2013 Loriella Challenge

The 2013 Loriella Challenge weekend has come & gone. I wish I could have done better but I did finish better than last year. This was my first year in GrandMasters division. There 7 in my group. My morning round went alright only 2 bad scores. If I had kept it under control I should have had a 59 or better.

When it was all said & done I was in 3rd only a few strokes off the lead. Then the second round happened. Just when I think I have had my worst round ever I promptly beat that worst score. I'm not going to get in to too much detail. I started this round on #3 and disaster ensued. That 7 put me in a hole that I never came out of. I did get within a few strokes of the other guys on my card but eventually It was an all time high score for me on that course set up.

It wasn't all bad I was able to finish 5th out of seven. I finished dead last of all scores last year.

For all the scores and winners....  Loriella Challenge Ams


Sunday was the Pro day and I stopped by to take some pics of the action....

Brian Schweberger (waving at you) won his 6th straight Loriella Challenge Open Division title. To see all the scores & winners....

Loriella Challenge Pros

Loriella Challenge Pros Pics

Another Day... Another Dye

Keeping with the theme lately I dyed a Star Dart putter with the club logo...

 

This Saturday the Loriella Challenge will be my first tourney as an Advanced Grandmaster. I'm spending an hour a day this week in the back yard practicing my putting.  Last weekend I played a mock tourney with Austin and my scores were not good. But I'm going to up my goals and finish in the top half.

Promoting the Club

Since getting back in to disc golf I have met a great bunch of people. The members of the Spotsy Disc Golf Club. They have made playing DG fun again and encouraged me to start tournament play again.

I might not be the best DG'er in the club but I can bring a solid skill set. My contribution to the club is photographing events & players, dying trophy discs and designing graphics.

I took the club logo and updated it and made some stickers. To give to club members. The pic is about the actual size of the sticker. Which isn't bad but it's hard to see stuck on the back of your car.

It was bugging me how to get a big logo sticker until I realize I could cut one out using the same skills I use to dye discs. I took the art and cleaned it up for a line art file and enlarged it to 14" in diameter.

It took me about eight hours to cut the design out of a sheet of Orcal 631 white sign vinyl. But it was worth it.

You can easily see this if you're behind me....

Winter Round

The Spotsy Super Doubles is next week so I went out today to get some practice in. It was cool and overcast but not too cold. The snow had pretty much melted and was not too big an issue. Except on the tee pads, the snow made them super slick.

Disc Golf & Chili...

The Loriella Charity Disc Golf & Chili Cook-Off was a great success. Forty DG'ers from as far away as Maryland. NOVA, Richmond, Newport News & North Carolina. We collected about 150 cans of food and $200 for the Rappahannock Area Food Bank.

The forecast was supposed to be clouds & sun with it reaching about 65°. In reality a thick fog settled in on the area and kept it cold and damp all day long. But it didn't matter. For the first time #12 was an Island Hole. A 40' circle surrounded #12 basket and if you didn't make it in you were teeing off a second shot at 3. If you miss the second tee shot you had to go to the drop zone just outside the island for a 6. Miss that shot & you're putting for a 7. So 12 could be a disaster.

The morning round I was playing great. I was hitting the fairways not getting in to trouble. I didn't throw one bad shot off the tee pad and didn't make any stupid mistakes.  My putter was on target and I was hitting 30' - 40' putts easily.

On hole 12 I threw a straight champ sidewinder (Pictured Here) right at the basket for an easy drop in birdie. I finished the round at 56 (+2). My best Loriella round in a tournament.

The afternoon round didn't go as well. My drives and upshots were fine but I proceeded to 2 & 3 putt just about every hole. Nothing sucks worse than driving a tee shot 20' from the basket and ending up scoring a bogey because I all of a sudden can't hit a putt.

I ended up exploding with a 70 (+16). About 10 of those strokes were extra putts after misses. It was so bad it was beginning to get funny. The other guys on the card couldn't believe I was missing so bad on just about every putt over 20'.

But it was a fun day and I was able to hold on for 5th. I would have finished second if I had just been able to hit my putts. I guess I just got too tired that second round.

