December 2010 DG Posts
Friday, December 31, 2010 - CSUMB with John and Christine
John and Christine wanted to play the two courses at CSUMB, so I went down with them. We started on the Cypress course. I was playing pretty well. My distance was not especially good, but my drives were straight and pretty consistent. I ended up at 2 over. Looking back at some PDGA tournaments on this course, it would have been a roughly 920 rated round.
Then, we drove over to the Oaks course. We had lunch first and started the round. Man, this is a tough course. A fun course, but tough. It helped alot that Ben and I played the course last year. We were able to find the holes pretty easily. When Ben and I came, we had trouble finding some of the holes. We would wander around looking at the map, trying to find the next hole. This time, it was relatively easy. I really like this course, it has a number of very unique holes. The only disappointment was that someone had trashed the piano that had a tree growing through it. It did not really affect the course, but it was kind of cool to look at.
My second round was not nearly as good as the first round. I did not keep score, but I could have easily been 18 or more over. I did not get too many pars and a few double bogeys. Still it was a really fun round with a couple of good playing partners.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010 - Early Round with Simon at Dela
We decided to go for an early round and it was COLD! My car thermometer said 33 degrees. I never really got warm until later in the round. I have played in the high 30's before and I seemed to warm up pretty quickly. Not today, there seemed to be a chill in the air that kept me from warming up. There were several ponds/puddles that actually had ice on them. Luckily, I was able to miss all of those. I shudder to think of plunging my hand into freezing water to get my disc back.
Neither of us played very well. It might have been the cold, it might have been that we were keeping score for the first time, or it could have been something else entirely. My score was 18 over, which is pretty bad for my recent level of play. Somehow, I don't feel bad about it. I am pretty confident that I will return to my previous level soon.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - Field Practice at Dela
Lately, I have felt a little awkward with my technique. It just does not feel real smooth. So I wanted to spend some time in the field to try to work on my throws. Since I have had trouble finding free fields, I went to the course early (7:15am) and threw for about 2 hours. I got a lot of throws in, but don't feel like I made much progress. Sometimes, I don't see much progress during my field practice, but then throw pretty well during the following rounds. I hope so!
While I was throwing, a young guy came out to the woods and asked if I had seen his disc. He was playing the previous evening and his disc skipped into the woods. It was too dark to see the disc, so he came back the following morning. I told him that I had not seen it, but I would look for it later. About 15 minutes later, I took a break from my throws and went to look for the disc. I found it and called the number on the disc. The guy who answered the phone said that he had lost the disc a couple of weeks ago! So the first guy who came out of the woods did not even own the disc! He was throwing around some other guy's disc!
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Monday, December 27, 2010 - Round at Aptos with Jack T
I headed out to do a field practice. I first went to Harvey West park and found that all of the fields were closed, the same with the UCSC fields. I went to Aptos high school and the football field was being used, so I decided to play a solo round at Aptos High School. After I teed off on the 3rd hole, I saw Jack T (not sure how to spell his last name) on the tee of the second hole. Jack and Ben have been talking about doing a disc golf program for Community TV. So I went over and introduced myself. He caught up with me on hole 8 and we played the rest of the course together.
Jack is one the best players in the area, except that he has a rotater cuff injury. His doctor told him that after it gets repaired, he will need to stop playing disc golf for an entire year. So he is putting off the surgery for awhile. Today, he was in the middle of his second 18 holes when he caught up with me. So he was tired and not playing his best. He still beat me easily, but I am sure that he can play much better when healthy and fresh.
Anyway, i played pretty well and had a lot of fun. By the end of the round with Jack, I was still feeling pretty good, so I played a second round of 18. The weather was nice and it was a fun day at the disc golf course.
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Friday, December 24, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
I am writing this about a week later and I am drawing a complete blank on this round.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
I wanted to get out before the rains hit. It is supposed to rain through the end of the week. A quiet non-eventful round. I felt pretty tired through most of the round. I did not play super well. Towards the end of the round, I got a call from Ben that he wanted to go to urgent care for his back, but he needed a ride. So I rushed through the last few holes.
