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October is here!

Well, after a confusing rally of figuring out if we can all gather at the same course to play before sun down, Mark and I ended up playing at Rosland. It was windy and cold, our first feeling of fall. After the warmest September in Minnesota history (I just made that up), we began on our journey. Smack! My first drive of the night, I hit a tree about 40' out. I never throw that far to the left, what was I thinking? My disc ricocheted even farther to the left... Mark was up next. SMACK!!!! Mark hit the tree 10' in front of the t-box. Wow, this was a good start. With a bogie/double bogie on the first hole, we headed on to hole 2. Mark ended up having the shot of the night with a fantastic 25' putt to save par. Well done Mark. With sunflowers in hand (and in mouth), we continued playing our round as the night continued to get more brisk. It was a good time, but it was more of a realization that the season is quickly ending. We finished 9 holes and before Mark could get his whole sentence out that he didn't really want to play another 9, I said oh yeah - it's too cold to play 18 and it's getting dark. I shot +1 and Mark shot +4. Hopefully we can all play Blue Ribbon Pines one more time this year, but as I look out our window as we speak, I see snow covered grass and cars. It's October 10th. sick.

June has arrived, let's hear those chains-a-chingin'

This morning Mark met me at Rosland for a beautiful round of disc golf before work. It was so nice outside, the kind of nice that makes me ponder why I work a full time job that keeps me inside, staring at a monitor and stuck in a prison of fluorescent lights. Although, I am very grateful for my job and the people I work with, I just feel like we as people were created to be outside in nature, enjoying God's beautiful creation! This morning was one of my favorites, with a nice cup of coffee in hand and a best buddy at my side, I was so appreciative of life - I know this is getting a bit sappy, so I will get to the good stuff. I thought that both Mark and I played well. Mark had a nasty plus 2 shtinker-binker that landed on top of the basket on hole 3, it was a great birdie attempt. (see pic below) I played pretty consistent and got 3 birdies, what a great feeling! It's funny how sometimes we (the disc golf community, haha) can play really good and feel like we're progressing, and then the very next day we can feel like we aren't improving at all and it can be really frustrating - but I really do think that this is a huge part of the beauty of this game and why it draws such a strong attraction from me. When we all went to the park the other night after the baby shower, Mark and I noticed that we could play a "made-up" 10th hole from across the baseball field to basket #8. We played it as a par 3 this morning but that mutha' is far!! I was able to sink a nasty approach/putt from like 50'+ with my, you guessed it, shark attack! I took a pic of how far it was below, that was a sweet way to end the round. We then played hole nine again, so technically we played 11 holes, I par'd those last 2, but wasn't planning on adding them to my score either way. Tonight, I went to fleet farm in brooklyn park and picked up a generic basket that was on sale. Then I stopped buy Bassett Creek and decided to play. The sundogs (or something with sun) league was playing and there were like 150 disc golfers there and this huge Par 72 van was there with discs and baskets in it. I got there when the league was finishing, but it seemed really cool. They brought 6 of their own baskets and made the course a full 18 - I would like to play with them one time. I played with these 3 kids from north of the metro, they had never played there so I lead them around, telling them which baskets were original and which ones were placed by the leaguers. I got 3 birdies in a row on holes 5,6 and 7. It was 9:30 and dark by the time I finished hole 12, I came home and put together my new basket. I can't wait to get up early one morning and find a close-by field and set up my basket and work on my throws. This thing is going to be fun to have for bbq's and stuff too! I can already feel a putting tournament coming on. (spontaneous tournament?) Tomorrow is league night for us and as always I'm really excited to play. I hope that I can continue to play as well as I did today.



Plus 2 - It got stuck on top of the basket.


Shark attack for a tough par 3, my bag shows where my disc was...


