January 20: What’s in Your Bag?

January 20, 2014 / P.J. / 1 Comment

This edition of What’s in your bag comes from Josh Rogers, who calls Dacey Fields Disc Golf Course in Franklin, Mass., his home course.

Rogers, of Bellingham, Mass., said he gets better each time he plays the par-62 course, a tightly wooded and low-option one. The tees are all natural as the course is still young.

As for his bag, he uses a Bass Pro Shops Extreme Qualifier 360 Angler backpack. It’s not fully converted, but it holds a lot of items with minimal impact on his shoulders.

The bag carries 14 discs. These include:

Latitude Test Material 2 Bolt (168 grams)
(4) Innova Beats in three plastics (randing from 162 in DX to 164 in champion and 168 in star)

The contents in the bag of Josh Rogers.

Latitude 64 Trident (170)
(2) Latitude 64 Opto Rivers (172)
Vibram Obex (174)
Discraft Buzzz X (175)
Discraft Buzzz Z (177)
Latitude 64 Pure Eze Line (172)
Latitude 64 Zero Soft (172)

Also in the bag:

PDGA Rule Book/Competition Manual
2013 inBounds Flight Guide
2012 Marshall Street Flight Guide
Scorecards for the Pyramids Course at Marshall Street
Marshall Street Mini
Two Towels
One multi-knife
Two golf balls
One blue, one black pen
Permanent marker
Innova Pencil from my first tournament
Coin purse
Rain jacket
Umbrella

Want to submit your bag and contents? Here’s what we need: A couple of photos of your bag and discs. Put together a list of everything you carry in the bag — from food to discs to anything else. Then maybe give a paragraph or two about your bag and if there’s anything you do between casual and tournament rounds etc. Finally, don’t forget your name, location and home course! Cell phone photos are fine, but please try and make it as high quality as possible. Grainy shots might not be able to be used. E-mail all of these things to pj@rattlingchains.com with the subject “What’s in my bag.”

MVP Disc Sports announces surprise offshoot brand, Axiom Discs

January 15, 2014 / P.J. / 4 Comments

By Steve Hill – Rattling Chains staff

The busiest young manufacturer in disc golf just got busier.

After a week-long social media campaign sprinkled with teaser photos and vague hints, MVP Disc Sports on Friday announced the formation of a new, separate brand called Axiom Discs.

Billed as “the new style of science,” Axiom Discs will still contain MVP’s signature overmold technology and be produced and distributed by the Michigan-based company.

So how does this new venture differ from the typical MVP output?

Axiom Discs will feature a variety of overmold and core color combinations, as well as new molds that differ in flight and profile from MVP’s existing lineup.

While the new color combinations are a nod to the first discs the company created, MVP Disc Sports co-founder Brad Richardson said the inspiration for creating this offshoot came from the company’s line of glow plastic.

“We attribute the exotic look of our Eclipse discs to be an initiating factor,” Richardson said. “Most of our Eclipse sales are people looking for the vibrant colors that result from the brighter overmold. However, the expensive glowing agents add a lot to the cost of the Eclipse Series, so we decided to branch out from the traditional black rim to make those vivid colors available at a comparable cost to the standard Neutron and Proton series.”

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Winner, winner …

January 13, 2014 / P.J. / 2 Comments

OK, so a little behind the 8-ball with this one.

But we need to announce the winner of the last giveaway.

Who won this glorious package?

Before we get to that, however, this will be a quickie post to give away the last items. We don’t, at this point, have a giveaway — but I’m working with a few other people right now in hopes of getting a few things together so we can make sure the monthly giveaways continue.

That being said …

The last one we did was quite a package of items.

It included:

2 Rattling Chains minis (1 Zing Snipe, 1 Zine Aerofoil)
Rattling Chains bag tag (only 20 were made)
Avery Jenkins signed Topps Allen and Ginter card
HyzerFlip t-shirt (Large)
Discraft bag (given at the 2011 Ace Race)
Vibram Sole (174g)
Innova X-Out Champion Sidewinder (170)
Innova X-Out Star Mako (180)

Not too shabby, right?

Anyway, time to give it away.

The winner of the glow prize pack was Jordan Potvin, whose “Like” of Rattling Chains on Facebook earned him the pack! Congrats, Jordan! An e-mail will be sent. Please get us the needed info within a week, or we’ll have to re-draw for another winner!

Thanks everyone for entering and keep an eye out for more giveaways coming soon!

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

Andrew’s Travelogue: Time to Train

January 8, 2014 / P.J. / Leave a comment

(Editor’s note: Andrew has been submitting stories for several months and we’ve been spacing them out. Therefore, this story was written before the Korean National tournament).

