After over a month of hard work and a trip for work to Atlanta, Georgia (where I was unfortunately able to find the time to play any new disc golf courses), I finally got to head out to a new area of Oregon where I still had a few disc golf courses I had yet to play. I had been thinking about which courses to try and play for weeks earlier! Trying to decide whether to knock out some easier courses, or to go after some courses a little further away…which would be a little harder to play in the rain (as it is doing most of the time in Oregon this past week). And after debating back and forth in my mind? I decided to knock out the courses that are harder to get to.
I did have a shorter nine-hole course on my way to two private camps: Linn Benton Community College. Disc Golf Course Review said that the course was an eighteen-holer, while UDisc said the course had nine holes. But after arriving at the course and only finding nine baskets (with no marked tee areas)? I am going to say it is a nine-hole course.
Thank goodness for a course map on UDisc! I would have had no idea where to tee off from on each hole without it. And my tee shots on each of those holes left something to be desired…as I was dealing with about an inch of rust on my game! 🙂 I did at least manage to shoot a -2 (25), getting a 272-foot deuce right in front of my wife (so she could ooh and aah, LOL). But the rest of my round wasn’t pretty.
After that quick warm-up round, I made my way to the highlight of my day: Camp Taloali, a little East of Stayton (Oregon). Camp Taloali is a camp for deaf and hard of hearing youth, with a VERY good disc golf course that hosted a major disc golf event for deaf players in 2023. The course has recently had a number of dead trees cut to the ground, so there are piles of wood/brush everywhere! But that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying my round on the property.
I managed to shoot four under par after eleven holes, but I was playing TIGHT! I’ve been dealing with back, neck and shoulder injuries for weeks now, and have mentally been having a bit of a “pity party.” Instead of focusing on what I can do, I’ve been thinking more about what I can’t. But after seeing that stone and smiling? I told myself: “Yes you CAN do it!”
So I opened up my game and ran some bigger lines than I had been so far today, to shoot an additional five under par over the last seven holes. DGCR estimated my -9 (48) at a 1074 round rating! Although I would put the round more around a “human” 960s-970s. 🙂
I had planned to try and get a third course played today (Camp Dakota). But the skies opened up as we made our way toward where my conference was being held (the Oregon Garden Resort), and I REALLY didn’t want to spend the extra time not knowing if I would be allowed to play…and/or getting (more) soaking wet, so we called it an afternoon. Live to fight another day!
Magic Number = -56 (2,056 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.