Building a Course...

A few weeks ago in a bored spell at work I wrote a random e-mail to the Wilderness Presidential Resort about the possibility of expanding their disc golf course. Wilderness is a private camping complex that happens to have a 9-hole course.

My intentions were to ask if they would be interested in expanding and improving their disc golf course and opening it up for a pay to play course. I had heard that the course was open only to members of the resort so I expected no response to my initial inquiry.

Surprisingly within a few days I received a reply that they were interested my idea and wanted me to come look at what they have and the potential for building a championship course. I put the word out and John Biscoe contacted me that he was very interested in meeting with the Wilderness person that contacted me. It was a very good meeting and they seemed very interested in the idea of building a championship course that would be open for non-members to pay to play.

Today John & I went out to Wilderness to see what they had and the potential for building a new course.

Their 9-hole course is situated on an open area of changing elevation on a beautiful lake. We played the course that was there it was simple & fun built for people who have never played before. But it wasn't a bad set up and there is a lot of possibilities to expand and improve the course. Including a small island about 50' off the shore of the lake that would make a really cool signature hole.


I've never built a course and John seemed very interested in taking on this project. I am just looking to assist John any way I can to learn as much as I can. It's in the very early stages and the next objective is to get a map of the land available and come up with a rough idea of the possible layout of 18 holes.

Updates will come...

First Ride of 2014

My truck is giving me some problems and went to the shop for repairs and it's to Plan-B for transportation...

I really don't mind Plan-B that much...

I had heard of a charity ride for a local lady that had been shot while working at a Spotsy convenience store. The weather was sunny cool in the morning but warmed up nice.

It was a really good turnout, about 350-400 bikes showed up to donate $10. The ride was escorted by Spotsy Sheriffs through the back roads of the county coming out on Rt. 20 in Locust Grove.

SOMD Classic

It was a cold and stormy day...

My last official PDGA event has passed...

I went up to Lancaster Park, MD for the Southern Maryland Disc Golf's inaugural Classic. My friend Jerry Honis was going to TD the first PDGA tournament at Hot Shots DGC. So I signed up. I was planning to drop out after my disaster of a Loriella Challenge appearance but I couldn't let Jerry down.

The weather was pretty bad. Cold, windy & wet. But I traveled up there anyway. I wasn't planning on doing very well and after the first round from the long tees. I ended up having a lot of fun the first round.

 I was only 4 strokes off the lead with the short tees for the second round.

Then during the break I tried to warm up in my truck and took some pain meds and IcyHot on my back to try and get ready for the next round. By the time I got to my second round tart tee by back was just about locked up. I went double circle 7, circle 6, double bogey and bogey after my first 4 holes. That put me at 10 over after 4 holes. I decided to go ahead and drop out and head home. My back was killing me and there was no hope of salvaging the round.

It was a the typical epic fail of a tournament that was fitting of my last event.

My Best Buddy Died today...

Jessie died today after his long fight with an enlarged liver that made it hard for him to breathe. He was a great dog that sometimes wouldn't ever stop barking when visitors arrived at the house.

When my sister was a manager at Taco Bell she found him as a pup in the parking lot and brought him home. Even though he was a family dog he was Tammy's dog. When ever she was home he would shadow her every move and sleep in her room.  We gave him about 12 years of good living. Sis nursed him and stayed by his side constantly his last month.

He loved to play even up to his last day. He was a touchy feely kind of dog, Always needing to be either laying next to or on some part of you.

He was a lot of fun too. Give him a squeaky plush toy and he would play for hours. He would go to his pile of toys and pull different ones out depending on his mood.

Every Christmas we would wrap a new toy for him and let him do the rest. He always looked for new toys when Sis brought home Pet Smart bags.

His favorite activity was playing fetch. He was one of the fastest dogs I have ever seen. He would play fetch until he was exhausted.

I miss him so much. I don't believe I can have another dog. Going through this hurt way too much.

Virginia Team Invitational

The 2014 VTI is in the books and Team UniTTy from North Carolina are the Champs. Team captain Brian "Schwebby" Schwebeger holds the Champions VTI Milk Jug.

It was a fun but exhausting weekend. I saw a lot of great disc golf from some of the best players on the east coast.

Team Greenville's Jon Mills recruited the other team captains to bring VTI host John Biscoe a new custom painted Discatcher for the course.

For a recap of the weekends action & scores go to the Spotsy Disc Golf Club web page.

2014 VTI Slide Show

Orlando and Some Disc Golf

My Dad died March 4th and I prepared for the drive to Orlando for the funeral I debated on whether or not to bring my discs. I decided to bring them in the chance I would get to play. 

