I received a call from Brian at 1000.rated.com the week of the Lewisville Open. He asked if I would be interested in writing an article about the upcoming tournament. I told him that I would but had no idea that when I asked Crispin Carrasco if he would help me out and compile the weekend trip in to words that I would get something of this quality.
Check out the article at http://www.1000rated.com/ which features pictures from the event or just read it below.
Mixing Business With Pleasure
(a road trip with Dynamic Discs)
The difficult task of translating an epic experience into a limited amount of written words never seems to do the experience itself, the justice it deserves; not for the reader or the writer himself. The ultimate goal in such writings is to put the readers in the writers' shoes, I wish those who didn’t make it to Lewisville, Texas this last weekend for the DD Lewisville Open could see what I saw and felt what I felt. The best thing I can do for the disc golfers of the world who missed out on such a killer weekend is to recount some of the cool stuff that went down Friday, Saturday, Sunday and early Monday morning.
Before the weekend of the 27th and 28th had even begun, I knew it was going to be a ridiculously good time. How do I know, you ask? Give me one hot minute and I'll tell ya'! My brother and I had been to a couple of tournaments where the DD Team was in attendance. If you haven't met all or any of them you should; they're all great players of the sport and great people in general. We would see them pile out of The DDRV having fun and shredding courses. Me and my brother would be there in the middle cards of the intermediate division, talking about how cool it would be to have a spot on board that RV and play alongside the team members. Fast forward a year and after a lot of practice and an ever-growing passion for the game, one of my disc golf dreams came true a few weeks ago...a phone call from Jeremy Rusco with an invite to hop in the RV with some DD soldiers on a mission to Texas.
Getting on the road Thursday night, trucking down the turnpike, reminded me of being a kid on Christmas Eve; couldn't sit still and overly excited. Eager to discover what surprises lay ahead just five hours down the road. The crew on this quest had the thirst for fun and an appetite for adventure. It included(name, sponsors): Jake Newell(Dynamic Discs, Discraft, Goober, Fruit Smiles), the notorious S.N.G. Chris Tyler(DD, Bud Light Lime, mosquitoes), Angela (the state of Michigan, chocolate-covered cherries, travel-size shampoo and conditioner, cell phones that get no service), Crispin Carrasco(Dynamic Discs, Mom's Famous Glass-bottom Boats) and the Commander in Chief/ Newlywed himself, Jeremy Rusco(Dynamic Discs of course, transmission stop-leak fluid). The ride down itself was fairly uneventful and all around relaxing. Except for the 50 miles at 3000 RPMs, an illegal adoption of a baby outside a gas station restroom, a rapid-fire wine tasting with Chris and Angela, and a run-trip-drop and roll on concrete while trying to catch a dynamite disco-light Frisbee, nothing crazy went down worth mentioning.
Friday morning came with great enthusiasm. We rolled into the course on Lewisville Lake ready to set up headquarters and get some practice in for Saturday. The welcoming committee included Lonnie the park(an upshot)ranger and some really nice maintenance workers bearing gifts of tables, water- jugs, and pop-up tents. Friday morning was the first time I got to see how much thought and prep-work goes into a smooth operating tournament. By 10am headquarters were ready to greet players. It was now time to check out the course. I had already been told by Newell that hole 3 had one of the coolest greens in the country...he was not exaggerating. With help from the sun, mounds of Texas dirt radiated brightly on a drop-off towards the calm lakeside. Throughout the multi-elevated soil, the roots of trees bursted out of the ground as if they were trying to uproot and walk away. Nestled in the chaotic ground towards the high-land was a basket, that at first glance, appeared to be growing out of the ground as well. Postcard quality and a damn good hole. The rest of the course was awesome. All kinds of shots, routes, trouble-rough and fun. By the time we got done playing the course, a soon to be new friend, Miles Seaborn(Discraft, bags of ice), came on the scene and took us to L.L. Woods via truck bed, which is still legal to ride in within Texas if over 18 years-old(it was like a free amusement ride). Miles was a cool host with plenty of good conversation, advice and demonstrated how to throw a buzz 11,000 ft. L.L. Woods was challenging due to the O.B. with the difficulty level being balanced out by a lot of open hyzer routes. The course looked easy, but in reality the front 9 was laid out like a chess game and your opponent(the course), had all his pieces in position to make you think that an aggressive attack would give you the easy checkmate. Just when you think you have the upper-hand, the different pieces(steep hills to O.B., fast grass, and the trees) go on the offensive meticulously attacking your score card. The smart-conservative rounds at Woods were the ones that helped players climb cards that weekend. I spent all my time there digging my way out of bad holes with the help of a putter. After Woods, we went back to the lake for some doubles where Newell and I casually hammered out a -13 for the win. The Southern California team of Paul McBeth and Noah Rodriguez came in shooting a 10 down with McBeth casually saying that Lake Lewisville feels like a 14 down course. Player check-in, Texas BBQ, filling out score cards for Saturday, and a good nights rest ended out the fantastic Friday.
