During the summer of 2008 my friend Patrick Fulkerson said “Hey Narf, Let’s to play some discgolf” and the rest as they say is history.
My discgolf career(not sure career is appropriate but let’s go with it for now) started pretty slowly and was pretty much dominated by Patrick’s desire to wring every last drop of fun from the sport. My motivation was a bit more slow to come along. I remember quite clearly my first investment in discs. A trip to Meijer netted me what I now know to be some of the cheapest, crappiest flying discs you could possibly imagine. The first round I ever played with Patrick, my brother and a couple of other local recruits took place on the grounds of my alma matter Michigan State University. It’s not the first round I remember though. I’m not sure why I draw a complete blank on that but others insist that that is where we popped our cherries. The first round that I clearly remember actually took place on one of the funnest courses in Mid-Michigan, Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge. The course meanders through the park and alongside some cliffs that I’m convinced suck discs towards themselves. This means you get to carefully crawl down into the ravine after your plastic hoping not to die a horrible crashy tumbly death. Or you can walk the long way around to the path that leads along the base of the cliffs but that route takes much longer than falling off a cliff and scrambling back up grasping at tree roots and jutting rocks. I remember climbing up and down those cliffs after my drives and trying desperately to chuck them back up to the fairway(this was before we discovered the rules covering out of bounds). Fitz also has more than it’s share of trees. I hit as many as I could as we found our way around the course and by the end of the round my discs were gouged and warped and didn’t much resemble the Frisbees they started out as. I knew then that if I was to continue this hobby I would need to invest in some higher quality discs.
The first real discs(discs of quality) that I purchased were chosen strictly on the basis of cool names and pictures. Since I had no idea that stability, etc. mattered or even that they existed I bought my first driver based on it’s color and the picture on the top. It was a bright orange Dragon. Now everyone knows that dragons are not only expert flyers but also kick all kinds of ass. Clearly this was the disc for me. I then picked up a mid-range that was bright yellow and had what looked like a super hero stamp. At the time I was convinced that the super hero was named Mr. X like Dr. Xavier from the x-men. Now that I know better I realize the Mr. X was actually a “Mid Range of the X-Plastic” variety. I threw these two almost exclusively for quite some time until I finally got around to picking up a putter and another driver. I chose a Super Soft Omega to putt with and my second driver was also chosen based on it’s super hero cred. Flash!!
It wasn’t long before our fearless leader decided we were ready to test our mettle against other local talent. We were tournament bound. Our first foray into the world of DG tournaments took place in Potterville Michigan during the Gizzard-Festival. The course was fairly new and kind our rugged but with plenty of potential. We entered ourselves into the 5-10 disc doubles challenge. Basically the way this tournament worked was as follows. Teams of 2 players would pick either 5 or 10 discs between them and use only those discs in a “Partners Best” format. My Brother David and I were one team and Patrick played with another friend, Pete Christianson. Patrick almost had to leave before it even began because it turns out a dog was gnawing on his new babies face while we were standing in line to register for the tournament. That is another story and one I am not going to get into right now. Anyway, my Brother and I pooled all our discs and had exactly 10. I had the four I’ve already mentioned and Dave had 6 in his collection. We played pretty well(for us) and it wasn’t long after that we started trying harder, getting better, and entering more tournaments.
Since that time I have expanded and honed my collection. I only throw Discraft Brand discs these days. It's really a personal choice. While other manufacturers do make good products I went with this company because it's Michigan based. It's the same reason I buy Michigan apples when I go to the grocery instead of the Washington ones. I like to support local businesses whenever possible.
Eventually we joined the Charlotte Disc Golf Association. It’s a small club that is trying to grow. It’s got it’s share of ups and downs and even a bit of drama but that is not unusual for any club, gang, organization. For the most part I really like the people and have a great time at league play and casual rounds. The CDGA hosts a couple of tournaments each year and I’ve done a little taping of those events. I have also shot some other CDGA stuff and so without further ado I am going to post some of the video’s. I have plans to tape some other DiscGolf stuff in the future. Once that happens it will end up here as well.