Blast From My Past

1991 I designed my first hot stamp. I designed a Florida Disc Golf Association for Bob Lewis. I was FDGA member #86. I don't remember how many were made but before I could get one they were all sold out. Which really bummed me.

I did get a few of the minis and saved them in my collection.

Fast forward 22 years...

When the Maryland vs. Virginia Ice Bowl was over there was a bin of old plastic for sale and one of the first discs I pick up is a never thrown DX Aviar putter with my design on it. I made this design on a MAC IIsi with Illustrator 1.0. Now I have a disc to go with my mini for my collection.

Maryland vs Virginia Ice Bowl Battle IV

Got a ride up with some Spotsy DG club friends to Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg, MD for day one of the Maryland vs Virginia Ice Bowl Battle IV.

I did ok, Finished middle of the pack for my group. If I had not started off so badly I might have made top 5. But I had fun and played a new course. We raised $1,750.00 for the local food bank.

Tomorrow is Day two at Giles Run DGC in Lorton, Va. I'm going to have to skip it though.

New Putter Dye...

It's been a while since I have dyed any new plastic. I got some new Star Dart putters. I wanted to stay with Keep Calm theme but make it different.

This is what I came up with...

Nothing is more aggravating than putting low and hitting the basket. Especially when it's a birdie putt.

Great Way to Start the Year

Austin and I traveled south to Richmond and teamed up to play the Hangover Dubs Tournament. at Gillies Creek Park.

The morning round we both played good. I was even able to contribute 3 solid tee shots for birdies. We  had no bogeys and were both hitting our putts. I even hit a high sweeping hyzer putt from about 45' to save the birdie.

We ended up at 9 under par. One stroke ahead of the second place team, Allen & Patrick.

The second round didn't go as well in the beginning. We weren't hitting our drives as well and had to make a couple of long putts to either get the birdie or save par. We did have a couple of missteps. On 18 we both gacked our tee shots but Austin made an amazing shot out of the woods to save par. By the middle of the round we were 2 shots behind. Allen & Patrick were really hitting some shots. If one missed the drive the other ended up parking his tee shot for the deuce.

We slowly battled back and with two holes left we were one behind for the round and tied for the lead. On the last hole I throw a low straight shot that skips up about 12' short of the basket. Austin go for the chains and over shoots. The other team's best shot was about 20' behind the basket on a slight uphill grade. They had been making some great putts all day and all they had to do was hit this one to stay tied for the lead. First putt misses wide and the second putt hits the basket. I hit the birdie to tie the round at -6 and a one stroke win finishing at 15 under.

Allen & Patrick played great all day. They were right there all day long and were a fun team to play against.

We won some sweet Prodiscus discs and custom engraved beer glasses. For the first time playing this course I played way above my usual self and hit several great tee shots and long putts.

New Backpack

My current Cabella's backpack is in good shape I decided it was time to get a backpack that was specifically designed for disc golf.

I ended up getting a Grip EQ large backpack in all black.

The first thing I had to do was put some patches on it to customize it a little.

The patch with my name I had made at a local embroidery shop. The black & grey flag patch was chosen to fit in with the all black bag.

I had to put my Towlie patch on the towel pocket...

The Grip bag seems to be very well made. Instead of PVC tubing to frame the bag sheets of rigid plastic are built in to the bag to keep it's shape. the back of the bag forms to your back making it a very easy back pack to wear.

It is a very comfortable backpack. I have about 18 discs in the main compartment and there is room for a few more. The putter pocket up top has room for a few discs and the side pockets have plenty of space. The front storage pocket has just enough room for my keys (there is a clip for them) my glucose meter & wallet.


I'm keeping my Cabella's back pack as a back-up (that bag is a great economical alternative to the Grip bag)

 The Grip will be my primary backpack now. I highly recommend this backpack to anyone who is looking for a top of the line disc golf backpack.

Turkey Day Doubles

I got up early this morning to play a Thanksgiving day round at Loriella with Austin, Justin & Tim. The weather couldn't have been better. We ended up playing double. Me & Austin vs. Justin & Tim.

Justin & Tim ended up -10 and Austin & I ended up -8. Austin was hitting the drives and I was hitting the putts to keep it close.

Austin throwin' a 450' shot...

The Season is Over...