New DG basket. It's collapsable so it fits in my trunk and can be transported. (cat not included)

wife + coffee + disc golf

This morning Loran joined me as I played disc golf at Rosland before work this morning. It was a lot of fun. We both had our mugs full of warm coffee as we walked through the park on a chilly May morning. It was really windy too, but no discs really got away from me. I finished the round of 9 at +2, but I had a lot of fun and almost made 2 birdies, so I feel like I didn't play poorly, but I did have a double bogie on hole 2, that's where they get ya! As always it's nice to do something before work, especially something that involves a little exercising. I had fun talking with Loran and I like when she watches me and tells me good job, it makes me feel good. I also noticed that I become crabby and unpleasant to be around when I have a bad hole (no pun intended) and I'm in a good mood when I am playing good, this seems pretty natural and normal, but it's pretty sucky for someone, who comes with you just to give you company, has to put up with it. Last night I met Zach at Hyland, it turned out to be a fairly nice evening after such a dark and gloomy day. The round started off good as I birdie'd hole 1, but then it all went to hell. I can honestly say that I think I played the worst that I have all season. I'm not sure why, but it's like every bad through was followed by an even worse throw. Now, I know this is a hard course, but I just wasn't playing smart. Zach had to leave after the 13th hole, so I finished the last 5 holes by myself. I ended up at +14 (+18 if we count them all as 3's) which is unnaceptable to me and where I should be at I feel. I actually had more fun after Zach left, only for the fact that the competion aspect of it was officially over and I was just playing by myself, although I still had some bad throws. I hope that didn't come across as I didn't like playing with Zach. I kind of want to go to Rosland and practice throwing my drivers at the baseball field there for a few hours one morning... I really want to build more confidence and skill with my drives.

best buddies disc golf road trip, 2009.