Just click on the pictures below to get whisked off to the youtube page where each video lives (:
I also have a FB Photo Album for the 2010 Lincoln Logs: "CLICK HERE"
And 2010 Discraft Ace Race pics here "CLICK HERE"
My discgolf career(not sure career is appropriate but let’s go with it for now) started pretty slowly and was pretty much dominated by Patrick’s desire to wring every last drop of fun from the sport. My motivation was a bit more slow to come along. I remember quite clearly my first investment in discs. A trip to Meijer netted me what I now know to be some of the cheapest, crappiest flying discs you could possibly imagine. The first round I ever played with Patrick, my brother and a couple of other local recruits took place on the grounds of my alma matter Michigan State University. It’s not the first round I remember though. I’m not sure why I draw a complete blank on that but others insist that that is where we popped our cherries. The first round that I clearly remember actually took place on one of the funnest courses in Mid-Michigan, Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge. The course meanders through the park and alongside some cliffs that I’m convinced suck discs towards themselves. This means you get to carefully crawl down into the ravine after your plastic hoping not to die a horrible crashy tumbly death. Or you can walk the long way around to the path that leads along the base of the cliffs but that route takes much longer than falling off a cliff and scrambling back up grasping at tree roots and jutting rocks. I remember climbing up and down those cliffs after my drives and trying desperately to chuck them back up to the fairway(this was before we discovered the rules covering out of bounds). Fitz also has more than it’s share of trees. I hit as many as I could as we found our way around the course and by the end of the round my discs were gouged and warped and didn’t much resemble the Frisbees they started out as. I knew then that if I was to continue this hobby I would need to invest in some higher quality discs.
The first real discs(discs of quality) that I purchased were chosen strictly on the basis of cool names and pictures. Since I had no idea that stability, etc. mattered or even that they existed I bought my first driver based on it’s color and the picture on the top. It was a bright orange Dragon. Now everyone knows that dragons are not only expert flyers but also kick all kinds of ass. Clearly this was the disc for me. I then picked up a mid-range that was bright yellow and had what looked like a super hero stamp. At the time I was convinced that the super hero was named Mr. X like Dr. Xavier from the x-men. Now that I know better I realize the Mr. X was actually a “Mid Range of the X-Plastic” variety. I threw these two almost exclusively for quite some time until I finally got around to picking up a putter and another driver. I chose a Super Soft Omega to putt with and my second driver was also chosen based on it’s super hero cred. Flash!!
It wasn’t long before our fearless leader decided we were ready to test our mettle against other local talent. We were tournament bound. Our first foray into the world of DG tournaments took place in Potterville Michigan during the Gizzard-Festival. The course was fairly new and kind our rugged but with plenty of potential. We entered ourselves into the 5-10 disc doubles challenge. Basically the way this tournament worked was as follows. Teams of 2 players would pick either 5 or 10 discs between them and use only those discs in a “Partners Best” format. My Brother David and I were one team and Patrick played with another friend, Pete Christianson. Patrick almost had to leave before it even began because it turns out a dog was gnawing on his new babies face while we were standing in line to register for the tournament. That is another story and one I am not going to get into right now. Anyway, my Brother and I pooled all our discs and had exactly 10. I had the four I’ve already mentioned and Dave had 6 in his collection. We played pretty well(for us) and it wasn’t long after that we started trying harder, getting better, and entering more tournaments.
Since that time I have expanded and honed my collection. I only throw Discraft Brand discs these days. It's really a personal choice. While other manufacturers do make good products I went with this company because it's Michigan based. It's the same reason I buy Michigan apples when I go to the grocery instead of the Washington ones. I like to support local businesses whenever possible.
Eventually we joined the Charlotte Disc Golf Association. It’s a small club that is trying to grow. It’s got it’s share of ups and downs and even a bit of drama but that is not unusual for any club, gang, organization. For the most part I really like the people and have a great time at league play and casual rounds. The CDGA hosts a couple of tournaments each year and I’ve done a little taping of those events. I have also shot some other CDGA stuff and so without further ado I am going to post some of the video’s. I have plans to tape some other DiscGolf stuff in the future. Once that happens it will end up here as well.
Just click on the pictures below to get whisked off to the youtube page where each video lives (:
I also have a FB Photo Album for the 2010 Lincoln Logs: "CLICK HERE"
And 2010 Discraft Ace Race pics here "CLICK HERE"