Woe and Intrigue on the 4th of July

It was a rough front 9 yesterday for the Wilhelm team at the Independence Day face off held at Solitude Mountain. A botched start left Theorris with 5 on the first hole, and it went down hill from there. One hole 2, both Catinlap and Theorris managed to get stuck in the same tree, even though it looked like the discs had flown into the woods. After 20 minutes of searching, and officially giving up, Catinlap looked up and there the discs were--both in the same tree:


After 20 minutes of throwing logs and rocks and a failed attempt to climb, both discs were retrieved and play resumed. It did not resume well, however, as Catinlap smacked trees on two throws in hole 3, and Theorris, although recovering well from the tree mishap, with a very good throw on hole 3, managed to turn that good placement into another double bogie through poor putting.

Things turned around remarkably on the back 9, as Catinlap consistently threw par, and Theorris broke the double bogie rule, and actually had several pars. Theorris also had several excellent shots, and managed to par the longest, flatest hole on the course, hole 14: The Flats. This was a first in Wilhelm Team history where this hole was terminally considered to be an impossible par 3. Hole 14 has been named both the "Bane Hole" and "The Long Ass Hole." Theorris used his superlight Valkerie to accomplish his outstanding achievement.


Things did not finish up well for Theorris, as he lost his least-favorite disc into the grassy maw of hole 18. "I hated that disc any way," Theorris sad of the Solitude signature Innova Wraith. "It cut way too hard to the right and absolutely no legs."

Solitude!

TheOrris lets her fly.
Originally uploaded by catinlap

Well Solitude Mountain Resort is finally open for the season. There were skiffs of snow here and there, but the conditions were excellent in that it was not too over-grown yet.

I actually had a pretty solid game. With no major screw-ups. Now, of course, double bogies may be considered massive screw ups for some, but not I. I actually broke 80. That usually takes me a few trips up. For whatever reason I was feeling quite confident yesterday, and threw well. I only throw "flick" style--or sidearm, given I have a very wonky shoulder that tends to fly out of its socket when I throw back hand. I'm getting some pretty good distance too. I thank my disks for that.

Now as for the others, June Bug is improving, although I think she gets discouraged. I'm trying to convince her to give up back hand all together and go with the flick. She does much better throwing sidearm.

Catinlap and the Croin battled it out on the front 9, ending up tied. The Croin, however, had a run of bad luck, and fell behind by 3 strokes. Both, still kick my ass at putting and approach shots, but I consistently beat them on distance. BOO YEAH!

Great day, in all. Invigorating as always. I'm looking forward to an excellent season.

Here's our score card:

2008 Mountain Disc Golf Season

The 2008 Mountain Disc Golf Season starts tomorrow at Solitude for us here at the Wilhelm! Exciting! Solitude opened this past Wednesday, but a little thing called work got in the way for all the Wilhelm inmates.

Go, Catinlap, Go!

A photograph of mine has been used by the Salt Lake City Weekly in their article "Disc-y Business: a disc golf guide". The subject of the photo is Catinlap hucking (flipping they say) his disc at Solitude. The article is pretty decent--a tad hipsterish, but that's to be expect from the City Weekly.

Go, Catinlap! Go disc golf!

Here is the original:

Score card update

I've been meaning to post these score cards for your perusal. You will note that we on the Wilhelm team appear to be making progress.

Card 1: The NP Bone Birthday Invitation Cup

The Late JC had a solid day (he is Cat on the card). I (Orris) started out well with a birdie but then quickly fell into a doldrum of double bogies. Bone was solid, but given that he was red shirted for a year in Korea, it is understandable why he bogied most of the holes.

Card 2: The Day of the Long Throw

For day two of our disc golf camp, Dustin started out by throwing his disc halfway into the next county. I'm not kidding. The disc soared straight and long, and we found it halfway into the next green. As you can see (Bone) was the overall winner and completely recuperated his score from the previous day. My score came down 2 strokes as well.

Card #3: The Canyons

The Canyons course is so short you can easily play it twice in about an hour and a half (with no lallygagging.) While fun, the course is only moderately challenging and should be all par 3. The course has some great dog legs and is mostly uphill (not super-steep hills). I would recommend the course for beginners and folks just out to have some fun in the woods. While our scores don't show incredible play, it would seem that one could learn this course quite easily. JC seems to have become bored and neglected to score the final holes.

Card 4: Friday the 13th

Both JC and I did really quite well on this outing. I think 70 might be my best score ever, but I will have to look through the record. While I am not great disc golfer, I do feel my game has improved handily since I have adopted the flick as my basic throw and have consciously attempted to improve my game by analyzing my discs, my throw, and my game strategy.