By Andrew Belet – Rattling Chains staff

September 28 and 29 are the two biggest disc golf days in South Korea.

Why? Because it’s the 6th Annual Korean National Disc Golf Championships, of course!

I, for one, can’t wait to compete in my first PDGA-sanctioned tournament on foreign soil. Though it is only a C-Tier, it promises to have all the thrills and excitement of an A-Tier or even a Major, just because of the pride and dedication KPDGA puts into this event.

Despite being rated at a paltry 845, I will be competing in the intermediate division. Other Americans have given me a bit of guff over this, thinking I should be playing even higher, but playing two divisions higher than my rating allows seems enough for this humble disc golfer.

The course for nationals will be a temporary course set up on the grounds of the Korean National Youth Center, right in the heart of Seoul. As is appropriate for most Korean courses (save, of course, The Dragon’s Lair with our awesome 600-foot hole), the course is set up to be short and very technical.

There is also a strangely disproportionate amount of right-finishing holes. Nevertheless, it promises to be a good, yet demanding, time. There will be many Americans competing, but the only other American from my neck of the woods will be Joe, who will be entering his first tournament (he’ll be playing in the recreational division).

Continue reading →

In defense of the low putt

January 3, 2014 / P.J. / 8 Comments

By Matthew Rothstein – Special to Rattling Chains

No low putts, right?

Every disc golfer has heard this advice at one time or another.

If you miss low, they say, you never gave it a chance to go in.

Why, I ask, have low putts earned such a poor reputation? If a putt misses too high, or too wide, did it really have more of a chance to go in than if it had missed low?

As a result, I am writing in defense of these so-called “low putts.”

The reality is that a low putt deserves at least equal status with any putt that leaves us with more work to do before marking our scorecards. A putt that misses two feet low had every bit the same chance as a putt that misses two feet high; that is to say, not much of one.

Putting is not a game of chance. Rather, it is an opportunity to focus and execute. We should never be thinking about “not missing low” or “not missing high.” Instead, all of our attention should be on burying the putter into the very heart of the chains. Anything else is a distraction.

Of course there are other things to consider when lining up a putt. If there is cliff or an out of bounds line behind your target, you may want to take some speed off your putt. If there is a strong left-to-right wind, you may want to put a hyzer angle on the putter to make sure that it does not fly off like a kite.

That said, once you have lined up your putt and made your calculations, there is nothing left to do but visualize and execute.

Continue reading →

Photo Focus: Dec. 30

December 30, 2013 / P.J. / Leave a comment

(Photo focus will run every few weeks or so on Rattling Chains. The idea is to focus on disc golf photographs submitted by staff members and readers. To see the guidelines for submitting a photograph for this feature, click here.)

Trapped. (photo by Karen Greenberg)

This image was taken at Emerald Park in Mesa, Arizona.

The course features a grassy hill, with this gate in the side of the hill. The gate restricts access to a huge water drainage pipe. The disc in the photo was rescued from behind the gate a couple of weeks before this image was taken.

We have decided this disc wants to live in the dungeon, as I call it, because it seems to be attracted to that gate for some reason. When I threw the disc on this shot, it was bent, trying to fit through the gate to go back “home” from where I rescued it.

My family, which includes me, my husband, my two daughters and both of my parents, play disc golf as many weekends as we can. We were introduced to the sport in October, when my brother came to visit. We love the fact this is something our whole family can do.

— Karen Greenberg

Techie info:

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

Andrew’s Travelogue: Politics and disc golf — the whole mess (part 2)

December 13, 2013 / P.J. / 3 Comments

By Andrew Belet – Rattling Chains staff

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part column on Andrew’s experience participating in and organizing tournaments under the Korean Professional Disc Golf Association. Get caught up on part one here.

The man almost solely responsible for the rise of disc golf in South Korea is the great Sung Bae Kim. He has done more to get disc golf recognized in his homeland than anyone I’ve ever known.

Kim and his dedicated crew have really worked on what I think is something the disc golf community needs to emphasize: youth activities. Whatever disputes players have with the way KPDGA runs tournaments, no one can say anything negative about their handling of expanding the Korean youth’s knowledge-base and skill set when it comes to disc golf.

Kim is also no slouch when it comes to competition. He often participates in the tournaments he holds, and frequently wins in the masters or grandmasters divisions.

Known for his international travel, he has also competed in Japan, Taiwan, Israel and tries to make PDGA Worlds every year. At the 2013 Worlds, he placed 15th overall in senior grandmasters, shooting a 56 in his final round.

Continue reading →

Win this great pack for the holiday season!

December 10, 2013 / P.J. / 37 Comments

By P.J. Harmer — Rattling Chains staff

The holiday season is upon us!