Mark, Jake, Zach and myself spent 3 1/2 days playing a lot of disc golf, listening to music, driving through wisconsin and minnesota, playing a little bit of black jack, having swimming competitions in our undies at the AmericInn and arguing about calculators, being oversensitive, interrupting cows and spilling beers on our crotches - with all of this said, it was a great trip for all, and I can actually say that because Mark literally stopped by today and said that he had a "great time on the trip." Hold on, I need to go and grab a glass of wine and the score cards from this weekend, I'm sitting out on our patio and it is a beautiful, brisk night - I have a lot to write about and post on here. I just finished downloading the cool kids new album, I am listening to it now, brb. Alright, with a fresh glass of Charles Shaw Merlot ($3 Trader Joe's) and some Cool Kids beats bangin', I'm ready to describe the trip. I would like to try to keep this short, for all that I have to write about, and I don't want to get too deep, I'll save that for my personal blog. We started off playing a 13 hole course in Hudson (Willow River State Park?) on friday night, Zach had an incredible round with some birdies and very accurate putts, he won this round with a +1, the next closest score was +4. We then found the camp ground, Zach and I went and grabbed some beer and snacks while Mark and Jake set-up camp and got a great bonfire going. The night was beautiful, cold enough for a hood, hat or a vest, but warm enough to stand near the fire and be comfortable - we had some great discussions this first night, discussing everything from sex, to our personal theologies and views on relationships, friendships, christianity and selfishness. The next morning we packed up and grabbed coffee and made our way to Tower Ridge in Eau Claire, this course was fun but hard, basically 100% in the woods. We played the first 18 and then drove to the second course, which had another 18. It was 3pm or so by now, so we decided to each grab a beer before we started the next round, which tasted good but was a bad idea because none of us had eaten much and that 1 beer each (1 1/2 for me because Jake aka Mr. Lighweight couldn't handle all of his first one) but we all seemed to be playing a lot more sloppy. This course was much harder than the first and everything was a par 3 (whoever plays by those rules, noobs.) We then went to Fazolis for lunch/dinner, Mark got the soup. We then started making our way towards Highbridge (again), we got impatient and found a course near where we exited to get beverages/use the restrooms. This course was at UWBC in Rice Lake, I feel like overall on this trip, this course was everyone's favorite, I know it was mine for sure! It was big and wide open but every hole had a few trees near the basket to make it challenging. This course was a nice change in scenery (literally) compared to the wooded courses we had been playing. I feel like we all had high spirits and were all in a great mood during this round, and it was a great opportunity for us to all work on our drives. Oh, there were also some hicks smoking weed/drinking in their beat-up, pick-up truck that Zach tried asking about camp sites, etc. We were about to leave the view of our car after hole 10, so we had Jake run back and move the car towards the end of the course because we didn't trust these dudes. As Jake was walking back to the car by himself, Zach, Mark and myself were discussing what we would do if they started beating-up Jake, don't worry, they didn't. After moving the car, I guess you could say, our efforts were pretty helpless as we finished the round only to find the rednecks had moved and parked near our car again. We then decided, since it was near sun down, to just stay at a cheap hotel. After making a couple calls and using Zach's AAA card as leverage, Zach and myself went into the AmericInn twice to talk the girl down from $90, we managed to get her to agree on $65, sold! The night was young, so we watched some TV, played some boggle (?), which I apparently had a bad attitude about because I wasn't winning. We then played poker, but since we didn't plan ahead and bring chips or coins, we played with the rest of the big bag of skittles that Jake had. One drawback, we weren't allowed to touch them with our hands since we were allowed to eat them and our winnings if we wanted to, so we would cut our piles of skittles with little notecards, as if we were cutting off 1/2 a gram of cocaine or something. Luckily, the vending machine downstairs was stocked with Skittles so a few of us who lost early were able to buy back in (by the way Zach, I tried to get that dangling Hershey's bar for you both times I went down there, but it didn't budge.) Back in the room, poker finished because Jake beat Zach on an all-in and then I shmoked Jake on an all-in... Jake then (naked I believe) jumped and did a spread eagle/flying squirrel onto one of the beds, making the tupperware full of Loran's handmade white-chocolate chip cookies fly into the air, we watched the cookies in slow motion fall one by one onto the hotel bed's comforter, which we all had to explain to Jake is the part of the bedding that they don't wash – we'll just leave it at that. I then started to push Jake around for spilling my cookies, which then turned into a wrestle fest that concluded in Jake "ACCIDENTALLY" (Jake's favorite word) kicking my winnings, divided by my favorite colors onto the carpet... In an attempt to pick them up, someone moved the night stand away from the wall, only to find several of my winning skittles to be positioned next to a dusty, dead, raisin-like object. It was sick, I guess I lost in the long run. Next up, hot-tubbing! Of course, Mark was the only one responsible enough to bring swimming trunks. Zach had basketball shorts with him, maybe he thought we'd run into a pick-up game somewhere along the way, he is a baller. Jake and I had to enjoy the WORLD'S NASTIEST HOT TUB in our panties. There are so many comments and jokes that I want to reference but I can't on here, not to mention I'd probably go to hell for repeating some of it.... oh, that's just string, never mind. The next morning started off with a ___________ (insert adjective here) continental breakfast. I just had a coffee and a yogurt, but word on the street is that the pink chicken was pretty good (sounds like my you know what.) We headed back to the UWBC to play again, it was a perfect spring day and everyone was playing pretty good. I had a birdie shot that I thought went in the basket from like 60-70' out, but it fell out - I had celebrated and didn't know it fell out until I walked up to the basket, but everyone else knew that it didn't go in – that was embarrassing. We stopped at a Subway for lunch as we continued driving north, I was eager to try a new sandwich but Zach compared the picture of it to a ^%$&*# - so I passed on trying it. The veggies at the Subway seemed especially yellow and old, yummm... Jake actually requested that they take some of the onions off of his sandwich because they were almost black they were so old. We made it to Hayward and decided to play a course there called Fiddler's Creek. We asked a guy for directions to the course, we then critiqued his direction-giving abilities as we followed his directions and made it there. A little bit more bartering