This morning, I had a couple of hours before our Oregon Small Business Development Center Network conference began. Although Becky (my wife) had a Zoom meeting she needed to attend, so if I were to get to the third new course in Klamath Falls, I would need to get there on my own. We talked about it, and since the course was only a couple of miles away, and since it was relatively easy driving? We both thought I should be safe in getting there on my own.
When I FINALLY arrived at the Oregon Institute of Technology and their disc golf course, found legal free parking (a LOT harder than it should be), and walked (a LONG way) to the Hole 1 tee, the above photo is what I found. 🙁 Not very friendly or inviting, and a chance to lose some discs off the tee if you didn’t keep a keen eye on the flight path of your disc. I worried that the entire round was going to be a bust…playing “find the tee” (using the UDisc course map) and throwing at posts or trees instead of missing baskets. And while there were two missing baskets (Holes 4 and 8)? The course got better/easier the more I got into playing it.
The above photo is the view from the Hole 5 tee, and it was easily my best tee shot of the round. Only 269 feet to the basket, but all kinds of potential trouble if I didn’t execute properly on the tee. I threw my S-curve, right-to-left-to-right, and I thought it was going to hit the basket. I yelled: “HIT IT!,” probably scaring a person ~75-100 feet away from me that was walking their dog. 😀 My disc didn’t hit the basket, but it came to rest about five feet past the basket for the drop-in deuce.
I appreciated the attempt at a “top of the world” shot to finish the round as well, though the experience at OIT would be much better if they could do a little course maintenance. Replace the two missing baskets. I ended up shooting a -2 (25), for an estimated round rating of 898. I thought I played a LOT better than 898! But that might have been due to the rougher (maintenance) conditions. Still, I accomplished what I was there to do (+1 on my Courses Played Collection), so it was all good.
When I got back to our car, it wouldn’t start. 🙁 The first time that has ever happened with that car. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was parked on a steeper incline, or if the regular battery needs to be replaced (not the electric power for the hybrid vehicle), or if Gremlins had chewed through a few wires to keep me from risking a potential seizure for the couple of mile trip back to the conference! But it spooked me. The car wouldn’t shift into gear, and essentially rolled down the incline to the bottom of a hill and to/through a stop sign (lonely intersection…no traffic). When the car came to a rest, I tried it again and it started up just fine. Weird! I had a crazy thought of continuing on to Malin, Oregon to play another nine hole course there. But then the adult in me told the course collector in me:
- You’re here to attend your work conference, not disc golf. And if the car gave you any problems on your way to/from Malin? You’ll miss some of the conference.
- You made it a few miles with no issues, specific to your health. But what if you aren’t so lucky if you add another 30-40 miles behind the wheel.
Darned adulthood and responsibilities! But I am the opposite of a risk taker with most things in life, so I simply drove back to the conference location and walked around the property until it was time for us to meet.
Magic Number = -80 (2,080 Courses Played)
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.