Super Class Saunter @ PEABODY June 22nd

[Boebo]

I really wanted to support this event today...totally bummed I'm not there

[Schoen-hopper]

Had a great time flippin' the lid. Thanks Brandon, for another great event. For a $12 entry, I got my moneys worth and then some. Wiggins, Smitty, Crispin, Swedish... you guys seriously rocked the Zephyr today. Pretty impressive scores.

[Swede]

We missed you too, Boebo!

It was super windy but that didn't stop us from from getting Super Classy. Even the cards at this shindig were classed up a notch...


If you thinks that's nothin, check out the guy who made those cards.


And a pic of the youngest person to ever complete a KDGA tournament sitting with the best lookin gal in Peabody.





The Super Class shindig is gonna Saunter further south next year. Congrats to the Slimmest of the Biggins, Dr Wen "Diggit" Biggins on a thorough beat down of the competition. Chris "I hate these things" Smith changed his tune after discovering the candy CHephyrs and was putting a move on after lunch but ran out of holes.

My step dad and Emery played their first frolf tourneys. Folks bought extra zephyrs so they could play with their friends and family. Once we got the cars moved off the green it was just about perfect.

Big thanks to Smitty and Dan for bringing water, Buddy for the donuts, Smitty for the CTP prize and hyzernaut ace fund, King for the cards, class, and ctp prize, Will for coming early to set up and trim even though he couldn't play, my good woman for handling reg and money and me, Don for toting stuff home, Mace and Discs Unlimited for the Z's, Mickey and Becky for being awesome to hang with and bringing watermelon, Schoenny for showing up in a Jag and laying down a snowman with a leather freak flag, Austin for getting the trophy altered, and everyone who came out to flip a lid in 30mph wind! Y'all are awesome.

[smitty]

Can't believe that little Turkey finished 36 holes of Frolf. Nannerpuss is the man and future world champ.

Had a great time...I will admit it was fun to unleash a bomb with the Z and time it with a calendar as it made its way down the fairway. Great job on the course Swede (I would keep an eye on Emery!!!! He has done nothing but talk about your girl since we left....and he may have called her on the way home!!)

I Love being a Hyzernaut!

[Swede]

This doesn't count for K-ratings, I just needed to get Mike the KDGA member scores and figured why not. I think Mickey is responsible for my two highest rated rounds ever....

Name, r1 r2 r3 Total, k1, k2, k3

Ben Wiggins 30 28 32 90 1042 1050 1001
Smitty 34 28 30 92 982 1050 1032
Brandon Nelson 28 34 31 93 1072 948 1016
Crispin Carrasco 33 29 31 93 997 1033 1016
Casey Fluty 33 33 33 99 997 965 985
Robert Robbins 36 33 33 102 952 965 985
Scott Klatt 34 35 34 103 982 931 969
Jeff Ring 35 34 39 108 967 948 890
Brian Thompson 39 34 35 108 908 948 953
Dan Harms 35 33 41 109 967 965 858
Austin Streit 39 35 35 109 908 931 953
Rod Cooley 37 39 37 113 938 863 922
Tim Brown 42 38 39 119 863 880 890
Russell Trice 38 40 42 120 923 846 843
Schoenny 36 44 41 121 952 777 858
Mike Speer 41 41 43 125 878 829 827
Jake Bruntz 43 43 41 127 848 794 858
Zach Keasling 46 42 41 129 804 812 858
Mickey Tibbetts 44 44 44 132 833 777 811
Nate Hess 45 44 46 135 818 777 779
Don Voth 44 46 48 138 833 743 748
Becky Larson 47 45 48 140 789 760 748
Casey Bruntz 49 50 54 153 759 675 653
Kenni 51 50 56 157 729 675 621
Beka Starkey 55 51 52 158 669 658 684

[Austin]

I never understood how the rating system works. The first round a 35 is worth 967, the second 931, and the third 953. Look at Mickey Tibbetts rounds 44 (833), 44 (777), 44 (811). All three rounds are on the same course at the same time with the same people with the same conditions. I know these rounds don't count in our ratings and I am not complaining. Just wondering how rating numbers are created. And no, I don't have a better way to do it.

[Schoen-hopper]

It factors in everybody's scores and their K-rating going in, I believe. So if you shoot the same score every round, but the crowd shoots significantly lower or higher, your round rating will be different. And sometimes even a few people can throw round ratings off, like if some 1000 rated golfers shoot terrible or some 700 rated golfers throw 900+ rated rounds. Short answer would be it factors everyone's scores in, in relation to their ratings. But it has nothing to do directly with course difficulty or conditions or anything else.

[Swede]

Yep, what Mike said. Plus the actual PDGA ratings throw out scores that are significantly lower than a player's rating. I don't have the ability to do that. So I shot my best the first round when the highest rated players shot their worst and most of the players were just familiarizing themselves with the course--therefore stupid high rating for my first round. Also it got windy(ier) late when more of the casual golfers cared less and maybe had imbibed a bit more so the final round scores are puffed up at the top. Plus 12 holes is too small of a sample size for the PDGA. I believe it has to be 14 or more to count. Little variations in scores make bigger variations in ratings when there are so few holes.