I spent all day Saturday driving the 800 miles to Central Florida and after getting to my place and getting some dinner I began to get sick. The worst flu/cold/sore throat I have had in years.

Sunday morning I wasn't feeling to bad and I wasn't expected to visit with family until later that evening. I decided to stop by my old home course and say hello to anyone that I might know. It had been 14 years since played a round there.

I show up and luckily my first DG mentor Bob Lewis was setting up his pro shop that is next to the course. I bought my first discs and DG bag from the back of his van at Barnett Park. (I still have them) But Bob has grown the local scene so much. He now has a great selection of plastic, bags and drinks & snacks. 

To my surprise I was still on the club roster (FDGA#86) and I had 6 strokes coming my way is I wanted to play in the Sunday Handicap.

The last handicap I played about 10 showed up at the picnic table next to the practice basket. Now there were about 40 players there. As I was wandering through the crowd I spotted a couple in "Too Many Days in May" shirts.

I thought it might be some locals that had made it up to the Blockhouse but it was Steven Greatsinger and Kelly Clegg from Bayville.  They had just happened to be in the area on vacation and came by and joined in on the handicap.

For being sick and not played this course for 14 years I did pretty good. My 57 ended up being a 51 with my 6 stroke handicap and I ended up in an 8 way tie for second.

During the playoff the warm sunny weather finally caught up with me and I was pretty sluggish and ended up finishing 6th. I grip locked my tee shot off the second hole and pretty much took me out of it.

But it was a good day and it took my mind off my Dad for a few hours.

Betty Queen Open

My first event of 2014 was at the 9 hole Betty Queen DGC. The format was 2 rounds of 18. Each round was first 9 from the short tees and second 9 from the longs.

Tee shot on 1 short

The morning round started out good. I birdied a few of the first 9 and was holding below 60 with 3 holes to go. That's when everything went to shit. By the time it was over I scored 71. It was partly my fault after the second bad hole my "Give a Fuck" meter was red lining.

During the break we ate some delicious soups for the BQO Soup Contest.

The second round went much better. I was surprised I did as well as I did. Mike kept trying to cheer me up with encouragements but I really wasn't in the mood. Before it was over I had the best score on the card. It was the first time I had a better score than Jeff during an event.

Those last three holes of the first round really cost me big. I could have possibly won my division if I had kept my shit together. But I did improve my score by 12 strokes on the second round.

And I did tie for the best soup with my Papaw's Butter Bean & Ham soup recipe.

Inaugural Betty Queen Open PDGA Scores

Had Some Fun This Morning...

I discussed religion with 2 Jehovah Witnesses Mike and Tom....

Tom's opening remark..."Do you believe that with the events in the world that the end is coming?"

I respond... "Actually as an Atheist I believe that in the future man will over come their religious beliefs and difference that have caused just about every war in human history."

What followed was a 30 minute attempt by me to get them to denounce God. 

I almost got them when they started their "God has a plan". I rebutted with "If God has a plan then your argument of Free Will is null and void." 

That's when they started looking for a way to end the visit. But they were friendly and nice and I think I challenged them. Especially when I remarked. "Maybe there is a God and his plan was to bring you to me so I could test your faith. Maybe God's plan was to make me an Atheist."

You could see them thinking about that one for a moment.

I scared them the most when I argued...

Why would you pray to a God for help with a problem when it was that God that gave you the problem in the first place? If God is responsible for all the good in the world then he is equally responsible for all the pain & suffering too. Because he is all powerful & knowing.

Spotsy SuperDubs

Ian Liddell and Stephen Miller of team "Underdog" are the Spotsy Super Dubs Champs.

Shooting a 44 at Pratt in the morning and a hot afternoon round of 48 at Loriella Long to Long course earned them the win.

Team Underdog - Ian & Stephen

While I was taking some pics I was able to set up the GoPro and get some video too.

Super Dubs Slide Show

2014 Chili Cook-Off

Today was the 2014 Spotsy Chili Cook-Off and Charity Tournament to benefit the Rappahanock Regional Food Bank. Everyone brought some non-perishable food and the enrty fee was donated too. Players also donate prizes to sponsor CTP contests. We had so many sponsors there were CTP's on almost every hole. I sponsored 3 holes.

An artic front moved in last night and today it was cloudy, windy and cold. Very Cold.

Did I mention how cold it was?

Eight of us brought our best Chili recipes for the half time Chili Cook-Off.

Your truly garnered the most votes for their favorite chili and I was crowned the 2014 Chili Cook-Off Champ! My first win.

But the Disc Golf was fun despite the cold...

For all the pics of the day click the link...

2014 Spotsy Chili Cook-Off Slide Show

Snow Round at Loriella

Tested out the new GoPro Hero3 with Austin...

