Team Adventures
Team members sharing some of their disc golf adventures...
Doug Werner
Doug Werner
I’ve played more professional tournament rounds against & alongside my good friend Jeff Fiedler than any one else by far. Maybe our most intense battle was in a fairly minor event, 2011’s Chuck Freedlun Memorial. Entering the final safari 9 all tied, we traded birdie bombs for 8 holes until I finally got the last one on the last hole to win by 1. It was great golf all around, with both of us old guys matching the best scores of the young guns on a long layout where the bigger arms should have the advantage.
I’ve played more professional tournament rounds against & alongside my good friend Jeff Fiedler than any one else by far. Maybe our most intense battle was in a fairly minor event, 2011’s Chuck Freedlun Memorial. Entering the final safari 9 all tied, we traded birdie bombs for 8 holes until I finally got the last one on the last hole to win by 1. It was great golf all around, with both of us old guys matching the best scores of the young guns on a long layout where the bigger arms should have the advantage.
My favorite event has been the Masters Cup for the last 5 years. I played my first golf at DeLa 20+ years ago and learned the game there, but I struggled there in tournaments for a while. For the past few years, though, I’ve played my best golf and scored my biggest wins there.
Anthony "AO" O'Malley
Checking out the Oregon Worlds courses...My favorite disc golf excursion is probably the last one I just went on. My wife surprised me with tickets to portland for 3 days where I played on all of the epic courses from Worlds. Those courses are absolutely incredible and are all in such close vicinity to each other. Portland is a truly epic disc golf excursion.
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A memorable battle...
In the Lodi doubles last year Brady and I battled with Chris Liners and Scooter for so many holes. Scooter and Chris birdied basically every hole and so did we. It was an intense battle and the only way we were able to take the box and catch up was to hit an ace (now known as the bullshit ace). In the end they held us off by 1 stroke I believe but it came down to the last few holes where Scooter used the last mulligan to stop us from tying it up. He made pretty much every putt that day.
The other battle was a battle against the elements. Played in the Birds of Paradise BYOD tourney and this year we battled 30-40mph winds and 3 inches of rain in a round that took about 7 hours. It was ridiculous playing this course that was 10k+ feet in length and huge elevation change in this crazy weather. We only ever had one good drive per hole because it was freezing, raining, muddy, and super windy. Brady and I still took down first out of 20+ teams and can now look back on it as an experience. He even wanted to leave after 8 holes because we had already fallen 3 times, had the disc fly out of our hands in the wrong direction multiple times, and had our umbrella break---but we didn't. We battled the elements and came out victorious.
The other battle was a battle against the elements. Played in the Birds of Paradise BYOD tourney and this year we battled 30-40mph winds and 3 inches of rain in a round that took about 7 hours. It was ridiculous playing this course that was 10k+ feet in length and huge elevation change in this crazy weather. We only ever had one good drive per hole because it was freezing, raining, muddy, and super windy. Brady and I still took down first out of 20+ teams and can now look back on it as an experience. He even wanted to leave after 8 holes because we had already fallen 3 times, had the disc fly out of our hands in the wrong direction multiple times, and had our umbrella break---but we didn't. We battled the elements and came out victorious.
Andrew "Scooter" Bailey
A-Game trip to Tahoe!
This year (2016) before Norcals, Rob Ryan, Chris Liners, Balt Baron, and myself took a trip to Tahoe to hit up all the courses. It was an epic multi day trip where we played all day taking in the courses and having fun as we competed!
Well, the Disc Golf vacation week in Tahoe is coming to an end. We sure made most of it, and played just about as much disc golf as we could! We ate some great food, drank some delicious local Tahoe beers, and played a ton of disc golf (our favorite thing). 4 days, 171 holes, 7 different courses, 8 rounds! Bijou DGC (27(x2)) Scooter won -7, Zephyr Cove DGC (18) Rob won -3, Turtle Rock DGC (18) Rob won -8, Indian Hills DGC (18) Rob won -14, Incline Village DGC (27) Scooter/Chris tie -4, Truckee DGC (18) Scooter/Chris tie -6, Sierra College DGC (18) Scooter won -7... We skipped Tahoe Vista DGC due to the course being covered in bees at the moment, other than that we hit every course around the lake and then some. Myself and Rob are allergic to bees, and he was stung twice - once at Tahoe Vista last weekend during a tournament, and once on top of Round Hill (1000ft elevated hike for beautiful views of Lake Tahoe). Lots of great drives were put out there, awesome upshots to save birdies/pars/bogeys, and huge putts were made this week by all. I managed to pick up two Eagles this weekend, one being an Ace! For anyone that hasn't played all of the courses around Tahoe, do yourselves a favor and get up here and enjoy this beauty either before all the snow hits, or next year!