There are a lot of reasons these ratings don't count.

[Swede]

Super Class Hangover:

You all know by know that when I get charged up for a tourney, I tend to chatter on and can't let it die. So though probably nobody's reading, I'll reflect a little anyway...

1) I realized I am not bummed that my name isn't going on the trophy. I'm bummed because I don't get to do it again next year. It was like having all my friends over for the most laid back frolf party ever.

2) And my family came. And other people brought their family. And first timers. It was the most non-threatening introduction to disc golf I can imagine. And people left wanting to play this with their kids. Or they knew a buddy who would probably give this a try.

3) I played in the Recreational division at Hutch a few years back with my off hand. The guys I played with had no concept what a 2 minute warning was, or what to do about O.B., or how to keep score fairly--let alone that they needed to throw a putter or a mid on 50% of their shots. Every tournament we hand out cards and the Rec guys ask where the hell hole-whatever is and they wander over there and just make stuff up. We don't want to bore the regular golfers in the player's meeting so we just throw the newbies in the deep end.

4) For non newbs, too often tourneys are about a crap ton of discs in the bag, spending more money than you probably should on an entry fee and fighting off the frustration that you aren't magically playing your best golf when it counts.

5) Disc golf needs events like this. I've been frolfing for 13 years or so and going to tourneys for 4 or 5. Yesterday was the first tourney my step-dad has ever played. I think it is because it was the first opportunity to break the ice.

6) While it was good for beginners and grinners, the frolf being thrown down was pretty impressive. I looked at the top 4 finishers at the last 3 Super Class events. These are the average round ratings for first thru fourth place...
2011: 1010, 1008, 997, 993
2012: 1023, 1014, 1004, 995
2013: 1031, 1022, 1016, 1012

Anybody in the KDGA is walking pretty tall if we finish a tourney averaging above 1000. Averaging 1030??? Just sick! What won the tourney in 2011 wouldn't have made the top four this year.

6) During that final 12 when the battle for the trophy and the tournament was raging, we were playing gang golf. 7 people including a six year old and a mustachioed gent who was "just here for the chain bang" sauntered through the well kept city park chucking lids and laughing.

7) Somehow Super Class is an intense competition at the top where the bar gets higher each year, and at the same time manages to be more inclusive and welcoming than any tourney I've ever seen. Smitty, tongue in cheek, ribbed me that I was setting the sport back 20 years by running an event with these old lids. I know I'm not the only one that feels rejuvenated after this weekend. And we just might have hooked a few newbies too. Feels more like we are moving the sport forward.


Final thought on the future and the name:

There was some more talk about whether to make it a Harry Scott Shimp memorial. I'll leave that decision to the folks that knew him better. But I will throw my 2 cents in.

It was Harry's wish that the Super Class event be a PDGA event. I strongly believe this event should not be PDGA sanctioned. I really feel like we got something right Saturday. I think the spirit of Super Class was served. I don't see higher entry fees and stricter guidelines that come with PDGA sanctioning doing any good for this event. Maybe had Harry been there yesterday he would agree with me. But that's the point, I don't know.

Harry also wanted the tourney to travel with the trophy. And right now part of me wishes it wouldn't. And that says quite a bit. I've mentioned that I wasn't happy about the responsibility of running this event. When I talked with Wiggins and crew a few weeks ago, they agreed they'd feel the same if they were in my shoes. But something moved me, changed my mind. Probably the joy and enthusiasm I'd see in myself and others when I chucked the big Z.

You'd have to ask Wiggins why, but I'm pretty sure something changed in him as well. I think he's got his own ideas about what the event should look like next year.

I suspect that Harry wanted the Super Class event to travel so he and others could play different courses each year and expose more folks to Super Class. But maybe he was smarter than I think. Maybe he knew running the event was a prize in itself. That the event would change the person who won it. That the tourney would be better because each year the host would find ways to share with others the joy he/she discovered.

Maybe that is all wishful thinking. But I see the potential for folks competing for the right to put their own spin on next year's Super Class. Whether that is Harry's legacy or just a vital addition to disc golf culture, I am proud to be a part of it.

Whatever we call it, I think the name should convey a sense of relaxed fun and travel. I think "Saunter" works better than "Showdown" for that. The "Scott Shimp Super Class Saunter" perhaps?

[Schoen-hopper]

I know I had a great time. Yeah, some of those scores were unreal. 28 on 12 holes is equivalent to -10. Almost a perfect round. It was impressive to see how well some could putt with the Zeph. A great throw with one of these is a really graceful sight to watch.

This was my first superclass event, though I've followed the previous tournaments and have been wanting to come hit it up sometime. I must admit, the cheap entry sold me. I agree you could have some superclass mini events at other tournaments like Beloit, the Spring Sling, Hays, wherever there is interest. Keep it cheap and you'll get more players to give it a try.

For the main event, I'd like to see Harry's name stay associated with the event. Just my opinion. Harry had a lot of passion getting this thing going. We do a good thing when we remember those who've passed on. Sometimes it makes you think about how you live and how you'll be remembered.