I went to Old Settler’s park today for some disc golf and came across this sign. It seems that there is a race going on in the park. And they had these motivational signs along the course. I think that they apply to disc golf as well!

On hole 5, I threw farther than normal. Not close enough to birdie it though. I like this hole. You are throwing blind. There are trees on both sides of the tee box. And, you have to arc it off to the right with a anhyzer throw. Challenging.

There is this tiny water park in Old Settler’s park. And, apparently, it is really popular. So they are expanding the parking by digging up the park. Thats just what we need to do: trade grass for asphalt. And, they created this big temporary road up the hill along hole 8 for the construction equipment. Sigh.

On hole 16, I had a great first throw. Which was easily birdied. This is another hole that calls out for an arcing anhyzer throw.

This weekend was a World’s Biggest Disc Golf Weekend. To celebrate, Disc Nation held a free tournament called Cinco De Fly-o. It was held at the Twin Parks Country Club in Dripping Springs, Texas which is south west of Austin on 290.

The place was packed with 150+ people. For being a free tournament, they had a lot of perks. There was free breakfast tacos in the morning and a free lunch and dessert. The park was free for the day. And everyone got a coupon for merchandise at Disc Nation for playing. I think that Disc Nation did a really good job with this event. There were a lot of people running the tournament. The only problem was that it took a while to get going. We started at 11 instead of 10 in the morning.

I was not lucky enough to play with John for the event. But the people I played with were okay. There was one nice and talkative person. The other people were rather quiet and reserved.

I finished 18 holes with a score of 77. I had one bad hole where I scored 8. But the rest of them were decent surprisingly enough. And when I saw John again, I learned that he had pipped me with a score of 76.

One of the holes had a closest to the pin contest. I was no where close…

John had originally wanted to go mountain biking afterwards on one of the trails at the park. But had decided against it since our skills were rather lacking. Sadly, although I own a mountain bike, I have never ridden it off road. Apparently, John’s bike’s tires were rotting. So he had to borrow his wife’s bike. And it seems that he did not have a bike helmet as well. He had to borrow his eight year old son’s helmet.

We did stop by Walnut Creek Park after a huge lunch/dinner at Pappasitos (We ordered the mixed chicken and beef fajitas for two. Which came out as all chicken. So they gave us another order that had all steak. Four times the food, half the price!). The trail was quite easy, fun, and shaded. And muddy too with all of the recent rain. It is a shame that I have never been to this park having lived so close to it for so long.

I had one interesting experience during the ride. In this one section of the course, it was quite twisty and narrow. You were doing a tight turn after tight turn. So I was surprised when I turned the corned and saw a snake laying on the path! Fortunately, I was able to just miss running it over.

I went to Old Settler’s park for some disc golf today. I started off with a good approach shot on hole 3. No birdie though.

With all of the recent rains and the threatening rain clouds around, it was quite humid out there. Probably around 100% humidity. And hot as well too.

Ugh. It seems that the Poison Ivy is growing! It is a shame that I am allergic to it.

My first throw on hole 15 was shortened when it glanced off of a tree. But the second throw landed right next to the basket. Sweet!

And the throw on the next hole was pretty nice as well. I was a little worried when a dog came running down towards my disc when it hit the earth. But I heard the owner yell at it to stop and it turned around and ran back.

The group went out to Cat Hollow for some disc golf. I had a good throw on hole 3 and birdied it.

John, myself, Nick, Stephanie, Adam, and Rehana played. And there were no groups this time.

Follow the line of discs to the basket!

Instead of going somewhere else to play disc golf today, John wanted to check out the Texas Woman’s Tournament. At least the setup part of it. They had clearly marked the tee box. And placed advertisements up.

And it looks like they created a set of alternate short holes. Which were pretty much a straight shot at the basket.

The baskets had flags on top of them. (In case you could not see the bright yellow metal band).

And it looks like local clubs set up rest areas. With water and fruit and other things.

After giving Stephanie some moral support, we headed off to the Rivery. We got a late start, so we only played half of the holes.

John wanted to play at Wilco today since Stephanie was going to enter the Texas Woman’s Tournament tomorrow. Man, was it packed. It seemed that everyone wanted to practice on this course. And it took forever to finish. I think we finally left at 8pm.