Enjoy these photos, in no particular order! Chris Liners, Balt Barr, Robert Ryan.
Enjoy these photos, in no particular order! Chris Liners, Balt Barr, Robert Ryan.
Stevo Henkis
One of my best memories of a disc golf battle was at the End of the trail Classic 2010 A-tier with a Advanced field of 40 players. I had a four-stroke lead going into a final 9 round, I believe it was the fourth hole, Josh Taylor hit a hole-in-one. Instantly I felt that sick feeling you get when you get punched in the stomach, like wow, I can't believe he just did that. Stepping up to the tee pad knowing that he just hit a hole-in-one, I thought to myself, "time to put your big boy pants on!" Well, I got a little too big and threw right into a tree O.B about 80ft left of the basket and then two putted from there to get a five on a hole that just got aced. Four stoke lead gone in the blink of an eye. But luckily I had some good friends around to help me through that roller coaster ride of emotions (Jenifer Umstead, TJ Goodwin, Andy Parkison) to get the victory by a 1 stroke.
Eric Stachnick |
Hitting the Sierra Tahoe Series
A few years back, Manuel Fernandez, Cris-t-luv, Bill Sherman, Jef Wind, Jason Hilbert and myself drove up to Tahoe for a weekend of competition and to check out the new courses (most designed by Craig Getty). I fell in love with Markleeville, and Tahoe Vista, which only added to the amazing list of courses already up there. I have made the trek over the last few years to play tourneys up there and this year I made most of the Sierra Tahoe Series. You never know what you will get weather wise as surprise storms blow in and dump snow. Its common to wake to a fresh foot of snow in the morning with the temp in the 20's, then have it warm to mid 60's by the afternoon and have the snow melt before we get home for the day. One of the highlights of the series for me this year was camping at Marleeville with Mike Loya. I had the fortune of playing on a card with him back in 2001 at the SF Safari, even though he was a pro and I was just a new intermediate player, I made a few long putts in the round and he was so gracious and complementary. Some people that you get to play with are not only terrific players, but they create an atmosphere so inviting that you play better in their presence. Loya is one of those guys! Everything is a competition with him and that only makes for non stop games, challenges and fun! While camping (the course surrounds the camp ground) before and after the rounds we had putting games, suzzie sticks, CTP games and tons of bonding. The whole series was full of great competition, tight battles, and the joy of playing with great friends!
This season my best battle came at Sierra College against Thomas Witt. Thomas just hit 40 this fall and that makes him a young gun in the masters division I have enjoyed for the last 4 seasons. He is a terrific golfer with a killer putt, amazing side arm and clean overall game. Sierra is a very tight challenging course known for tree lined fairways and skinny windows to the hole. After the first round I had a stroke lead, but after the second round I was down by 3. I remember being upset that a missed 3 putts that I felt I should have made, but then balanced by admitting that I made 2 ridiculous putts that should not have gone in. The third round started rough and I soon found myself 5 strokes back. A combination of cleaner shots by me and some unfortunate trouble for Thomas came with about 7 holes left. I started chipping away at his lead and nailed a 45 foot putt to tie it with 3 holes to go. My putt for bird spit out on the second to last hole, so we remained tied coming to the last hole. Hole 3 at Sierra is an uphill par 4 with trees in the middle of the fairway half way to the hole and trees 20 feet from the basket creating 2 skinny holes to approach the chains. One being about 8 feet wide and the other about 12 feet wide. We both hit trees off the tee and I had to waist a stroke to toss back to the middle of the fairway. In the second round I tried to lace my approach to the basket hitting the 8 foot gap to the basket. I missed and hit a tree knocking me back down the hill. On the first day I hit the 50 foot uphill putt! This time, again I choose the skinny hole on my approach, but I hopped to throw low and slide up the hill to the basket. Again the stability of Tahoe pulled my disc into the tree between the gaps! Now I'm looking at a 60 foot shot to the basket. If I hit it we tie and go to a playoff. Its nearly the same shot I made the day before. This time the putter hits the chains but falls out on the left! I love this game, being in the hunt, and nearly pulling off the comeback win! Next time!