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - Round at Dela with John Hernland and Ben
We had a fun round at Dela. Unfortunately, Ben threw out his back. He actually hurt it at the beginning of the round and tried to play for the next 10-15 holes. It did not hurt too bad, but did affect his throws. It really hurt when he got home. Just riding in the car for 15-20 minutes was enough to stiffen it up. John and I had a good time. Neither of us played very well, but it was a fun round.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010 - Aptos high w/Simon
A fun round. I played pretty well, with some sloppiness. Some excellent drives on hole 2, 7 and 9. I ended up at 3 over due to some sloppiness. A few missed easy putts. A few sloppy approach shots. I only had two poor drives and I was able to par one of them. Essentially, I lost strokes on one poor drive, three poor approaches and 2 poor putts.
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Thursday, December 16, 2010 - Early solo round
Trying to get as much time in at the course as I can before the rain hits. It was cold, but clear this morning. It was pretty much a goof around type of round. I played ok. I think I need to work on getting the nose down again. And maybe late acceleration, slowing down the pull at the beginning. I did have a birdie on hole 12, a very nice backhand anhyzer shot. Other than that, nothing too memorable. I did find the location and played hole 20. I found it to be a tricky but fun location.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - Early round with Simon
This was a fun round. It did not rain at all during the round, it was wet everywhere, but did not rain. I found out where hole 20 was, it is behind the secondary parking lot. I have seen that location used before for hole 23. Unfortunately, I found this out after the round, not during the round. Once again, I played pretty well for the first 10 holes or so, but then faltered. My distance started to come back. I had several nice drives. I am feeling really good about the round. Since we have the next two weeks off, I am hoping that I can get a bunch of disc golf in. Please, Please no rain!!
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - Early rainy solo round
It was a pretty steady drizzle, but I had not had a chance to play in almost two weeks, so I went anyway. Plus it is supposed to rain non-stop for the next week or so. My drives were all short, but mostly in the fairway. I parred most holes, so that was good, but I just could not throw very far. The other strange thing, was that I never did find the basket on hole 20. My only memorable drive was on hole 9. I threw a low forehand that went straight and started a gentle fade to the right at the end. The disc ended up in the fairway with an open shot to the hole. Other than that, I can not remember any great or even very good shots. However it was great to get back on the course.
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Thursday, December 2, 2010 - Early round with Simon
I played really well this morning. Simon and I played 1-24. I started out pretty hot, then got sloppy and ended up with a 9 over. I started out 2 over through the first 12 holes. By my count, I only had 3 bad drives in the whole round. And one of them hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway and a nice approach shot gave me a par. Everything else was in the fairway with good distance. I am very pleased with my game today! I should point out that it helps that every pin was in the short position.
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - Early, COLD solo round
I went to play a casual round at 7am this morning and it was COLD! Somewhere in the high 30's. But it was not too bad. Once I got moving, I was comfortable. Of course I had two t-shirts and a sweatshirt. I usually avoid anything more than t-shirts. I just don't like extra clothing on my throwing arm. But it was not too bad today. My play was generally ok, nothing too special. When I started, I did not feel like climbing the hill, so I headed to hole 5 and played through hole 23.
I have been experimenting with a very light (150ish) sidewinder. I have been trying to hyzerflip it. It seems like I am throwing it too low. On a flat hole, my drives go straight into the ground. On downhill holes, it flies pretty well. On 23, it was my longest drive. On 6, I got a nice drive as well. So I am not sure if I am releasing the disc too early or if I need to aim higher. It would be a good thing to try out during a field session. But I have to say, I am not wild about field sessions in 30 degree weather.
I got a birdie on 19, a nice drive and my second putt went in. Mostly pars on the other holes. Hole 11 is kind of funny for me. I try to throw a forehand anhyzer. When I am throwing it well, I can make 4 or 5 good drives in a row at that hole. Other times, I will make 20 bad drives in a row on that hole, then all of a sudden I can make 4 to 5 excellent drives.