got us to all play the course for $10, instead of $20 - I don't think it was worth either. The course was big, and some of the holes were pretty cool. It just wasn't maintained very well and there was only like 1 or 2 cement tee-boxes, and the baskets were all different and marked incorrectly. There was a small man-made pond that we couldn't see that Mark happened to throw a Buzz in, we couldn't get it out, so we lost that one. I think that and Jake's Glide were the only discs we lost this trip, not to mention that Buzz was in pretty rough shape since I had pooned a tree with it from like 12 ft' away. This was also the round that we really put the Ka-bosh on going up to High-Bridge because someone recommended playing a course in Duluth and that's soo close to Big Bear Resort & Casino that we just had to go! We all got so excited and our spirits were all lifted for like 2-3 minutes. Jake won this round! After the round, we got back to the car and gave ourselves all a shake-down for wood ticks. I think altogether we must have found about a dozen on us! It wasn't until we were in the car, now heading towards Duluth that I looked at the logo on the score card and realized why all of the signs at the tee-boxes looked like they had little cellos on them – they weren't cellos, they were violins, hence the course name, "Fiddler's Creek!" We are idiots sometimes. On the drive to Duluth, we had some great conversation about marriage and other things. It was really great to hear what the other guys had to say about their marriages, having kids, our identities in Christ, etc. I had asked the guys 3 of their favorite things about marriage. It's kind of a tough question, especially depending on how deep/surfacey you want to get. Mark and I shared our 3 favorite things about Marriage, Zach shared his 19 favorite things about marriage, then he shared his 11 favorite things about having kids, etc. (Haha Just Kidding) I don't think Jake ever got around to sharing his favorite things about marriage, although he did have the most to say/advice to give about pregnancy. We made it to the course at Superior Technical College in Duluth, we decided to play in teams, so it was Zach and Jake versus Mark and myself. The course was busy and all 18 holes were open this time. Last year we played this course, but there was flooding and mud damage so only like 2/3 of the holes were open. The one bad thing about this course is that 3 of the holes overlap each other and go in opposite directions, so it's a bit dangerous to play when it's busy – I was paranoid that someone's drive was going to cut my head off! The competition was tight, and we thought that we tied after we played the 18th hole, because Zach and Jake's team bogie'd it and Me and Mark's team birdie'd it - it turns out that Zach and Jake's team one by one point! It was a different dynamic playing as teams, I didn't care for it as much, compared to all of us playing individually. After this round, it was dinner time! We went to the Brew House which was a great experience, again. We each ordered great dinners and were able to enjoy some fantastic, you guessed it, brews. Next stop, Black Bear Resort and Casino. We got our room and Mark passed out, he was pretty tired. Jake and Zach had black jack fever and I wasn't quite sure what I felt like doing. I went down to the casino with them and started by getting myself a complimentary decaf coffee. I watched the guys play for a while, and I decided (and apparently vocalized many times, loudly that I "didn't like this table.") Sorry for that, I just couldn't stand some of the personalities playing at that specific table, and I especially couldn't stand the dealer joking that he had 21 every other time he flipped his second card when there was a full table of bets out there - I'm pretty sure that that should be a rule that dealers can't make jokes about having the one set of cards that makes or breaks the game. But who am I besides a big mouth passer by ;) The boys did well, they each gave me a stack of chips to take back to the room, I was tired. In the morning, Jake and I went to the Starbucks in the hotel and got some coffee and had some nice one-on-one time talking about children, schools, the ladd's future and life. I was especially antsy this morning to play disc golf, but there were no courses nearby, except for the course we had just played the night before. Majority of the group wanted to head south towards home and play the Blue Ribbon Pines course in East Bethel, which was really, really nice. One last stop for some BK/DQ lunch and ice cream and we were on our way to East Bethel, a city slightly southwest of where Jake and I grew up. This course was awesome, it's considered a pro course and you could tell. It was very well maintained, accurate signs and the first course that I have ever played that had mando's. (mandatory obstacles that you have to throw around) A few of us bought new discs, come to think of it, it might have just been me - I don't recall. This course was hard, lot's of the holes were in a forest of pine trees and, of course, there was the "signature hole #4" which was a nasty one. I think everyone was a bit sore and tired from the trip, and most importantly, the one thing that we all had been talking about since the 2nd day of our trip was that we missed our wives and wanted to go home to them. We finished at this course and decided to call the trip finished. We dropped Mark off at his apartment and us 3 went back to Fairway Flyerz, Jake got a replacement Glide and for one of the most shocking moments of the disc golf season, Zach actually got a disc golf bag!!!!!!! I absolutely love it. Us three then went to Acorn for a casual, non-scoring game. It was 6pm on a Monday, so of course it was busy. We played the first 8 holes and then skipped ahead to hole #17. We wrapped up playing and on our way to the car, we came across a guy that gets discs out of the ponds and sells them for a few bucks. We each got a new "used" disc or two, he had some nice star plastics :) We were finished and I'm sure the guys were as sick of me as I was them, and we all wanted to be with our wives. I got dropped off at Zach's, got my car and came home. The highlight of my trip was walking into my apartment, smelling like a mixture of ass, BO and Jake's Nissan Sentra, and being greeted by Loran running to the door and jumping up on me and giving me the world's best bear hug. Then the moment was ruined when she told me that I smelled ;) This trip was so much fun and valuable on many levels, I really feel like it was another one of our typical, yet unpredictable road trips, plus a ton of disc golf - P E R F E C T. I love my God, I love my wife, I love my friends, I love disc golf and I love our road trips. Thanks for a great time guys and for putting up with me, I know that I can be difficult and selfish quite often, so I thank you for the times that you had patience with me and showed me love, not to mention boosting my confidence as the top scoring player :) Seriously though, this trip goes down as one of the very best! I've already been thinking about next year's DG trip! Below are a bunch of pictures from and about our trip. Another great highlight of the trip was talking about the meaning of some of the new ACB songs and lyrics, which I am listening to right now. Round and round and round we go.


