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Ben Calhoun's Blog – July 2008 Archive (31)

Double doubles

Played and lost doubles at Pier park last night, tough course to play blind.

Going to doubles tonight at Dabney, so not done yet today.

Played WEDNESDAY JULY 30th---->Portland, OR- Pier:It was set-up in the mostly short layout, which of course makes it tougher for me than if it was long. Variety of straight shots through incredible tall pines. Hilly, somewhat grassy but developing dirt patches, I had two drives skip about 150' and not in a good way. Shady, so when it… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 31, 2008 at 6:52pm — 3 Comments

Oregon Trail

Already blazin' through Oregon, never been here before.

Doubles tonight at Pier Park, so I have one more round left to shoot tonight.

I did not play Sain Scoggins after the first hole due to it missing holes, being extremely rough, and heavy poison oak (just not gonna play when it's around, had enough of ivy on the east coast).

Forest Grove, OR- Mcmenamins Grand Lodge:Surprisingly tough and fun. Large, wide trees that reject everything you throw at them guard some… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 30, 2008 at 7:04pm — 2 Comments

Wtf. Steilacoom is what it should be re-named. (edited)

679 courses.

Today was a mixed blessing, a few good courses, nice run in with some disc chicks, and one course so absurd to figure out I'm not sure I'd call it a course. More of a Mind-. Lots of cold, light rain today which is kinda of nice except hard to get pictures in it. While stopping for dinner, I noticed two very attractive young women in a jeep behind my car waving discs at me. After doing a double-take, I grabbed some minis and went over to give them the first of the new… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 29, 2008 at 10:30pm — 6 Comments

Met lots of locals today

Seattle, WA- Lakewood King County Park:Hilly and in an open park setting, with plenty of trees, no rough. Small water hazard on 2 holes. Many baskets (at least 3) tucked near the corner of a fence, which could easily get you OB. Several paths OB and one basket on an 'island' in the middle of the parking lot. I think that's a horrible idea. It puts half the cars in the lot at risk of getting hit by someone's shot. Also, you cannot tell from the tee where it crossed out of bounds, so that… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 28, 2008 at 9:58pm — 1 Comment

Big, quick day

670

Today began at 6:30, then an hour drive and teed off around 8:15. Finished 5 rounds by about 3:15.

Lake Stevens, WA- Lake Stevens DGC:One of weirdest courses I've ever seen, due to the baskets. Egg shaped and white, with crossing arches supporting a web-like framework of chains. (See pictures). Each basket is different, the bottom lip is too high, and you can have a different putt depending on where you land around the basket. It is not good for putting, you… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 27, 2008 at 7:59pm — 6 Comments

Back to it

Arlington, WA- Twin Rivers:In the floodplain of a river, this tightly wooded short course feels like a rainforest. Tight tunnel fairways mostly open but bordered with woods, and 3-15' tall thorn bushes and vines, some will shred you. Almost no clean 'fairway' to land on on any hole-either knee high bushes and thorns or the small footpath, and on the 3 open fields shots, the grass is so tall and thick on the sides you're more likely to lose a disc there. Dirt tees, most signs gone,… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 26, 2008 at 8:18pm — 2 Comments

SeaTac

I went and played SeaTac because I just can't sit around for a whole day entirely.

Seatac, WA- Seatac:The best marked and easiest to play course in WA so far, yet the back 9 is INCREDIBLY hard to find without a map (I took a picture and carried it in my dig. cam.). The 10th tee is tucked in thick woods down a trail, behind a wall of piled dead trees. About half the signs are gone from vandalism, but other than that it is easy to find the hole-just not often easy to find the… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 25, 2008 at 7:09pm — No Comments

Kindness of strangers, back spasm, no service

Last night I had no roaming signal even, or internet options, therefore nothing got done and I couldn't plan out today. It didn't help that as I stood up from a picnic table my back went crazy and I almost fell down. It still hurts, and I am taking tomorrow off or playing a course with just light putter tosses. I made it up to Seattle for the night. If not for traffic, I could live here. Yesterday at the first course, a stranger named 'Slip' gave me 20$ for the trip! Big thanks to Slip, and to… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 24, 2008 at 10:39pm — No Comments

Ants in the pants

650disc/9mini golf courses

Almost literally..after my last round, while driving, I reached down to whack at an itch on my leg, thought it was a mosquito. It was a big red ant digging into my flesh, and I bled for several minutes. WTH??

Whitefish, MT- Smith Lake:

Luckily I ran into Spencer at the KOA last night, and he showed me around on this unmarked, object course. Also played with his girlfriend, and showed them how to play glow golf last night at the KOA… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 22, 2008 at 10:54pm — 2 Comments

Buffalo Bob's KOA

Just finished playing the KOA course here, and had a free burger on the house. Thanks to a man I didn't even catch the name of. I am stuffed, but bound to be out playing a glow round in a few hours with a fellow disc golfer across the site from me.

