Disc Golf: October 2006 Archives

We went to Old Settler's Park for some disc golf today. I noticed that there was a propeller driven plane slowly flying around. I wonder what it was. My neighbor saw it as well and guessed that it was a B-17. I saw it on Sunday also. Too bad I didn't have my 70-200 lens on hand...

It was the second time playing the "winter course" variant. I like the new holes. But the whole course is not only comprised of new holes. It uses the original holes. Plus, we don't do 18 holes. So I think we need to come up with a new course. How about teeing off from the previous hole to the next hole's goal?

die Mauer

We went to Chuy's for lunch. And while we were there, we played a game of die Mauer. It was a bluffing/guessing game. Everyone simultaneously reveals one of seven pieces. If someone else guesses your piece, they get to build. Otherwise you do. An empty fist will place any piece (however, if more than two empty hands are revealed, then no one builds).

It was rainy out so it was the perfect opportunity for Old Settler's Park. Some people don't like to go out in the rain, but I say "why not?". Its warm out, its not raining that hard, there is no lightning, I am wearing my bathing suit and my rubber sandles, and its close to my house.

The additional rules are that any new streams or pools of water are not considered out-of-bounds. I am glad that I went. I had fun. And I had some pretty great throws. On hole 1, my second throw (an arcing anheizer fell within a foot of the basket). On hole 11b, my first throw (also an arcing anheizer) fell within three feet of the basket. I also experimented with an new throw by wrapping my arm around the disc so that when it left my hand it would be spinning more than normal. That throw worked perfectly on hole 9. The second throw landed within a couple feet of the basket after the first normal throw hit a nearby tree.

John and I went to Cat Hollow for some disc golf. I arrived early to photograph this. Unfortunately someone stole the basket for hole 13. All that is left now is a bucket. Which is sad since my throw was like right next to it.

The group went out to the Rivery today after realizing that The Hairy Man Festival was being held at Cat Hollow and The Outlaw Trail 100 was being held at Old Settler's Park. Unfortunately Jon didn't receive the memo in time to switch to The Rivery. I was teamed up with John today and my first throw was great (matching other's seconds).

My first throw at hole 10 was also great. 2 of 18 is a good percentage, right?

The next hole, 11, looked to be a muddy mess! Adam and Rehana didn't want to deal with it. John, however, being an ex-caver, was adventerous enough to give it a try. I threw as well. Fortunately for me, I was able to carefully walk around the edges and make it past the obstacle.

That big rock that you saw in the previous picture had this spray painted all over it. Vandals? Future construction?

We ate at Dos Salsas again. We seem to be stuck in a rut and are not trying different Georgetown restaurants. I ordered the Queso Flameadado this time. Every time that I have gone here in the past, I have been tempted to try this dish. Flaming cheese! How much more satisfying can that be? Unfortunately, our group has different tastes, and noone can agree on one of the four choices available. So this time I told myself: "screw it!", and I ordered it.

There was a lot of cheese in this dish. It turned out to be very gooey and stringy and fun to play with as you tried to separate a portion for yourself. It would make a good Knizia game.

Afterwards, our group played a quick nine at San Gabriel Park.

Adam, Rehana, John and myself played the "winter course" at old Settler's Park. We used different tees and threw towards existing baskets. Well, not every tee was different. Some of the holes were the same as the original. When you approach a basket that you know well but from a different angle and path, it gives you a new experience. It is definately gives the course a different feel. Much shorter holes as well.

On hole 10 (same as the original), I had a long throw. It looked like it hit the trees and stopped. When we finally found it, we realized that it had punched through and kept going. Right in line with the basket.

After Day Gaming, John and I went to Old Settler's park to play a round of golf. Fortunately for John, his water bound disc floated.

After Extreme Gloria Flawdi, we went back to Wilco. The dollar per player fee is good all day. On hole 17, John makes an invalid putt. Not the fact that he is using a long range driver called the Orc to putt with. But the fact that on top of the goal does not count. Sorry, John.

T.P. It could be toilet paper, or it could be teepees. On a disc golf course, you are likely to encounter either. Our group went to Wilco today. The weather was ominous and threatening rain. There was a tiny bit of mist rain, but that was it.

We encountered a kitty cat today. I assumed that it was feral. But it seemed pretty healthy or at least not starving. At first, it was wary of us and stalked our group out of curiousity. Adam turned a stalk of grass into a cat toy.

