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Rattling Chains with Avery Jenkins: Getting aggressive at the Memorial

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With my first PDGA-sanctioned tournament of the year behind me, it was time to leave Las Vegas behind and make the six-hour ride to Phoenix, Ariz..

Nate Doss, Val Jenkins and I set out early in the morning to travel the six hours to Phoenix, Ariz., for the Memorial Championship, an event on the National Tour. In the back of the Sprinter Van, I took naps and watched movies. That’s how you travel!

The Memorial is a four-round, four-day event, beginning on Wednesday and ending on Saturday. That gives players two days to practice. It really only gives one day to practice if you stay the night in Vegas and use Monday as a travel day.

Arriving at Fountain Hills at about 4:30 p.m., we met with Discmania stars Jussi Meresmaa and Seppo Paju. I looked forward to rooming with them for the rest of the week.

The Holiday Inn were stayed at was conveniently located across the street from the course. It’s one of the main reasons we have stayed here the past two years. That means we only have to travel to the Vista Del Camino course twice and the other days we just have to walk across the street. We were less than 400 feet from the basket on hole 15. The final round and awards were also held at this course.

I grabbed my bag as Val, Nate, Seppo and I headed out for a quick practice round in limited daylight. It was less than two hours until sundown. This is a course I have played for the past 10-plus years. They have altered some of the holes throughout the years, but it’s basically the same layout that we play each year.

With winds gusting at more than 35 mph, it made for an interesting round. We avoided many of the approach shots to the baskets near the water as it wasn’t worth it to lose a good upshot disc a few days before the event. I still ended up losing a Star Teebird and a Power Driver 2 on hole 17, which is one of the longer downhill holes. The wind came from the right and carried them left and sent them into the water. I didn’t want to lose those crucial discs before the tournament, but I always carry backups for each of my go-to discs.

Avery Jenkins putts during the Memorial Championship. (Photo courtesy Marble Jones: http://www.marblejones.com)

The Fountain Hills course is gorgeous and it’s in my top-10 list for courses. It has a great layout with rolling hills surrounding a lake. In the center of the lake is a huge water fountain. It’s the fourth-tallest fountain in the world. It can reach heights of 560 feet, which it does on select holidays and celebrations.

The course is challenging because there’s a chance to throw out-of-bounds in the water on nearly every hole. It’s especially difficult when the winds are ripping. On the other hand, nearly every hole is reachable in one shot, so when the wind is down, the scores can go really low on this par-56 course.

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Rattling Chains with Avery Jenkins: The 2012 season gets underway

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My 2012 PDGA tournament season started like it usually does — with a trip south to Las Vegas for the Gentleman’s Club Challenge.

The event is considered a season opener as many of the top players come out to the desert in search of warm weather and some top-notch disc golf. Plus, it’s in the great city of Las Vegas. We’re always looking for an excuse to get back to Sin City as often as possible. We’re usually here in the spring for the GCC and in the fall for the Las Vegas Halloween Classic. Sometimes, we get the chance to come back if there’s the “Big D in the Desert,” the Distance World Championships in nearby Primm, Nev.

I arrived in Las Vegas three days early for the 2012 PDGA Spring Summit, an event to discuss issues and topics concerning the Professional Disc Golf Association. The sport continues to grow and expand with more people playing every year. We, as an association, try to put ourselves in position to adapt to the massive growth.

I’m a member of the PDGA Board of Directors and have been for the past two years. I do my best to increase the quality of standardized, competitive play, while representing the voice of our membership. We discussed many subjects and topics at this year’s Summit, including information technology, website advancements, social media integration, strategic planning, prioritizing the future of disc golf, the PDGA Women’s Committee, PDGA Leagues, and international disc golf relations.

Two of the biggest projects the PDGA has going on now are information technology and the Woman’s Committee. The implementation of these programs will help gain more exposure for disc golf in the future.

Many of us have been directly affected by the lack of performance from the PDGA website. This situation has been made a top priority by the PDGA and we have the man for the job. The website is crucial to the growth of the sport and it’s the hub for all our communications, course directory, player statistics, event schedule and tournament results. It’s a go-to website for people looking for more information about the sport and how to become more involved. More than 96,000 visitors account for 1.1 million page views each month.

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Striving for 700: St. Pat’s Madness

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Darren receives his winnings from tournament director Bob Graham. Darren represented Rattling Chains well by winning Am 3. My only saving grace was not finishing last.

I’m a daydreamer.

It’s always been in my nature to be one. I dream of winning the lottery (and, of course, build some wonderful disc golf courses). I wonder what the world would have been like if I had been a professional baseball player. Or a pro athlete in general.

I dream about great jobs and fancy cars. And floating down the river on a tube with no worries in the world.

I also dream of the day that I can make every 10-foot putt, drive 350-plus feet and not have to play every tournament in the novice division.

There’s a problem with being a dreamer, however.

Reality.

It really does slap you in the face. Often. And, unfortunately, reality has a firm grip on my disc golf game.

I putted surprisingly decent, despite some of the baskets at Rutgers not being the most kind to golfers!

There aren’t any courses in my area. If I want to get a round in, I have to travel about an hour and a half to get to a course. And because I have some other hobbies I do as well as play softball, doing field work can get tedious and boring at times because it’s the same thing over and over.

If I could do field work and then play a round or three each week, I think it would be better. As it is now, I’ll hit up a field, mark out some distances and throw for a while. Then I’ll putt. I love doing that because it can be relaxing.

But as I said, I get a little bored at times doing the same thing. I start dreaming of my other hobbies and go and do something else. I need to find a way to snap that funk. Maybe find a place to put my basket where there are trees and such to make it a little more interesting.

I need to get better. That’s all part of this year’s goal — to become a 700-rated player.

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I’ve become certified (or certifiable, pending on perspective)

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Note: This story originally appeared on my personal blog Sept. 16. However, being that readership and this readership are quite different, I wanted to bring this post here and share.

I’m certified.

OK, OK, that probably wasn’t the best way to describe me at this point, eh?

What I meant to say is that I’m a certified PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) official.

It’s not something I really needed. I don’t plan on being a tournament director, nor do I plan on playing in a National Tour event as a pro anytime soon. I’m thinking my whopping 672 rating probably wouldn’t go too far in those events.

Still, I had thought a couple of things in regard to this…

  • It would give me a way to learn the disc golf rules a bit better
  • It would give me something to do on a rainy day and make for a good blog post

Over the past few days, I’ve peeked at the PDGA rules book and competition manual. I’ve learned a lot of things I didn’t know about the game. Not all of it makes sense to me, mind you, but I at least know a lot of rules now.

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NSDG holds tournament, sweeps top four spots; tourney roundup: March 7-13

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The Non-Stop Disc Golf Tour held the Taos Open this past weekend in Taos, New Mexico.

The foursome of Dave Feldberg, Nikko Locastro, Will Schusterick and Cale Leiviska are touring the country this year as part of NSDG.

Will Schusterick (shown at last year's Vibram Open) is part of the Non-Stop Disc Golf Tour.

The group are playing in tournaments as well as running 15 B-Tier PDGA events. Feldberg, Locastro and Schusterick are part of Team Innova. Leiviska is a member of Team Discraft.

Feldberg, the 2008 PDGA World Champion, served as the tournament director for this event.

The four also took the top spots in the Open division.

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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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