And with that, I was trying to figure out a good giveaway for this month. I dug deep into the prize vault for a pretty loaded packet. There’s all sorts of stuff in here as I wanted to have a good prize pack to celebrate the holiday season.

December’s giveaway!

But … before that, I need to announce the winner of last month’s giveaway, the glow discs.

The winner of the glow prize pack was Luke Turnbull, whose comment entry earned him the pack! Congrats, Luke! An e-mail will be sent. Please get us the needed info within a week, or we’ll have to re-draw for another winner!

Anyway, on with this month’s giveaway.

This is quite a packed pack, so to speak. We have all sorts of goodies we are giving away. The contents are as follows:

2 Rattling Chains minis (1 Zing Snipe, 1 Zine Aerofoil)
Rattling Chains bag tag (only 20 were made)
Avery Jenkins signed Topps Allen and Ginter card
HyzerFlip t-shirt (Large)
Discraft bag (given at the 2011 Ace Race)
Vibram Sole (174g)
Innova X-Out Champion Sidewinder (170)
Innova X-Out Star Mako (180)

Pretty sweet pack, right?

So what do you have to do? The same as each month. To gain entries, you have to do the items below. The first is mandatory — a comment on the blog — and you have to answer a question, which you can see when you click on that option. PLEASE answer that question as last time some people didn’t do so. We do this to make it fun and interactive.

Once you do that, the other items unlock and you can see what is there. You can earn more entries by tweeting each day, too. If you click on the tweet button under that option, there’s a tweet ready to go for you! Just make sure you’re already signed in.

Even better for those of you who follow us on social media or entered last month’s giveaway, the entries should be quicker and easier!

Enjoy and have fun! Good luck!

Enter below!

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

Andrew’s Travelogue: Politics and disc golf — the whole mess (part 1)

December 4, 2013 / P.J. / Leave a comment

It’s been quite a busy time here lately.

I’ve touched on it before, but I reason that I should go into a bit more detail with this next bit — one of the hardest parts of serving in the military is being gone all the time. I don’t mean just being deployed and away from your home and family, I mean being gone even while you’re deployed.

For instance, my unit just got back from more than a month in the field. Granted, “the field” in Korea is a bit more luxurious than “the field” in the states (i.e. hot showers, chow hall, even laundromats), but the fact remains you are out in the boondocks for more than a month. You are practically devoid of communication with the outside world, and do nothing but training, training, training. It’s a gigantic inconvenience, but one we have become accustomed to accepting.

Some of us, of course, work harder than others (photo by Andrew Belet)

The KDPGA (Korean PDGA) hosted its biggest event — the Korean National Disc Golf Championships — in late September. To say I was excited would be an understatement.

(Editor’s note: Andrew submitted many stories to be run over time. This one was written before the championships took place).

While my rating is still well below 900, I figure it’s about time to give it a run at Intermediate. Hopefully, I can win it all and become an intermediate national champion! There’s one for the resume!

I had heard, in year’s past, Korean nationals filled up quick. Not wanting to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I e-mailed the secretary of the KPDGA, who speaks excellent English. I even let him know I’d be out in the field when the registration opened and he assured me he would e-mail me the signup form and hold a spot for me. So, everything was gravy. Or so I thought.

Continue reading →

Photo Focus: Dec. 2

December 2, 2013 / P.J. / Leave a comment

A gimme birdie, but a shadow ace. (photo by Jack Trageser)

Hole No. 7 at Pinto Lake Disc Golf Course in Watsonville, California sits on an upper meadow, with a fairway mowed out of tall native grasses and other flora. It’s nearly flat, with no trees between tee and basket, although oak branches droop in front of the tee pad on the right side, limiting the right-hand backhand hyzer route and forcing players to use a lower trajectory than they might like.

This makes it seem longer than its 317 feet. Finally, out-of-bounds runs along each side and behind, providing plenty of opportunity to get a bogey or worse on a hole that would otherwise be pretty innocuous.

This picture was taken on a 70-degree Saturday morning in mid-November, with the fairway close-cropped and still dry like the Summer. In the background you can see the 4×4 posts that mark the out-of-bounds line (along with rope you can’t see), and the rough beyond.

My drive followed the exact path I envisioned when I launched my new Vibram O-Lace with full power on a low, flat line. It followed the OB line on the left until 50 feet or so from the basket, then faded right, stopping with a short skip a couple of feet from the cage.

It was immediately apparent that my drive had resulted in a gimme birdie, but when I drew closer I noticed that it was also an ace — of sorts. A shadow ace, with the disc sitting on the bottom of the shadow of the basket’s cage. My buddy congratulated me and promptly handed me a shadow $5 bill.

– Jack Trageser

Techie info:

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