Winter is finally setting in. I'm still playing but the tournament season is done for 2012. It had been more than 20 years since I had played in tournaments. Bowling Green Open in 1994 and not much has changed.

I played in 7 events this year and finished at the bottom or dead last in my division 6 times. The only exception was the Battlefield Open in Richmond where I finished 12th out of 26 players in intermediate. That was a bid day for me. It was the first time I had ever finished in the prizes in a PDGA sanctioned event. My prize? Three Crystal Z Buzzzes.

My worst tournament had to have been the last two. In Advanced Masters at the Winchester IFO I was had a terrible first round but the second round was going much better and with 2 holes left I was beating my morning round by 5 strokes. Unfortunately for me I had a 6 & 4 to finished the round and finished with the exact same score. I finished last and the kicker was a real nice guy who has been only playing for about a year and in his first tournament finished ahead of me because of the end of the round blow up.

The exact same thing happened again last weekend at the Fall Colors at Newport News DGC. I had an average morning round (I was still in last place) But my afternoon round was going so much better until with 4 holes left I decided to fuck it all up and finish with the same score as my morning round and put a choke hold on that last position.

I have decided that next year I am going to be in the Advanced Grand Masters division and will be semi-retired from tournaments and play in local tournamnets only. I can finish last locally. I don't need to drive 150-200 miles to finish last anymore.

On a better note I finished my latest dye last night. I have been wanting to do this one for a long time...

All Hail the Disc!

I make no bones about my political ideals. I also believe that President Obama is one of those once in a lifetime historical figures that is at the right place, at the right time. I had been wanting to do an Obama dye for a long time and when I got my hands on a Glow Leopard I didn't waste any time.

The red got under the mask and messed up the blue a little but some of the guys that have seen it say it's a cool effect. Leopards are my favorite discs but I haven't decided if I'm going to put this one in my bag  or hang it on the wall. I might try it again and if I can keep the colors from bleeding I'll hang that one up.

Bored at work = evental disc dye

A few nights ago I was bored at work and started tinkering around with the Spotsy DGC logo to see if I could update it.

This is what I ended up with...

I think I did okay. Later that night I figured it would make a pretty good disc dye and after about an hour of cutting I ended up with this on my old 166 Discraft Glide....

It turned out a lot better than I thought it would considering it was a beat up disc. There were some bleeds but not too bad. The outer edge is not as dark as it looks in the pic.

Pretty Good Disc Golf Day

Today I drove up to Lancaster Park in Maryland for Jerry's Ace Race. An Ace Race is an event sponsored by Discraft. You get two proto type discs and the holes are shortened from 75'-200'. You don't keep score in a conventional way. You get one throw per hole and either you hit an Ace or any metal part of the basket. The player after two rounds with the most Aces or metal hits wins. Jerry set his event up a little different. Instead of two rounds each group will play each hole twice.

The disc this year were very good for me. They were very Leopard like and I throw Leopards all the time. So for about 30 minutes before the start time I go out and throw some practice shots and right off the bat I hit an Ace on hole #1.

My group started on #1 and my first throw I hit the chains solid but it doesn't stick. I have several close calls but I don't hit metal again until hole 9. My next good shot was on #12 when I hit the CTP. By this time I have 2 metal hits and Sean has 1 metal hit. So far no one has hit an Ace and only a few have hit metal.

We get to #17 and I throw a straight shot and it hits the middle of the basket about an inch too low. So now I have 3 metal hits and feeling pretty good. There are only a few holes left for everyone. Sean says as we walk back to #17 tee pad for our second throw "I'll have to hit an Ace to beat your 3 metal hits".

He steps up to the tee pad and immediately throws a straight shot hard in to the chains for an Ace.

So now my 3 metal hits have turned from probable lead to out of it with just 2 throws left on 18. Here's where the really strange happens. As we walk to 18 I'm looking back and see a disc hit #17 for an Ace from the group directly behind ours.

I miss my last 2 shots and Sean's 1 Ace & his 1 metal hit breaks the 1 Ace tie and he takes the win. I end up tied for third with 3 metal hits and win the CTP on #12.

After the lunch break Jerry had a "One & Done" round. This is where you pick 1 disc from your bag for the entire round. I chose my Champ Leopard and ended up 4th  in the Intermediate group cashing $9 and won $15 for Intermediate CTP.