Deluxe Retractable Birdie Bead Scoring System

I Recently improved on my Birdie Beads...

Hey! I'm Back!

Just a heads up boys and girls.

I recovered from my heart attack and last week had my third stent put in to clear my last blocked artery. I am doing fine and feel so much better.

I even got out last Sunday and played a round at Loriella with Jeff and did pretty good.

My putting sucked and if I could have kept my shit together 14 thru 17 it would have been a great round.

I won't be posting for a while...

Last week I ended up having a heart attack.

I was lucky in that on Friday I'm getting admitted in to the hospital and 5 days later I'm back home feeling 1,000% better.

After getting my stents...

It's looking like I'll make a full recovery but it will probably be until mid-January before I'll be able to play a round of DG.

New DG Hobby... Para Cord

Since I haven't been dyeing any plastic lately I needed a new disc golf related hobby I could do to kill some time at work when it's slow.

I found one. Making para cord zipper pulls for my DG Backpack zipper tabs. It's pretty easy to do after you Google search it. There are several videos out there.

I made a set of reflective orange for my backpack and then Jim Street wanted a set of black & green for his bag and when he bought his new Grip backpack he asked for a set of black & white.

After a few sets of zipper pulls I started making Birdie Beads. Basically it's a score keeping counter. (super low tech) Every time you make a birdie you pull down one color bead and when you bogey you pull down the other color for every stroke over or under par. Score par for the hole and the beads stay the same. When the round is over subtract the smaller number of beads from the larger and you have the number of strokes over or under par. If there is the same number of both colors you just shot a par round.

My first attempt was a Florida Gator strand...

Instead of attaching it to a zipper pull I decided to sew it on to the side of my backpack...

This has become a fun way to make some cool stuff. I made this set inspired for a Spotsy club member.

Maybe I'll give it to a member that wins a tournament. So go out there and buy some para cord and beads and start having some fun.

Lost a Friend This Week

A friend that I had the fun of riding with was killed last week when a truck pulled out in front of her and she died instantly. It had been a while since I had seen her but she was a great riding buddy.

Beebe Wright is the fourth from the left. She joined us for the day and guided us on some great back road riding and over the Cherohala Skyway.

That day still ranks as one of the best days of ridin' I have ever had.

Last Ride of the Season

Today was a toss-up between playing a round at Loriella or heading out to Skyline to try and catch the last of the Fall colors.

The skies cleared up around 11 and the temps warmed up and Loriella wasn't going any where so I took off for the day.

I'm glad I did. At the route 20 Sheetz I ran in to Mike and his classic Ironhead. I hadn't seen him in years we exchanged numbers so we could get together for a ride next year.

It's a good thing I bundled up for this ride. It was nice but it cooled down a lot on Skyline. The Fall colors were past the peak but it was still a nice ride. The GOP shutdown had closed Shenandoah park at the busiest time of the year. The traffic was busy but not too much to slow down traffic.

It was a great final day ride of the season. Unless there is a warm break this Winter. If that happens I'll just keep it local.

2013 Hawk Hollow Open... Pros

The open division pros descended on Hawk Hollow for 3 rounds of disc golf with the top 4 open players playing a final nine.

Saturday was a grey and damp day but Sunday turned out to be sunny and perfect for disc golf.

When 72 holes of golf had been played the ffour players in the finals were Stephen Miller-171, Erik Smith-173, Tim "tic tac" Owston-174 and Ian Liddell-175.

Ian Liddell, Tim Owston, Erik Smith, Stephen Miller and Hawk Hollow owner John Biscoe.

Spotsy's own Stephen Miller played great golf all weekend to win the open division. He threw some great rounds 58/58/55/29 (200). 20 strokes under par for the tournament.

Becky Sonnheim won the women's division shooting 66/70/66 (202) +13.

Tom Kim is the Masters Division champ with scores of 57/60/63 (180) -9.

Grandmasters champ Chris Hysell overcame an eight stroke deficit to win by 2 by shooting 64/62/61 (187) -2. 

The worst break of the weekend was dealt to Tic Tac when a straight at the heart of the chains putt kicked out.

2013 Hawk Hollow Open Scores

For all of the weekend's pics

2013 Hawk Hollow Slide Show

2013 Hawk Hollow Open: Ams

It was a long and rainy day....

That about sums up my day helping out at the Hawk Hollow Ams tourney. My feet were soaked from the get go. The morning round took about 4 hours and the afternoon round was about the same.

The Spotsy boys did good. Cody won Advanced, Chris came in 2nd and Ron 3rd.

Ryan won the Intermediate division.

For the  HHO13 Slide Show click here

For The HHO13 Scores click here