John and Christine wanted to play the two courses at CSUMB, so I went down with them. We started on the Cypress course. I was playing pretty well. My distance was not especially good, but my drives were straight and pretty consistent. I ended up at 2 over. Looking back at some PDGA tournaments on this course, it would have been a roughly 920 rated round.
Then, we drove over to the Oaks course. We had lunch first and started the round. Man, this is a tough course. A fun course, but tough. It helped alot that Ben and I played the course last year. We were able to find the holes pretty easily. When Ben and I came, we had trouble finding some of the holes. We would wander around looking at the map, trying to find the next hole. This time, it was relatively easy. I really like this course, it has a number of very unique holes. The only disappointment was that someone had trashed the piano that had a tree growing through it. It did not really affect the course, but it was kind of cool to look at.
My second round was not nearly as good as the first round. I did not keep score, but I could have easily been 18 or more over. I did not get too many pars and a few double bogeys. Still it was a really fun round with a couple of good playing partners.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010 - Early Round with Simon at Dela
We decided to go for an early round and it was COLD! My car thermometer said 33 degrees. I never really got warm until later in the round. I have played in the high 30's before and I seemed to warm up pretty quickly. Not today, there seemed to be a chill in the air that kept me from warming up. There were several ponds/puddles that actually had ice on them. Luckily, I was able to miss all of those. I shudder to think of plunging my hand into freezing water to get my disc back.
Neither of us played very well. It might have been the cold, it might have been that we were keeping score for the first time, or it could have been something else entirely. My score was 18 over, which is pretty bad for my recent level of play. Somehow, I don't feel bad about it. I am pretty confident that I will return to my previous level soon.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - Field Practice at Dela
Lately, I have felt a little awkward with my technique. It just does not feel real smooth. So I wanted to spend some time in the field to try to work on my throws. Since I have had trouble finding free fields, I went to the course early (7:15am) and threw for about 2 hours. I got a lot of throws in, but don't feel like I made much progress. Sometimes, I don't see much progress during my field practice, but then throw pretty well during the following rounds. I hope so!
While I was throwing, a young guy came out to the woods and asked if I had seen his disc. He was playing the previous evening and his disc skipped into the woods. It was too dark to see the disc, so he came back the following morning. I told him that I had not seen it, but I would look for it later. About 15 minutes later, I took a break from my throws and went to look for the disc. I found it and called the number on the disc. The guy who answered the phone said that he had lost the disc a couple of weeks ago! So the first guy who came out of the woods did not even own the disc! He was throwing around some other guy's disc!
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Monday, December 27, 2010 - Round at Aptos with Jack T
I headed out to do a field practice. I first went to Harvey West park and found that all of the fields were closed, the same with the UCSC fields. I went to Aptos high school and the football field was being used, so I decided to play a solo round at Aptos High School. After I teed off on the 3rd hole, I saw Jack T (not sure how to spell his last name) on the tee of the second hole. Jack and Ben have been talking about doing a disc golf program for Community TV. So I went over and introduced myself. He caught up with me on hole 8 and we played the rest of the course together.
Jack is one the best players in the area, except that he has a rotater cuff injury. His doctor told him that after it gets repaired, he will need to stop playing disc golf for an entire year. So he is putting off the surgery for awhile. Today, he was in the middle of his second 18 holes when he caught up with me. So he was tired and not playing his best. He still beat me easily, but I am sure that he can play much better when healthy and fresh.
Anyway, i played pretty well and had a lot of fun. By the end of the round with Jack, I was still feeling pretty good, so I played a second round of 18. The weather was nice and it was a fun day at the disc golf course.
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Friday, December 24, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
I am writing this about a week later and I am drawing a complete blank on this round.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
I wanted to get out before the rains hit. It is supposed to rain through the end of the week. A quiet non-eventful round. I felt pretty tired through most of the round. I did not play super well. Towards the end of the round, I got a call from Ben that he wanted to go to urgent care for his back, but he needed a ride. So I rushed through the last few holes.
