I guess it was way back in Ought One, when we were living in Toccoa, GA, that I was introduced to disc golf by Ken Morefield. A gent named John Nisewonder had convinced the local recreation department to install a course at the Rose Lane park in Toccoa. About a month after playing my first round, I was somewhat hooked. Shortly before we moved away from Toccoa, I played in the first ever Stephens County Pro Am.

So, during Spring Break, we were visiting with the Morefields, and I got it into my head that I wanted to play Rose Lane again. I haven’t been back there since we left Toccoa in ‘02, and I have fond memories of the course (if not the town). At first, the idea was that we’d swing through Toccoa on our way up to Raliegh while returning from a conference in New Orleans sometime in May. Then, a couple of weeks later, I got hold of a calendar and noticed that the Sixth Stephens County Pro Am was going to be held the weekend before finals. Since I didn’t have any exams to write, I thought it might be cool to figure out a way to play in the tourney. I called up Ken, and we decided on the close-to-irresponsible plan of playing in the tourney.

The plan called for me to leave Tiffin immediately after my morning class, drive to Toccoa in one day. Saturday would be the tournament. And then I’d drive back to Ohio on Sunday. Ken would follow a similar path, but his drive from Raliegh would be a bit less taxing. The plan set, Ken made hotel reservations, and Todd rented a car.

I don’t have much to say about driving a little over 1200 miles in 3 days except to say that the 2007 Ford Taurus I was in was basically awful. First, who, in 2007, is asking for cars with a tape deck? All the audiobooks I had from the library were on CD. Grr. Second, the car had a nasty hum coming from the left rear whenever I kept the car at 60mph. 60mph is of course a very popular speed to go for those of us who only allow ourselves a 5mph cushion over the posted limits. Third, I noticed at my first gas stop, about 300 miles down the road, that the front right tire was almost flat. Wow. That’s a great rental car.

The weather for the tourney was fantastic. We did get some wind in the afternoon, but by then my game was shot, so what did I care? The course looked great. In the last five years, they’ve installed cement tee pads and nice signage. Very nice. All of my old nemisises (nemisi?) were there. I seem to have conquered my fear of the tree line on #5, but hole #8 still kicks my butt. They’ve also added six holes to the original 18. Two of the six seem kinda pointless to me: #19 is basically just a pinball shot into some woods that is more luck than skill and #23 is just a long open hole that does nothing to reward a good shot or punish a bad one. #24 is the famed Rose Lane Island Shot, which is a fun toss from an elevated tee to a “green space” island in the middle of the parking lot. #22 is a fairly mundane, straight shot with some shrubs about, nothing to special. #20 & #21 however are rather nice holes that provide some interesting angles and that do have some rewards.

Each round was 24 holes. I started the day going gangbusters (for me). After 9, I was 1 under par. At the halfway mark of the first round I was 1 over. Then I ran into a buzzsaw. Holes 8, 9, and 10 just killed me. I was able to recover my seat on the par train, but by then the damage was one. I ended up the morning at +12 (84). After lunch, I found myself in the middle of the last card for my division. I immediately had some bad holes. While I did card some nice birdies, it wasn’t enough to overcome the wind and some poor putting. The second round found me at +14. So, I ended up with a +26, 170 on the day. I know I didn’t come in last, but I didn’t really figure out my final standings since it was way out of the money.

The best part of the day was that my cardmates during both rounds were a good group of guys that were friendly and courteous and seemed to have a good attitude about the day.

One thing that was a bit disconcerting about the course was that there seemed to be a disproportionate number of “memorials” on the course. Almost everywhere you looked, there was some hole or other course feature that was sponsored “in memory of” some person. Some of the signs even had birth and death dates. Perhaps the oddest one was a cemetery style flat headstone in the middle of a fairway. I asked one of the locals what the story was on the granite, and he said that that person had dropped dead of a heart attack right on that spot two years ago. On the one hand, one can think nice thoughts of dying whilst doing something you enjoy. On the other hand, I did find the placement of a gravestone-like memorial in the middle of the fairway just a tad unsettling.

Saturday night we were both bushed. We had supper at Los Amigos, which was nice since I was able to have chili rellenos the way I like them. The Days Inn gave us one free game of pool, so we “played.” I put “play” in quotes because I was never in the game. My best shot was the break. Mainly, we were tired from playing 48 holes of golf in one day, so it was early to bed, so that I could drive the 600 miles home on Sunday.

coiled radiant heating elements covered with a smooth ceramic top.

When the stove that came with house died the week before Easter, I entertained the notion of converting to a gas stove. Then I called around to find out how much it would cost to tap into our existing gas line and run a line over to the stove area. Yikes. For about three seconds I entertained the notion of doing it myself (having read an article about how to do so), but then I decided that I didn’t want to die in a firey ball of ignited gas.

