It has been far too long since I’ve been able to grab my pack of discs and get out to enjoy some courses. Some of it has been work…as I have been absolutely overrun with To Dos at Job #1 AND Job #2! But a bigger part of the issue has been the fact that I honestly haven’t felt good since October.
I’ve been open about the fact that I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2019, and have been dealing with a venous angioma between the two hemispheres of my brain that had been causing daily migraines. However, since Mayo Clinic identified the fact that I had been having as many as four to six seizures per day, and placed me on medication to prevent the seizures (as well as the headaches), my quality of life improved.
Toward the end of 2024, I was starting to have those pounding, daily migraines again. My neurologist told me that if I ever got even one of those headaches in the future (despite the strong anti-headache meds they had placed me on), I needed to immediately go to the ER…not wait for an appointment. But what do you do when you have those headaches, every day?! Am I supposed to sell my house and sleep on a cot at the hospital for the rest of my life?
Pity party aside, not feeling good (every day) has made it more difficult to get out and enjoy more courses. Even if work wasn’t oppressive related to workload? Most days, all I feel like doing is lying around and binge-watching Netflix. I power through it, go to work, then get my 5+ miles of walking in. But driving hundreds of miles to disc golf on top of it all? It’s been a struggle.
That being said, I needed to head up to Portland this weekend to wish my youngest daughter a belated 19th birthday. My wife did the driving, since neurology doesn’t want me driving much until they can get to the bottom of these daily migraines. But Becky knows I’ve been struggling, physically and mentally, so she encouraged me to bring my discs along to knock a couple of new courses off my “To Play” map in UDisc.
My first opportunity to play this morning came at Tigard High School. This was a new nine-hole course that opened in 2024, and hadn’t yet been added to the DGCourseReview.com website. I love the opportunity to make UDisc or DGCR more accurate for all the disc golfers out there who are looking for new places to play! So I was able to add all the information about the course to DGCR, along with photos from every tee.
With three MONTHS of rust on my game? I expected to be pretty terrible in my round. But from my very first tee shot, my ProLine Squalls were putting me well inside of Circle One off the tee. I didn’t get all my putts, but I did manage six deuces on the round, for a -6 (21) and an estimated round rating of 1005. Not too shabby!
Later in the day, on our way to Eugene, Oregon for a bit more fun with our two daughters, Becky suggested I sneak in one more nine-hole recreational course on the way. So we headed about sixteen miles out of our way, to have me play a course I couldn’t play the last time I was in town (due to it being located on school grounds, and only being playable when classes are not in session): Philomath Middle School DGC. The course has been in the ground since 2004, and it doesn’t look like much has changed since. The course is showing its age, with a missing basket on Hole 2 and 2-3 damaged tee signs. But a new course is still a +1 in my Courses Played Collection, so I happily threw another quick round.
I didn’t play Philomath well at all, struggling to a -3 (24) and an estimated round rating of 931. But the highlight of my round was putting a VERY difficult tee shot on Hole 6 within 8-9 feet of a funky custom basket. I had to take a photo (above), to help me remember the tee shot and the unique basket.
It felt SO good, getting back out and playing a few new courses again! Here’s to hoping I can get more played before I need to head for Cleveland (Ohio) for work in April…
Magic Number = -64 (2,064 Courses Played)
ABOUT DEREK
Derek Tonn is a member of the DGA’s Ambassador Team. His company, Mapformation, LLC, has been DGA’s partner in the development of disc golf tee signage since 2012. The longer our two companies have worked together, and the more Derek has gotten to know all the great folks at DGA, the more he has wanted to formally sing the company’s praises. The more he has realized that “Steady” Ed’s (the father of disc golf and the modern-day Frisbee) vision for the sport and his company perfectly describes his own interests and priorities related to disc golf, and the more Derek has recently been encouraged to share his story.