Month: March 2012

Rattling Chains plastic giveaway No. 1: Think spring!

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Do you want this disc? See details below!

Being we are still new here at Rattling Chains, we’d like to see if we could build our readership a bit more.

What better than giving away some plastic, eh? Especially with the first “official” day of spring coming March 20!

We won’t make you do too much for this one. But you can gain more than one entry!

However, to get the secondary entries, you must do the first one! Keep that in mind.

First, just post in the comments section telling us what your favorite disc is and why. Simple enough, right?

After that, you can gain up to two more entries:

1. Like our page on Facebook. (If you’ve already liked our page on Facebook, please mention it in your comment below, but the names will have to match up so I know who is who!)

2. Tweet the following (copy and paste the following exactly as is and we’ll know you did it and give you an entry. Please do it exactly as written or we might not be able to know you posted it)!

@RattlingChains is a new disc golf blog giving away some plastic to spread the word. Visit https://rattlingchains.com/?p=32 to enter!

I know all of you will be digging the idea of free plastic. So get at it. Enter! Tell your friends! Spread the word!

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Company Closeup: Paragon carving its way in the disc golf world

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As disc golf continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, if not the world, more and more businesses related to the sport pop up.

But it’s not easy to get by on disc golf alone.

There are many stores where you can purchase disc golf supplies — from discs and bags to clothing and videos. Do a quick Google search for these places and you’re choices will be endless.

Too, most of the prices at these places are similar, thus making it more of a personal feel or choice.

With seeing all of this, it takes a little bit of hope and courage to make the jump into the world of selling disc golf ware.

Or, it takes for the right situation.

Take Miles Parkhill, for one. Parkhill is the owner of Paragon Disc Golf, a name that is starting to become more and more recognized inside disc golf circles.

Parkhill found something he thought was needed and used those talents to build Paragon.

A disc golfer for more than 15 years, Parkhill said when he was part of a band he used to print shirts. Once he finished doing the band “thing,” he started seeing how much disc golf was growing. But not everything was good, per say.

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Poll 2: Tunes or no?

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The first week of the poll was a huge success …

… And it took us a while to get everyone into the Random.org setup to be able to randomize and give away a prize!

The results of the poll — how many discs do you own? — were something else, I thought.

The top spots didn’t shock me too much. The 51-100 category won with 153 votes (24 percent of the vote). Second went to 101-200, which received 102 votes (16%). The 21-30 range, which I thought might have been one of the real big ones, came in third with 77 votes (12%).

The one that shocked me, however? Those who voted in the more than 500 discs one — 47 people! That’s 8% of the vote! And that’s a lot of plastic!

That opened my eyes, that’s for sure!

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Some shoutouts and looking ahead

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We'll always look for sweet disc golf photos -- so rattle those chains!

First, allow me to say we won’t be doing posts like this too often. I wanted to do it now because it’s the end of the first week of this blog and we were blown away with the reaction the blog got.

I won’t lie when I say we had very low expectations when it started. But as a former sports writer, getting back into regular writing and interviewing and coming up with ways to make this blog exciting, I really had the itch to continue.

The disc golf community has fully amazed me.

Between the tweets, comments, e-mails and ideas that have been sent in — as well as all of the comments on the posts and such, it’s been quite a wild first week here at RattlingChains.com.

And, of course it would go without saying that we were blown away when 2009 PDGA World Champion Avery Jenkins agreed to join the small crew and offer his amazing insights, thoughts and everything else about the National Tour and disc golf.

So thank you, disc golf community. I can express my thanks enough.

We are going to try and keep the pace up of some sort of new content on the site each day — whether big or small. There will be days that go by without something, but our goal is to make that few and far between.

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Disc golf in the media: March 5-11

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Looking to get your fix with disc golf news?

Here’s a roundup of some disc golf items that were in the media over the past week. This will be a regular feature on Rattling Chains, appearing each Sunday in the late morning.

During the course of the week, if you see some disc golf-related stories in mainstream media, please send the links along to us. We’ll consider putting the links here. Traditional news media, blogs and online news sources/releases will be considered!

March 11

March 9

March 8:

March 7:

March 6:

March 5:

If you have any comments, questions, thoughts, ideas or anything else, feel free to e-mail me and the crew at: pj [at] rattlingchains.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!

That’s a disc. On the wire.

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It can -- and did -- happen! (photo courtesy Kody O'Neill)

There are things that happen in this world where one has to question if it really could happen.

Kind of like if someone told you they got their disc stuck on a power line.

Would you really believe it if someone told you that?

Exactly.

Insert Kody O’Neill, who went out to play a casual round with his friends Salamen Butler, Levi WhiteEagle and Travis Duncan at Lake Bella Vista Course in Bella Vista, Arkansas.

Yes, it's WAY up there! (photo courtesy Kody O'Neill)

O’Neill said the course is pretty new and is a pro-level course. The beginning could have been a warning of what was to come as three discs were lost (water hazard throws) through the first five holes.

“We made a joke coming around to hole 15 that we could not lose any more Frisbees,” O’Neill said.

Then came hole No. 17, a par-4, 750-foot straight hole. O’Neill took out an Innova Tee Bird and said he threw it as far as he could.