I did have one nice throw on hole 12. Close enough for a birdie.

I think I started this escalation a while back when I was wondering if I should buy a bunch of putters and a basket. Then John Gravitt turned it into reality by buying two metal baskets and like 20 putters. Next, Jon Grimm bought a basket as well.

Well, I can’t let that stand, now can I? I decided to spring for a professional model. One that they actually use on the courses. And I ordered 20 Birdie DXs. The only stipulation was they they would all be 168 grams +/- 1 gram. I am still waiting for Disc Nation to fill that order.

The only problem was that the pole would not fit! The shipment came in three pieces. One box containing the stand, the basket and the mounting hardware. Another box contained the yellow ring and metal chains. The third was the metal pole. Everything fit except for the top. Initially, I thought that the power coating decreased the inner diameter where the pole would fit. I got out a rubber mallet, some padding, and whacked the hell out of it. But I finally realized that the top quarter inch of the tube was the right size but the rest was not. The outer diameter of the pole was greater than the inner diameter of the top.

Sesh! That was some nice quality control. I called Innova and they helped me out. They investigated the problem and called me back to tell me that I had the first of a new batch run. What a lucky coincidence! They sent out a new pole to me. And I was happy that, not only did it fit, but they threw in a couple of Aviar discs for my troubles.

Now, the next step is to convince Ed to buy a couple. He needs them for the back acres. And to provide more of an incentive for disc golf gamers to make the northerly trek.

Today, the group went to the Rivery. Because, after disc golf, we wanted to watch the new movie Pathfinder. I thought it would be a good movie to watch. After all, its about Vikings! But that decision was not based on any movie review. A 12 on the tomato is not a good score at all. And I agree. This movie was horrible!

The new theater is pretty hidden from both 29 and IH-35. And only one other person was watching this show at noon. The real attraction of this theater is its convenience: it is close to a disc golf course and it has a restaurant inside. I looked at the menu and it doesn’t seem that bad. They have salmon and some salads…

I was practicing on hole 1 while waiting for Adam and Rehana to show up. My first shot goes off to the right and down into the large depression. Which is not that bad, actually. Its better than throwing through the large trees on the left side of the hole. My next throw was blind. But I have played this course enough to know exactly where the basket was. I threw my Star TL because you want to throw your shortest-traveling disc hard rather than throw a longer-range disc soft. So I was pleasantly surprised when, after climbing up the slope, I saw that the disc landed right under the basket!

The wildflowers are definitely in bloom. They are pretty, sure. But the growth and the coloring makes finding your disc harder. Its great to play with other people who help search for lost discs.

It looks like the disc golfers around here are installing tee boxes! Too bad it seems that they are not going to install them on the extra holes for the winter course or the extra holes on the normal course.

Hole 7 has two mandatory signs on either side of a small gap in the trees. These signs consist of red spray paint on the two trees. So our question is: is the entire tree part of the sign? That is, if your disc bounces off of the rightmost branch and back into the gap, is that okay?

On hole 15, my disc usually curves off to the left and lands close to the road, if not occasionally skipping on the road and landing on the field on the other side. This is nothing new and I am used to that. However, my second shot landed right in the basket for a birdie! Woo woo!

Adam, Rehana, and myself took advantage of the clear, sunny weather to play disc golf. We knew tomorrow would be cold, wet, and miserable. And, since it has been a while, we went to Cat Hollow. Unfortunately, everyone and their brother were out on the roads. Traffic was painful. And the course was packed as well. We had to wait at every hole for people ahead of us to clear out.

It looks like there is a mini-tournament at some disc golf course that I haven’t heard of at 803 Rolls Road, in Leander TX. Weirdly, there was no mention of a date and there would be a Hold-em tournament after the event. I’ve never seen those two paired together before…

Two young men in front of us were drinking beer while playing disc golf. That was not too abnormal. What was amusing though, was that they improvised a cooler by carrying their beers in a bag of ice. So, every bench that we came to had water or mud on it because they kept placing their bag on the bench.

Sadly, they threw out their bottle by placing it on the top of the basket. Grrr!