Saturday morning came with a perfect sky, lizards, squirrels and other varieties of nature frolicked about through the dewy grass and trees. The faint sounds of these creatures rustling in the leaves and nibbling on their breakfast created a relaxing melody from Mother Nature's orchestra. Those soothing sounds were abruptly cut short and for good reason; they were replaced by the mass-crashing of chains caused by more than a 170 competitors practice putting for the soon-to-begin battle. Players checking in, signing up, and looking through the huge selection of plastic went as smooth as one could hope for. The one, in this case being Rusco had the lap-top running at warp speed to get everyone ready to rock in a timely fashion. I swear, he could be in three places at once. Slanging discs, signing up players, dealing with credit card numbers, taking time to say what's up to friends, etc; all without breaking a sweat. Before you knew it, the cards were ready and it was time to tee off! The whole first round had such a good vibe. Everyone I played with all Saturday was so stoked just to be out in the beautiful weather playing some golf with each other. When the atmosphere is on such a positive level, I believe it can help a round go a lot better and with a lot less pressure. No one would agree more than Paul McBeth. Every time our cards crossed paths or were in sight, he was always smiling and looked to possess an all-around laid-back demeanor which I have to figure out how to do because he went to lunch with a unofficial 1086 rated, 14 under...yes...-14; just like he said was possible for him. Chuck Kennedy quoted on the PDGA discussion board, “If his unofficial rating holds up, McBeth's 1086 in the first round cracks the top 10 best rounds on courses with SSA under 48.” Lunch was almost as fun as the first round. CTP qualifying throws were flying, BBQ, music and making new friends just added more to all the good times we had at the lake that day. Even checking the score cards and working the CTP event with Newell was a great break between rounds. Rusco later asked me if it affected my playing any. "My face-masking 4 birdie putts is what's affecting my game, holmes," I replied. Having stuff to do actually took my head out of the game just long enough to get relaxed again and ready to play. The afternoon round went wrong quickly for me personally, but rallied on the back nine to get rid of some 5's and a 4. Nobody other than Jake Newell knows how challenging L.L. Woods can play during the tournament. After his first seven holes he was eight over par only to fight back and birdie the next 10 out of 11 holes. He is keeping that scorecard in his bag from now on to remind him to not give up even after a bad start. McBeth, J.D. Ramirez, Seaborn and a few others shot well enough to keep them in the top of the ranks...now back to the lake to party. More shenanigans and fun at headquarters, with the park ranger even getting down on some upshot action(he was quoted as saying how cool it was and inquired about coming to the next local league night). Sleeping in an air-conditioned RV was a great ending to an awesome day.
Not to be outdone by Saturday’s funfest, Sunday had some jaw-dropping events of its own. Three ACES went down, with one of them on my morning round card. Nice hyzer-bomb skip-in. Everyone seemed more focused as most second days are. A mad dash to climb cards in the last 18 holes of a tournament is always a good time to see what a player is capable of. A lot of great drives, upshots and putts were happening throughout the courses. Congrats to McBeth, who flew in from California, for destroying it. After the dust settled and everyone nestled into where they finished for the weekend, the time to reminisce and be among friends commenced. Jake hosted the hugest ring of fire I have ever seen, Gateway gave out some goods to the Wizard's loyal subjects, some lucky guy took a nice basket home for winning the CTP in a playoff, and local legend "Old Man" dropped a huge stack of discs on another CTP event. The awards and AM pay-outs went smooth thanks to all the heads that helped Jeremy run a solid tournament.
By nightfall it was time to tear it down, pack it up, and head yonder north. I wish I could say we got on the road and headed to the next city on a never ending quest to spread the gospel of the D's, but that will have to be just a dream for now; especially since the RV dropped me off in time to get a shower, grab a coffee, and go to work. Best weekend of '08 and the Lewisville Open is definitely at the top of my growing list of greatest disc golf experiences. Everyone we hung out with in Texas showed us the finest hospitality and the best of times. A lot of locals stepped up to help where help was needed and those contributions are the backbone of epic events. Lastly, gotta thank Jeremy and Dynamic Discs for the opportunity to live the dream and gotta also say thanks to everyone else that was on board, Jake, Chris, Angela...you guys are hilarious and can't wait to hit the road with you all again. Old Man, Miles, Don and all of Lewisville, can't wait to be down there for another one, sooner than later for sure. Until then, PUT D'S ON IT!
Sincerely, Crispin Thomas Carrasco PDGA # 33698
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