasons: Summer and Winter, but winter only lasts for a couple of weeks in February. Utah doesn't really seem to have a Spring, though. It has snowed in June since I've been here. (This is just wrong.) This has been such a mild winter, though, that this weather feels like Spring. Pretty sure it'll snow again before we're done, though.

Took my Dream Team of discs out today: Katana, Stingray and Buzzz. Worked out nicely, two birdies in a row, followed by a couple of nice throws on a long hole. Here's where the 2nd throw landed me on that one.

The best part of the day, though, has to be that I finally have proof I'm not crazy! (About this, at least.) Wheelchair Man paralleled my track around and he passed right in front of me while I was heading to my disc. Could he tell I was taking his picture instead of say, reading my email?

I took 2 earlier, longer-distance pics, but they were indistinct. I thought, great, just like the others.

Okay, to be fair to him, I did see him sitting on a park bench, and the wheelchair was facing away from him. But, MAYBE he was having an argument with the unseen person in the chair, and that's why... ok, maybe I am crazy after all.

Head to Head : Boss vs. Katana

Took a little road trip today down to Utah State Hospital to play the course there. Took the 2 distance drivers out, plus the roll-y Buzzz. Again, I alternated which one I threw first.

Here's how the first hole ended after 2 throws. That's the Boss in the foreground, the Katana right behind the basket.

Holy cow! The Katana outdistanced the Boss on Every.Single.Throw. There were 3 holes where I had to give the win to the Boss for accuracy, but in all three cases, it was the 2nd throw that got closer to the basket. I attribute this to not being as experienced throwing the Katana short distances.  I even managed to birdie one hole because the Katana got me so close to the basket.

There was one hole where the Boss could have won on the distance for the first throw, but it landed INSIDE the basketball court and rolled back the entire length of the court.

I was probably trying to overcompensate and not go into the tree on the one hole, because one went way left and the other went way right. The Defender appears to have been freed from the tree. I saw what looked like a couple of broken branches near where it had been, so I'm pretty sure someone picked it out with a some kind of implement (maybe a telescoping pole or something)

Katana for the win!

Smiling at everybody she sees

Yes, another super windy day. I had meetings and appointments during the good hours of the day, so I had to make do with the weather at 4:30. Not awesome. Temperature was ok, but the wind was so bad, I nearly lost my new disc somewhere that's never been a problem before.

I'm still in awe of how well the Katana works. If it hadn't been for the wind, I think I could have easily gotten 4 birdie holes. It is THAT good!

The wind made me not enjoy myself as much, though. On the marsh hole, it went high and I thought, great, another tree episode, but no, it went above the tree, picked up by the wind and then fell to the left. Just a little different angle and it would have gone over the brick-facade wall and there are VERY LOUD dogs on the other side of it. Basically, gone forever. After getting through that, I decided to cut my trip short and only do half the round, just in case.

I attempted to take a video of a drive but it's not uploading. Oh well, it's kind of difficult to see the disc at that angle anyway.



Based on the dark clouds rolling in and the wind, it's a pretty easy guess we're going to get snow or rain tonight and tomorrow. Yuck.

A katana slicing through the air

No pics today, but I wish I could have gotten some action shots.

First of all, no man with wheelchair, although I did see an older fellow (older than me) rollerblading in the park. Then, I saw something there I've never seen at the park before (or possibly ever.) A guy had a rabbit on a leash. He was cradling it when I first saw him and I thought it might be a fluffy cat. But, no, a bunny rabbit. On a leash.

Took my latest disc out for a spin today. Such a beautiful day, sunny, in the fifties (special note for a family member: I did not travel back in time) There was another group of golfers playing a little ahead of me but they were such long distance throwers I just gaped. All 3 of them threw fore-hand, which is just not something I've practiced much.

This is pretty much what mine looks like. It's a Blizzard Champion Katana (13/5/-3/3). Easily the best distance out of any of my discs so far. It is now the lightest disc I own (now that the ultralight has been treed) at 136 g. On my first two holes, it doubled my distance from the heavier discs this summer. I'm pretty sure that in a head to head with the Boss, it's going to behead the Boss. I had a couple of wimpier throws where my release was off, but most of my initial drives were just long, straight sails. I even managed one S-curve throw around a tree.

The Blizzard Champion is a new INNOVAtion where they have microbubbles of air in the plastic to give it an overall lower weight. (As mom says, like the Hershey's Air Kisses, where they charge you the same, but give you less chocolate. And fewer calories, I say!) As a bonus, any disc lighter than 150 g floats, but I hope to not have to use that feature. So far, this plastic is only available in 4 driver discs (including the Boss) but I think I'm only going to need this one. Wow.

Get my drift

Today was another chilly day, 38 degrees, little bit of wind, overcast. Most of the snow was gone, leaving behind... wet. The whole course was wet, but I think I stayed mostly dry.

There are some throws where I think, "Wow, I didn't think I could throw it that far," and I'm pleased with the results. Other times, I think, "Dang, I didn't think it would go that far!" And this is what happens:

But, hey, here's a plus: if the disc is under 150 g, it floats. (The Boss is 145 g) This came in handy because in my first attempt to pick it up, I managed to flip it farther into the water. I was able to pull it in with a stick and not fall in, but it was close at one point.

On the next hole (the marsh hole) I decided to angle to the right to avoid the tree (grrr) and I got really lousy distance (blame it on the wet disc, the wind, the rain, for fallin', fallin') I pulled out the day's experimental disc, a Skeeter (5 / 5 / -1 / 1) It was the first of my new discs this past year. Well, it was one of the first. I managed to lose my first 2 new ones to the Provo River on this same course, but one of them was a Skeeter. It generally manages a very straight flight. This one's a little on the heavy side (169 g) because I got it back when I was less informed on the weights. Anyway, I figure I can throw it for a nice straight shot at the marsh, but still land far enough back to set up a toss over it. It left my hand a little farther right than I wanted.

Several words came to mind, mostly of the four-letter unprintable kind, but one word fits best: Mulligan! The fence curves such that there's fence directly above where the disc landed. It would be impossible to throw in such a way that get me closer to the hole. I took a second shot with the Buzzz instead, and it landed reliably.

The next couple of holes went ok, but this one shot just made me laugh.

Note that there are no other bits of snow anywhere else nearby. I think this was the remains of a snowman from yesterday. OF COURSE the disc has to land in it instead of rolling towards the pole.