Tour Stop #1
Las Vegas and the Memorial
Leaving New Orleans for Las Vegas and the first NT of the season we had that fresh feeling not having played a tournament in 11 months. Even though we were still on the road the whole time, it was the first time in my career that I hadn't played disc golf for over a month.
The doctors cleared me saying "take it easy"; so Synthya and I grabbed a rental car in the Big Easy and headed to the City of Lights!
30+ hours later we arrived in Las Vegas. Pulling into the Wild Horse golf course we were immediately impressed with the display of banners and baskets everywhere as well as the quality of the clubhouse and overall property. We were excited to play disc golf!
We grabbed a cart and headed to the course. The courses in Vegas were very challenging also it was super windy and chilly. The Vegas club did a great job with their first NT.
I was really nervous about my first round of PDGA competitive play, it was my first in nearly a year . I had the new added pressure of playing Masters for the first time along with expectations to play at my past level. The course treated me brutally with two rollaway 5p's and many other weird kicks. I was welcomed back with a 991 rated round. I just couldn't get it going and the Disc Gods weren't with me.
Greatly humbled, it was difficult to find the confidence to play well over the next two rounds. I dug deep the final round and carded my first round over my rating. I accomplished my first Master's victory playing with a great bunch of guys. Patrick Brown and Shasta Chris tied for second and battled me all week making it fun to play disc golf again. Synthya was my trusty caddy for the first three rounds and support group every round and all day, Teammate Robert Craig caddied the last round. It was nice to complete my first full event in nearly a year.
Shout out to Ricky Wysocki for claiming the first National Tour of the season and to JohnE McCray for again showing that us old guys can still really play finishing 4th and qualifying for the USDGC on his first attempt of the season. Also a shout out to all the Team 64 players who represented and Teams DD and Westside. Great start to 2017 for the entire trilogy family.
With no break we left the tournament and headed to Phoenix. Everyone had 2 days to practice three courses and get ready to compete on Wednesday morning. This time I would be playing the open division. Latitude had a nice team dinner on Tuesday night and everybody seemed excited to play. I started out on Wednesday a little slow missing a 16 foot birdie putt on my first hole and ended up in 19th after the first round. As we headed to Fiesta Lakes I was hoping to play well and did just that shooting 1076 rated round while still missing a few putts inside the circle. I moved up to fifth place.
On the third day at Vista I was on my 10th consecutive day of practice/competition with no rest. It was starting to catch up with me and I felt weak. My muscles were still recovering from serious apathy after the surgery and even a fit young buck would be mentally and physically exhausted after 10 days without a break. I was happy to manage a -6 and only dropped to 7th, making it into the second group for the final round at the Fountain. Cale, Eagle, and KJ Nybo were on my card. I started off with an OB par then played really well. Hitting the pole off the tee on the 7th hole, I rolled OB for another circle par. I continued to heat up stringing six 2's in a row finishing with a -12 and tying for third place just one stroke per round off the lead. Congrats to Paul McBeth for another great win (and breaking my record of most wins at the Memorial Championship
.
Team Latitude 64 member Robert Craig caddied every round and I gave him my Zuca Cart. My true soul mate, Synthya, was again with me the whole way as well as many other friends cheering on my efforts. Thank you to all of you and my sponsors! Without you it wouldn't be possible.
We also displayed the Next Generation Tour grand prize, a 2017 Kia Soul at the Fountain Hills course just off the 18th green . It was fun to see people's faces when we told them they can win this car. It is one thing to say it on the internet, it's another to allow people to see and touch it. Another step towards anamateur winning a new car playing disc golf in 2017. Our partner Pat Govang was instrumental in helping with the display, thanks Pat!!
Overall it was a good trip and we visited family, caught up with good friends, and spent time with our boss who was over from Sweden. Next, we are headed to Delaware to pick-up our two puppies Kulo and Little man then onto our new house on Lake Sinclair in Georgia. Next tour stop is the Waco DGPT. We are both playing this time, fun. See you in the fairway!
