John and I drove down to San Marcos to check out one of the two courses where the Bobcat Open was being held. There was a map, but it was for an old layout. John and I kind of wandered around and made some holes up. But we eventually found some disc golfers and followed them to figure out the course.

Hole 9 was interesting. It was a short hole on top of a small hill where you had to throw over cars parked for some construction work towards the basket. You cannot overthrow it because some buildings line the surrounding area. I landed close enough for a birdie.

Most of the baskets were older models that were not too visible. However, one seemed rather home made but functional.

I drove down to Circle-R again to take pictures of their second disc golf course before Circle-R closes for some time for improvements. And, boy, do they need improvements! The course is unplayable. With all of the recent rains, the grasses and small bushes have overrun the place. Unless you had spotters, you probably would not be able to find where it landed. The signs were broken and laying on the ground. I got lost a couple of times (even holding a map of the course did not help). And I could not where hole 17 started.

So, after walking around in the sun, I played their other course, Rolling Meadows. I played much better. Getting a couple of birdies. But I lost my records when the stupid phone hung on me and I had to power it off. It seems that someone with the same first name and last initial as I do had a skip ace…

Afterwards, I ate at Estancia Churrascaria. The place was pretty good. I started off with the salad buffet which had items like mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, and sun-dried tomatoes. But I have to admit that the selection was rather small. Not that it mattered, of course. I came here for the meat.

They had many different types of meats to choose from. And most of them were tasty. I am not usually a fan of chicken legs, but the one I had was savory. The lamb was not too gamy. The sausage was not too bad. But the tenderloin was far too overcooked and dry.

There were two sides that I liked. The fried plantains were sweet and creamy. And the mini pop-over muffins were excellent! Certainly the best part of the meal. I will definitely have to try making something like that at home…

Today was the second Blue Skies Over Texas Tournament for me. And the day was pretty horrible for me because it rained. Actually, now that I think about it, it has rained for every tournament that I have been in! In fact, we could not attend our first tournament ever because it rained so much that the course was flooded out.

We arrived early in the morning. It was only just raining a couple of drops. But that would change later on in the day. For the worst. The course was already damp. Damp enough to leave tracks. Like you can see in this picture were a truck or ATV had driven along the course. Fortunately, there was a lot of mulch out on the course. But it was strangely missing in spots.

We had a group of five in the first half of the day. And Damon Neth was in my group again.

Lunch was free. There was taco meats, mixings, and even beer (but it was the low quality Keystone light). John, Jon, and I played 99. However, we ran into problems. With out Adam, we were unable to remember some of the more finicky bits of the rules (like declaring and revealing). But it did not matter. John was not interested in playing it at all. And opted instead to play hacky sack.

We finally started the second half (where the course is reversed) late. Around 2:30 or so. And it started to rain much worse. Ugh.

But the day did end on a positive note. Jon won fourth place (tied for third according to him) for $110 in merchandise at Disc Nation. On the way home we stopped to eat at Bi Ki Ni Bar.

Apparently John Houck is closing the Circle-C course for some improvements. Gravitt announced it on the newsgroup. This prompted me to drive down and take pictures before it closed. And it was a good time of the year to go! With all of this recent rain, the grass is now green and the water is flowing…

Those spiders are out here as well. And their yellow camouflage works well. I wonder if that thing will eat discs?

Hole seven is a tough hole. You are on the left side of a stream. About 250 feet out is a waterfall and pond. Just to the right of that pond is a small “island” where the basket lies. There is a lot of vegetation providing a barrier along both sides. Man, that is really tempting to swim in!

Along the left side of hole 16, there is water. You can’t see it through all of the trees and underbrush, but its there. Believe me. But then you really do not need believe, because John’s disc found the water. Fortunately, the water was rather clear.

We met up with Jon at Mary Moore Searight park to practice for the upcoming tournament. I had a couple of good throws from the tees. Which led to birdies on 6 and 18.

I went to Wilco again today but limited myself to three discs only: two mid-range discs: a Star TL and a Millennium Aurora Midrange Straight, and my putter, the Thumbtrac Birdie. For each shot, I would throw both mid-range discs. I need the practice. And when I putt, I putted with all three of my putters.

It was good practice. And even throwing so much, I still made good time on the course. Which was packed today for some reason. I had to skip around some holes to bypass the slower players…

John, Jon, and myself played disc golf at Wilco. And boy did I suck today. I have nothing more to say on that topic except to point out this scary spider…

Today was the Ace Race 2007 tournament. There were 12 holes. At each hole, a tee box was marked that was 180 to 235 feet away. Almost every hole was a different approach to the basket from the normal course layout. We then played these holes three times around. You only got one throw. If it went in (called an ace) or hit the basket (called metal), it would count. At the end of the game, the highest number of aces would win. In the case of a tie, the highest number of metals would win. And in the case of a tie, a “closest to the pin” round would occur.

For a twenty dollar entry fee, we received two mid-range prototype discs, a hat, and a marker. Which was a pretty good deal. The only problem was the rain and the wind. You could only throw those prototype discs. Which gave everyone a level playing field. But the wind was the randomness in this game. It was hard enough to throw a brand new disc. Throwing it into the wind was even harder.

John tried breaking the discs in by throwing them on the concrete tees. I don’t know how much that helped, though.

We played with Damon Neth and his son, Spencer. Damon owns the Disc Nation store down in South Austin. He was a nice guy and very friendly. Luckily, I was able to hit basket number 1 on the second time around. And I was the only one in the group to do so. Unfortunately, there were other people who were able to hit metal twice. So a play-off round was held. My group was impatient to wait for the finish and they went off to the Tilted Kilt to eat.

John and I practiced for the upcoming Ace Race 2007 tournament. Tees are placed around 200 feet from the baskets. Only aces or hits of the metal basket count.

The stubby pecan tree was looking pretty ripe. Ripe enough to warn people off.

I went out to Wilco a little bit late today. At least hole 5 was a birdie…