This was our goal, Highbridge, WI. Oh well, there's always next year :)


This stump was at Tower Ridge, this picture loses a lot of it's detail and texture.


This was the birdie-attempt that I though I made, but it bounced out, the basket is hidden in those trees. (Note - Zach wanted me to point out his drive, which was further than mine.)


This was me and Mark's team drive on hole 18 at Superior Technical College. I wonder if they teach you how to spell birdie at this college?


The signature hole #4 at Blue Ribbon Pines. Par 4. I think we all bogie'd it, at best.

I suck at frolf

Bryant Lake (+5)

Ben and I had been planning to play one day this week, we agreed on Friday. It was supposed rain all day so I was nervous that we were going to get rained-out, but we played! Although, it was windy as hell, it was a totally different game, because you can't throw naturally, you have to compensate for the wind - I'm sure some people say that this is part of the game, which I understand to an extent, I mean it is an outdoor sport that you play in parks, woods, etc. Either way, I feel like it makes it more of a gamble and a "try to get lucky" game, but I guess if I was skilled enough, I would know how to play in these conditions. I had 3 shots for the day that went at least 20' away from my target, especially on hole 18, which is on a hill. I was putting from about 20-25' out, and I could barely feel a wind, so I threw and all of a sudden, half way to the basket, my disc tipped vertically and got blown like the sail of a pirate ship, so far away from the basket that my par 4 which I should have had turned into a double bogie - suck. Ben picked up some Moose Drool, it's brewed in Missoula, Mont. (Zach's original home-town, right?) It was pretty good, I've had it once before at Scott Rosenthal's house. Ben had some pretty nice, far drives. He has his form down, that's for sure. I am still working on my backhand throw, which is far from acceptable, but I need to learn. I have my forehand down, and I can drive the same distance as everyone else, but I want to have both throw's in my arsenal. Bryant Lake is a really, really nice course. Definitely worth $3, I love the signs at each hole and the 16' long tee pads, Jake would love them, I think they are somewhat new from last year when they did the re-design. I know I keep talking about this, but I believe that my scores haven't been as good as they "should" be because I've been forcing myself to throw in a new way that doesn't feel natural (yet), so with this in mind, I'm pretty content with my decent scores. I think I can par the course at Bryant Lake, there are several birdie opportunities. The night ended at Maxwell's with a pitcher of Surly Furious and some good talks about: politics, friends, people that used to be friends and aren't anymore, conservative families and spoiled, fat, rich Americans - I think that covers it.

This is nice because it says what's considered "Out of bounds" and it doesn't say anything about not having beer :)