Getting Started at the 2008 Worlds

Well, I have to say that I am impressed by the courses here in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area. No disappointments yet and now I have seen them all. (At least the ones I get to play; plus I got to see Timber Ridge from the bottom of the slopes.)

This afternoon, Sheila and I went to Oshtemo (Sorry Ben, lots of poison ivy.) and played with Heidi (from Texas) plus Martha and her husband (Oops, forgot his name.) from western Washington state; they are both here in DGRUS. We threw from the short tees, since that's what I will play tomorrow in the Really Old Guys Under sEventy) (ROGUE) division. The husband was a nice guy, who putts amazing well for someone with one glass eye, but the ladies are really, really good disc golfers. Martha was pumping out drives as long as mine! We also met some pretty nice "casual" disc golfers with a munchkin, one of whom was the guy whose job it is to mow the course at Oshtemo. I empathized heavily with him, since I spend more time mowing the BRATS course at my house than I do actually playing it!!!

In the morning we threw Kimball Pines - which is NOT as nasty as people had been telling us; it's quite nice, actually. Then we went to Timber Ridge where the putting, distance, EDGE skill shot, and other competitions were going on. Sheila got a 506 and I had a 586 in the skill shot scoring - which was very difficult as it was windy and the layout was . . . a bit strange*. Every time we do this it feels rushed. We'd love to do it with calm; maybe we'll build a skill shot course at BRATS.

* Not a criticism of ANYONE. I kind of enjoyed a bunch of people throwing "freestyle" 250-foot severely downhill drives toward a basket that was surrounded by spectators (watching something else) and people throwing Discraft discs uphill toward a "300-foot" mark that was really equivalent to a 500-foot drive.

Tomorrow Sheila plays Robert Morris twice (brutal!) and I only have to play Oshtemo once (at 11) from the short tees. (And by 5 pm I have to finish writing a 1,400-word piece on internationalism, sustainability, and the future of higher education. Sigh. Day job, you know.)

Bottom line on the host hotel here at the 2008 Worlds - it's a good one. One of the desk clerks "Dre" (Andre) is really on top of things, a tiny bit more than the others. The hotel has some nice large gathering areas and a good restaurant and bar, so there are god opportunities to see and meet folks.

Tonight's players meeting was at the State Theater in downtown K'zoo. Elegant old place full of disc golfers. Jay Reading won the Pro Men's putting contest on stage in front of a ROARING crowd. Pretty cool.

[Peter Kunoff]

terry,

thanks for the updates....looking forward to getting out to K-zoo to watch some of the action later in the week.

[humchris]

If you meet a woman from Humboldt named Kim tell her that everyone back home is wishing her luck @ the Worlds.

P.S. Ben hit his 50th ace this morning with me out at the Redwood Curtain on hole 11.

[Kyle Jacob Smalling]

wow....431' ace eh? I'll bet that was amazing to watch..

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

Yeah. SIgh. Oshtemo from the shorts. Which I understand, from a logistical viewpoint. After all, it's the ROGUEs and Juniors and time is a factor. But I personally probably have an advantage over the other ROGUEs on distance so . . . I'd like the longs.

Sheila and I were following a three-some from Ann Arbor today within which Marty Peters aced the 431' Hole 12 (totally a straight line woods hole).

[Kyle Jacob Smalling]

Man, oshtemo from the short tees? at worlds? really...?