Can't Win for Losing
On Sunday, I entered my first disc golf "tournament," a "bag tag challenge" wherein participants compete for a numbered tag. The player with the best score for the day (18 holes) gets tag #1, etc.
Out of 126 players,
I was #125!
Seriously, I had one of the worst games I've played yet. My game started off bad, and then fell apart. Though if I'd known I was actually in the running for last frikkin' place, I might've intentionally flubbed a few more shots.
Oh, well -- I'm still practically brand new to the game. I had a great time, I learned a lot, and I'm looking forward to getting better and better for years to come. I really needed to get out and play with other people, and this event gave me the opportunity. The entry fee included my 2008 membership in the SF Disc Golf Club, too, and it was good to meet some of the other members and see them in action. I'd worried all week that the event would be cancelled or at least suck due to storms forecast for the day. As it was, though, the day turned out to be almost perfect. We did get a little rain at around 9:45, but it didn't last long and didn't really even interrupt our game.
The storms had damaged -- or at least changed -- the course considerably. There were lots of fallen branches and more than a couple fallen trees. The tee-off for Hole #2 had to be moved due to eucalyptus tree having dramatically split nearly on top of the tee platform, and the new tee location made for a nearly impossible shot over a hill and through some dense foliage.
The highlight for me was that they'd moved the 18th hole to Marx Meadow as an "ace challenge" -- a hole deliberately set up to make it easier (very relatively speaking) for players to hit an ace, or hole-in-one. No players scored an ace during the tournament, but the top players, the ones competing for the 1-10 tags, were throwing disc after disc at it while we all waited for the remaining teams to finish their rounds. Even with the best of the best (hereabouts, anyway) throwing literally hundreds of attempts, there were only two aces all day -- both by the same guy. It was beautiful to watch, as the shot involved a huge water hazard (the field was flooded) which was out of bounds, as was the pathway just beyond the hole. And the hole itself was placed right next to a picturesque, bare cherry blossom tree.
Anyway, I'd hoped to have garletoe come along to take pictures and absorb the atmosphere for a project we're working on, but the weather reports were predicting terrible weather all week and I literally didn't know if the weather would allow the event to go forward until I got there. Hopefully they'll have another event sometime soon, though. It really was a lot of fun.