Las Vegas and the Memorial
Leaving New Orleans for Las Vegas and the first NT of the season we had that fresh feeling not having played a tournament in 11 months. Even though we were still on the road the whole time, it was the first time in my career that I hadn't played disc golf for over a month.
The doctors cleared me saying "take it easy"; so Synthya and I grabbed a rental car in the Big Easy and headed to the City of Lights!
30+ hours later we arrived in Las Vegas. Pulling into the Wild Horse golf course we were immediately impressed with the display of banners and baskets everywhere as well as the quality of the clubhouse and overall property. We were excited to play disc golf!
We grabbed a cart and headed to the course. The courses in Vegas were very challenging also it was super windy and chilly. The Vegas club did a great job with their first NT.
I was really nervous about my first round of PDGA competitive play, it was my first in nearly a year . I had the new added pressure of playing Masters for the first time along with expectations to play at my past level. The course treated me brutally with two rollaway 5p's and many other weird kicks. I was welcomed back with a 991 rated round. I just couldn't get it going and the Disc Gods weren't with me.
Greatly humbled, it was difficult to find the confidence to play well over the next two rounds. I dug deep the final round and carded my first round over my rating. I accomplished my first Master's victory playing with a great bunch of guys. Patrick Brown and Shasta Chris tied for second and battled me all week making it fun to play disc golf again. Synthya was my trusty caddy for the first three rounds and support group every round and all day, Teammate Robert Craig caddied the last round. It was nice to complete my first full event in nearly a year.
Shout out to Ricky Wysocki for claiming the first National Tour of the season and to JohnE McCray for again showing that us old guys can still really play finishing 4th and qualifying for the USDGC on his first attempt of the season. Also a shout out to all the Team 64 players who represented and Teams DD and Westside. Great start to 2017 for the entire trilogy family.
With no break we left the tournament and headed to Phoenix. Everyone had 2 days to practice three courses and get ready to compete on Wednesday morning. This time I would be playing the open division. Latitude had a nice team dinner on Tuesday night and everybody seemed excited to play. I started out on Wednesday a little slow missing a 16 foot birdie putt on my first hole and ended up in 19th after the first round. As we headed to Fiesta Lakes I was hoping to play well and did just that shooting 1076 rated round while still missing a few putts inside the circle. I moved up to fifth place.
On the third day at Vista I was on my 10th consecutive day of practice/competition with no rest. It was starting to catch up with me and I felt weak. My muscles were still recovering from serious apathy after the surgery and even a fit young buck would be mentally and physically exhausted after 10 days without a break. I was happy to manage a -6 and only dropped to 7th, making it into the second group for the final round at the Fountain. Cale, Eagle, and KJ Nybo were on my card. I started off with an OB par then played really well. Hitting the pole off the tee on the 7th hole, I rolled OB for another circle par. I continued to heat up stringing six 2's in a row finishing with a -12 and tying for third place just one stroke per round off the lead. Congrats to Paul McBeth for another great win (and breaking my record of most wins at the Memorial Championship
.Team Latitude 64 member Robert Craig caddied every round and I gave him my Zuca Cart. My true soul mate, Synthya, was again with me the whole way as well as many other friends cheering on my efforts. Thank you to all of you and my sponsors! Without you it wouldn't be possible.
We also displayed the Next Generation Tour grand prize, a 2017 Kia Soul at the Fountain Hills course just off the 18th green . It was fun to see people's faces when we told them they can win this car. It is one thing to say it on the internet, it's another to allow people to see and touch it. Another step towards anamateur winning a new car playing disc golf in 2017. Our partner Pat Govang was instrumental in helping with the display, thanks Pat!!
Overall it was a good trip and we visited family, caught up with good friends, and spent time with our boss who was over from Sweden. Next, we are headed to Delaware to pick-up our two puppies Kulo and Little man then onto our new house on Lake Sinclair in Georgia. Next tour stop is the Waco DGPT. We are both playing this time, fun. See you in the fairway!
Last edited:
