After completing our duties as Disc Golf Foundation board members at the United States Women’s Disc Golf Championships in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, it was time for Mike Harrington to take me back to the Milwaukee airport (MKE). I would be spending the next twelve hours entertaining myself while waiting to catch my much-too-early flight to Denver (DEN), then heading from Denver back to North Bend, Oregon (OTH) to call this trip a wrap. But of course, with two course collectors in the car, I couldn’t resist asking Mike: “So…is there anywhere between here and the airport that you haven’t played yet?” 🙂 We each got out our phones to take a look at the UDisc app, and while Mike said it was a little out of our way? He would be happy to head over to Fond du Lac High School to sneak in nine more holes that he had yet to play.
It was HOT! We were both exhausted. And it was WINDY! But we both knew that it might be the last chance for us to share some fairways for the next year or two. So we did our best to gut it out and do the best we could. It wasn’t pretty…I think both of us were less than happy with our performance. But when you’re course collecting? It isn’t about your score, as much as comradery. Also known as “the player who has the most fun wins.” Copyright: Steady Ed Headrick. 🙂 And it is also about the “+1,” since whether you shoot seven or eight under par, or whether you put eights on the card for every single hole? Your course collector “rating” always improves by +1.
I limped back to Mike’s car posting a pitiful -2 (25) for an estimated round rating of 772. I’m not sure I’ve gone sub-800 in years! But again, after an exhausting week, being down probably 20+ hours from my usual sleep, not being able to breathe (I think I’m allergic to not living next to the Pacific Ocean now…ha), and playing in temps 25 degrees warmer than I am used to? Well, 772 still SUCKS! 😀 But my courses played rating still went up by one (which is all that matters). And I had nine last fairways to share with Mike before needing to start my all-nighter at the Milwaukee airport.
Thank you SO much to Mike Harrington for being my friend and for being my “chauffeur” for the past several days! I literally couldn’t have done the past week without you (since I’m not supposed to drive outside of our local area). Thanks also to Cristina and Paul Carlstrom for taking care of arrangements for getting the Disc Golf Foundation traveling museum to/from Manitowoc, as well as arranging our AirBnB. It will be a memorable trip, in a lot of different ways.
Magic Number = -74 (2,074 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.