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Rattling Chains with Avery Jenkins: Looking back at 2011 and forward to 2012

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Editor’s note: As noted in our announcement last night, 2009 World Champion Avery Jenkins has agreed to blog with us during the 2012 season. It’s an honor to have him willing to work with us. We’re just a couple of amateur players from upstate New York, so when we started this blog, we never thought we’d get so lucky to land someone like Avery to work with us. He’ll blog periodically throughout the season, so sit back and enjoy as he takes all of us through life on the tour and in the world of disc golf!

****

Before getting too far into the 2012 season, I needed to write my 2011 year in review. I always need to stay on top of my blogs before I fall behind. Let’s look back to another great season of disc golf as I take you on a quick journey of some highlights from the 2011 season.

The life of a touring professional can be strenuous at times, but realize I really love to travel as much as I do and always look forward to the next event. I played in 24 Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA)-sanctioned events with 10 top-5 finishes in 2011. I also earned a win at my first event of the year, at the Asia Open in Taiwan.

Avery Jenkins had a strong 2011 season. (Photo courtesy Leah Taylor)

I also had several strong finishes at the Kansas City Wide Open National Tour event, the Players Cup Match Play Championship and the Hall of Fame Classic Super Tour event. I also had a solid showing by placing fifth at the first Professional Disc Golf Association Championships at the International Disc Golf Center in Augusta, Ga.

I also finished seventh at the European Open, a major disc golf event in Nokia, Finland. And, I was part of the NorCal championship team at the NorCal vs. SoCal Team Invitational Championships earlier in the year.

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Avery Jenkins to blog with RattlingChains.com

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The staff of Rattling Chains is proud to announce that 2009 Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) World Champion Avery Jenkins will be blogging with RattlingChains.com during the 2012 season.

Avery Jenkins will blog with RattlingChains.com for the 2012 season. (photo courtesy of Avery Jenkins)

Jenkins will bring his views, thoughts and reactions to being on the road this year. It will be a good view of life on the road from the eyes of one of the top pros in the world.

Jenkins, as of Feb. 14, is a 1027 rated played by the PDGA. In 2011, he played in 24 PDGA sanctioned tournaments (plus the National Tour series). Of those 24 tournaments, Jenkins had one victory, five runner-up finishes and one third-place finish.

Jenkins, one of the most well-known and easily approachable professionals on the tour, won the 2009 World Championship and is a member of the 12-player Innova Star team. The 2012 season marks his 13th on tour.

According to the PDGA site and Jenkins’ player profile, he has won 42 tournaments since 2001.

His first blog post, a wrap of his 2011 season, will appear Friday (March 9) on RattlingChains.com.

If you have any comments, questions, thoughts, ideas or anything else, feel free to e-mail me and the crew at: pj [at] rattlingchains.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!

McBeth wins opening National Tour event; tourney roundup: Feb. 22 – March 6

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Paul McBeth (shown here at last year's Vibram Open) won the first National Tour event of the season this past weekend at The Memorial Championship.

Using a steady weekend with three rounds in the 40s, Paul McBeth won The Memorial Championship for the second straight year, winning the title by three strokes over Innova teammate Will Schusterick.

The tournament ran in Scottsdale, Ariz., from Feb. 29 – March 3 and served as the first event of the National Tour Elite Series.

McBeth, who earned $3,500 for his victory, finished 44-under-par with a four-day 188. He had rounds of 45, 44, 53 and 46.

One of his rounds — the first — was an 1107-rated round, one of four rounds at the tournament that had a rating of more than 1100.

Schusterick had one of the others — shooting a 43 in the final round for an 1103 round. He finished the tournament with rounds of 49, 45, 54 and 43 for a 41-under-par 191. Schusterick earned $2,500 for second place.

Dave Feldberg, who placed third with a 39-under 193, had the other two top-rated rounds. He shot a 44 in the opening round for an 1115 round and had a 42 in the final round, for a 1112. In the second round, he shot a 48, but a 59 in the third round appears to have doomed him. He still left with a $2,000 check for third place.

Avery Jenkins and Steven Rico tied for fourth place, each winning $1,550 for finishing at 31 under. They each had a 201. Jenkins’ top round of the tournament with a final-round 48. Rico shot a 47 in the second round as his top score.

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News roundup: Locastro joins Innova; several new discs out

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It was recently announced that Nikko Locastro would be joining Innova this year.

The news seems to be piling up early in 2012.

We’ve gathered some of this news over the past few weeks, but with not launching until this week, we had to keep it as a bunch of briefs. Though much of this is all out there, we still wanted to share.

Locastro now with Innova

One of the top professional players in the world, Nikko Locastro, has left Gateway and joined the Innova Star team for this season.

Locastro is the 12th member of the Innova Star team. He joins Avery Jenkins, Dave Feldberg, Des Reading, Josh Anthon, Paul McBeth, Paul Ulibarri, Ricky Wysocki, Sarah Stanhope, Steve Brinster, Val Jenkins and Will Schusterick on the team.

On his personal website, Locastro said the decision wasn’t anything against any other company and that he was now focused on this year and beyond.

“After trying out new products in the off season and over looking my options I decided to go with Team Innova for 2012. … Having a mixed bag had its ups and down but at the end of the day it was something that happened for a reason.”

– Nikko Locastro, on his website.

Locastro won last year’s National Tour championship, edging Nate Doss (Discraft) by one point.

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