Whitefish, MT-Buffalo Bob's KOA: Brand new course in carved out of thick woods, not done yet a bit rough. Extremely hard for how short it is, which is very short. Tight lines and some hills. The baskets are home-made, and each… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 21, 2008 at 9:43pm — 2 Comments

Mountains of pain

My legs were like jell-o today after just the first round. It hurt more to drive than to play. That course was so mountainous, not a good place to start the day off at. By pure chance my KOA has a frisbee-golf* course at it tonight, so my 4th round will be later when the sun is setting. It wasn't listed because it's newer than the 2008 guide.

Missoula, MT- Blue Mountain: Just getting up to the 1st tee can knock the wind out of you and make you feel weak, it's about a 75' steep… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 21, 2008 at 7:12pm — 1 Comment

Rough couple of great days

Saturday's Blog-due to no internet options.

This has been an incredible but extremely stressful long day. My GPS did not tell me it was taking me through a national park with a 25$ fee, slow idiot drivers and no gas or food for hours. I had to do it because it was 110 miles to backtrack, there's nothing else out here. I wish I had known ahead, had to drive like a maniac and was still late at the campsite, almost late enough to not be able to stay here and lose my deposit. I ended up… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 20, 2008 at 8:54pm — 1 Comment

Big wheels keep on turnin'

And that's not in reference to the 550 miles I drove between rounds today..that was just rough with no A/C in the Wyoming desert. It's in reference to the truck tires, two of them on a broken axle, bounding down the grassy median next to my car at 50mph taking 10' high jumps into the air as they hit bumps..and kept on going. They had just broken off a truck right in front of me..I hope they didn't cross the median and hit a car..but it was hilarious and out-of-this world. The trucker was… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 18, 2008 at 10:04pm — No Comments

Finally got to see Elk, Moose

I decided to camp for free rustic-like at Hot Sulfur Springs' course, so no internet last night due to roaming.

WEDNESDAY:

Tabernash, CO- Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA: In a resort town, on hilly pine forested terrain below and surrounded by the mountains capped with snow. Mix of tight shots through alleys of tall, but dead pines; semi-open longer holes through and over and around much shorter and wider live pines, and a few open holes. Most of the time it is best to be able… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 17, 2008 at 7:38pm — 1 Comment

Mile High

The homeless guy sleeping on the fairway at Dry Gulch, near burnt Pepsi can bottoms was probably a mile high, too.

I decided not to venture up into the mountains until tomorrow, one course has free camping sites I will try to get one of those. I was heading toward Winter Park when I called them, found out it was 15$ not 8$ like it says, so I changed my plans at that point.

Will be at 3 or 4 of the following tomorrow: Hot Sulfur Springs, State Bridge, Grand Lake,… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 15, 2008 at 5:28pm — No Comments

Mt. Rushmore; in Colorado for the 3rd time

I finally got to see Mt. Rushmore today, it was pretty cool. Something that definitely should be seen by everyone who can in person. Pictures just don't do justice to standing there looking up at it. There's a cool side view spot to see Washington from the side. I wasn't about to spend 10$ to park for a few minutes, and was fortunate enough to get a spot in the tiny pull-off that you can view it from before the pay-to-park. After the first two rounds, I drove 330 miles to the next course and… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 14, 2008 at 9:33pm — No Comments

cliffs, deer, sun

I changed my mind on where to go today as I pulled out of the campground this morning, decided to go to Montana (added a new state to list of states I've been to and played in). There was one cool sounding course listed 67 miles out of my way (134 round trip), and when I looked it up online to see if it would be open as early as 7am, I found another course listed for that city that was not in the 2008 print guide, but was built in 2001. There are just deer everywhere, one was standing 10' from… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 13, 2008 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Entering the Badlands

It's been a long day- got up and packed my tent and hit the course at 7:00am sharp. After hitting Bismarck, during the round at Sunset I almost decided to change my route because the course was just miserable. I am now camping right below a mountain base in the badlands of North Dakota. All I have is the computer battery and a weak sprint signal, so it won't be a long one.

Bismarck, ND- Lions Hillside:Very short and hilly course, winding it's way up and around and down a large… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 12, 2008 at 7:59pm — No Comments

Wind, Ticks, A new state

I played in both North Dakota and Minnesota today, adding two courses to this year's trip and one to my list of states I've been to and played in. Ticks were the theme of the last round, just going crazy for my legs in the high grass. Lost a disc, found FOUR discs. The wind will not stop, so powerful I couldn't keep my hat on, my bag got knocked off my shoulders once, my car was rocking sitting still in the parking lot, and my star Max would flip over and roll at 150' out in the headwind. It's… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 11, 2008 at 8:01pm — 2 Comments

returned discs

Someone just called from Bridgewater, NJ to return my disc I lost at the Chimney Rock disc golf course..which until I started writing this I forgot how I lost it. It was the tee shot of the first hole, me and Nic had just waited in the car for 30 minutes for the storm to pass. I threw a RHBH hyzer bomb, and thought I was parked. Could not locate it in the rough around the basket due to tall grass, pines, and chest high ivy. It's a red star teerex.

So far on this trip, that's 4 of… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on July 10, 2008 at 7:23pm — 3 Comments