This at least allowed Rehana to pick it up. Twice. But it didn't like that at all. We lost it when we walked too far to the next hole and went out of range of the cat's stalking pace.

At Old Settler's Park today, I noticed that there were more trees down. They seem to be slowly being destroyed by nature on the order of 1 or 2 a week. This tree is hanging on by a thread of bark. But its dead Jim, and I can't do anything about it.

There is something about hole 3. Every single time I throw there, I go towards the stream. But even knowing this does not help me avoid the stream. Usually, John throws towards the right. However, today it went left into the stream (I avoided it by a couple of feet -- twice!)

Snakes on a disc: On the next hole John throws his disc and, when he finds it, he discovers a problem. There is a small snake in close proximity to it. I walk up and ask him what is wrong. He asks me how do I determine if a snake is poisonous. I respond "when in doubt, assume non-poisonous." Fat lot of help I am... let me tell you. So John starts chanting "black next to red: you're dead", "red next to black: heart attack" or some such unhelpful mnemonic. I just walk up to it, take its picture, scare it away, pick up the disc, and hand it to him. Case solved.

I had some spare time before I had to go somewhere, so I went for a few throws at Old Settler's Park. And look what I found. A floating disc. It must have been kicked up by the recent rains... It may just be promoted to Darwin-III when, the now current, Darwin-II lands feet-wet and unretrievable.

After gaming, John and I went out for a round of disc golf at Old Settlers park. This was before I went to yoga. It looks like they are going to plant a bunch of new trees to match the new trees they must have planted a couple of years ago. I hope they thrive in this inhospitable climate...

Ah, you have to love the name of "Hairy Man." I am a hairy man and I do. Especially when they celebrate it. Run, hairy man, run.

Our group went to Cat Hollow for disc golf. All seven of us. We are getting quite large.

We had Jon in our group and we didn't have long to wait to invoke his powers. On hole 3, he had to climb up a tree.

Sadly, someone has started to advertise on the goals. Grrr...

For lunch we went to Extreme pizza again. Jon brought a Tichu deck for us to play. However, Adam hosed us by yanking out the special cards and making us play mini bridge.

Apparently everyone did not get enough disc golf. There was enough interest in playing again. So we went to Wilco. Adam and I were still partners. But instead of sucking like we did at Cat Hollow, we did great. We jumped out in the lead. And then to keep John and Rehana from catching up, we kept "push"ing John. Each time John's team scored great, our team received the same score. This is a "push" in bridge terminology. And hence the cry of: "Push the Gravitt" was heard.

John found a rather large bee-hive in a tree on hole 18. Mmmmm, honey....

John and I took a road trip to Circle R Disc Golf Ranch out in Wimberly Texas. It was quite the drive, but then, all things in Texas are. I was a little worried about rush hour traffic. We left at 8:30 and drove down IH-35. But, surprisingly, it was not bad at all! Only a little bit of a hiccup at the upper/lower deck split. We made it down to Circle-R at 10am. Since we were the first ones there, and there were no well defined parking spots, John made one up. Only to be yelled at by one of the employees.

After golfing, we went out to get lunch. Circle-R is in the middle of nowhere. So we drove into town. I spotted a "New Orleans Style Restaurant" in Dripping Springs and told John to pull in. It was Orgeron’s Restaurant. We both had the stewed okra with shrimp and andouille sausage. It was excellent! The stock was thick and rich and flavourful. Highly recommended...

Expand the entry to see each hole and more...

I went to the disc golf course to practice throws. For every drive, I would throw the disc so that it curves to the right. Which is a style that I haven't used up to this point. It was good practice. Although I did have a problem on hole 2. This hole has the river to my left and a huge tree to the right. Which is not the type of throw for this hole. But I did it anyways. Much to my dismay. The disc flew right into the stinky, murky, scummy, tepid water. Fortunately, there was a plastic bag floating near to where the disc went in. So I waded in and found it! (This is the same disc that Chapel gave up when it went into the water. I have been using that disc for a while now. Thanks Mike!).

Went out to the Rivery today with John. I guess being on vacation seems to mean more disc golf at the moment. And apparently other people had too much time on their hands. This poor tree was toilet papered. Out here in the middle of nowhere. I guess some homeless person had their house TPed.

This here is one of the new holes. A short throw but there are difficulties. First, there are trees on both sides. Second, it is uphill. And third there was this tree that had fallen in the middle of the "fairway". Oh wait, looks like someone cleaned it up a bit and pushed the dead tree off to the side. Jon?