BRATS course memories -- share 'em

I've only played the BRATS course four or five times, but always came away from it with a story to tell.

The two that come to mind are both tales of misery and loss:

1) My first time. Terry and Ben are kind enough to join a couple of my friends and me for the round, to help us find our way around the course. As we stand on the first tee they describe the hole, carefully pointing out the severe dogleg left we would need to negotiate in order to find the fairway. I break out my brand-spanking-new 180g Stingray and attempt to launch an awkward lefty spike anhyzer. (Yes, I said "spike anhyzer" -- do not attempt this at home!) The shot crashes noisily somewhere high up in the trees and plummets to the ground like a mortally wounded duck. My new disc has been torn practically in two by the tree limb, a wide crack running all the way through it. One disc, thrown only once in its brief existence, then thrown away.

2) A year later. I had been loathe to return to BRATS since my traumatic first time, but friends convince me that "it's better now". Apparently some of the thicker growth had been trimmed back and the fairways more clearly defined. Okay. Let's do this. I stay out of trouble for a few holes, my confidence growing along with my appreciation of the course. Still, it isn't long before I reach into my bag and pull out my favorite driver -- a gift from Gordie Matthews that I had been throwing the daylights out of that entire summer. I launch a low, flat drive that somehow catches the topmost blades of long grass along the fairway -- and disappears. Uh-oh. Naturally that disc was never seen again, vanishing forever in the middle of the fairway in plain sight of the tee. Never found an adequate replacement. And now Gordie's gone, too.

You see now why I hardly ever play the course -- it's jinxed! Jinxed, I tells ya!

[stevo]

i think i kind of lead terry to invite me out sometime... i soon took him up on it and even though we didn't really know each other,he was great to orient and play with me on a weekend morning. he had just enough time before he was supposed to be somewhere else. i was impressed with the solar lights on top of the baskets. how wonderful to have a course out the back door. terry, how do you get anything done? let alone so much that you do. stevo

[Garrett Graham]

Here Here Thank you Terry for all the hard work you do for our sport