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - Round at Dela with John Hernland and Ben
We had a fun round at Dela. Unfortunately, Ben threw out his back. He actually hurt it at the beginning of the round and tried to play for the next 10-15 holes. It did not hurt too bad, but did affect his throws. It really hurt when he got home. Just riding in the car for 15-20 minutes was enough to stiffen it up. John and I had a good time. Neither of us played very well, but it was a fun round.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010 - Aptos high w/Simon
A fun round. I played pretty well, with some sloppiness. Some excellent drives on hole 2, 7 and 9. I ended up at 3 over due to some sloppiness. A few missed easy putts. A few sloppy approach shots. I only had two poor drives and I was able to par one of them. Essentially, I lost strokes on one poor drive, three poor approaches and 2 poor putts.
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Thursday, December 16, 2010 - Early solo round
Trying to get as much time in at the course as I can before the rain hits. It was cold, but clear this morning. It was pretty much a goof around type of round. I played ok. I think I need to work on getting the nose down again. And maybe late acceleration, slowing down the pull at the beginning. I did have a birdie on hole 12, a very nice backhand anhyzer shot. Other than that, nothing too memorable. I did find the location and played hole 20. I found it to be a tricky but fun location.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - Early round with Simon
This was a fun round. It did not rain at all during the round, it was wet everywhere, but did not rain. I found out where hole 20 was, it is behind the secondary parking lot. I have seen that location used before for hole 23. Unfortunately, I found this out after the round, not during the round. Once again, I played pretty well for the first 10 holes or so, but then faltered. My distance started to come back. I had several nice drives. I am feeling really good about the round. Since we have the next two weeks off, I am hoping that I can get a bunch of disc golf in. Please, Please no rain!!
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - Early rainy solo round
It was a pretty steady drizzle, but I had not had a chance to play in almost two weeks, so I went anyway. Plus it is supposed to rain non-stop for the next week or so. My drives were all short, but mostly in the fairway. I parred most holes, so that was good, but I just could not throw very far. The other strange thing, was that I never did find the basket on hole 20. My only memorable drive was on hole 9. I threw a low forehand that went straight and started a gentle fade to the right at the end. The disc ended up in the fairway with an open shot to the hole. Other than that, I can not remember any great or even very good shots. However it was great to get back on the course.
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Thursday, December 2, 2010 - Early round with Simon
I played really well this morning. Simon and I played 1-24. I started out pretty hot, then got sloppy and ended up with a 9 over. I started out 2 over through the first 12 holes. By my count, I only had 3 bad drives in the whole round. And one of them hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway and a nice approach shot gave me a par. Everything else was in the fairway with good distance. I am very pleased with my game today! I should point out that it helps that every pin was in the short position.
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - Early, COLD solo round
I went to play a casual round at 7am this morning and it was COLD! Somewhere in the high 30's. But it was not too bad. Once I got moving, I was comfortable. Of course I had two t-shirts and a sweatshirt. I usually avoid anything more than t-shirts. I just don't like extra clothing on my throwing arm. But it was not too bad today. My play was generally ok, nothing too special. When I started, I did not feel like climbing the hill, so I headed to hole 5 and played through hole 23.
I have been experimenting with a very light (150ish) sidewinder. I have been trying to hyzerflip it. It seems like I am throwing it too low. On a flat hole, my drives go straight into the ground. On downhill holes, it flies pretty well. On 23, it was my longest drive. On 6, I got a nice drive as well. So I am not sure if I am releasing the disc too early or if I need to aim higher. It would be a good thing to try out during a field session. But I have to say, I am not wild about field sessions in 30 degree weather.
I got a birdie on 19, a nice drive and my second putt went in. Mostly pars on the other holes. Hole 11 is kind of funny for me. I try to throw a forehand anhyzer. When I am throwing it well, I can make 4 or 5 good drives in a row at that hole. Other times, I will make 20 bad drives in a row on that hole, then all of a sudden I can make 4 to 5 excellent drives.
posted by Steve @ 1:55 PM
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