It was a good day for me...

Hawk Hollow Open - Ams

Today was the Ams turn at Hawk Hollow. Two roundsof disc golf in perfect weather. 

 

The light was ideal combined with the fall colors. To see all the pics click the link...

Hawk Hollow Ams - 220 images

Hawk Hollow Open

The pros came to Hawk Hollow to play some Disc Golf and my contribution was to take pics of the players in action.

 

The hot pepper eatin' contest was insane!

It was absolutely perfect weather all weekend. Clear blue skies, cool temps and a slight breeze.

For all the pics click the link...

2012 Hawk Hollow Slide Show

Hawk Hollow Open

Well it's that time of year again. Time for the Hawk Hollow Open AM & Pro tournaments. I thought about playing in the AM event this year but decided that it would be easier on my  ankles to just help out the TD and shoot some pics of the action.

One thing I was able to do was dye the tourney trophy discs. The first one I did was for the Hot Pepper eating contest that is held during the Pro weekend. John Biscoe grows them on his farm so they are fresh and juicy. These guys have to eat several varieties of hot peppers from Jalapenos to the Moruga Scorpion. I had to look that one up on Wikipedia and according to that source....

"The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (Capsicum chinense), endemic to the district of Moruga in Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the world's hottest Chili pepper cultivar. The New Mexico State University's Chili Pepper Institute has identified the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion as the newest hottest chili pepper in the world as of February 2012.^[1][2] According to the New Mexico State University Chile Institute, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion ranks as high as 2,009,231 SHU on the Scoville scale, making it the hottest chili pepper in the world to date.^[3] "

Whoever wins will get this disc...

I also did the division winners for this weekends AM event...

  
 

DGCR Mid-Atlantic Meet

This weekend 30 DGCR members converged on Hawk Hollow for a weekend of disc golf. The weather couldn't have been any better. Clear blue skies and fair temps made the event.

2012 DGCR Hawk Hollow Mid-Atlantic Meet Slide Show

It was a great weekend. Lots of disc golf, good food and perfect disc golf weather.

New Improved Putter

Altitude DG is going out of business and all of their plastic is 1/2 price. I was able to find an orange 165 Champion Dart and decided to try and improve my first putter dye.

This could be my best dye as far as cutting the mask clean and very minimum bleeds.

Do a Little Dye, Play a Little Golf

I've been sick with a cold all week. It's been especially sucky considering this week the heat of Summer has been broken by the coming fall. I couldn't resist playing some morning rounds.

Today I woke up late and got started on finishing up my latest dye for a friend that is starting her disc golf journeys.

I ripped off the the girl from Greenday's "Kerplunk" album to pull this one off.

Afternoon was looking sweet for a round so I headed out to Loriella and as I walked up to the first tee Chris, his brother Dave, Randy and their friends were there so we played teams. 

This was one of my best rounds ever. Parked birdie shots on #1, #2 & #7. Hit a 75' laser shot on #8 for birdie. Hit several 30'-40' putts and after 16 we were tied with Randy's team at 3 under.

Randy Parked the tee shot and I was about 30' out and hit the putt to keep up at -4. 

Randy threw another good tee shot on 18 and was about 15' out. Dave's drive had us out about 25'. Dave missed but I was able to hit the putt to keep us at 5 under.

The tie breaker was a tee shot from 18's basket to #1's basket and again Randy teed up a great shot. My partner Dave went long & I wasn't too bad about 20' out but we both missed the putt and Randy was able to put it away.

But it was a great round for me. A lot of great drives, some great upshots & really good putting.

Multi-Color 2nd Attempt

My new 134 Champion Blizzard Katana needed a samurai theme so I went to my favorite subject. Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie T. Head.

I figured with my Champion Cobra if I called you a loser but Mickey had a smile that would be OK.

Multi-Color Disc Dyes

It's been a while since I have posted anything. I did play in two tournaments. Did about the usual and didn't get in the prizes but I had fun.

The DGCR Hawk Hollow meet is coming up in 2 weeks and my contribution to the prize pool was to dye the trophy discs for Jerry. these were my first attempt at doing multiple colors.

They didn't turn out too bad for a first multi-color attempt.