Random Thoughts
Tight Security
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the disc golf course. I was in the D.C. area not long back on business. I was going through airport security when I was asked to step to the side and open my bag. I happened to have 4 discs with me "just in case" and they were in the end pocket of the bag. That was the pocket they wanted to look in! The look on the guy's face was priceless when he pulled my Roc, T-Bird, Eagle and Supersoft out of the bag. I had just hit my first and only ace the day before with that T-Bird and there was no way I was giving it up. Fortunately, after his initial surprise, the security guard just laughed and showed his co-workers the dangerous discs I was attempting to smuggle onto the plane. They must have made an interesting edge-on image when they went through the X-ray machine.
Even more recently, I was stuck in the New Mexico desert for about three weeks with the closest Disc Golf course at least two hours drive away in Cloudcroft. Luckily I got a day off and made the drive up to the small town to take in the cool mountain air and just maybe, some disc golf. Unfortunately I went brain dead and forgot to pack my discs although I remembered to pack the PULT in my large suitcase. As a consequence, I was stuck with this barely better than a lid Whammo MaxDistance (Walmart special from El Paso). This thing flipped faster than a run-over, taco shaped Cheeta. To make matters worse, the wind was blowing and gusting pretty hard and this frisbee was getting knocked around along with my score on the interesting little 9 hole course. I gave up after a couple of rounds and went up to the small shopping district to look around and get some lunch. I happened to walk into this shop festooned with mountain bikes. Prominantly displayed on the wall behind the counter were several special event stamped golf discs! I couldn't believe my luck so I asked if they actually sold discs. They had a small but well stocked rack right behind me. Evidently, the gentleman who used to maintain the course, Mr. Ray Haller, had gone off to sell Golf Discs somewhere in Texas but had left behind a well marked course with 3 tees per hole and enough interest in disc golf to sustain sales in that tiny town. I purchased a 171 gram ROC and proceeded to ROC the course. It felt great to leave the Whammo in the trunk and throw a real disc. I can't remember my exact score, but if you can make par for 9 from the long tees, you are doing very well. It gets very technical with everthing from swing sets to skating rink roofs and parking lots to avoid along with the many trees. You can visit the course web page here.
Birds of Prey
When I got back to the desert I decided to take my new ROC out with me for my evening runs.
I used yucca bushes as surrogate baskets and played safari golf down a broad dirt road. The
yucca bushes made pretty good targets. They make a nice rattling noise when you hit the seed
stalk and they about the same height as a regular basket. The funny thing that happened was
that my Roc was dive bombed by some birds that were very active around twilight. They had at
least a 2' wingspan and were very fast. They could easily catch the ROC in flight but they would just avoid touching it and veer off when it hit the ground. I can't imagine that a white
golf disc looks anything like the birds normal prey, but they sure liked to go after it. I am
still researching to see what kind of birds those were.
Footnote: After some websurfing among the birdwatcher websites (More of those than Disc Golf
pages), I believe these were common nighthawks. They feed mostly on flying insects which
accounts for the agility I observed. I still don't see why they think a 171 gram Roc looks like
a moth though.
My Aching Back
Watching an experienced golfer rip off a 400' drive you would think that chiropracters make a
lot of money from disc golfers. Personally, though, I found that my back has gotten better
since I started the sport. I've been at it for about a year now and I have not had any
recurrence of back spasms that I used get a case of about every 6 months. I also don't have
any more trouble with the morning back pain that forced me to trash my waterbed. My theory is that playing disc golf has strengthened the muscles supporting my spine. I know this sounds
like a commercial or something but I really think my health has improved since taking up the
sport.