So, off we went to the local appliance store to check out the latest in electric cooking technology. After consulting the almighty Consumer Reports guides (Thanks Mom & Dad! Thanks Ted & Nancy!), and shopping around the offerings here in Tiffin, we settled on the Frigidaire FEF375FB. We had also decided that now was a good time to acquire the over-the-range microwave we’d been talking about since we bought the house.

So we put in our order with the nice folks at Burns Electric, located less than 1/2 mile away from the house and right across the street from our church. On Monday, I got a call that the model we’d ordered was out of stock. That was sad. However, because the model was a newer model and they should have had it, they were bumping us up to the next level of stove for no charge. That was happy. Very happy.

When we chose our stove, we’d been intrigued by two features: Speed Bake and expandable burners. However, the model that had both of those features was out of our price range. So, we’d chosen the model that had Speed Bake (a fan in the oven that circulates the hot air–though not true convection) and regular burners. By bumping us up to the next level, we were going to get BOTH Speed Bake and expandable burners without having the pay the $150 difference in price. Woo and Hoo.

So this morning at precisely the arranged time, two gentlemen from Burns showed up and installed our Frigidaire GLEF379D with nary a problem, snag, or worry.

Now, we’ve got to start cooking for ourselves again.

If the organizers of Tiffin’s first PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament accomplished nothing else on Saturday, they have increased the number of people who now know that the water flowing through Hedges-Boyer Park is called Rock Creek. After the 14th comment, I stopped counting the times I heard someone say, “So, that’s what that river/water/crick/thing is called. I never knew.” I myself didn’t know either.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the only thing Ken Rollins and Clare Wertz accomplished. The tourney was smoothly run and conflict-free as far as I could tell, and they fed everyone FREE pizza. No small feat considering that 72 people showed up for this D-tier inaugural event. For those that played them, the longer blue tees made their first appearance at the course, and folks seemed to like the layout. For us mortals, the course was in fine shape considering the wet weather we’ve been having. Kudos to the Parks Dept.

In the end, I shot 68 for both rounds, a whopping +22, to finish somewhere like 5th from the bottom. I could regale you with tales of putts clanking off metal all day or chatty group-mates who were irritating or even a windy cold day that messed with my game, but that would just be redundant. The truth is that one of these days I’m going to learn that it’s ok for me to play my rating. If the PDGA is going to use a rating system and base the tournament groupings on ratings, then it’s ok for me to say “Look, here’s my rating, I’m playing Rec.” and not be ashamed. Yup, one of these days.

Ah, well, it was a fun day standing out in the cold. Not bad for the first tourney of the year. This year looks like there’s going to be many more within easy driving distance, so I’ll work on improving that paltry rating of mine.

For now, I’ve got to work on my putting so I’m ready for the Stephens County Pro/Am in Georgia at the end of the month. Can we say “ROAD TRIP”!

Today was the kind of day that makes people discover reasons to dislike me.

After a fairly good class this morning, I headed to my office hours where I motored through lots of paperwork. After finishing my work, I walked outside where the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and a gentle breeze wafted the spring air. At home, I participated in my first ever Pilates workout. While not overly strenuous, I was feeling it all day. In a good way.

When I finished working out, I noticed that the time was getting close to 2:00, the time of the Indians Season Opener. Unfortunately, we don’t have the cable channel on which Indians games are shown. I thought for a while that I could try to find a radio broadcast, but I was really hungry. I thought then that what I should do was head out to a local eatery for some lunch and a cable-supplied TV. Thus, I found myself savoring a patty melt at The Clover Club as Grady Sizemore sent the second pitch of the 2007 season out of the park. There was a small but friendly crowd on hand, and we enjoyed watching Cleveland totally dismantle the White Sox.

My day was going along extremely nicely. The weather was still nice, and I still had a good bit of afternoon left. What would be more natural than heading out to the park for a round of disc golf? When I got to the first tee, the wind picked up, and it would play with my discs all day. However, for whatever reason, I ended the front nine with a personal best -2. I kept myself in check, however, because I know that there are two holes on the back nine that are almost always 4’s for me. Sure enough, heading into the 16th hole, I was back to even. I had a beautiful drive on 17 that I converted into a deuce. Going into the final hole, I had the chance to finish Hedges-Boyer under par for the first time. Alas…

One of golf’s cruelties is that you can shoot your personal best round and still leave the course with a bad taste in your mouth. My drive went high and dove into the line of trees. While I made a rather good out shot, I was lucky to get a 4 and thus end with a personal best even par. I’m trying to focus on the even par, but I keep thinking about the final drive.

Such is golf.