Elks Nov 7th

[disc golf superhero]

Definitely my most fun tournament to date.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77479927@N00/4092877559/

[Schoen-hopper]

I'd have to agree that it's hard to top the Elks. That had to be the best day of the year... in November! The place in beautiful and carts, beer, good food on site.... can't beat it.

Overall, the course changes improved it some from last year.

1) This hole was way better. I said it couldn't be 3'd, but that was before I realized that it wasn't 940'. I saw several double 400' shots that were pin high, so it had to be around 850' or just over. That one would still be a par 4. Were there any 3's? The 2nd round was either a tough par 4 or an easy par 5. I loved this hole because the basket was on the other side of the tree line, which put 2 fairways and a ton of trees in play.
2) This one was better last year. The first round placement was too par 2'ish. Second round was much better. I can see the need for short par 3's though, as many were long & open.
3) I liked this one way better than last year. A good short par 3. Go long or short and it's difficult. Go the right distance and even if you mess up your left-right, you should still have a putt. 2 routes was cool.
4, 5, & 6) Same good holes as last year. Some OB might make some of these like 5 more interesting.
7) Fun, reachable long downhiller. OB Junior tee right in the fairway, which was fluky.
8 ) Cool anhyzer. Probably just a hair too long (or uphill) for a decent number of birdies though.
9)Lots of trees, but not many really in play. The ones right next to the basket were though. A more interesting hole would have played 200+ feet longer as a par 4, teeing off way back in the adjacent fairway to the right.
10) Making this classic shorter made it reachable off the tee for the big guns. Hope no benjamins were lost.
11) Longer was a little better. Still too open, but what a great green. It'd be really tough if a green like that was approached from a different angle.
12) Longer was a little better again. This shorty was a tricky one for righty.
13) I think this was the same classic hole. Can't have been 390 though. I through some 350' shots that were going long. But it was perfect the way it was. Good lefty hole.
14) This one seems longer, or maybe the bank was worked on. Beautiful!
15) Tricky up the gut or bail out with a hyzer to the right leaving a downhill approach. Much better hole than last year.
16) One good tree, but mostly open.
17) A little shorter than last year? Like the cartpath tee. Long par 3 with not too many birds or bogs. Should be slightly shorter, or way longer & trickier.
18 ) A little too long & way too open. Any other options with this one? Artificial OB? This was the most boring hole.

So yeah, all and all better than before. Could be more killer yet with all the possibilities this place could offer.

One thing that could be better would be to play off for the ace fund immediately after the event. When you are paying $5 and only have a legit chance at an ace on a couple of holes, that means 90% of the time, you are playing for an ace throw off rather than an ace itself. Bo won the ace fund in the ring of fire (it was already dark), but apparently that wasn't the word from the TD. Some probably left by the time we threw off for it. I hope the people who won money were in the fund.

I hope I get the chance to play this again next year. Sounds like it may be invitation, and fill up quickly!

[Mace Man]

One thing that could be better would be to play off for the ace fund immediately after the event. When you are paying $5 and only have a legit chance at an ace on a couple of holes, that means 90% of the time, you are playing for an ace throw off rather than an ace itself. Bo won the ace fund in the ring of fire (it was already dark), but apparently that wasn't the word from the TD. Some probably left by the time we threw off for it. I hope the people who won money were in the fund.

I hope I get the chance to play this again next year. Sounds like it may be invitation, and fill up quickly!

I do agree that some of the Hole lengths seamed to be off. I used a range finder and checked all holes twice and got the same readings. I think that more adjustments need to be made to improve the layout. This is tough to do with maybe only having an hour a day at a time to design it.

On the Ace Fund throw off issues I chose not to do this right away because I did not want the players that went right out after playing on the course to pull basket and flags to miss out on their chance. The reasoning behind doing a throw off and paying multiple places is that this what I told people when I was asked upon signing up so I had to stick to that and YES the people that won paid for the ace fund! Next year this tournament will be before the time change so daylight won't be such an issue.

[Schoen-hopper]

I hope that didn't come off too harsh, Mace. Lots of work paid off. And the over-analysis.... Had a great time!